Microsoft acknowledges Surface Book 2 blue screen bug in Win10 1803 second monthly cumulative update

Is there a German word for when a manufacturer’s flagship hardware product bluescreens after installing the latest update to its flagship operating system?

Computerworld Woody on Windows.

Thx @b, @abbodi86, @PKCano.

Thurrott: Microsoft posts downloadable disc images of Windows 7 and 8.1

You need a valid 25-character product key to be able to download the ISO for Win7 or 8.1.

Paul Thurrott on Thurrott.com.

Another really dumb decision reversed.

December 2018 non-Security Office Updates have been released

These are December 2018 Office updates. They will not be included in the DEFCON approval for the November 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.

Office 2010

Update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB4227172)
Update for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB4461579)

Office 2013

Update for Microsoft InfoPath 2013 (KB4022181)

Office 2016

Update for Skype for Business 2016 (KB4461545)
Update for Microsoft Project 2016 (KB4461540)

There were no non-security listings for Office 2007 (which is out of support).
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).

Last month’s second Tuesday cumulative update for Win10 1803 is bricking Surface Book 2

See what I mean about testing cumulative updates before they’re rolled out?

KB 4467682, last month’s second cumulative update for Win10 1803 (the “non-security only” patch from Nov. 27) is bricking many Surface Book 2 machines. I’ve been rallying for Microsoft to start testing its “C or D week” cumulative updates before they’re released. Here’s an excellent example of why that’s crucial.

Richard Speed at The Reg reports:

Blue Screens of Death (BSOD) first began occurring shortly after the update, KB4467682, was dropped on 27 November.

The BSOD headache manifests itself by throwing a SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED error and rebooting the computer. Some users reported seeing the error repeatedly, while others are luckier, losing their work only three times a day or so.

Liam Tung at ZDNet reports that:

People on Microsoft’s answers forum and on Reddit are complaining about Blue Screen of Death, or BSOD, issues that began occurring after installing cumulative update, KB4467682, released last Tuesday for Windows 10 version 1803.

Permit me to repeat, for emphasis. Microsoft should be testing these patches before they’re pushed. I’m not talking about employee-tested dogfood. I’m talking about real, live testing regimens, out in the real world.

The only way that’s going to happen is if Microsoft has a real testing method set up. Leave the ninja cats and cute narwals to the marketing folks. I’m talking about targeted tests, for people with skin in the game.

The Windows Insider Release Preview Ring is made to test cumulative updates before they’re installed. But that only works for one version of Win10.

As of this moment, the Release Preview Ring is only for Win10 1809. There should be similar test rings for all supported versions of Win10 — at the very least, 1709, 1803 and 1809. And then, gosh, Microsoft should actually use them.

I really don’t understand what’s so hard here.

Thx @MikeFromMarkham

New Win10 1809 Release Preview beta build 17763.168, and another acknowledged bug

Credit: Helar Lukats

That’s the fourth version of KB 4469342, only available to those in the Windows Insider Release Preview Ring.

Much to its credit, Microsoft’s waiting until this Win10 1809 is ready.

Computerworld Woody on Windows.

Zac Bowden: Microsoft is throwing in the towel on Edge, replacing it with a new browser based on Chromium

If true, this is amazing news.

Zac Bowden, Windows Central:

Microsoft is throwing in the towel with EdgeHTML and is instead building a new web browser powered by Chromium, a rendering engine first popularized by Google’s Chrome browser. Codenamed Anaheim, this new web browser for Windows 10 will replace Edge as the default browser on the platform.

Edge has never been anything more than a pimple on the butt of Windows 10. Now, maybe, MS will go with an industry standard web rendering engine and add some worthwhile bells and whistles.

Keizer: IE and Firefox catch a break last month

Gregg Keizer has his usual excellent analysis of the monthly browser statistics:

For the first time since June, Microsoft’s two browsers managed to hold onto their share of the browser market; the same could not be said of Firefox.

Edge usage share was flat last month, but IE bumped up a little bit. Astounding.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world. Surprisingly, Firefox is doing very well financially. But Chrome continues to swallow the earth.

Marriott data breach is enormous

Catalin Cimpanu, now on ZDNet, has the news that

Hours after announcing a data breach on Friday, two Oregon men sued international hotel chain Marriott for exposing their data. Their lawsuit was followed hours later by another one filed in the state of Maryland.

Both lawsuits are seeking class-action status. While plaintiffs in the Maryland lawsuit didn’t specify the amount of damages they were seeking from Marriott, the plaintiffs in the Oregon lawsuit want $12.5 billion in costs and losses.

That’s a paltry $25 for each record that’s been purloined. 500 million hotel guests, starting in 2014. “name, mailing address, phone number, email address, passport number, Starwood Preferred Guest (“SPG”) account information, date of birth, gender, arrival and departure information, reservation date, and communication preferences.”

Quite a haul.

Check your credit cards, folks. And push for a US-based GDPR.

UPDATE: If you haven’t seen Brian Krebs’s take on the big breach, look here and here.

I got quite a chuckle when I checked my old messages and came across this one from May: