Newsletter Archives

• Microsoft manages to get two months of patches relatively right

  Posted on June 29, 2015 at 08:37 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Will the streak continue?

  InfoWorld Tech Watch 

  Windows Patches/Security June 2015 Black Tuesday, May 2015 Black Tuesday

• MS-DEFCON 5: Time to get patched

  Posted on May 31, 2015 at 14:01 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I’m still amazed but this past month — the May  2015 Black Tuesday crop — has been one of the best-behaved mammoth bunches of patches I’ve seen.

  There were problems, to be sure, but most of them were confined to Microsoft’s insipid attempts to force Windows 10 upgrade advertising down our throats. Considering that was about 1% of all the patches dished out over the month, that’s not a horrible result. Misguided, yes, but not horrible.

  All of the May patches that appear to cause problems — KB 3020369, 3045171, 3057110 — have been fixed or nearly fixed. KB 3020369 can hang at “Stage 3 of 3” during reboot, but we’ve been reassured it isn’t a problem, if you just pull the plug.

  The April stinkers – KB 3048043, 3022345 — have been re-issued and re-issued and, in some cases re-re-re-re-issued. But they now appear to be stable.

  I continue to recommend that you don’t bother with KB 3022345. It’s a Windows 10 come-on. People who install it and then run SFC /scannow get treated to a report of broken system files, but we now know the system files are fine — it’s just that SFC doesn’t like KB 3022345. If you have 302234 installed already, thwack yourself on the forehead, but don’t uninstall it. Ain’t worth the effort.

  The other painful April patch, KB 303814, has been superseded by KB 3049563 on May 12. Another one bites the dust. The painful March IE patch, KB 3032359, was superseded by KB 3038314 in April. Once again, don’t use Internet Explorer unless you really have to. Microsoft’s abandoning it, and so should you. (Okay, I overstate the case, but only by a little bit.)

  So, I’m giving a green light except for KB 3022345, which is an embarrassment that will come back to bite us again. It’s not going to clobber your system, though, so don’t worry about it too much.

  In a rare occurrence, I’m moving all the way down to MS-DEFCON 5: All’s clear. Patch while it’s safe.

  The usual admonition applies: Use Windows Update, DON’T CHECK ANY BOXES THAT AREN’T CHECKED, reboot after you patch, and then run Windows Update one more time to see if there’s anything lurking. When you’re done, make sure you have Automatic Update turned off. I always install Windows Defender/Microsoft Security Essentials updates as soon as they’re available – same with spam filter updates. I never install drivers from Windows Update (in the rare case where I can actually see a problem with a driver, I go to the manufacturer’s web site and download it from the original source).

  Windows Patches/Security May 2015 Black Tuesday, MS-DEFCON 5

• Microsoft’s latest patches leave PCs hanging in ‘Stage 3 of 3’

  Posted on May 14, 2015 at 09:26 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Still no idea what causes it, but the solution’s easy.

  Of course, you have Automatic Update turned off, so you don’t need to worry about it.

  InfoWorld Tech Watch

  Windows Patches/Security May 2015 Black Tuesday

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

  Posted on May 11, 2015 at 10:21 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  With Black Tuesday coming tomorrow, now’s the time to get everything locked down.

  At this point – almost noon east coast time on Monday – there have been no notifications I can find about patches headed down the automatic update chute on Tuesday.

  Microsoft didn’t say that it was getting rid of Patch Tuesday in Windows 10, no matter what you may have read. What they said, in effect, is that they aren’t going to hold back and wait for the second Tuesday of the month to push out either security fixes or new features. Windows 10 installations using Windows Update for Business can bundle up the patches and release them any time they want — second Tuesday is as good as a nod and a wink to a blind horse. For those of us running “free” Windows 10, everything I hear is that you’ll get updated whenever Microsoft is good and ready – Tuesday, Wednesday, everyday, never mind – and you won’t be able to do anything about it, save for disconnecting from the internet completely.

  That may change before Windows 10 launches, but I don’t have a good feeling about it.

  This month, we aren’t seeing an early transition to the Windows 10 rules of engagement. What we’re seeing is a complete disregard for the old advance notification service. Either that, or we won’t have any non-security updates on Tuesday. Which could happen.

  I’m moving us to MS-DEFCON 2: Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don’t do it.

  Make sure Automatic Update is turned off, and let’s see what the morrow shall bring.

  Windows Patches/Security May 2015 Black Tuesday, MS-DEFCON 2