Preparing for 24H2

PATCH WATCH

By Susan Bradley

Don’t roll out Windows 11 24H2 yet. Defer. Delay. Wait.

Most importantly, I always say wait, even if it’s just about monthly patches. But this is about what even Microsoft says is a major release, a complete OS overwrite. That makes 24H2 even more dangerous. Let other, more venturesome, souls take the slings and arrows, and use the lessons learned.

Those lessons may be coming fast. Within the AskWoody community, forum posts associated with last week’s MS-DEFCON 2 Alert demonstrated that some brave testers ran into problems. Other sources have reported glitches, including BSODs. I’m still collecting data and beginning my own testing.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.41.0, 2024-10-07).

What’s this in Edge?

24H2 as you know is out. I do not recommend installing it at this time UNLESS you are in testing mode. Already I’ve seen some unusual new things that I’m like…. what is that?  Case in point Microsoft Power Automate which is automatically enabled in the browser.

I’ve seen some say they saw it, others say they didn’t see this being added to the browser.  (I removed it)

We’ll be getting into more of the nitty and gritty of 24H2 in future newsletters, but just a reminder, should you forget to block it and you get it offered to you, you have ten days to roll back. Unlike the enablement package of 23H2, this one is a full refresh and will take time.

I won’t want any Askwoody reader to install this without having a full backup.

Bottom line, unlike 23H2, the 24H2 is BIG update. 

To uninstall Windows 11 version 24H2, you can follow these steps:
go to Settings > Windows Update > Advanced Options > Recovery.
Click “Go back” in the “Recovery options” section.

MS-DEFCON 2: Windows 11 24H2 is out!

By Susan Bradley

It’s not that 24H2 was unexpected — but we had very, very little notice.

You won’t be surprised by this advice: Don’t take the 24H2 update just yet. Nobody has had time to react to today’s announcement — much less examine the changes, check out the new features, and assess the effects of the update on existing systems.

I considered raising the MS-DEFCON level to 1 because of the suddenness of the news, but 24H2 is not exactly an emergency. So I’m raising the level to 2. I recommend that you use your preferred delaying tactic to prevent 24H2’s installation until we’ve gone through our testing and you reach your own comfort level. As usual, I suggest Steve Gibson’s easy InControl app.

Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.40.1, 2024-10-01).

October 2024 Office non-Security updates have been released

Office non-Security updates have been released Tuesday, October 1, 2024. They are not included in the DEFCON-4 approval for the September 2024 patches. Unless you have a specific need to install them, you should wait until Susan Bradley (Patch Lady) approves them and any problems have been reported.

Remember, Susan’s patching sequence and recommendations are based on a business environment that has IT support and may have time constraints on the updating process. Consumer patching should be more cautious due to limited technical and mechanical resources. The latter is the reason for the AskWoody DEFCON system.

Office 2016
Update for Microsoft Project 2016 (KB5002638)

Office 2016 reached  End of Mainstream Support on October 13, 2020. EOS for Office 2016 is October 14, 2025.

Updates are for the .msi version (perpetual). Office 365 and C2R are not included.

Security updates for all supported versions of Microsoft Office are released on the second Tuesday of the month (Patch Tuesday).

So your identity has been stolen? Again?

ON SECURITY

By Susan Bradley

Not a day goes by that I don’t receive some sort of notification that my name, address, email address, social-security number, credit card, or — well, you get the idea — has been stolen.

So what, if anything, should you do to ensure your identity is safe? Should you subscribe to a dark Web monitoring service? Sign up for credit monitoring, which is typically offered when such an event occurs?

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.40.0, 2024-09-30).
This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

Perturbed by porch pirates? Catch them by using tech.

PUBLIC DEFENDER

By Brian Livingston

With our craze for same-day deliveries, package theft has soared; it cost online shoppers $13 billion in 2023 in the United States alone, according to a Capital One Shopping report.

That’s 119 million stolen packages in the past year, the contents of which averaged $112.30 per parcel. One in seven Americans lost packages in this way, studies show.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.40.0, 2024-09-30).

The best PowerToys for working with text and files

WINDOWS 11

By Mary Branscombe

A lot of the handy little extras in Microsoft PowerToys make life easier for managing files and coaxing text into the format you want.

The clipboard for copying and pasting between applications has been around as long as Windows with few improvements. The basic clipboard manager introduced in Windows 10 (the October 2018 update) has far fewer features than third-party tools like 1Clipboard or (my favorite) ClipMate, which can strip complex formatting and special characters, change case, or combine multiple clips.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.40.0, 2024-09-30).

Redaction made easy for screen shots and PDFs

WINDOWS 11

By Peter Deegan

Both Windows and Mac have tools to remove (redact) details from screenshots and PDFs before sharing. As usual, there are some hidden traps that I’ll help you avoid.

My recent article on screenshots got a lot of forum comments, with some folks asking for more help with redaction tools. Given the slightest encouragement, I’m willing to dive in.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.40.0, 2024-09-30).