Newsletter Archives

• MS-DEFCON 2: Microsoft and Apple betas near finish line

  Posted on August 8, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.32.1 • 2024-08-08

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Hold off on updates from both companies until they are fully vetted.

  With so much activity around forthcoming Windows updates, continued caution is recommended. That’s why I’m raising the MS-DEFCON level to 2.

  I realize that the window between today and last week’s Alert has been brief. It’s just a matter of the calendar — more testing time was needed last month, and Patch Tuesday is next week.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.32.1, 2024-08-08).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, Black Hat USA, CVE-2024-36971, iOS 18, KB5001716, KB5025885, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 2, Office 2019, Patch Lady Posts, Windows 11 24H2

• When is a system beyond repair?

  Posted on March 11, 2024 at 02:41 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  I’m giving up. I hate giving up.

  It annoys me, but I’m giving up on repairing operating systems. Why? Because we’ve reached the point where an operating system can become so damaged that not only can we not fully identify the cause, but also the system cannot be repaired with the tools provided for that purpose.

  There’s a reason I’m in this state of mind.

  The other day, someone in the forums asked me to start a section of Patch Watch to track those updates that did this kind of damage to the extent that the system became unbootable. But here’s the thing: no update is designed to make systems unbootable.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.11.0, 2024-03-11).

  Patch Watch Device Manager, DISM, KB5001716, KB5034441, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Registry cleaners, SFC, System File Checker, VMWare, vSphere

• MS-DEFCON 3: Should you patch? It depends.

  Posted on October 24, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.43.1 • 2023-10-24

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The October updates have been either mildly annoying or downright hostile.

  Stop the presses: I’m urging caution by lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 3.

  A big reason for this is that many folks are experiencing multiple reboots after patches are applied. We normally expect one reboot — one reboot only — when we patch. In theory, all updates should download the parts they need, install the updates, and then reboot. Only when all are installed and the system is ready should it reboot.

  But not this month. Some of us received three updates, each of which triggered a reboot.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (20.43.1, 2023-10-24).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, KB5001716, KB5031356, KB5031364, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 3, Patch Lady Posts