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 23.20 • 2026-05-18 PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley Normally, I’d come to you at this time of the month and say, “Forget the operating systems — patch those browsers.” This time, I’m going to say, “Forget the operating systems — check the settings in your browsers.” Chrome hit the headlines two weeks ago when […]

PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley We might be a bit busy in the next few months. Not with updates, but dealing with headlines. Why? Because AI tools are now turning to the task of reviewing a lot of code that hasn’t been looked at in a long time. First up? No, not Windows. Not Apple. […]

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 […]

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 […]

On March 26, Microsoft released the preview update of KB5079391 (for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2). Soon after, Microsoft pulled back and stopped it from being offered because of reported installation errors. On March 31, Microsoft released KB5086672 that — at the initial reading — gave me the impression its was only fixing issues that […]

PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley Is Microsoft finally listening? We’ve been through this rodeo before. We’ve seen vendors make changes and then pull back, only to make changes once again. So which vendor has decided to do a mea culpa and perhaps bend a bit to its customer base? Microsoft. In the recent Windows Insider […]

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 […]

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 […]