I received an email from Perplexity today with an interesting offer. Clicking through the provided link (not shown) reveals the specifics of the offer. If the unique link provided to me is used by someone I invite, and that person uses the Comet browser to ask Perplexity one question, I get $15. The person gets […]

Look for more information in the Monday newsletter, but already we can see some reports of issues that impact businesses. The first one impacts something called “localhost” where a device sets up a pretend website. IIS websites might fail to load. Note that I don’t see any evidence that a new update has been released, so […]

I enrolled another computer just now. If you are a free subscriber to the newsletter, you received a recap of all of the Windows 10 end-of-life information you missed – but that was included in the Plus newsletter over the last several weeks. And if you happen to get both the free newsletter and the […]

I’ve updated the master patch list here.  Please note I am not recommending installing updates at this time, we are just testing and reporting. Not seeing anything trending yet at this time but it’s still a bit early for issues to start bubbling up for desktop systems.  We’re still working through getting Windows 10 ESU’s installed […]

I call today the “unofficial” end of life of Windows 10. As the reality is that for many folks we will be receiving updates for at least one, up to three years of security updates, let alone the options with Opatch.  Don’t panic if you haven’t received the ESU offer, it’s not really needed until […]

It’s not just Copilot that’s becoming oppressive. Is the message above helpful, or coercive? Apparently, everyday, ordinary, plain advertising just doesn’t work any longer.

ISSUE 22.41 • 2025-10-13 MICROSOFT 365 By Peter Deegan The release of a new Microsoft 365 subscription plan is good news, although Microsoft is surprisingly reluctant to say that. Whenever Microsoft announces changes in plans — especially “simplifying” pricing — it’s usually a sure sign of a price increase in disguise. Not this time. Microsoft […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen Some programs stand the test of time like a fine wine, while other programs last about as long as potato salad. Today, we’ll take a peek at a 20-year-old file-copy program that hasn’t been updated in 15 of those years — because it doesn’t need to be updated. Roadkil’s Unstoppable […]

ON SECURITY By Susan Bradley There’s no question that multi-factor authentication strengthens online logins and makes it more difficult for the bad guys to gain access to vital assets. But a recent breakdown of an internal vendor process put accountants and clients at risk. You all know that I’m a CPA. It should thus come […]

APPLE By Will Fastie> Now that Apple’s “OS 26” versions are out, I decided to examine Apple’s macOS update process on my Mac mini, now named “Orchard.” There was one thing in particular I wanted to check out, which I’ll detail at the end of the article. In general, my purpose was to see how […]

Not to worry. There are several ways to get Windows 11 24H2. Use the GRC incontrol tool to set your machine to be at Windows 11 24H2. Then be patient and it should ultimately offer it up. Or go to UUP dump and find the Windows 11 released version, Download it to your computer and […]

ISSUE 22.40.1 • 2025-10-09 By Susan Bradley Social media is replete with complaints about how Microsoft shoves feature releases and updates, and reboots computers, at will. It makes me shake my head. It’s as if everyone were thinking they had no control over the process at all. That’s not true. You have ample time to […]

You go to print something and it says, “I’m sorry, you are out of the Cyan toner and I won’t print anything until you replace me!”  So, you go to your stash of printer cartridges because you always make sure you have at least one spare, open the box, and place the toner in the […]

  October 7, 2025 is the last scheduled release date for Office 2016 non-Security updates. Microsoft released NO non-security updates for Office on October 7, 2025   Office 2016 reached  End of Mainstream Support on October 13, 2020. EOS for Office 2016 is October 14, 2025. Updates are for the .msi version (perpetual). Office 365 […]

ISSUE 22.40 • 2025-10-06 SOFTWARE By Will Fastie I’ve been spending a fair amount of time with AI chatbots, looking for ways these new systems can help in my daily work. For the most part, I’ve been using Perplexity Pro as an advanced search engine. More recently, I’ve been experimenting with coding problems. and I’ve […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston The US Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and the FBI served a search warrant on a 22-year-old man in Oregon on August 6, 2025, shutting down one of the largest malware botnets ever seen. The bot operation extorted money from websites that didn’t want to be attacked. For instance, the […]

ONENOTE By Mary Branscombe If you’re still using OneNote for Windows 10, make sure all your notes are synced into OneDrive now; starting on October 14, 2025, the app will be read-only and will stop syncing. You will be able to see your old notes but not edit or add to them, so make sure […]

ON SECURITY By Susan Bradley The headlines may say that support for Windows 10 ends next week, but the reality is that many of us will be using Windows 10 for much longer. We’ve already discussed how businesses can purchase one, two, or even three years of security updates. Microsoft has also provided a relatively […]

If you are still having issues accessing mapped/shared drives in Windows 11 24H2 (and the upcoming 25H2) save this info for future use. You may need to enable insecure settings. Open the Windows search bar and type “powershell” Right-click on PowerShell and select “Run as administrator” Execute the following commands: Set-SmbClientConfiguration -RequireSecuritySignature $false Set-SmbClientConfiguration -EnableInsecureGuestLogons $true […]

Social media is pointing to a support document that indicates that when classic Outlook is opened, it may have issues opening folders. The only “fix” is to open a support case with Microsoft. But the problem with support documents is they don’t indicate where this is being seen or how many people are impacted. For […]