Newsletter Archives

• I installed Windows 11 24H2

  Posted on April 7, 2025 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  24H2 has been running on my laptop for some time so I can check things as required by my editorial duties. Last week, I decided that 24H2 needed to be under my fingers all the time, so I updated my daily driver, Obsidian.

  It went pretty well. I did break one of Susan’s rules; the result was at least a doubling of the time the update should have taken because I had to manually fix an unexpected problem.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.14.0, 2025-04-07).

  Windows 11 Drivers, File Explorer, Graphics Cards, Newsletters, Windows 11, Windows 11 24H2

• Intel ARC graphics gains traction

  Posted on December 27, 2024 at 03:00 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  Against the odds, Intel is gaining ground with its ARC graphics chips. Its new “Battlemage” chips are selling out.

  Intel’s A-series chips, codenamed “Alchemist,” piqued interest in ARC last year. I have been in the market for a dedicated graphics card for some time and was impressed enough that I bought a Sparkle ORC OC with the A580 chip, primarily because it cost a mere $165. My budget was set at a max of $200; no other product delivered comparable performance at that price.

  The Alchemist series struggled with games, initially showing competitive performance with a limited number of titles but steadily improving. I’m not a gamer, but I am interested in video rendering performance – the A580 boosted that by an order of magnitude (translation: cut my rendering time by 90%), more than enough to make me happy.

  With the B-series chips, performance has skyrocketed, so much so that Battlemage-based graphics cards are perpetually out of stock. The struggle with games is over; Intel has left its own Alchemist line in the dust.

  NVIDIA dominates with its graphics cards, with AMD trailing behind. Intel is a blip on the radar. But that blip is making a difference – Intel’s price and performance are buyer-friendly, making the market more competitive.

  Intel Graphics Cards, Intel, Intel ARC, News

• Time for 23H2

  Posted on April 29, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The Professional and Home editions of Windows 11 22H2 reach end of life on October 14, 2024.

  Between now and then, those of you on Windows 11 22H2 should begin the process of moving to 23H2. For users with Windows 11 Education and Enterprise editions, their demise arrives a year later, on October 14, 2025.

  If you run Windows 10 22H2, you don’t have to worry about upgrading — Windows 10 will no longer receive feature releases, even though Microsoft is still dribbling out changes to that platform.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.18.0, 2024-04-29).

  Patch Watch Enablement Package, Graphics Cards, Hardware drivers, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, tiny11builder, Windows 11 23H2

• Firmware and drivers

  Posted on April 3, 2023 at 02:41 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Why are drivers and firmware so important?

  Once upon a time, you would set up a computer and any display adapter driver or firmware would be automatically installed to match the hardware. More than likely, you would not install new drivers for a long, long time.

  But now with both Windows 10 and 11, I annually review drivers and firmware as the Windows feature releases come out. I go through certain steps and processes to rule out issues that might have been triggered by out-of-date drivers, especially if I’ve encountered side effects that I can’t otherwise explain.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.14.0, 2023-04-03).

  Patch Watch Drivers, Firmware, Graphics Cards, Intune, Motherboards, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Patch Watch, WSUS

• MS-DEFCON 4: Win11 22H2 not ready for prime time

  Posted on March 28, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.13.1 • 2023-03-28

  

  By Susan Bradley

  March updates are ready. Windows 11 22H2, not so much.

  It’s time to install the updates for the March releases, and that’s why I’m lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 4. There are a few issues out there, but most appear to be plain old low-risk bugs — things that used to be caught in Microsoft’s beta testing. As usual, it seems we’re the beta testers.

  I have several Windows 11 22H2 deployments in active use. If you are not an advanced user, are relatively new to the Windows platform, or are really into rounded corners and having to click several times to build shortcuts on your desktop, you might be tempted to forgive Microsoft for some of these cosmetic bugs.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (20.13.1, 2023-03-28).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, DCOM, Graphics Cards, Motherboards, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 4, Windows 10, Windows 11

• Want laptop graphics power specs? They might not be easy to find.

  Posted on May 23, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.21 • 2022-05-23

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Some well-known manufacturers of laptops make it a little hard to discover the power ratings that determine their machines’ LCD display performance, even though graphics-chip suppliers such as Nvidia and AMD order the laptop makers to do so.

  One of the suppliers — the graphics-processor giant Nvidia — says about this situation, “We’re requiring OEMs to update their product pages” to reveal a crucial laptop feature known variously as Total Graphics Power (TGP) by Nvidia and Typical Board Power (TBP) by AMD, as I explain.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.21.0, 2022-05-23).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender Graphics Cards, Graphics Performance, Newsletters, Public Defender