TweakHound

Computer stuff...

Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound)

Windows 10 Quality

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This blog post by Microsoft VP Michael Fortin has gotten Geeks Irish up. The entire post is delusional and tone-deaf. It spends half the time telling us we think Win10 is great and the other half telling us what a great job Microsoft is doing.
Geeks and Windows Experts have savaged Microsoft for the fiasco that is Win10 and this latest post just made things worse. Some recent comments from the Windows Expert / Geek world:
Paul Thurrott
“You can’t trust anything these people tell you. They literally have no idea what they’re doing.”
Woody Leonhard
“The past four months have shown, repeatedly, that you’d have to be crazy — or ignorant of the past — to continue applying Windows patches as soon as they’re released.”
Chris Hoffman
“We want Microsoft to understand the problem, take it seriously, and make some real changes…We’d be happier if Microsoft would stop breaking things.”
Ed Bott
“Customers who are running an officially released version of Windows should not have to sign up as beta testers to get critical fixes…And don’t get me started on the Microsoft Answers forum, where overwhelmed volunteer moderators routinely paste boilerplate replies to customers reporting genuine issues. Good luck finding actual help there. Mainstream customers running a released version of Windows shouldn’t have to spend hours hunting down information about issues and updates.“

Patch Tuesday

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Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 have updates.

Windows 7
November 13, 2018—KB4467106 (Security-only update)
November 13, 2018—KB4467107 (Monthly Rollup)

Windows 8.1
November 13, 2018—KB4467703 (Security-only update)
November 13, 2018—KB4467697 (Monthly Rollup)

Windows 10
Build 1809 –
November 13, 2018—KB4464455 (OS Build 17763.107)
November 13, 2018—KB4467708 (OS Build 17763.134)
Build 1803 – November 13, 2018—KB4467702 (OS Build 17134.407)
Build 1709 – November 13, 2018—KB4467686 (OS Build 16299.785)
Build 1703 – November 13, 2018—KB4467696 (OS Build 15063.1446)

Additionally Windows 8.1 & 10 have Flash updates.

Win10 “October” Update
Windows 10, version 1809 Re-Released
When you have it offered to you is anyone’s guess.
Media Creation Tool / ISOs available here: Download Windows 10 Disc Image (ISO File)

Weekend Random Stuff…

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Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 70.0.3538.102 for Windows, Mac, and Linux”
Download | Download standalone(full) | Download standalone 64-bit Windows version(full)

VirtualBox 5.2.22
Download (Windows) | All Downloads | Changelog

VMware Player 15.0.1
Download (Windows) | All Downloads | Release Notes

Social media use increases depression and loneliness, study finds
“Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram may not be great for personal well-being. The first experimental study examining use of multiple platforms shows a causal link between time spent on these social media and increased depression and loneliness.”

Windows-as-a-service fail: Microsoft keeps customers in the dark
“If Microsoft wants to treat Windows 10 as a service, it has a responsibility to its customers to provide accurate information about problems with that service. Over the last month, the company has failed miserably in that regard.”

Some awesome tech deals today:

Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD
List Price: $299.99
Price: $227.99
You Save: $72.00 (24%)
or
Samsung 960 EVO Series – 500GB NVMe – M.2 Internal SSD
List Price: $249.99
Price: $154.85
You Save: $95.14 (38%)

Amazon Early Black Friday Deals are live!

Wednesday Morning News

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Intel Graphics Driver for Windows 10
Version: 25.20.100.6373 Date: 11/5/2018

Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers
Windows 7 Version: 20.90.0 Date: 11/6/2018
Windows 8.1 Version: 20.90.0 Date: 11/6/2018
Windows 10 Version: 20.90.0 Date: 11/6/2018

Microsoft Office November Updates
Bugfixes
Microsoft – How to install Office Updates

ADV180028 | Guidance for configuring BitLocker to enforce software encryption
Security Advisory – Published: 11/06/2018
“Microsoft is aware of reports of vulnerabilities in the hardware encryption of certain self-encrypting drives (SEDs). Customers concerned about this issue should consider using the software only encryption provided by BitLocker Drive Encryption™. On Windows computers with self-encrypting drives, BitLocker Drive Encryption™ manages encryption and will use hardware encryption by default. Administrators who want to force software encryption on computers with self-encrypting drives can accomplish this by deploying a Group Policy to override the default behavior. Windows will consult Group Policy to enforce software encryption only at the time of enabling BitLocker.”

System76 readies release of American-made powerhouse Linux PC
“Finding a native Linux PC isn’t easy. Any Best Buy has an assortment of Windows PCs and Chromebooks. But Linux-powered computers? Not so much. Now System76, one of the leading Linux PC companies, has created something even rarer: A PC built in the US.”

Friday Random Stuff…

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Macrium Reflect 7.2.3825
Update to fix a couple of issues.
Download

jv16 PowerTools 4.2.0.1920
Bugfixes and improvements.
Download | Blog announcement

Time To Patch
Woody says, It’s time to install the October Windows and Office patches — and maybe tweak your settings
“Yesterday, Microsoft suddenly stopped playing Three Card Monte with the Win7 Monthly Rollup. The Win10 1809 ‘up’grade remains under wraps. For the first time in a long time, the coast’s clear. Now’s an excellent time to get your October patches installed and, if you’re using a Win10 Pro version, consider changing some Windows Update advanced options.”

Amazon Early Black Friday Deals are live.
Amazon Early Black Friday Deals: Computer & Accessories

Have a great weekend!