Well, Chrome 149.0.7827.197 is out with 18 security fixes as noted by Google.  The June 15 release had 33 CVEs or security fixes. If you have Chrome on other devices such as your phone, your tablet, or your Linux computer, remember to make sure to click on Help, About, and check to trigger it to […]

I was talking to a friend who probably needs a new PC for creative work on a budget, so I suggested that she think about a Mac mini. Just to check that my thinking about the price was correct, I visited the Apple site. I got the pricing right, but then noticed that delivery would […]

ISSUE 23.25.1 • 2026-06-23 By Susan Bradley Tomorrow is the drop-dead date. Tomorrow, June 24, 2026, the Microsoft Corporation KEK CA 2011 certificate will expire. But your computer will still boot. Life will go on. The sun will rise. On June 27, 2026, the second certificate will expire for the Microsoft UEFI CA 2011 certificate. […]

ISSUE 23.25 • 2026-06-22 COMMENTARY By Will Fastie The past few years have witnessed a surge of Arm processors. Of course, the Arm architecture has been around in phones for a long time. But even though phones have cohesive ecosystems built around Arm, we tend to think of phones as nothing more than appliances, not […]

EDITORIAL By Will Fastie I’ve greatly enjoyed my forays into the wilds of computing over the four decades I’ve been engaging with the public and with vendors. I miss it, so I’m offering to do it again — virtually. And, exclusively for our valued AskWoody Plus members. Here’s how it will work. Read the full […]

AI By Matthew S. Smith This might be hard to believe, but we’re now at least four years into the era of AI large language models — and perhaps up to nine, depending on your definition. OpenAI’s ChatGPT was released in 2022, GPT-3 was released in 2020, and the paper that defined the transformer architecture […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen When following a video or text tutorial while working in another program, did you ever have to constantly switch back and forth between windows? Maybe you’re watching the weather radar, like we do here in Tornado Alley while doing other work. Perhaps you need to keep your notes or reference […]

TAME YOUR TECH By Susan Bradley Data centers are in the headlines these days, from the number being built to the energy and water they consume and to the noise they produce. But because neither you nor I will ever own a data center, I’m going to discuss some of the extremes that impact our […]

I was reviewing social media and saw a satire post that made me chuckle…. I just got fired from Microsoft. I was the guy responsible for making sure that when you start typing your password in on the Windows lock screen, it ignores your first keystroke for no reason. The main reason it does this […]

Per Microsoft: June security update might fail to install with error code 0x80070002 Status Resolved Affected platforms Server VersionsMessage IDOriginating KBResolved KB Windows Server 2016 WI1395301 KB5094122 – Microsoft received reports that the June 2026 security update (the Originating KBs listed above) might fail to install on some devices running Windows Server 2016. This issue […]

Just the other day, in between boxing and unboxing my office, I spotted a blog post that Edge will be going to a faster rollout cadence. While I let browsers update, I’ll be monitoring this change to see if I want to change to a slower change cadence. I don’t mind immediate installation of security […]

As I’m starting to put the office back together (my office is the last one being worked on), I am reminded that surge protectors aren’t always your friend. They can cause fires. Someone I know had their master bedroom burned up from a surge protector that caught on fire. While thankfully they were not in […]

ISSUE 23.24 • 2026-06-15 WINDOWS 11 By Martin Brinkmann Without a single warning, Microsoft may quietly hijack your local files and hold them hostage in the cloud to upsell you a OneDrive subscription. With a few steps, you can break the link and reclaim your data. Do a quick experiment right now. Open File Explorer, […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston You may think you can make easy money by betting on sports and political events in so-called prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi. I’d bet that you’d lose your shirt. If bettors believe there’s a 75 percent chance that interest rates will rise, for instance, you can bet 75 […]

WINDOWS 11 By Lance Whitney Among all the VM programs I’ve tried, VMware Workstation Pro remains my favorite. Here’s why. As a freelance technology writer, I typically have to review or test different apps, settings, and features in Windows. And I need to be able to do this without impacting my main Windows environment. I […]

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 […]

June 9, 2026 Current Channel: Version 2605 (Build 20026.20168) Monthly Enterprise Channel: Version 2605 (Build 20026.20166) Monthly Enterprise Channel: Version 2604 (Build 19929.20220) Monthly Enterprise Channel: Version 2603 (Build 19822.20288) Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel: Version 2508 (Build 19127.20678) Office 2024 Retail: Version 2605 (Build 20026.20168) Office 2021 Retail: Version 2605 (Build 20026.20168) Office LTSC 2024 Volume […]

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. I’ll be updating that page and monitoring for issues. As always, thank you all for supporting the cause! Remember we use the “name your price” model where you can choose how much […]

This month Microsoft released a record number of vulnerabilities.  208 in fact. We are on track to have a bumper crop of vulnerabilities. Is the reason we are having so many identified due to artificial intelligence? There’s no detail as to how the vulnerabilities were identified. The currently exploited bug in the form of CVE-2026-41091 […]

Chrome has had a zero day patched yesterday.  We had Microsoft Build last week (gee golly AI agents I can hardly wait), and Apple is also having their developer conference this week where AI is now in the search on Safari. Meanwhile in the real world of real users using actual operating systems, just a […]