Jeff Rivett has worked with and written about computers since the early 1980s. His first computer was an Apple II+, built by his father and heavily customized. Jeff's writing appeared in Computist Magazine in the 1980s, and he created and sold a game utility (Ultimaker 2, reviewed in the December 1983 Washington Apple Pi Journal) to international markets during the same period. Proceeds from writing, software sales, and contract programming gigs paid his way through university, earning him a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree at UWO. Jeff went on to work as a programmer, sysadmin, and manager in various industries. There's more on the About page, and on the Jeff Rivett Consulting site.

All posts by jrivett


Microsoft, Patches and updates, Security, Windows

Microsoft issues special fix for Windows print spooler vulnerability

Leave a comment

On Tuesday, Microsoft once again broke with its normal update cycle, publishing a series of updates to address a bad security flaw in the Windows print spooler service.

The print spooler exists in all versions of Windows, including Windows 7, and the vulnerability is serious enough that Microsoft issued an update for that O/S, which is technically no longer supported.

The print spooler vulnerability, which is often referred to as PrintNightmare, is documented in CVE-2021-34527.

Although technically the vulnerability could be exploited on any Windows computer, an attacker would need direct or remote access to that computer, and be able to log in as a regular user. Although that scenario is somewhat unlikely for most home users, the risk increases for computers with Remote Desktop enabled, public or shared computers, and computers on business and educational networks that connect to domain controllers.

Because Microsoft now bundles updates together, it can be difficult to identify which downloads apply to any particular update. In almost all cases, the best approach is to check Windows Update.

On Windows 10, navigate to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. Check for updates. If you see the update KB5004945 pending, install it. If you don’t see that update, click the link to ‘View update history’ and make sure KB5004945 has been installed.

The process is the same for older versions of Windows, except that Windows Update is accessed via the Windows Control Panel. The update number will also vary, depending on the Windows version. On Windows 8.1, it’s KB5004954.

Update: Windows print spooler problems persist.

Adobe, Patches and updates, Security

New version of Reader fixes two security bugs

Leave a comment

Adobe logoAnother new version of Adobe Reader (aka Adobe Acrobat Reader DC) was released last week. Reader version 2021.005.20048 includes fixes for two security vulnerabilities, both of which were apparently discovered by independent security researchers.

Unless you’ve disabled the function, Reader will update itself shortly after a new version becomes available. I usually find that by the time I become aware of a new version, Reader has already updated itself on my main PC.

You can check Reader’s version by navigating its menu to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. You can check for and install any pending updates by navigating its menu to Help > Check for Updates...

Microsoft, Patches and updates, Security, Windows

Patch Tuesday for June 2021

Leave a comment

According to my count, which is based on the official Security Update Guide, Microsoft’s patch pile for June addresses forty-nine security vulnerabilities.

There are approximately thirty-two updates, affecting .NET, Office, Windows (7, 8.1, and 10), SharePoint, and Visual Studio.

Only people paying through the nose for them will get the Windows 7 updates; the rest of us are out of luck. Windows 8.1 updates can be installed via the Windows Update control panel. Windows 10 systems will receive the updates when Microsoft feels like rebooting your computer, usally at the most inopportune time.

Internet, Things that are bad

Deceptive design patterns

Leave a comment

There’s an informative post over on the Mozilla Explains blog, about deceptive design patterns. From the article:

Deceptive design patterns are tricks used by websites and apps to get you to do things you might not otherwise do, like buy things, sign up for services or switch your settings.

The post goes on to list some common examples. I’m sure you’ll recognize at least some of these.

Unfortunately, this kind of deception is not limited to the online world, and most of us don’t even raise an eyebrow when we encounter shady sales practices in the ‘real’ world. But the online world is already much more confusing for many people, so recognizing deception can be difficult.

It’s an interesting read, and it may help you to understand some of what you see online, and on your connected devices.

Adobe, Patches and updates, Security

New versions of Acrobat and Reader

Leave a comment

Adobe logoEarlier this week, timed to coincide with Microsoft Patch Tuesday, Adobe released new versions of its PDF authoring tool Acrobat, as well as its free PDF viewer, Reader.

The new versions address ten security vulnerabilities in earlier versions. The new version of Acrobat Reader (DC) is 2021.001.20155.

If you have Adobe Reader installed on any of your computers, you should check whether it’s up to date, and install the new version if it’s not. You can do that by running Reader, and navigating its menu to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.

You can install the latest version of Reader by navigating its menu to Help > Check for Updates.

Edge, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Patches and updates, Security, Windows

Patch Tuesday for May 2021

Leave a comment

Still waiting for the vaccine? Trying to avoid going outside? Well, luckily for you, there are plenty of indoor tasks you can work on, like Netflix binge-watching, exercise, and installing software updates on your Windows computers.

For May 2021, Microsoft is handing us yet another pile of updates, addressing eighty-eight vulnerabilities (by my count) in .NET, Internet Explorer, Office, Edge, Exchange Server, SharePoint, Visual Studio, Skype, and Windows. My analysis is based on data exported from Microsoft’s Security Update Guide.

As usual, Windows 10 users can delay updates but not indefinitely. Windows 8.1 users who don’t have automatic updates enabled need to go to Windows Update to get the updates. Windows 7 users are mostly out of luck, but should check Windows Update anyway, because Microsoft sometimes makes critical update available for all users, not just business and educational users with deep pockets. If you’re still using Windows XP, there are no more updates, and I hope you know what you’re doing.

Edge, Microsoft, Tools, Windows 10

EdgeDeflector prevents Windows 10 from using Edge

Leave a comment

The battle for web browser dominance on the Windows desktop continues, although Google is currently winning. “Google recommends using Chrome” messages seem to appear on every Google-managed web page even if you’re already using Chrome. But while annoying, those messages are arguably reasonable compared with some of Microsoft’s recent tactics.

Microsoft likes to reset certain settings back to their defaults when Windows updates are installed. They’ve been doing this for years, reverting user browser preference to Internet Explorer at every opportunity.

As a result, power users and software developers have been engaged in a tug of war with Microsoft over the default web browser in Windows. In recent years, Microsoft has made it impossible for the default browser to be changed by software, forcing browser makers to instead provide instructions to users on how to make that change. Microsoft can of course claim that this change was made to improve security, and given the prevalance of browser hijackers in past years, it’s difficult to disagree.

With Edge in Windows 10, Microsoft has taken this battle to new extremes. Even if you have another browser selected as the default, some sites and services will always be opened in Edge. To see this in action, click on the taskbar search box. A large panel will open, showing news and weather links. Anything you click here will open in Edge, not in your default browser.

That’s because internally, Windows is using a special protocol called URL:microsoft-edge, which forces the use of Edge for opening web pages that Microsoft has designated as special in some way, despite being ordinary web pages in every sense.

This is of course exactly the sort of behaviour that got Microsoft in trouble in the 1990s: using their dominance in the desktop O/S market to push their own web browser. But these days everyone’s attention seems to be on Google and Facebook, and Microsoft’s browser pushback is being largely ignored.

EdgeDeflector to the rescue

Daniel Aleksandersen’s EdgeDeflector is a small tool that overrides the URL:microsoft-edge protocol’s normal behaviour, forcing it to actually use the web browser you’ve chosen as the default. EdgeDeflector was recently updated to make it more palatable to anti-malware software, which previously flagged the tool as suspicious because of its behaviour.

You’ll have to change this Windows 10 setting manually to make EdgeDeflector work.

Once you install EdgeDeflector, you need to complete its setup with some manual steps. I can confirm that the end result is exactly as advertised: even when clicking news links from the Windows 10 search panel, those links will open in your default browser, not in Edge.

Of course, Microsoft will probably take steps to defeat this useful tool, with the most obvious step being to revert the changes EdgeDeflector has made when Windows 10 is next updated. And so there are no winners in this stupid, never-ending battle.

Java, Patches and updates, Security

Java 8 Update 291

Leave a comment

Oracle’s quarterly bulletin for Q1 of 2021 as usual includes some Java security alerts, and a new version of Java was released to fix the associated vulnerabilities.

Java 8 Update 291 addresses two security vulnerabilities in earlier versions.

As usual, the easiest way to update Java is through its own built-in update mechanism. Head to the Windows Control Panel, open the Java applet, go to the Update tab, and click Update Now.

Edge, Microsoft, Patches and updates, Security, Windows

Patch Tuesday for April 2021

Leave a comment

While installing software updates may not be the most fun you can have, at least you can do it indoors and remotely, safe from the pandemic still raging outside.

As usual, the main source of update information from Microsoft is the Security Update Guide (SUG). The SUG is a huge database, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of information there. I begin my analysis by downloading this month’s information as a spreadsheet, which when loaded into Excel is much easier to handle.

Estimates of the number of vulnerabilities addressed by this month’s updates vary: by my count, it’s one hundred and eighteen. Other people show the total as ‘over 110’ and 114. Microsoft seems to have embraced a ‘keep them guessing’ strategy, perhaps so that we’ll eventually give up and stop counting, and learn to simply accept what we get without trying to get a handle on it. In psychology, that’s known as learned helplessness, which sounds about right.

This month’s updates include fixes for still-supported versions of Windows, Office, Edge, SharePoint, Visual Studio, and VS Code.

Also this month there are fixes for the rather horrible Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities that have led to even worse compromises of business, government, and education systems worldwide in recent weeks. That’s great news, but unless you work in one of those environments, you are likely not affected.

Windows 10 users are once again faced with limited options: a) give in to Microsoft and allow updates to be installed on their schedule, risking bad updates; or b) delay updates as long as possible, risking being exposed to security vulnerabilities.

Windows 8.1 users still have an actual choice, since automatic updates can be disabled entirely. In which case you’ll need to run Windows Update manually to get the latest updates.

Windows 7 still occasionally gets updates. Microsoft creates them for enterprise clients, who pay a premium for that service. Non-paying folks don’t usually have access to those updates, although sometimes Microsoft makes individual updates available to all if they are particularly dangerous. Note that Windows 7 still works just fine: you can minimize the security risk of running it by being extremely careful when using email, browsing the web, clicking links, and downloading software.

Windows XP is still being used, but it’s long past receiving any updates, and it’s increasingly unable to run new software. It’s perfectly safe to use if it’s not connected to the Internet, or if it’s only used for specific, limited tasks.

Malware, Security, Things that are bad

Flagging software as dangerous for the wrong reasons is idiotic

Leave a comment

There’s a disturbing trend in the world of malware detection: falsely labeling software as malware.

For example, there’s an entire category of software that’s being mislabeled as malware by an increasing number of anti-malware providers: torrent software.

Torrent software is widely used by people trying to get access to cultural material that is otherwise locked away by the gatekeepers of big media (by way of prohibitive pricing, overlapping services, poor or unavailable service, geo-locking, release windows, and other big media fuckery).

Torrent software is used all over the world to legally share media in an extremely efficient, and Internet-friendly way.

But big media doesn’t care about any of that, because torrent software is also used for piracy.

Currently, there are efforts underway by media organizations to discredit and cripple torrent software in any way possible. Apparently they are now leaning on anti-malware software and service providers.

Why would an otherwise reputable anti-malware organization erroneously flag software as malicious? There are a number of possibilities:

  • They are being fed false information
  • Industry/corporate threats
  • Financial incentives

Why is this a problem?

  • It’s an extremely annoying inconvenience for users. Unable to install the falsely-labeled software, or exclude it from malware scans, some users will resort to uninstalling their anti-malware software.
  • It’s increasingly difficult for users to distinguish between actual threats and bullshit.
  • If an actually malicious version of one of these programs comes along, there’s no way to distinguish it from other versions that are erroneously flagged as malicious.
  • A general loss of trust in anti-malware providers and their services.

Big media will keep playing this idiotic game of whac-a-mole in any way their lawyers dream up. Media piracy continues, despite these efforts, and the only people affected are innocent users.

Advice to anti-malware purveryors: stop doing this. It’s short-sighted, dangerous, and stupid.