Newsletter Archives

• Businesses in the crosshairs

  Posted on March 17, 2025 at 02:41 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  But first, a personal note.

  As you know by now, the founder of this site, Gregory Forrest “Woody” Leonhard, passed away unexpectedly on March 8, 2025.

  When Woody retired from freelance writing in 2020, he reached out to ask whether I wanted to take over the AskWoody.com site. He wanted to spend more time with his family and pursue other, personal interests. I didn’t hesitate for a second.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.11.0, 2025-03-17).

  Patch Watch Apple, CVE-2025-24984, CVE-2025-24991, CVE-2025-24993, CVE-2025-26633, Internet Printing Protocol, iOS, IPP, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Remote Code Execution, SQL Server 2019, USB Printers, Web Browsers, Windows 11 24H2

• A year and counting

  Posted on October 21, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 10

  

  By Susan Bradley • Comment about this article

  We are a year away from the official end of the road for Windows 10.

  It’s pretty clear that you and I, and a lot of other individuals and companies, will be using Windows 10 after its end of life in October 2025. I want to assure you that I will continue to provide the best information available about how to keep Windows 10 PCs safe and secure.

  I have business systems that will need to stay on Windows 10 for compatibility reasons. I also have PCs that I will keep on Windows 10 because there is no reason to change — they work well and do their intended jobs. But we all must eventually decide when and how to take the next step, no matter what that may be.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.43.0, 2024-10-21).

  Windows 10 0patch, Copilot, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, uBlock Origin, Web Browsers, Windows 10, Windows 11 24H2

• Tracking protection in Edge: Going to bat for privacy

  Posted on July 1, 2024 at 02:41 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  BROWSERS

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Microsoft Edge builds in protection from tracking pixels and scripts that follow you around, and without breaking the websites you use.

  Ever noticed how ads for products you’ve looked at on some shopping sites seem to follow you around the Web? Or how much Facebook and Google know about you?

  That’s thanks to third-party tracking scripts and pixels embedded on the sites you visit.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.27.0, 2024-07-01).

  Browsers Edge, Newsletters, Privacy, Tracking Protection, Web Browsers

• Debug your browser

  Posted on May 27, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  It all started the other day when the social media website Twitter moved completely to its new domain, x.com.

  Before you shame me for using any sort of social media these days: I have very good reasons.

  One is that it’s still, hands down, the best way to determine whether a problem with a cloud service is your problem or the cloud’s problem. Microsoft still uses 𝕏 as a means to send out status alerts. Thus for many in IT, this continues to be a key way to remain aware of issues in technology.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.22.0, 2024-05-27).

  On Security Chrome, Edge, extensions, Fiddler, Firefox, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Web Browsers, X

• How secure is your most-used operating system?

  Posted on April 1, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  This is the April Fool’s edition of the newsletter.

  But don’t worry. I’m not going to try to trick you by saying that Microsoft made an announcement that it is giving up on Copilot and AI (with its huge investment, it won’t). Or by telling you that every tech vendor just announced that all security fixes will be free forever (after all, they want incentives for us to upgrade). Or explaining that suddenly, your major operating system is absolutely, positively secure and will remain so for the rest of our lives (check out the newest vulnerability tomorrow).

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.14.0, 2024-04-01).

  On Security Browser Extensions, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Virtual Machines, Web Browsers

• Edge Workspaces for work and play

  Posted on February 5, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.06 • 2024-02-05

  By Mary Branscombe

  Given how often we all share links to webpages, it’s past time for some tools to manage that better. Workspaces is Microsoft’s latest attempt to share and organize Web links with a group of friends or colleagues.

  Tab groups in the Edge browser are great for organizing yourself, especially now that you can sync between your different desktop devices. But they don’t help with organizing Web links you need to send to someone else, or the ones other people send to you.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.06.0, 2024-02-05).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Browsers Edge, Microsoft Edge, Newsletters, sharing, Tabs, Web Browsers, Workspaces

• How to manage tabs in Edge

  Posted on January 15, 2024 at 02:44 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  BROWSERS

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Microsoft’s browser has multiple ways to manage, group, and share tabs.

  Tools for managing the tabs in your Web browser are nothing new, but Edge has multiple options, depending on whether you want to categorize, sync, or share those tabs. It even has some clever tricks to teach familiar old tab groups — including a long-requested feature which appeared just last week.

  A key aspect I’ll cover here is the difference between groups and collections.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.03.0, 2024-01-15).

  Browsers Edge, Newsletters, Synchronization, Tabs, Web Browsers

• Spying or helpful? You decide.

  Posted on November 27, 2023 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PRIVACY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Years ago, my girlfriend had her first baby.

  Suddenly, I found myself sitting in front of my computer, searching only for baby bottles, baby clothes — everything baby-related.

  Milliseconds later (at least it seemed that fast), I was receiving mail for everything baby-related. Clearly, my online activity was being tracked, but I was missing the prominent online notices explaining how I could opt out.

  Then something really weird happened. That baby got a bit older. When he became a toddler, the marketing machine made sure I heard about the perfect baby pull-up pants. He hit kindergarten and I learned about all the books he needed to read.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.48.0, 2023-11-27).

  Privacy Ad Blockers, Newsletters, Notifications, Patch Lady Posts, Privacy, VPNs, Web Browsers, Websites, Windows notifications
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