Author: Susan Bradley

As a Microsoft Patch Lady, I’ve been patching computers and servers for more than 20 years. We started with a process that wasn’t well planned. We had no set day or time for when patches were released, and no way to centrally manage and deploy updat…

This week brought updates that I consider critical for the “Big Three” — my operating system (Windows), my browser (Google Chrome) and my phone (from Apple). All three releases patch major zero-day vulnerabilities on all three platforms.While I stro…

The date has been announced: Microsoft will start offering Windows 11 on Oct. 5 to computers that fully meet its hardware requirements. But should you update?With Windows 11, the decision isn’t so clear.It might seem quaint, but once upon a time, cu…

I got an email the other day, and it was nearly impossible for me to tell at first whether it was legitimate. Given that some vulnerabilities can gain access to your system if you merely preview an email in Outlook, I get nervous. But I do need to d…

It’s that semi-annual time again when a new Windows 10 feature update is imminent — and when you need to decide whether or not you want to participate in its unpaid beta testing process. Microsoft makes it easy for you to opt into beta testing, but …

It’s time again: with Patch Tuesday in sight, I always recommend pausing or delaying updates, and this month is no different. But the second Tuesday of May also brings to an end support for Windows 10 1909. If you want to receive updates for Windows…

It’s that semi-annual time of the year we in AskWoody land call “squirrel away time” — time to make sure you have a copy of the ISO currently installed on your computer in case you need to reinstall it. There are a number of ways to get older versio…

Unlike March, when patch updates caused issues with some printers, Microsoft’s updates for April were relatively tame. Windows users lost the old pre-Chromium version of Edge; some users saw performance issues; and Microsoft started talking up “News…

Microsoft’s powerful new auditing options will help detect intrusions and see what was accessed…if you’ve paid for the right licenses.(Insider Story)

When we started this month of patching, I fully expected to come back by now with massive listings of applications that hated the February updates. That hasn’t been the case, though there have been some issues related to .NET this month. In case you…

One week out from Patch Tuesday and it’s been a bumpy release for the month, especially for older versions of Windows 10 and Server 2016. (Less affected: the consumer versions of Windows 10 2004 and 20H2.)Windows Server 2016/1607 suffered the worst …

Microsoft has officially deemed Windows 10 version 2004 as “ready for business,” but I’d argue it still needs a bit more help to be fully ready for consumers. With this month’s Patch Tuesday upon us, here’s an example of what I mean. It involves mys…