Newsletter Archives

• KB5034441 has led us astray, in a horrible way

  Posted on January 22, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.04 • 2024-01-22

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  What’s with this Windows recovery partition thing?

  If you’ve been following along, you know we’ve been discussing the update associated with a BitLocker vulnerability (described in KB5034441) that may require a resizing of the Windows recovery partition to resolve.

  Microsoft’s handling of this problem has been so terrible that I was driven to raise the MS-DEFCON level to 1, just the fifth time I’ve considered it necessary.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.04.0, 2024-01-22).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Patch Watch CVE-2024-20666, Disk Management, KB5034441, KB5034957, MiniTool Partition Wizard, MS-DEFCON 1, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, REAgentC, Recovery Partition, Windows Recovery Environment, WinRE

• MS-DEFCON 1: Partition size blocks update

  Posted on January 10, 2024 at 14:28 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.02.1 • 2024-01-10

  

  By Susan Bradley

  KB5034441 fails to install with error code 0x80070643.

  This failure is very unusual, so much so that I feel compelled to raise the MS-DEFCON level to 1. Do not install the update for KB5034441 unless you have BitLocker and are vulnerable to the risk of direct physical attack. If you have a system that doesn’t have the enough space in the recovery partition, the update will fail.

  I don’t want you to attempt to install it until you are confident it will have no effect on your system or until you have addressed the underlying problem.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.02.1, 2024-01-10).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, CVE-2024-20666, KB5028997, KB5034441, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 1, Patch Lady Posts, Recovery Partition, Windows Recovery Environment

• MS-DEFCON 1: Pushing off Copilot

  Posted on October 5, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.40.1 • 2023-10-05

  

  By Susan Bradley

  This week offers a perfect example of why I don’t rush to update.

  Ultimately, I want to understand the changes coming to my desktop and ensure that I know exactly what they do.

  A little over a week ago, Microsoft announced Copilot for Windows. What that means is complicated, and we don’t really know all the details; it seems we will learn more, based upon what Microsoft dribbles out.

  That’s reason enough to elevate MS-DEFCON to 1, its highest level.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (20.40.1, 2023-10-05).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, Copilot, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 1, Patch Lady Posts, Windows 11 23H2, Windows Copilot

• A bumpy road for January

  Posted on January 17, 2022 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  I’m always conservative, but this month you must delay applying updates to avoid side effects. Business patchers — you face tough choices.

  We are seeing reports of various issues with this month’s updates, some of which are so extreme that patching administrators in businesses have had to remove or roll back updates. Even for consumer and home users, I suggest holding off; it’s way too soon for me to feel comfortable recommending updates.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.03.0 (2022-01-17).

  Patch Watch Hyper-V, MS-DEFCON 1, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Patch Watch, ReFS, VPN

• MS-DEFCON 1: Business patchers be on alert

  Posted on January 12, 2022 at 10:21 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 19.02.1 • 2022-01-12

  

  By Susan Bradley

  For those running a network with a domain controller, the side effects this month are extreme. Don’t patch.

  MS-DEFCON 1 is a very rare occurrence. When I raise the level that high, it’s because I’m seeing critical issues with patches.

  Microsoft has a technology called Active Directory that allows workstations to authenticate with a “domain controller.” This month’s updates are causing such drastic issues with domain controllers that they can become stuck in a boot loop. That is definitely an MS-DEFCON 1 condition. You should not release patches.

  Anyone can read the full AskWoody Plus Alert 19.02.1 (2022-01-12).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON AskWoody Plus Alerts, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 1

• MS-DEFCON 1 – Blue screens of death triggered by patches

  Posted on March 10, 2021 at 17:23 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.9.2 • 2021-03-10

  

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Don’t patch!

  I’ve moved the patching alert status to DEFCON 1.

  I don’t do this lightly but we are seeing issues with printing after the March updates are installed. Ghacks reports blue screens of death (BSOD) are being triggered after printing. At the moment, it is unclear whether this is the result of the March operating system updates or just the Windows 10 versions, but for sure the Windows 10 releases are triggering these blue screens of death.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Alert 18.9.2 (2021-03-10).
  Learn more about MS-DEFCON!

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, MS-DEFCON 1, Patch Lady Posts, Printing

• MS-DEFCON 1: Don’t patch, don’t use Internet Explorer, and set up an alternate default browser

  Posted on October 7, 2019 at 08:48 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Microsoft (finally!) divulged some details about that CVE-2019-1367 patch (actually, three bumbling, successive patches, for all versions of Windows). But they stuck it behind a $690 paywall.

  Details in Computerworld Woody on Windows.

  Windows Patches/Security MS-DEFCON 1, October 2019 Black Tuesday

• We have a real out-of-band update now, but very little information – and what appear to be a LOT of bugs.

  Posted on October 4, 2019 at 08:04 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I’m still sitting on a fence. I’m moving to MS-DEFCON 1 temporarily, until we have a better understanding of what’s going on. But be prepared to get yesterday’s patches installed quickly, should the need arise.

  More details in Computerworld Woody on Windows: Microsoft releases even more patches for the CVE-2019-1367 IE zero-day, and the bugs are having a field day.

  Windows Patches/Security MS-DEFCON 1, October 2019 Black Tuesday

• MS-DEFCON 1: There’s no reason to stick your finger in the pencil sharpener – DON’T UPDATE

  Posted on April 12, 2019 at 06:36 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  We have confirmed reports of six bad patches this month – Monthly Rollups and Security-only patches for Win7, 8.1, Server 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2 – and troubling reports of a slowdown with the Win10 version 1809 cumulative update.

  Who should be testing this stuff? The answer’s not as straightforward as you may think.

  Details in Computerworld Woody on Windows.

  I’m moving us to MS-DEFCON 1: Current Microsoft patches are causing havoc. Don’t patch.

  Windows Patches/Security April 2019 Black Tuesday, MS-DEFCON 1

• MS-DEFCON 1: There’s no reason in the world to leave Automatic Update turned on

  Posted on October 8, 2018 at 07:51 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Time to turn off Automatic Update again.

  If you survived the brutal barrage of bad patches in July, and avoided the 1809 carnage last week, you should understand why.

  Details in Computerworld: Woody on Windows.

  Windows Patches/Security MS-DEFCON 1, October 2018 Black Tuesday

• MS-DEFCON 1: If you didn’t get the September updates installed, fuhgeddaboutit

  Posted on October 6, 2018 at 05:35 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  My previous MS-DEFCON 3 setting didn’t apply to clicking “Check for updates,” of course. But this is getting stupid.

  There’s no good reason to update anything right now.

  Nothing.

  MS-DEFCON 1: Current Microsoft patches are causing havoc. Don’t patch.

  Windows Patches/Security MS-DEFCON 1, October 2018 Black Tuesday

• We continue at MS-DEFCON 1: Don’t install any of the July patches

  Posted on August 10, 2018 at 06:59 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  With August patches just around the corner, you’d be well advised to give up on the July patches. Yes, some folks dodged the (many!) bullets and managed to get some of the July patches installed without hosing their systems.

  But for almost everybody, in almost every situation, the risk of installing the July patches is far, far greater than the risk of skipping them.

  Computerworld Woody on Windows.

  Windows Patches/Security July 2018 Black Tuesday, MS-DEFCON 1
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