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.

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Microsoft, Miscellany, Patches and updates, Privacy, Windows 10

Windows 10 miscellany

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Ed Bott noticed that the latest release of Windows 10 (1511) was mysteriously removed from availability via the Media Creation Tool. The new version can still be obtained through Windows Update. Microsoft’s explanation isn’t very helpful, and it’s rather annoying to system builders who missed the brief window during which release 1511 was available via MCT. Update #1: Ars Technica reports on the situation, noting that there are reports of serious problems with release 1511 when installed via the MCT. Update #2: Ars Technica confirms that upgrading via MCT was causing privacy settings to be reset to defaults. The problem has been fixed, and build 1511 is once again available via MCT.

Meanwhile, Microsoft apparently updated its privacy policy in response to concerns about information gathered and transmitted by Windows 10. Changes to the policy make it clear that Microsoft will only provide law enforcement access to your data on their servers, not data stored locally on your computer. Encryption keys are backed up to Microsoft servers, but Microsoft will not use them to decrypt disks or files on your computer. The collection of telemetry data cannot be disabled, but it can be limited so that only very basic data is collected, and none of it personal.

And finally, Microsoft has relented somewhat on its Windows 10 activation policy, allowing for legitimate installs using old, unused activation keys from Windows 7 or 8.

Java, Patches and updates, Security

Java 8 Update 66

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We previously wondered about the status of Java 8 Update 66, released almost simultaneously with Update 65 around October 20, since it wasn’t being installed by Java’s auto-updater and seemed to cover a lot of the same ground as Update 65.

Well, wonder no longer, since Update 66 is now officially the latest Java version. Java 8 Update 66 is the version you’ll get if you look for the latest version on the Oracle Java site, and Java’s own auto-update mechanisms will also install Update 66. According to Oracle, Java 8 Update 66 was released on November 16. The release notes provide additional details.

Microsoft, Windows 10

Microsoft to start pushing Windows 10 on business customers

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Microsoft is turning its sights on businesses and other large customers, making changes to Windows 10 that it hopes will entice IT departments to try the new O/S.

With the arrival of build 10586, Windows Update for Business is now ready for use in Windows 10. This is bound to be helpful for business users, since it allows updates to be delayed, but there’s still no way to avoid updates indefinitely. Microsoft is still promising to provide better information about updates, but as yet that hasn’t actually happened.

There’s also now a business-oriented version of the Windows Store. Most importantly, there are options for disabling telemetry and other data sent to Microsoft from Windows 10 computers. Hopefully that change will find its way to regular Windows 10 versions as well.

It’s far too early to decide whether these changes will have any influence over business and corporate decision makers. I certainly wouldn’t recommend Windows 10 for use in business or educational environments; there are simply too many unresolved issues related to privacy, updates, and the user interface.

Ars Technica has additional details.

Chrome, Google, Security, Windows XP

Google to discontinue support for Chrome on Windows XP

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Google recently announced that they will no longer support Chrome running on Windows XP after April, 2016. Chrome will still run on Windows XP, but Google won’t address any new security issues in Chrome that don’t affect newer versions of Windows.

Standard advice to anyone still running Windows XP has included avoiding Internet Explorer in favour of a browser that’s still being updated, like Chrome. After next April, Chrome will be potentially as risky to use on XP as Internet Explorer.

Microsoft, Patches and updates, Windows 7

Update MS15-115 re-released to fix crashing issues

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One of the updates released by Microsoft on Tuesday apparently caused serious crashing problems on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 computers. Microsoft has re-issued the update to resolve these problems. Anyone who already installed MS15-115 on affected Windows systems should run Windows Update again to get the new version.

The MS15-115 bulletin has been updated to show the change.

From the associated knowledge base article:

This security update was rereleased on November 11, 2015, for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to resolve the following issues:

* Resolves crashing that occurred in all supported versions of Microsoft Outlook when users were reading certain email messages.
* Resolves problems that occurred while users were logging on to the system. For example, after a user restarted the computer and then pressed Ctrl+Alt+Delete at the logon screen, the screen flashed and then went black. The user was then unable to continue. There may be other, similar logon issues that are related to this issue.

Internet, Privacy, Security

Latest Ouch! newsletters from SANS

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It’s been a while since I posted a link to the SANS Ouch! Security Awareness (“Securing The Human”) Newsletter. It’s a monthly PDF publication that’s aimed at ordinary users, and each issue covers a topic that is – or should be – of interest to everyone.

The most recent issues are Two Step Verification, Password Managers, and Shopping Online Securely. Note: these are all PDF documents.

Note: because they are written for ordinary users, more knowledgeable users may not learn anything new from Ouch! newsletters. Still, they’re worth reading and passing on to anyone who may benefit.

Adobe, Chrome, Flash, Google, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Patches and updates, Security, Windows

Patch Tuesday for November 2015

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It’s that time again. This month’s crop of updates from Microsoft addresses security problems in the usual suspects, namely Windows, Office, .NET and Internet Explorer. Adobe joins the fun with yet another batch of fixes for Flash, and Google releases another version of Chrome with the latest Flash.

The Microsoft security summary bulletin for November 2015 gets into all the technical details. There are twelve separate bulletins with associated updates. Four of the updates are flagged as Critical. One of the updates affects the Windows 10 web browser Edge. A total of 53 vulnerabilities are addressed.

Flash 19.0.0.245 includes fixes for at least seventeen vulnerabilities. As usual, Internet Explorer in recent versions of Windows will be updated via Windows Update. Chrome gets the new Flash via its internal updater. Anyone still using a web browser with Flash enabled should install the new Flash as soon as possible.

Chrome 46.0.2490.86 includes the latest Flash (see above) and fixes a security issue in its embedded PDF viewer.

Hardware, Microsoft, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8.x

Only Windows 10 on new PCs after October 2016

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Microsoft has confirmed that OEMs will no longer be allowed to sell new computers with Windows 7 or 8.x after October 31, 2016. If you buy a new PC after that date, you won’t have any options besides Windows 10.

Support for Windows 7 – including security updates – will continue to 2020, so it’s still a perfectly viable operating system. But it’s unclear whether you will still be able to purchase Windows 7 OEM separately, from Microsoft or any other seller, after October 31, 2016. I certainly hope so, although it seems unlikely. So if you’re planning to build any new Windows 7 computers between October 2016 and 2020, you should stock up on Windows 7 OEM licenses now.

Microsoft, Patches and updates, Windows 10

Windows 10 build 10586

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Microsoft is happy with the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build, designated 10586. That means it will find its way to your Windows 10 computer over the next week or so as the Windows 10 Fall Update. This will roughly coincide with next week’s Patch Tuesday.

My Insider Preview test machine is configured to get the latest updates, so I’ve been using 10586, and the builds that were available in the interim since the last public release (10240) for a while. Now that the test computer is running the new release version, the ‘Insider Preview build’ message is once again gone from the desktop. That will change when Microsoft pushes out the next preview version.

There’s not a lot to talk about here. Most of the changes are fairly minor, including coloured title bars, tab previews in Edge, general cleanup in user interface elements, and improvements to the Start menu. Skype will get several enhancements. Several bugs have also been fixed.

Update 2015Nov15: Ars Technica has a list of changes in the new release, and really, there’s not much of interest.

With this release, Microsoft has also changed the way it identifies Windows 10 versions. The previous release was “Version 10.0 (Build 10240).” The new release is “Version 1511 (OS Build 10586.3)” where “1511” refers to the 11th month of 2015. They like to keep us confused, don’t they?