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 […]

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 […]

ISSUE 22.39 • 2025-09-29 WINDOWS 11 By Chris Hoffman The classic Control Panel now feels like a home where the owner has mostly moved out but left some useful gadgets behind. Control Panel dates back to Windows 1.0 in 1985. Microsoft began trying to replace it with Windows 8’s PC Settings tool in 2012, but […]

MICROSOFT 365 By Peter Deegan There was a time when AI was simple. You asked a question (the “prompt”) and you got an answer (the “response”). Now, Microsoft Copilot has many more options and handy features you can use. So do other AI systems. As usual, Microsoft muddies the waters with its usual tricks. For […]

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen There are plenty of RSS readers out there to give you the latest news and info from your favorite websites. But wouldn’t it be neat to have that info scroll across your desktop like a Times Square news ticker? Desktop Ticker by UK developer Mike Batt does just that. You […]

ON SECURITY By Susan Bradley If you are in a business, or you perform technology consulting for businesses, chances are the computer systems you manage are either in a domain or controlled by Microsoft’s Intune. These machines cannot receive the single-year extension specifically designed for consumers. Instead, those of us with business networks must use […]

ISSUE 22.38 • 2025-09-22 ON SECURITY By Susan Bradley Microsoft provides several options to extend the life of Windows 10 through its Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. This topic will be discussed in a three-part series. The first two parts are about obtaining the ESU in business settings. The third part will address consumers. However, […]

PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston We all think we can tell malicious “phishing” messages from the real thing. But studies show that even receiving formal anti-phishing training doesn’t prevent people from clicking on links or opening attachments that let hackers infect their devices, steal their credit-card numbers, or worse. Like a tsunami, electronic communications flood […]

COMMENTARY By Peter Deegan Do you know enough about email to communicate securely, efficiently, and with your messages easily read by all? Like most things in the tech world, important — or at least useful — features are available that many people don’t know about or think aren’t worth the bother. Read the full story […]

WINDOWS 11 By Ed Tittel As the sun sets on Windows 10 support in mid-October 2025, many users face a pivotal decision: upgrade in place or start anew. Although upgrading seems simpler, it often drags along outdated baggage — Registry remnants, legacy drivers, and misconfigured services — that can hinder performance and block new features. […]

ISSUE 22.37 • 2025-09-15 FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen Sometimes we get a little help from one of our daughters when she’s not too busy. We like to set up a temporary email account for her on our server and an email client to handle only those emails. It just makes things easier for us, […]

LEGAL BRIEF By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq. Not so fast, Mr. Shakespeare. Before you show your lawyer the door, let’s see whether artificial intelligence can provide the advice you need to stay out of trouble. We ran a series of experiments with two widely used, free (after all, the goal was to avoid paying legal […]

APPLE By Will Fastie The usual fall iPhone event was unusual this year. I’m not yet sure what it portends for Apple and its customers, and I’m not alone. I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot. This event was about Apple’s personal devices — iPhones, AirPods, and Watches — not about computers. […]

PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley September may be back-to-school for many students, but I’m back to testing Microsoft updates. As usual, my eyes and ears (in fact, all my senses) are glued to the latest patching news, reports, social media posts — all my sources — looking for the tiniest hint of trouble. You know, […]