Newsletter Archives

• MS-DEFCON 3: Time to get patched but, man, what a mess this month

  Posted on April 25, 2017 at 07:31 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Please follow these instructions on InfoWorld if you want to protect your machine.

  If you have an older Windows 7 or 8.1 machine, don’t mind if some telemetry/snooping sneaks onto your machine, and you don’t want to sweat the details, skip to Steps A1, A2 and A3.

  Windows Patches/Security April 2017 Black Tuesday, MS-DEFCON 3

• A panoply of problems with this week’s 210 critical Windows and Office patches

  Posted on April 13, 2017 at 11:23 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  April 2017 Patch Tuesday’s 644 patches are crawling in bugs — but there are some solutions

  InfoWorld Woody on Windows.

  Windows Patches/Security April 2017 Black Tuesday

• MS-DEFCON 1: Don’t apply ANY Windows or Office patches

  Posted on April 13, 2017 at 09:51 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I sure hope you folks followed my advice and locked down Windows Update prior to yesterday’s debacle.

  Going through the reports of Windows 7 and 8.1 machines getting blocked, I’ve decided to move to MS-DEFCON 1: Current Microsoft patches are causing havoc. Don’t patch.

  I do that fully realizing that there’s a full-on attack going with the new Word 0day, which may or may not be solved by one of the Office patches from yesterday. Stay tuned, don’t use IE or Edge, and don’t open any Word docs attached to email messages!

  And… spread the word. The machine you save may be your own.

  Several of you have asked…. yes, this includes Windows 10 cumulative updates and the Windows 10 Creators Update version change. Wait.

  Windows Patches/Security April 2017 Black Tuesday, MS-DEFCON 1

• Patch Tuesday patches are up

  Posted on April 11, 2017 at 12:48 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  There’s a massive list of updates to Vista, Win7 and 8.1 on the Windows Update page.

  I don’t see any mention of Security Bulletins, but the Security Update Guide database list has been updated.

  Win10 RTM (1507), 1511 (Fall Update), 1607 (Anniversary Update) and 1703 (Creators Update) have all been patched.

  The documentation for Win10 Anniversary Update is weird, with two build numbers, and the difference between the builds hasn’t been explained as yet: April 11, 2017—KB4015217 (OS Build 14393.1066 and 14393.1083)  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4015217/windows-10-update-kb4015217. Update: Looks like 14393.1083 is for HoloLens.

  The Creators Update is now up to its fifth release: 15063.0 was the first released version on March 30. Then we saw 15063.11 on March 31, 15063.13 on April 3, and 15063.14 on April 5.

  The latest Creators Update took a big jump in build numbers, to 15063.138. Look for April 11, 2017—KB4015583 (OS Build 15063.138) at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4015583/windows-10-update-kb4015583

  If you haven’t figured out why you don’t want Creators Update just yet, look at this list from Microsoft: What’s new in the Windows 10 Creators Update

  There’s a list of Office security patches here.

  UPDATE: Great overview by Martin Brinkman at ghacks.net.

  Still haven’t seen a wushowhide screenshot for “Feature update to Windows 10, version 1703”

  Windows News, Windows Patches/Security 14393.1066, 14393.1083, 15063.138, April 2017 Black Tuesday, KB 4015217, KB 4015583

• MS-DEFCON 2: Make sure Automatic Update is turned off

  Posted on April 4, 2017 at 10:05 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  It’s the first Tuesday of the month. You no doubt know the drill.

  In the next few hours, Microsoft will likely issue a big bunch of “Optional” Office updates. You don’t want to install them. Of course.

  If you followed my directions for installing the March patches, your system is already set to block updates. If you didn’t follow those directions, you should make sure Automatic Update is turned off.

  In Windows 7 click Start > Control Panel. In Win 8.1, press Win-X and choose Control Panel. Click System and Security. Under Windows Update, click the link marked “Turn automatic updating on or off.” Make sure Windows Update is set to “Never check for updates (not recommended).”

  In Windows 10, the situation’s a bit more complex, but I have full details in the InfoWorld article Woody’s Win10Tip: Block forced Windows updates. Short version: With Win10 Pro, bring up gpedit, click Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update. On the right, double-click Configure Automatic Updates. At the top of the resulting settings box, choose Disabled, click OK, and close out of the Group Policy editor. Reboot and you’re done. With Win10 Home, if you’re on a Wi-Fi connection, set it to metered (see the article). If you’re on Win10 Home and you don’t have a Wi-Fi connection, your options are considerably more complex.

  Let’s wait and see what surprises this month will bring.

  Office Patches/Security, Windows Patches/Security April 2017 Black Tuesday

• A crisis looms for Win7 and 8.1 customers with recently-built computers

  Posted on March 23, 2017 at 11:09 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  When the April Monthly Rollup for Win7 and 8.1 appears, a whole lot of people are going to wonder what hit them.

  Article in InfoWorld Woody on Windows.

  Windows Patches/Security April 2017 Black Tuesday, Bristol Ridge, Kaby Lake, Skylake, update-kneecap