Newsletter Archives

• Would you pay less for hardware without updates?

  Posted on June 22, 2017 at 03:19 CDT by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  Some smartphones come with an unaffordable price tag, and some of those phones don’t even come with good backup service or a long product life expectancy. The cost to purchase often far exceeds the benefits of ownership, if all you want is a mobile phone. The market offering of phones that are just a mobile phone has shrunk dramatically in the last few years, with smartphones being the market leader.

  Michael Horowitz’ June 20th article “Are Android bug fixes worth $510 when buying a phone?” addresses this and goes into the security risks which some cheaper smartphones face, as they do not share the same update schedule given to pricier models.

  Most cheaper models have older OS versions, and one even came with pre-installed monitoring (spyware). The question becomes, is the risk of not updating worth the extra cost of buying hardware that is updated more often? The after-sales service also figures in the long-term cost of ownership.

  Your decision will depend on how you plan on using your smartphone – if phone calls and SMS are your only uses for the device, a cheaper phone may well suffice, but if you plan on doing online banking, accessing cloud documents and online shopping, that might not be such a smart idea.

  Reported life expectancy of a smartphone is less than two years. Even if it does last longer than that, obsolescence often catches you out – think of an iPhone 4 that still works to communicate, but would you want to connect it to the internet now? Its iOS doesn’t work for secure apps any more, and it can’t be updated… planned obsolescence, presumably. Even if you have apps installed, access to them may be blocked. Either you buy a newer model, or just use it as a phone.

  Michael’s article on computerworld.com is an interesting read.

  Other Android, Mobile phone, Security Updates

• XP SP3/Server 2003 Security Patches Released June 2017

  Posted on June 16, 2017 at 09:59 CDT by PKCano • Comment in the Forums

  In a most unusual Patch Tuesday (Full details in  Woody on Windows blog, which has just moved from InfoWorld to Computerworld), Microsoft announced  in a June 2017 security update release  that it was releasing additional security patches for older platforms. Microsoft security advisory 4025685 was released in tabular form, with references to the security bulletins that each patch addressed for each of the non-supported older platforms. To make for easier downloads, here is the list or the patches needed for Windows XP/Server 2003.

  NOTE: These links are set to open in additional tabs. After the download, remember to close the extra tab(s).

  XP SP3

  • KB958644 — you may already have this 2008 update installed.
  • KB2347290 — you may already have this 2010 update installed.
  • KB4012598
  • KB4012583
  • KB4022747
  • KB4018271 for IE8
  • KB4018466
  • KB3197835
  • KB4024323
  • KB4025218
  • KB4024402
  • KB4019204

  Server 2003 SP2 64-bit

  • KB958644 — you may already have this 2008 update installed.
  • KB2347290 — you may already have this 2010 update installed.
  • KB3011780
  • KB4012598
  • KB4012583
  • KB4022747
  • KB4018466
  • KB3197835
  • KB4024323
  • KB4025218
  • KB4024402
  • KB4019204

  Server 2003 32-bit or Home Server 2003 original release

  • KB4022747
  • KB4018466
  • KB3197835
  • KB4024323
  • KB4025218
  • KB4024402
  • KB4019204

  If you need additional patches for other older platforms, they can be downloaded from the Microsoft Update Catalog by entering the patch number in the search box.

  Windows Patches/Security older platforms, Security Advisory 4025685, Security Updates, Server 2003 update, Windows XP update, XP SP3

• Microsoft’s changing the way it documents security patches

  Posted on November 10, 2016 at 13:03 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Security Bulletins are getting the boot, to align with the new groups-of-patches-only distribution.

  I think the new approach delivers a lot more useful information with a lot less useless verbiage.

  What do you think?

  InfoWorld Woody on Windows

  Windows Patches/Security Security Bulletin, Security documentation, Security Updates, Software Update Summary