PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley We’re coming up to the Secure Boot certificate deadline. It’s June. Celebration season. Graduation. Weddings. And Secure Boot certificate expirations. Okay, maybe we’re not celebrating that last one. There are only a few weeks left before the Windows Secure Boot certificates expire. Let me remind you again that consumers should […]

ISSUE 23.22.1 • 2026-06-04 By Susan Bradley Microsoft is starting to roll out its much-promised, dribbled fixes. Included in the upcoming June updates — and already included in the preview updates released on May 26, 2026 — KB5089573 includes the Secure Boot fixes and the beginning of many changes about which you’ve complained. Nonetheless, it’s […]

Way back in 2025, Microsoft announced that it would no longer sell a standalone subscription to Copilot pro. It would respect your yearly subscription if you had one, but come effective November 1, 2026 if you want AI in your Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote, you’ll need to switch to Microsoft 365 premium. Today I […]

ISSUE 23.17.1 • 2026-04-28 By Susan Bradley The April updates continue to dribble out more fixes for Secure Boot certificates for some systems. But once you receive the April updates, you still may be waiting for the new certs to be installed. That happened to me on some systems. Nonetheless, the patching world is relatively […]

MICROSOFT 365 By Peter Deegan Copilot for Microsoft 365 is changing plans, prices, and features so often that it’s hard for anyone to keep up. Microsoft has just changed Copilot arrangements for business and enterprise users.  It’s not easy to keep track of what’s available when there are around 80 different products with the Copilot […]

PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley One of my complaints on behalf of consumers is that information about the new security certificates for Secure Boot has been vague — nearly hidden. Unless you are an AskWoody reader, you might not even be aware that there is an issue with Secure Boot certificates — not to mention […]

On April 10, Alex Oot from Microsoft’s Windows Insider Program team posted Improving your Windows Insider experience to the Insider’s blog. If you are participating as an Insider, you’ll want to read the post. There are several announcements in the post, but one might catch your attention. Under the heading “Clearer channel definitions,” the post […]

PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley Someone recently asked whether they could install just the security part of Apple updates and ignore all the other parts. Just as with Microsoft Windows, the ability to get just the code that pertains to security issues, without changing anything else, is no longer an option. Neither Microsoft nor Apple […]

I was chatting with Copilot, doing some research about vintage drum machines. I have a little BOSS DR-220 Dr. Rhythm synth that provides the basic functionality I want, but it does not have variations. I was looking for something slightly better. The research session was pretty good, telling me about some equipment I’d never heard […]

ISSUE 23.12.1 • 2026-03-24 By Susan Bradley This month has been relatively quiet for Microsoft Windows updates. Sure, there are the occasional “won’t install the update” situations that are usually fixed with a repair install over the top. I’ve become tired of seeing them. And there were two out-of-band updates for Windows 11 Enterprise 25H2, […]

ISSUE 23.12 • 2026-03-23 PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley Secure Boot continues to be confusing — and sometimes alarming. Nevertheless, here’s some reassurance for consumers and home users: For the most part, you can ignore all this Secure Boot patching advice. Your computer will boot if you get the update. Your computer will boot if […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston Installing “agentic AI” such as Microsoft’s Copilot, OpenAI’s GPT Atlas, and other artificial-intelligence helpers is a big trend among businesses and individual computer users — but big problems come along with such bots. A white paper published by Kiteworks, a data-management firm, says 60 percent of companies using agentic AI […]

ISSUE 23.11.1 • 2026-03-19 By Will Fastie Great care must be taken when conversing with AI bots. In what can only be a galactic coincidence, I corresponded with two people this past Monday, both of whom had chatted with bots. One was an 87-year-old Plus member with a long background in technology and the other […]

PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley Businesses will be happy to learn that the March updates include no new zero-day bugs. A zero day is a security issue that is under active attack as of Patch Tuesday. This means that unpatched systems are potentially vulnerable. However, you know from my past patch-risk analyses that zero days […]