Newsletter Archives

• Time to wrap up November updating — no bow required

  Posted on November 29, 2020 at 21:00 CST by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums
  

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  By now, you should be getting over the side effects of too much turkey and pie.

  Getting over some Windows upgrading issues might not be as easy.

  It appears that there’s a sizable number of Win10 1909 users who are blocked from moving up to Versions 2004 or 20H2. Last week, I discussed one blocker: Conexant audio drivers. We still don’t have information on when or how this issue will be resolved.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.47.0 (2020-11-30).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch Antivirus support, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Upgrade blocks, Win7 vulnerabilities, Windows updating

• RIP Office 2010? Not so fast!

  Posted on November 15, 2020 at 21:05 CST by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  Well … we thought we’d seen the last of Office Version 2010.

  But Microsoft surprised us by pushing out a batch of November updates for its suite of productivity apps. Note that this isn’t a completely novel event. Microsoft has dribbled out patches for other products that have reached their end of service.

  Going forward, Office 2010 will become more dangerous to use — especially when it comes to email phishing attacks.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.45.0 (2020-11-16).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microcode, Office patching, Win7 vulnerabilities, Windows patching

• It’s the end of the line for Office 2010

  Posted on October 18, 2020 at 21:05 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  Microsoft is closing the book on two business workhorses: Office 2010 and Exchange 2010.

  From a productivity-app perspective, 2010 was an excellent vintage for all Windows users from individuals to small businesses to the Enterprise. Whether it was managing email, building massive spreadsheets, or creating complex documents, Office and Exchange gave us an excellent foundation. But as of October 13, Microsoft dropped all support for both platforms.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.41.0 (2020-10-19).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Office, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Office updates, Win7 vulnerabilities, Windows Updates

• Living in a time of digital obsolescence

  Posted on August 9, 2020 at 23:00 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  By Susan Bradley

  Recently the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation released a document warning about unpatched Windows 7 machines.

  That alert reinforced what we already know: using an unpatched copy of Win7 is risky. According to the FBI, cybercriminals are targeting network infrastructures containing Win7 systems. And the document pointed out past problems with obsolete operating systems. For example, after Windows XP’s end of life, the healthcare industry was slow to upgrade to a supported version, leading to increased exposure of “records.”

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.31.0 (2020-08-10).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, FBI alert, IoT threats, Jailbreaking, Two-factor authentication, Win7 vulnerabilities

• Windows 10 2004 is slowly rolling off the assembly line

  Posted on June 15, 2020 at 01:05 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  The Win10 May Update is coming to a PC near you — sooner or later. Best to make it later.

  The other news for June is vulnerabilities — lots of them. On June 9, Microsoft started sending out updates with an astounding 129 security fixes ranging from remote-code-execution threats to privilege escalations.

  And yet the number of actual patches is virtually unchanged from previous months.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.23.0 (2020-06-15).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Win10 2004, Win7 vulnerabilities, Windows Updates

• Windows 10 2004 has left the barn

  Posted on June 1, 2020 at 01:05 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  Microsoft’s latest “feature” update is being offered up. Here’s my immediate recommendation: Don’t install it!

  No newly released version of Windows has ever been problem-free, and Win10 2004 (aka May release) is no exception. For example, there are already reports of driver issues. As always, we need to give Microsoft time to iron out the wrinkles.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.21.0 (2020-06-01).

  Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Win10 2004, Win7 vulnerabilities, Windows Updates

• .NET Framework oddities and ESU issues highlight May patching

  Posted on May 18, 2020 at 01:05 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  By Susan Bradley

  For some Windows 7 users, May’s .NET Framework security updates proved to be a patching speed bump.

  On Patch Tuesday (May 12), Microsoft released .NET fixes for three new vulnerabilities. CVE-2020-0605 is a remote-code execution threat, CV-2020-1066 might allow elevation of privileges, and CVE-2020-1108 could result in denial-of-service attacks.

  But soon after the updates appeared, Win7 users reported installation failures. The upshot? The patches generally worked fine on systems with genuine (paid) and up-to-date Extended Security Updates (ESU) subscriptions.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.19.0 (2020-05-18).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch .NET Framework, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Extended support, Patch failures, Win7 vulnerabilities