Newsletter Archives

• Is Secure Boot important for security?

  Posted on May 22, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  During the last few months, some chinks have appeared in Secure Boot’s armor as the result of various attacks and vulnerabilities.

  Let’s go back in history and understand how we got here.

  When a computer boots up, and before the operating system is launched, other code runs. For many years, that was the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) pioneered by IBM in the original IBM PC. Unfortunately, inventive attackers found ways to permanently install malicious code as part of this launch sequence.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.21.0, 2023-05-22).

  On Security IPSec, Microsoft Outlook, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Secure Boot, VPN

• The sky is not falling

  Posted on March 20, 2023 at 02:41 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  You may have seen the headlines: Outlook is getting a patch for a zero-day attack that can’t be fixed just by turning off the preview pane.

  Don’t panic. The risk is greatest if you are connecting Outlook to an on-premises Exchange server.

  Importantly, the attacks have been seen only in targeted firms. The risk is higher for government agencies. Microsoft has even provided a script to determine whether you are at risk.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.12.0, 2023-03-20).

  Patch Watch Exchange Server, Microsoft Outlook, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Patch Watch

• Changes to Outlook and OneDrive have fallout

  Posted on February 6, 2023 at 02:44 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Last week there were two big — and related — changes to Outlook.com and OneDrive.

  One is a way for Microsoft to gobble up more of your OneDrive quota. The other is a new Microsoft 365 plan, which might interest people with a perpetual license to Office 2021, 2019, and earlier.

  I’ll explain these changes in detail; in particular, I’ll explain why these two changes are related and how to deal with the fallout.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.06.0, 2023-02-06).

  Microsoft 365 Microsoft 365, Microsoft Outlook, Newsletters, OneDrive, Outlook.com, outlook.com attachments

• Windows 11’s unique bug

  Posted on August 15, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Whenever Microsoft releases a new version of Windows, it invariably introduces new bugs as a side effect.

  KB5016629 includes a fix for a server message-block (file-sharing) bug that is unique to Windows 11. In a peer-to-peer network, an attacker could trick you by using web-based sharing links such as Azure or other data centers. Windows 10 and earlier are not affected.

  This month’s Windows 11 updates also include fixes for issues where File Explorer fails to work when you use the Star menu’s context menu and an external monitor, or when you use the Play and Pause keyboard buttons.

  Not to be outdone, the Windows 10 security update this month, KB5016616, includes fixes for an issue that affects printing. Let’s hope it fixes those problems we’ve been seeing with USB-based printers.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.33.0, 2022-08-15).

  Patch Watch Adobe, Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Print Spooler vulnerabilities, Windows, Windows 11

• Welcome to beta testing of Outlook

  Posted on May 17, 2021 at 01:00 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  By the time you read this article, the desktop version of Microsoft’s Outlook application will have returned to its normal behavior — being only slightly annoying.

  But on Tuesday, May 11, its behavior was downright obnoxious. Our own AskWoody forums started lighting up with users complaining about their inability to read messages in Outlook. Later in the day, Microsoft’s 365 Twitter account lit up with the same complaints. The only remedy was a roll back to a prior version, which, if you’ve never done it before, is hardly obvious.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.18.0 (2021-05-17).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft Outlook, Patch Lady Posts

• Microsoft confirms problems with June 2017 security patches for Outlook, provides workarounds

  Posted on June 19, 2017 at 11:12 CDT by PKCano • Comment in the Forums

  Microsoft has acknowledged that the June 2017 security patches for Office Outlook can cause Email attachment blocking problems. This affects Outlook 2007 (KB 3191898), Outlook 2010 (KB 3203467), Outlook 2013 (KB 3191938), and Outlook 2016 (KB 3191932). The description of the Security Updates comes with this warning about known issues:

  If an email message includes an attached email message, and the attached email message’s subject line ends with an unsafe file name extension as listed in the Blocked attachments in Outlook page, the email attachment will be blocked for recipients. To fix this issue, save the email message to the computer and rename its subject line so that it does not end with an unsafe file name extension. Then, attach it to the email message to be sent.

  The blocking of attachments with file extensions that are on the list is meant to protect against opening files that could be harmful to your computer. However there have been reports that other attachments such as Rich Text (.rtf) and Word and Excel are also being blocked. Microsoft has issued several workarounds for this.

  For Office 2007 and 2010 Rich Text attachments (.rtf)

  • Forward the email to yourself and then open the attachments from the forwarded email.
  • Change the email format to HTML, or Text format.
  • Save the attachments to your computer, using one of the following methods, then open them from the saved location:
    • Drag and drop the attachments to your desktop.
    • Go to File > Save Attachments.
    • Copy and paste the attachment to your computer.

  For Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2016 attachments containing consecutive periods (…) or exclmation mark (!).
  If you’re sure the attachment was sent from a trusted source, proceed to Open or Save the attachment.

  For Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2016
  If you set ShowLevel1Attach to allow Outlook to display Level 1 attachments, you may see the error: “One or more objects in this file have been disabled due to your policy settings”

  • Change the email format to HTML, or Text format.
  • Save the attachments to your computer, using one of the following methods, then open them from the saved location:
    • Drag and drop the attachments to your desktop.
    • Go to File > Save Attachments.
    • Copy and paste the attachment to your computer.

  For a complete description of the warning messages, and the workarounds Microsoft has issued, see You receive an error when opening attachments in Outlook

  @gborn is also reporting issues with Outlook after installing June 2017 security patches on Born’s Tech and Windows World

  Office Patches/Security Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook problems, Outlook attachments, Outlook security patches, Windows Update