Happy April Fools’ Day, Folks!
It’s not Patch Tuesday, but updates from Microsoft, Apple, Google, and others have triggered an out-of-cycle update.
This Month/Week in Technology
The FCC announced that by July 2021 every US phone company (landline and mobile) must adopt STIR/SHAKEN which will massively reduce the amount of robocalls and phone spam people receive and ensure that call blocking features work as intended.
Microsoft has rebranded Office 365 to Microsoft 365 and is launching more features and cross-platform monitoring across the system. Is this the next step towards Windows-as-a-Service?
Dell and HP Enterprise have issued updates for the runtime bug in certain Enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs) that will begin bricking them in only a couple months.
The latest to jumping on the virus-free-trial bandwagon is Plex.
The country of Georgia has been hacked, with data on almost every citizen being posted online.
How bad are companies at dealing with ransomware? Most corporations and governments just give in and negotiate the ransom. Others pay insurance through companies like Chubb, a cyber-insurer for this type of thing. Can a company insure itself?
For a couple days, the latest builds of iOS and macOS wouldn’t let you search for a “+” sign. This is more common than you might think, and one of the pieces of advice in my Selecting the Perfect Domain” guide.
#3 Don’t use any strange characters
CloudFlare’s 1.1.1.1 public DNS resolver received glowing marks in a recent study. While it’s very private and fast, it doesn’t provide built-in security as does OpenDNS, though.
Now for the good news:
Even the scientist most cited for his chicken-little response to COVID-19 has reversed course and said he over-estimated lethality and virulence.
Let’s Get Busy
Microsoft released an out-of-cycle update to address connectivity problems for VPN users. If you’re using a VPN, use Windows Update to install the most current version.
Apple released security updates for iCloud for Windows 7.18 and iCloud for Windows 10.9.3. Use Apple Software Update to install the most current versions.
Google Chrome OS 80.0.3987.158 is a security update. Use Menu, Help, About to install the most current version. A reboot is required.
Important Notes
Everything above this section should be checked by everyone on every computer. Chances are good that close to every single computer you touch will be affected by those updates. This is not the case with the items below, though you should still check each line item below to see if it applies to software you have installed.
Please remember that while I list many different applications within these updates, most people should ONLY install updates for a program if they already have a previous version of that program installed.
It is essential to maintain all the applications you have installed on your computer, but often you can minimize the time investment and the potential for exploitation simply by uninstalling software you do not need.
Also note that using the applications own “check for updates” function, when available, will best preserve your current settings, and often avoid any crapware that might come with a fresh installer. Use this option if it’s available to you.
Finally, if you’re sick of doing this all yourself, let me! Call or email me any time, and we can set you up with subscription SaferPC updates which will be installed each month whenever necessary. Click, call or email for more details:
https://saferpc.info/updates/
209-565-12PD
shawn@12pointdesign.com
Driver Updates
If you’re using this hardware – these updates are for you.
Display Driver Uninstaller 18.0.2.3 improves cleanup. This is not a security update.
https://www.wagnardsoft.com/display-driver-uninstaller-ddu
Browser Updates
One or more of these are likely to be of interest to everyone.
Google Chrome 80.0.3987.162 is a security update. Use Menu, Help, About to get the most current version.
Internet Updates
One or more of these are likely to be of interest to everyone.
WinSCP 5.17.3 is a security update.
https://winscp.net/eng/index.php
Game Updates
These are unlikely to be of interest to most people.
Steam 2020.03.26 resolves several bugs. This is not a security update.
PlayStation PS3 4.86 improves system performance. This is not a security update.
https://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/system-updates/ps3/
Office Updates
One or more of these are likely to be of interest to most people.
Krita 4.2.9 adds Airbrush and Ratio controls to the Color Smudge brush, and resolves 70 bugs. This is not a security update.
https://krita.org/en/download/krita-desktop/
Security Software Updates
One or more of these is likely to be of interest to most people.
RogueKiller 14.4.0 resolves several bugs, improves compatibility and adds warnings to certain scans.
https://www.adlice.com/download/roguekiller/
Converter Updates
These are unlikely to be of interest to most people.
DVDFab 11.0.8.2 adds support for new encodings. This is not a security update.
https://www.dvdfab.cn/download.htm
Utility Updates
These are unlikely to be of interest to most people.
RoboForm 8.6.8 improves data synchronization, Windows Hello integration, and resolves several bugs. This is not a security update.
https://12pd.com/click?rf
GoodSync 10.11.4 resolves several bugs and improves compatibility. This is not a security update.
https://12pd.com/click?goodsync
DesktopOK 6.91 improves compatibility with the next build of Windows. This is not a security update.
https://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Freeware/DesktopOK
NetworkInterfacesView 1.20 adds option to open device properties window with F2. This is not a security update.
https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/network_interfaces.html
PSAppDeploy 3.8.1 adds Repair action and new installation controls, and resolves several bugs. This is not a security update.
https://psappdeploytoolkit.com/
MS ISO Downloader 8.34 adds several new ISOs. This is not a security update.
https://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/67-microsoft-windows-and-office-iso-download-tool
WinScan2PDF 5.25 resolves a TWAIN bug under Windows 10 x64. This is not a security update.
https://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Microsoft/WinScan2PDF
Developer Updates
These are unlikely to be of interest to most people.
Android Studio 3.6.2.0 resolves over a dozen bugs. This is not a security update.
https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html
Node.js 13.12.0 improves build notarization for macOS, upgrades libraries, adds option to disable proto to CLI, moves diagnostic reports to stable, and now allows URL in worker constructor. This is not a security update.
https://nodejs.org/en/
Web Package Updates
These are likely to be of interest only to web developers.
OpenPetra 2020.03 resolves the PDF printing bug, as well as several other bugs. This is not a security update.
https://www.openpetra.org/
WordPress 5.4 improves the block editor, adds Social Icons and Buttons, gradients to Buttons and Cover block, color options to Group, Columns, and Rich Text, improved consistency, as well as many developer and privacy improvements. This is not a security update.
https://wordpress.org/
Postie 1.9.45 resolves an email notification bug. This is not a security update.
https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/postie/
Custom Facebook Feed 2.13 adds a Block. This is not a security update.
https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/custom-facebook-feed/
That’s all for now folks. Keep it clean out there. 😉
Regards,
Shawn K. Hall
https://SaferPC.info/
https://12PointDesign.com/