windows – Page 39 – Computer Security Articles

August 23, 2018 admin

Microsoft Patch Alert: Mainstream August patches look remarkably good, but watch out for the bad boys

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2018 14:01:00 -0700

So far this month we’ve only seen one cumulative update for each version of Windows 10, and one set of updates (Security only, Monthly Rollup) for Win7 and 8.1. With a few notable exceptions, those patches are going in rather nicely. What a difference a month makes.

We’ve also seen a massive influx of microcode updates for the latest versions of Windows 10, running on Intel processors. Those patches, released on Aug. 20 and 21, have tied many admins up in knots, with conflicting descriptions and iffy rollout sequences.

Big problems for small niches

At this point, I’m seeing complaints about a handful of patches:

The original SQL Server 2016 SP2 patch, KB 4293807, was so bad Microsoft yanked it — although the yanking took almost a week. It’s since been replaced by KB 4458621, which appears to solve the problem.
The Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 patch, KB 4456688, has gone through two versions — released Aug. 14, pulled, then re-released Aug. 18 — and the re-released version still has problems. There’s a hotfix available from the KB article, but you’d be well advised to avoid it.
Outlook guru Diane Poremsky notes on Slipstick that the version of Outlook in the July Office 365 Click-to-Run won’t allow you to start Outlook if it’s already running. “Only one version of Outlook can run at a time” — even if the “other version” is, in fact, the same version.
The bug in the Win10 1803 upgrade that resets TLS 1.2 settings persists, but there’s an out-of-the-blue patch KB 4458116 that fixes the problem for Intuit QuickBooks Desktop.
The Win10 1803 cumulative update has an acknowledged bug in the way the Edge browser interacts with Application Guard. Since about two of you folks use that combination, I don’t consider it a big deal. The solution, should you encounter the bug, is to uninstall the August cumulative update, manually install the July cumulative update, and then re-install the August cumulative update — thus adding a new dimension to the term “cumulative.”
The Win7 Monthly Rollup has an old acknowledged bug about “missing file (oem<number>.inf).” Although Microsoft hasn’t bothered to give us any details, it looks like that’s mostly a problem with VMware.

The rest of the slate looks remarkably clean. Haven’t seen that in a long while.

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Security Sophos

August 17, 2018 admin

What you need to know for Patch Tuesday, August 2018

Credit to Author: Andrew ODonnell| Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2018 19:16:44 +0000

With 23 critical vulnerabilities addressed in patches from Microsoft and Adobe, August is turning out to be a good month for updates — but don’t delay installing them.<img src=”http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sophos/dgdY/~4/_Fw-RIvgU1s” height=”1″ width=”1″ alt=””/>

ComputerWorld Independent

August 17, 2018 admin

2 undocumented patches from Microsoft may solve the 1803 TLS 1.2 blocking problem

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2018 09:42:00 -0700

Microsoft’s KB 4458166, released on Tuesday, explains that the push to Win10 version 1803 has been halted for machines running .Net applications that use the TLS 1.2 security protocol. Presumably, effective Tuesday, if you have a Win10 1709 or 1703 machine that’s running one of those programs (including, notably, QuickBooks Desktop), Microsoft won’t try to push 1803 on it.

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ComputerWorld Independent

August 15, 2018 admin

Patch Tuesday fallout: Bad docs, but so far no major problems

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2018 08:46:00 -0700

Microsoft may have fixed July’s horrible, no good, very bad patches. Although the initial documentation for this month’s patches included warnings about many of the bugs that persisted from July, it ends up that the docs were wrong, and most of the known problems seem to be fixed.

As of early Reboot Wednesday morning, the patches seem to be behaving themselves. Of course, it frequently takes days or even weeks for bugs to appear, so you’d be well advised to avoid jumping into the unpaid battle zone for now.

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ComputerWorld Independent

August 13, 2018 admin

Patch Tuesday’s coming: Block Windows Update and pray we don’t get fooled again

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2018 06:37:00 -0700

July 2018 patches for both Windows and Office brought bugs and bugs of bugs — many of which haven’t been solved, even now. We have even reached the unprecedented stage where the .NET team openly warned people against installing buggy updates, and the Monthly Rollup previews got shoved down the Automatic Update chute to fix bugs in the primary Monthly Rollup.

July was more galling than most months because the patches caused widespread problems for many, while plugging security holes for exactly zero widespread infections.

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ComputerWorld Independent

August 10, 2018 admin

A word to the wise: Skip Microsoft’s July patches

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2018 05:22:00 -0700

On July 9, I recommended that you disable Windows Automatic Update and wait to see if the July Microsoft patches brought more mayhem than relief. With the August patches just a few days away, it’s time to put a nail in the July coffin. I strongly recommend that you not install any of the July patches, and pray that Microsoft treats us better in August.

It’s been a tumultuous month.

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ComputerWorld Independent

August 3, 2018 admin

Windows updaters express frustrations. Microsoft responds.

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2018 08:56:00 -0700

No doubt you recall patching guru Susan Bradley’s open letter to Microsoft brass, summarizing the results of her Windows update survey. The results were quite damning in many ways, with complaints about the quality and frequency of patches topping the list.

Microsoft has responded to the open letter in a rather roundabout way. Two days after Computerworld posted the open letter, Bradley received an email that says:

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ComputerWorld Independent

July 31, 2018 admin

If at first you don’t succeed, .Net, .Net, .Net again

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2018 05:49:00 -0700

July will go down in the Microsoft Patching Halls of Infamy as one of the worst months ever. Every version of Win10 got three big cumulative updates, and a fourth should be hot on their heels. Let that sink in for a second: Windows patches used to come out once a month, then twice, and now we’re up to three or four a month, sprinkled on random days of the month. And they’re big bunches of fixes.

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