From PC to HDTV via Google’s Chromecast

From PC to HDTV via Google's Chromecast

Google has a new way to stream video from your PC or mobile device to your high-definition TV.

But its capabilities are relatively limited, and it leaves much to be desired — especially if you’re using a Windows PC.

You’ve probably heard of Chromecast (website), Google’s U.S. $35 HDTV dongle for Internet video streaming. Small and easy to install, the device lets you watch movies and television shows. You control it with your PC, tablet, or smartphone via your home network. It works with Windows (except RT), OS X, Linux, iOS, and — not surprisingly — Android.

After trying it with my Windows laptop, iPad, and Android phone, I can say it works — but the experience was — at least on a PC — far from pleasing.

Chromecast setup: Chroming your HDTV

At first glance, the Chromecast dongle looks like a common USB flash drive that’s eaten too much fatty food (see Figure 1). But in place of the usual USB connector, you find a standard HDMI plug.

Unlike USB, the HDMI interface doesn’t provide power to devices. So at the other end of the Chromecast dongle, you’ll find a micro USB port, used strictly to power the device. The kit comes with a cable and an AC adapter, allowing you to power the gadget from a wall socket or an open USB port on the TV.

After plugging the dongle into an open HDMI port on the TV and connecting the USB power cable, you then download a setup program onto your PC that will connect the device to your Wi-Fi network (see Figure 2). Finally, you install the required Google Chrome extension onto your PC — or download the Chromecast app to an Android or iOS device.

And you’re ready to watch TV.

What you can watch and how you watch it

As I write this, Chromecast fully supports only three video services: Netflix, YouTube, and Google’s own Play Movies pay-per-view service. That’s relatively slim pickings, though Netflix and YouTube are both extremely popular — so popular that if you have an Internet-capable HDTV, game console, or Blu-ray player, you almost certainly already have big-screen access to both streaming services.

With a Windows PC, you’re not limited to those three services: you can send virtually any video stream to the Chromecast device. But you’ll probably be disappointed in the resulting video quality on your TV; more on that in a moment.

Chromecast doesn’t have a user interface you can control on your TV, even for the streaming services it supports. It also doesn’t include a remote control. You’re expected to use your PC, tablet, or smartphone to control it. Using a versatile, intelligent device as a remote has its advantages, but also some disadvantages. For example, a laptop PC, with its keyboard and mouse, is an excellent tool when searching for a particular movie or browsing for something that looks entertaining. It’s a bit harder to search from a tablet and phone, but their smaller sizes make them better remotes.

Once you start the video, using any of those devices as remote controls can be less than ideal. For example, if you’re using the phone as the remote and it rings 40 minutes into a program, you might find it hard to locate the video-playback pause button before you lose the call — especially if you first have to enter your phone’s passcode. You could miss the big plot twist — and your phone call, too.

A few additional notes:

• Chromecast starts up and begins playback remarkably fast.
• There’s no way to display on the TV how long you’ve been watching that movie or how much of it is left. (Whether that’s a fault or a feature is up to you.)
• Chromecast probably won’t work if you’re running a virtual private network. I learned that one the hard way.

The Chromecast experience from Windows

You’ll find two distinctly different ways to send video streams from a Windows PC to the Chromecast dongle — and through it to the HDTV. Which option you use depends on what you’re watching.

Streaming from the supported services: You’ll get the best experience with Netflix or YouTube, which integrate directly with Chromecast. Oddly, Google’s own pay service, Play Movies, must be played using the unsupported-video-streams method discussed below.

Using Chrome (other browsers need not apply), go to Netflix or YouTube and start watching something. You then click the Chromecast icon in the lower-right corner of the video window (not the one in the upper-right corner of the browser window) and select your Chromecast device, as shown in Figure 3.

As soon as the video begins playing on your TV, you no longer need the PC. You can put it to sleep or shut it down entirely — well, at least until you want to pause, replay, or fast-forward. You’ll then need to wake the PC up again. (Obviously, using a desktop PC in another room isn’t practical.)

Streaming everything else: On a PC, you can also use Chromecast to stream services it does not directly support. Essentially, if you can play a video in a Chrome browser, you can easily send it to your TV.

And I do mean easily. Installing an extension into Chrome puts a Chromecast icon in the upper-right corner of your browser window. Click it, and whatever is playing in the current browser tab is sent to your HDTV. The image remains on your PC as well; you’ll want to click the video’s full-screen icon so the image on the TV doesn’t have a webpage around it.

In this setup, Chromecast is receiving video directly from your PC — not from a website. If your PC goes to sleep in the middle of playback, video on the TV freezes.

That’s the least of the problems, however. I found video quality on the TV relatively poor and audio rarely synched properly. I tried to watch a feature film from a password-protected Vimeo feed. After about six minutes, I gave up. I plugged the laptop directly into the HDTV, grabbed a wireless mouse, and enjoyed the movie. (You can buy a wireless mouse for less than one-third the cost of Chromecast.)

Using Chromecast from your mobile device

The Chrome-based, stream-any-video feature isn’t supported on mobile devices. (It’s strictly a Windows/Linux/Mac option.) And yet, Chromecast is best when used with an Android or iOS device. And, as you might expect, your experience is best on Android. Either platform is fine for watching Netflix and YouTube; you’ll want Android for Google’s Play Movies service.

Google currently doesn’t offer Chrome extensions for Android or iOS — you download and use Chromecast-compatible Netflix, YouTube, and (in Android) Play Movies apps. To watch a video from one of these three services on your TV, start playback on your mobile device and then tap the Chromecast icon; Chromecast will pick up the stream from the Internet and send it to your HDTV. From there on, you’ll need your tablet or phone only as a remote control or to change the video.

For the most part, size and form factors make tablets and phones better Chromecast remote controls than your laptop PC. Sure, searching is easier with a real keyboard, but when you’re relaxing on your couch, it’s easier to pick up a tablet or phone.

Android offers another advantage. When your device goes to sleep and locks, it keeps a pause button handy. If you’re interrupted while watching a movie, you don’t have to enter your passcode; just hit the On button and then the pause icon on the lock screen (see Figure 5).

Bottom line: At this point, Chromecast’s primary attraction is its low cost. It’s an inexpensive — albeit limited — way to watch Netflix, YouTube, and Google’s paid Play Movies. Most of us already have some form of Netflix/YouTube streaming capabilities on our primary TV. But Chromecast could be a good addition to an office or guest-room TV. Provided you have a good Internet connection, it could also be handy for streaming movies to a hotel-room TV. (Most hotels now have HDTVs, though Internet is typically wanting.) For YouTube especially, I find Chromecast superior to the app built into my Blu-ray player.

As long as you understand and accept its limitations, Chromecast is a fair value.

Multilingual spellchecker offers too much help

Lounge member elycett works for an international organization in Canada and corresponds via email in several languages.

The Outlook 2013 mail program he recently began using produces spellchecking in every language it encounters in messages, which is not what elycett wants. How does he make the spellchecker stick to just one language? Loungers in the Microsoft Outlook forum assist.

The following links are this week’s most interesting Lounge threads, including several new questions for which you might have answers:

Office Applications
General Productivity	Office 365 (2013) updates
Word Processing	Recover Word license key
Spreadsheets	Search files for information contained in Excel cell and return path
Databases	Conditional report sections
Visual Basic for Apps	How to copy rows in range and paste to new sheet
Microsoft Outlook	Outlook 2013 keeps changing spellcheck language
Non-Outlook E-mail	Lost in mail synchronization: Can I be helped?
Other MS Apps	Transfer OneNote files from Windows 7 to Windows 8 machine
Windows
General Windows	SkyDrive: How to assign entire folder to another user?
Windows 8	Windows 8.1 disc release may cause confusion
Windows 7	Boot times
Windows Vista	Error message: MSLN program not found, skipping auto check
Windows XP	OS guaranteed to look same forever?
Windows Servers	Modify file on Windows Server 2008 R2
Internet/Connectivity
Internet Explorer	Internet Explorer and Outlook.com
Third-Party Browsers	Firefox performance issues on my computer
Networking	Windows 7 vs. Windows 8 Internet speeds
Social Media	Can’t upload photos to Facebook using IE 10
Software Development
Web Design & Development	How to create iframe for Flash .swf file?
Other Technologies
Non-Microsoft OSes	Downloading Android app
Security & Scams	Microsoft Security Essentials
Maintenance	Cloning from LTO3 to LTO5 tapes
Hardware	Two video cards work until reboot, no onboard video
Graphics/Multimedia	Cookie-cutter shapes for pictures
Other Applications	Information needed on locked thread

starred posts: particularly useful

If you’re not already a Lounge member, use the quick registration form to sign up for free. The ability to post comments and take advantage of other Lounge features is available only to registered members.

If you’re already registered, you can jump right in to today’s discussions in the Lounge.

New-season leaf pile delights dog and man

Some people grow melancholy in autumn, as daylight shrinks and air temperature drops. Butch, the Siberian husky in this video, has not been infected with any such malaise. He might cure you of any and all lurking sadness as you watch him make good use of a pile of leaves. Play the video

Pros and cons of a centralized firewall

If you’re looking for an extra measure of online security, a centralized, hardware-based firewall can help — up to a point.

Plus: Preserving XP via slipstreaming, Windows product keys and OEM setups, and using the free Contig tool for special-purpose defragging.

Hardware-based vs. software-based firewalls

After reading the Sept. 5 Top Story, “Ways to secure a router — and other helpful tips,” TonyL sent in this suggestion.

• “Although Fred Langa’s router security suggestions are great as far as they go, a more extreme (and expensive) form of security is a hardware firewall. We use the Dell Sonicwall TZ200W [site]. Why bother with antivirus software and firewalls on each computer when you can have security at the router?

  “Our Sonicwall annual subscription costs about $350. We think it’s worth every penny; we don’t have to worry nearly as much now as we did during the pre-Sonicwall days.”

Yes, centralized firewalls can improve security. They sit between your local network and the outside world, acting as a prefilter to help protect your LAN (and everything connected to it) from external, Internet-based threats.

This type of firewall is often called hardware-based because it typically runs in its own, dedicated box — in other words, it’s not just software running on a PC.

Simple, centralized firewalls are commonplace. For example, most consumer-grade Wi-Fi routers have a basic firewall built in and enabled by default. When you adjust a Wi-Fi router’s settings to, say, allow or block specific types of network traffic or locations, you’re actually changing the router’s firewall rules.

When consumer-grade protection isn’t enough, special-purpose products such as Dell’s SonicWALL can give you a heavier-duty, centrally managed, business-class firewall implementation.

That said, a central firewall by itself still won’t provide complete protection. Even the best of these devices has its limitations.

For example, a central firewall won’t protect your PCs against malware that arrives in your office by flash drive, CD, DVD, or other removable media. It also won’t protect against malware that arrives via ad hoc and peer networks set up with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, near-field communication, infrared, or physical cables. And once one PC on the local network gets infected, all systems on the net could be vulnerable, because the central firewall might not be able to block malware that propagates entirely on the local side of the network.

That’s why, even with a central firewall, you still need desktop-level protection — a local firewall and anti-malware protection — on each and every PC. In fact, a United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) security tip recommends using both hardware and software firewalls for maximum security. The US-CERT site goes on to state:

“Unfortunately, while properly configured firewalls may be effective at blocking some attacks, don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Although they do offer a certain amount of protection, firewalls do not guarantee that your computer will not be attacked. In particular, a firewall offers little to no protection against viruses that work by having you run the infected program on your computer, as many email-borne viruses do. However, using a firewall in conjunction with other protective measures (such as anti-virus software and “safe” computing practices) will strengthen your resistance to attacks.”

If you’re using a consumer-grade, router-based firewall, you have to enable desktop-based protection yourself. (More on this in a moment.)

Centralized, business-class firewalls, on the other hand, can include desktop-level protection as part of the package. For example, Tony’s SonicWALL doesn’t rely solely on router-based security. It adds protection at the desktop via its “Enforced Client Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware” software, which installs and maintains McAfee antivirus on each connected PC. (See Dell’s explanation.)

That’s in line with the aforementioned US-CERT tip, which states that the best security policy is a multilayered defense. Here are the main elements:

• A centralized firewall, running within either a consumer-grade router or a business-class product such as the SonicWALL.
• A separate, always-on desktop firewall, installed on each and every PC in your network. You can use either the firewall built into Windows or the third-party alternative of your choice. (For related info, see the March 11, 2010, LangaList Plus column, “Let’s put your firewall to the test,” or the March 17, 2011, column, “Outbound blocking for Windows Firewall.”)
• Always-on, anti-malware software installed on each and every PC. The many options include Windows Defender, Microsoft Security Essentials, or any of the excellent third-party alternatives. (See the April 4 Top Story, “Microsoft’s six free desktop security tools,” and the May 19, 2011, Top Story, “Don’t pay for software you don’t need — Part 2.”)
• Fully up-to-date system software and applications, with all necessary security patches applied. (See Windows Secrets’ twice-monthly Patch Watch column.)

So, yes: a central firewall can significantly improve your security. But defense in depth — multiple layers of security — gives you the best shot at keeping all your PCs safe!

Windows 8’s product key on OEM setups

Writing from Ireland, reader Liam had a question after reading the Sept. 12 Top Story, “A clean-slate reinstall for Windows 8.”

• “You say towards the end of the article that Windows will ask for its product key. I did a Win8 reinstall on my laptop and wasn’t asked for a key.

  “Is this normal, or will I be required to input the key in the future?

  “My laptop is new — and to the best of my knowledge, I didn’t get a product key with it.”

Aha! You probably used the OEM-provided restore medium that came with your laptop (a recovery partition, DVD, etc.). Before Windows 8, OEM systems typically had a sticker on the case that included the product-key number. With Win8, the product key is now stored in the system BIOS — no manual entry is required. For more on OEM versions of Win8 and product keys, see the answers to a Microsoft Community forum post. The change has some significant implications if you need to repair or upgrade your system.

I didn’t think to mention how OEM versions of Win8 handle product keys. My apologies, and thanks for pointing it out!

Can you preserve XP via “slipstream?”

David Jordan is looking for a way to conserve and maintain his XP setup, after Microsoft drops support in April, 2014.

• “As Windows XP is coming to its end of life, would now be a good time to do an article on how to slipstream a fully patched SP3 Windows XP to a CD?

  “I would appreciate it, as none of my attempts seems to have worked!”

I’ll answer your question, David, but I’ll then suggest what I think are two much better alternatives.

A quick refresher: Slipstreaming is a technique for producing a custom Windows Setup CD by blending the files on an original, retail Setup CD with the files of the most recent service pack.

This hybrid CD is 100 percent legitimate and will work exactly like your original Setup CD — it’ll even use your original 25-character product key.

When you use a slipstreamed Setup disc to install Windows, the base OS and the included service packs are installed in one step. In the case of XP, this can save hours you’d otherwise have to spend setting up the base OS, then downloading and installing its three Service Packs.

I used to recommend slipstreaming. See, for example, the Dec. 18, 2008, LangaList Plus article, “Slipstreaming simplifies Windows reinstalls.” If you really want to slipstream, that article will get you going.

But here’s the first of the two better alternatives to slipstreaming XP: simple, reliable, disc imaging.

Imaging creates an exact, byte-for-byte replica of your hard drive. It includes all your installed software and data — fully set up, configured, and ready to go.

To preserve XP (or any other Windows) via imaging, you must first fully update your system and all its software: get your setup as lean, clean, error-free, and perfect as possible. You then image the hard drive to DVDs/CDs or an external drive. In the future, if or when you need to, you can restore the image and bring your setup back to the exact condition it was in when you made the image, all in one step.

For lots more on prepping, perfecting, and preserving your XP setup, see the August 12, 2010, Top Story, “Preparing Windows XP for the long haul.” That article also includes information on imaging tools for XP.

But while imaging will preserve — and let you easily recover — your current setup, it will do nothing at all to protect you against the new vulnerabilities and exploits that are certain to come to light after April, 2014, when Microsoft stops writing security patches for XP. (See the Sept. 19 LangaList Plus, “PC security after XP’s official end of life.”)

And that brings us to the third and best alternative for dealing with XP. Instead of preserving an increasingly unsafe and obsolete operating system, it’s time to think about replacing it with a newer version.

That’s the best and safest way for XP users to move forward — after April 2014.

Update: Should you remove “Should I Remove It?”

The Should I Remove It? utility, described in the Sept. 12 LangaList Plus, has been causing trouble for some readers: for example, their anti-malware tools report possible threats or “potentially unwanted software” warnings.

I tested the app on my PCs before mentioning it in this column; I encountered no trouble at all, and my PCs remain clean. Additional tests by Windows Secrets staffers, using different and varied PCs, also found no problems we could attribute to the software.

But enough readers have reported trouble to suggest that something’s going on, either with the app or with its download site. (Sometimes good sites can be hijacked by malware authors via infections placed on the webservers.)

Because there’s no good way to know whether there’s truly a problem with the utility, I suggest we all err on the side of caution. If you haven’t installed Should I Remove It?, don’t. If you’ve already installed it, you might want to remove it.

The old rule of thumb applies: When in doubt, take it out.

Contig — a free, special-purpose defragger

Burke Steinfelt is looking for a tool that does more than his standard defragger. He found a clue in an old LangaList Plus article.

• “I would like to move Windows XP and Win7 files and metadata so that all free space can be contiguous (or at least leave only small gaps) at the end of the partition after a defrag. I’m looking for a free solution.

  “Will Contig do the trick? It was mentioned in the [July 15, 2004, LangaList Plus article], ‘The “Contig” Defrag Trick.'”

Contig is a free, special-purpose, command-line (i.e., non-graphical) defragmentation utility offered by Windows Sysinternals (site).

Unlike a general-purpose defragmentation utility, Contig doesn’t process your whole disk. Instead, it’s designed to let you quickly touch up problem files — ones that suffer frequent, high levels of fragmentation — in between the time-consuming full runs of your standard, whole-disk defrag tool.

Contig can also defragment system-level metadata files — files that contain data about data and that are automatically created by Windows on NTFS disks. Metadata files include system-level operational and housekeeping information such as the Master File Table, access and security data, records of bad clusters, and more.

Sysinternals says Contig can analyze and defragment a number of metadata file types, including $Mft, $Boot, $BadClus, $Secure, $LogFile, $Volume, $AttrDef, and more (see Figure 1).

I generally don’t worry about metadata files. As I said in the original 2004 article, “It’s probably not worth the hassle. If your standard tools get your disk fragmentation down to the low single digits, it’s perfectly fine to declare victory and stop.”

But if you want to defrag your system to the nth degree, a free tool such as Contig, in conjunction with your regular whole-disk defrag tool, can help get the job done!

Cleaning up a crush of MS Office updates

While most of us are getting ready for Fall, Office users are digging out from under an excess of mostly nonsecurity updates.

Not all the Office patches are ready to install; the Office 2010 SP2 release still has issues.

MS13-068 (KB2794707) and Office 2010 SP2 (2687455)

Office 2010 SP2 still suffering from minor flaw

Microsoft should soon push out Office 2010 SP2 to everyone getting Windows updates automatically. (Previously, those users might have seen KB 2687455 listed in Windows Update but unchecked for installation.) I’m still not ready to give the full thumbs-up to this major update. As noted in MS forums, some Office 2010 users who installed SP2 continue to receive false error messages in their application event log when they start up Outlook.

The good news: the error is cosmetic. There’s no actual error, but the Office event logs could become cluttered with messages such as “Calendar Folder property is missing.” An event log filled with false errors can make it difficult to find the records of other PC problems — they roll off the log sooner than normal and the event you’re looking for is gone.

This problem can also occur after installing KB 2794707, a September security update for an Outlook vulnerability. We have several shared calendars in my office, and my event log is filled with the Event 27 “Calendar Folder property is missing” error.

There’s currently no ETA on a fix for this issue. Because it’s consider cosmetic, it might be a low priority for Microsoft; however, I don’t find it reassuring to be told to ignore an error. Fortunately, the vulnerability patched by KB 2794707 is difficult to exploit, according to a Microsoft Security Research & Defense post.

What to do: There’s probably no real harm in installing KBs 2687455 (Office 2010 SP2) and 2794707 (MS13-068). But it’s just as probable there’s no real harm in waiting until Microsoft provides a fix for these fixes. I recommend keeping both updates on hold for a while longer.

Note that KB 2825640 prepares your system for Office 2010 SP2. Make sure this update is installed first.

Office 2010 Starter Edition won’t start

Microsoft typically ships its Office 2010 Starter Edition with new OEM systems. But soon after installing KB 2589275, a nonsecurity update for all versions of Office 2010, users reported that Office apps would no longer open automatically when they double-clicked an associated document. Their document icons also changed to generic styles. As noted in an Office Sustained Engineering and Release blog, the update broke file-type associations.

The blog gives several ways to repair the associations, including opening Windows’ Uninstall or change a program tool and running the Repair option.

What to do: Fortunately, fixing the file associations is relatively easy. But it adds to an already full month of Office updating issues.

2817630

An update on Outlook 2013’s missing folder pane

If you were unlucky enough to catch KB 2817630 before it was pulled from Microsoft’s update servers, you might have run into the missing-folder-pane problem.

Described in another Office Sustained Engineering blog, the problem was caused by a version mismatch between two files: outlook.exe and mso.dll. With the update installed, the folder-pane view was truncated; uninstalling the patch returned the folder pane to normal.

What to do: Use Windows Update’s View update history link to check whether KB 2817630 is on your system. If it is, go to Windows’ Uninstall or change a program utility and click the View installed updates link to find and remove it. Then wait until Microsoft releases a fully functioning version.

MS13-076 (2876315) and MS13-077(2872339)

Two Windows kernel updates get green light

As I’ve mentioned numerous times, kernel updates can be troublesome. Fortunately, there have been no significant reports of issues with either KB 2876315 or KB 2872339 (which was a replacement update for a problematic August kernel fix).

There have been some rare instances of BSoDs caused by these two updates. Fortunately, if you’re at risk for a BSOD due to the update’s known issues, the update will not be offered on your system. If you do run into trouble, please post to the Windows Secrets Lounge, so I can follow up with you.

Look for my tutorial on the Windows kernel in the next issue of Windows Secrets.

What to do: Install KB 2876315 and KB 2872339 as soon as possible.

Problematic Office updates ready for install

Several September Office updates were not behaving well — they tried to install themselves repeatedly. According to an Office Sustained Engineering post, the updates have been fixed; they should install properly, and you should not see them reoffered. If you do, it’s probably because your Windows Update is set to “Download updates but let me choose whether to install them.” In Windows Update, click the Check for updates link to reset your software-distribution folder.

The following updates should now install without issue:

• KB 2553145 for PowerPoint 2010
• KB 2553351 for PowerPoint Viewer 2010
• KB 2760411 (MS13-072) for Office 2007
• KB 2760583 (MS13-073) for Excel 2007
• KB 2760588 (MS13-073) for Office 2007
• KB 2760589 – SharePoint server 2007
• KB 2760590 – Excel Viewer 2007
• KB 2767913 – Office 2010
• KB 2810009 – Office 2013
• KB 2810048 – Excel 2003

What to do: Install all the above updates.

Cleaning up nonsecurity Office updates

In the past, Microsoft typically released security updates on Patch Tuesday — the second Tuesday of the month — and nonsecurity updates on the fourth Tuesday. It was a policy I wish the company would stick to. As you know, I almost always recommend you not install security and nonsecurity fixes at the same time.

Unfortunately, we’re seeing more and more nonsecurity updates released on Patch Tuesday. As evidence, see the long list of Office fixes below. There is a silver lining, however: waiting a couple of weeks before installing nonsecurity updates gives us time to look for reports of patch problems.

To wit: I’ve not run across any issues with the following updates (with the exception of KB 2817630, which Microsoft recalled).

• Office 2010 updates:
  • KB 2553157
  • KB 2553446 (for Access)
  • KB 2589298
  • KB 2589370
  • KB 2589375
  • KB 2760598
  • KB 2760758
  • KB 2794737
  • KB 2810066 (for Visio Viewer)
  • KB 2810071 (Office Filter Pack)
  • KB 2810072 (for OneNote)
• Office 2013 updates:
  • KB 2752093 (for Access)
  • KB 2760267
  • KB 2760533
  • KB 2760539
  • KB 2768014
  • KB 2817308 (for Word)
  • KB 2817311
  • KB 2817493
  • KB 2817624
  • KB 2817626
  • KB 2817627 (for Word)
  • KB 2817632
• KB 2817630 for Outlook 2013 had problems and was pulled back by Microsoft.
• KB 2836943 for .NET Framework 3.5.1
• KB 2853952 for Windows Server 2008 R2; particularly important for server admins using Hyper-V.
• KB 2868116 for Win7; improved contest warnings in Windows; could take some time to install.

What to do: Install the optional Office updates as listed above, if offered.

Knocking off optional and miscellaneous patches

These optional updates have been hanging around — it’s time to either install or hide them. There are no reports of problems with any of the following:

KB 2861855 is a defense-in-depth measure for Remote Desktop Protocol network-level authentication, used when you connect to a remote PC with RDP.

On occasion, Microsoft will release time-zone updates for various world locations — typically when countries adopt or drop daylight-saving time. KB 2863058 is a cumulative time-zone update; you’ll find the affected countries or regions in the related MS Support article‘s “General changes made by this update” section. It’s worthwhile reviewing these time-zone changes and adding the updates when needed.

KB 2808679 is an optional security update (an oxymoron, I know). It prevents URL port scanning. According to the update’s MS Support documentation, it “protects an external network from verifying whether a uniform resource identifier (URI) port on an internal network is open or closed. The external network uses a nested S/MIME email message to perform this verification.”

Regularly updated problem-patch chart

This table provides the status of recent Windows and Microsoft application security updates. Patches listed below as safe to install will typically be removed from the table about a month after they appear. For Microsoft’s list of recently released patches, go to the MS Security TechCenter page.

See our “Windows Secrets master Patch Watch chart” post for a more extensive list of recent updates.

Patch	Released	Description	Status
2813430	06-11	SSL-certification hardening; optional for admins	Skip
2817630	09-10	Outlook 2013 update	Skip
2817468	07-09	Outlook 2013 update	Install
2840628	07-09	.NET Framework 3.5.1/SharePoint 2010 incompatibility	Install
2859537	08-13	Windows kernel	Install
2849470	08-13	Remote procedure call	Install
2850869	08-13	Unicode Scripts Processor; Windows XP SP3 only	Install
2862772	08-13	Internet Explorer	Install
2868623	08-13	ICMPv6	Install
2756473	09-10	Outlook preview pane issue	Install
2794707	09-10	Outlook 2010	Install
2825621	09-10	FrontPage 2003 SP3	Install
2825999	09-10	Outlook 2007 SP3	Install
2834052	09-10	SharePoint Server; see MS13-067 for complete list	Install
2845537	09-10	MS Word; see MS13-072 for complete list	Install
2848637	09-10	Access; see MS13-074 for complete list	Install
2853587	09-10	Active Directory	Install
2858300	09-10	Excel; see MS13-073 for complete list	Install
2864063	09-10	Windows Theme File	Install
2870699	09-10	Internet Explorer cumulative update	Install
2872339	09-10	Windows Service Control Manager	Install
2876217	09-10	Object Linking and Embedding for Visio files	Install
2876315	09-10	Kernel-mode driver	Install

Status recommendations: Skip — patch not needed; Hold — do not install until its problems are resolved; Wait — hold off temporarily while the patch is tested; Optional — not critical, use if wanted; Install — OK to apply.

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