Fall Creators Update will remove some Windows features

Microsoft have recently updated KB4034825 (Last Review: Jul 21, 2017 – Revision: 19), showing several items that will be either removed or deprecated in the Fall (Autumn) Creators Update.

The following features and functionalities in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update are either removed from the product in the current release (“Removed”) or are not in active development and might be removed in future releases (“Deprecated”).

This list is intended to help customers consider these removals and deprecations for their own planning. The list is subject to change and may not include every deprecated feature or functionality.

The list includes EMET, Outlook Express & 3D Builder app being removed, and Paint, Powershell 2 & System Image Backup being deprecated. Some of the items slated for removal/deprecation are for security reasons, which makes perfect sense, but it would be hard to imagine system image backups not being missed by those that still use them.

The full list is available here, and Martin Brinkmann has a good write-up on ghacks.net

Consider a non-Windows OS for email security

In closing a recent ComputerWorld.com post, Michael Horowitz concluded:

“If you read email on a Windows computer, do yourself a favor and use a different operating system, at least for email.”

The article was discussing Windows Scripting Host (WSH), JavaScript and VBScript malicious files, which have been associated with recent malware via emails.

WSH can execute scripts written in many programming languages. Out of the box, it does JScript and VBScript but other languages, such as Perl and Python, can also be installed.

Michael details how to disable the WSH component, and to have any such attachments to open in Notepad, which changes them from being script files. You can find the details here.

Adobe: 64% of American computer owners say they apply updates immediately

Adobe just posted the results of their survey of 2,000 American adults. The summary is a bit different from the details, but here are the questions and answers that caught my eye:

Q: Do you typically update the software on your computer when new updates are released?

A: 64% said yes, 30% said “it varies” and only 4% said they don’t. Note that there’s no response available for “I apply updates but not when the manufacturer pushes them out.”

Q: How do you typically update your software?

A: 41% say they typically choose to be prompted when updates are available. 34% say that, when the software has the option to install updates automatically, they choose that option. 3% say they didn’t know there was more than one way to update software.

Interesting report.

Where are the fixes to the botched June Office security patches?

After a series of pushed-then-pulled buggy fixes to the admittedly buggy patches, we’re still waiting for updated versions.

Computerworld Woody on Windows. (Link has been updated.)

Windows 10 Anniversary Update 1607 = end of the road for Clover Trail chips, but security patches continue

No doubt you watched as the drama unfolded: Ed Bott at ZDNet reported on Monday that folks with older Atom Clover Trail based PCs — Atom Z2760, Z2520, Z2560 and Z2580 processors — were blocked from installing the Win10 Creators Update, version 1703. If you had the temerity to try to upgrade from 1607 to 1703 on one of these three-year-old machines, you were greeted with the nonsensical message:

Windows 10 is no longer supported on this PC

Uninstall this app now because it isn’t compatible with Windows 10.

That sparked quite a furor online, where pundits were all over the map, trying to explain (and even excuse!) Microsoft’s callous behavior. Support for 1607 — the last version of Win10 available for these Clover Trail PCs — ends about a year from now. Folks who bought the Clover Trail PCs in the first wave of Win 8.1 mania, and upgraded to Win 10 (thank you, GWX), had unwittingly boxed themselves into a dark corner where security patches stopped in early 2018. Nevermind that Win 8.1 support goes to January 2023.

Surprise.

A couple of hours ago, Ed posted an emailed statement from Microsoft that explains the sorry state of affairs, apparently laying the blame on Intel’s doorstep:

If a hardware partner stops supporting a given device or one of its key components and stops providing driver updates, firmware updates, or fixes, it may mean that device will not be able to properly run a future Windows 10 feature update…

these systems are no longer supported by Intel, and without the necessary driver support, they may be incapable of moving to the Windows 10 Creators Update without a potential performance impact…

The statement came with an amazing offer:

To keep our customers secure, we will provide security updates to these specific devices running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update until January of 2023.

That means Microsoft’s on the hook to support 1607 for five years more than originally anticipated. Not cool for the Softies, because Microsoft’s been planning on dumping older versions of Win10 every 18 months. Windows as a Service, ya know.

While I welcome the announcement, I can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen with the next bunch of aging processors.

I also wonder what kind of conversations transpired between Satya Nadella and Brian Krzanich. Looks like the old Microsoft-Intel wars are back in full swing.

Microsoft closing Surface Hub manufacturing facility in Oregon, fires 124 workers, probably moves to China

From Mike Rogoway at The Oregonian:

Just two years ago, Microsoft cast its Wilsonville factory as the harbinger of a new era in American technology manufacturing.

The tech giant stamped, “Manufactured in Portland, OR, USA” on each Surface Hub it made there. It invited The New York Times and Fast Company magazine to tour the plant in 2015, then hired more than 100 people to make the enormous, $22,000 touch-screen computer.

More June security patching bugs: You can patch an IE security hole, or print inside iFrames – but not both

The latest IE patching conundrum deals with a bug in the June patches that broke the ability to print in iFrames. Automatic Update flops between one choice and the other.

Computerworld Woody on Windows

What have you heard about KB 4033428?

The KB article says it’s a “Windows Server 2012 R2 processor generation detection reliability update,” released July 18.

Anybody have a clue?