Newsletter Archives

• Reported problem with KB 3161102 – the Windows Journal zapper

  Posted on August 1, 2016 at 12:07 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Late last week I posted here about Windows Journal death throes.

  Can anybody replicate this? From reader AN:

  I decided this morning that, since the GWX period was over, to install optional update Windows 8.1 update KB3161102.  I figured that, since Windows Journal is a bit of a menace, I’d let Windows Update take care of it for me.  This was a huge mistake.
   
  Since then, Microsoft Outlook has been borderline dysfunctional, and it is extremely slow at popping my email.  It is so burdened, in fact, that at times the program freezes so that I have to close it through task manager.  Frustrated, I decided to uninstall KB3161102 and see if that was the cause of my problem.
   
  In this, I discovered the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.  There is no option to uninstall KB3161102.  When I click on that update, the uninstall button at the top doesn’t show, and the right click menu doesn’t appear either.  However, I can still do this on other updates, as seen in the other attachment (CanUninstall.png).  I have never heard of Windows pulling such an underhanded trick before, but I suppose this isn’t an uncommon occurrence.  I didn’t notice this heresy on many other updates I’ve installed in the several years of this computer’s life, but I did observe that the vast majority of them were updates designated as ordinary “Update for Microsoft Windows.”  Is there a backdoor way to removing such updates anyway?

  Windows Patches/Security KB 3161102

• Windows Journal enters the last lap with KB 3161102

  Posted on July 28, 2016 at 13:44 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I talked about Windows Journal a few weeks ago. KB 3170735 showed signs of putting Windows Journal out of its misery.

  Microsoft just released KB 3161102, which

  lets users remove the Windows Journal component immediately. As a more secure alternative to Windows Journal, we recommend that users download, install, and use Microsoft OneNote. Other mitigations for customers who have dependencies on Windows Journal are provided in this article.

  Some of you may lament its passing. I won’t.

  Windows Patches/Security KB 3161102, Windows Journal