Welcome back, Folks!
Today is the real Patch Tuesday for April 2020.
The next build of Windows 10 is just around the corner. If you don’t want to be the guinea pig I strongly suggest you update to v1909 as soon as possible if you’re running an older build. This will grant you a reprieve from the new version for a couple months. Let everyone else beta test and you can upgrade when they’ve worked out the bugs.
This Month in Technology
France content publishers have won a tiny victory against Google. The French competition authority now requires Google (and presumably other news publishers) to pay for republication rights when including a snippet of content. Google simply removed the snippet and now publishes only the title and URL.
A scale 10.0 vulnerability in VMWare has placed most corporate and cloud offerings at severe risk of data compromise.
The latest build of the Switch operating system now lets you move downloaded games to an SD card and remap buttons.
Mozilla’s new privacy-first stance doesn’t apply to their own new telemetry collection.
Now for the good news:
Commissioner Carr of the FCC points out that US internet speed are up 70% since the repeal of Net Neutrality.
Let’s Get Busy
Now back to our regularly scheduled program. Thanks to the unstopping barrage of updates pushed during “weekly update quarantine”, Patch Tuesday this month is pretty light. The typical computer should see roughly 900 MB in updates today. Let’s get started.
Microsoft released updates for Windows, Internet Explorer, and MSRT (~600 MB). This includes security updates. A reboot is required.
Apple released updates for macOS Catalina 10.15.4 and watchOS 6.2.1. This includes security updates. Use Apple Software Update to install the most current versions. Be aware that the 10.15.4 update is known to brick some Apple hardware, so I recommend waiting for 10.15.5, due in about 10 days.
watchOS 6.2.1 is a security update. Use the Watch app on your iPhone to install the most current version.
Adobe Flash Player 32.0.0.363 is a security update.
Win: https://12pd.com/click?flash
Win: https://12pd.com/click?flashie
Mac: https://12pd.com/click?flashmac
Don’t forget to check your mobile devices, too! Many updates will also apply to your tablet, phone, kindle or television – so check your device-appropriate App Store and install updates.
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.
The release of macOS Catalina (10.15) means that macOS Sierra (10.12) and older are no longer supported. If you can not install at least macOS High Sierra (10.13) on your Mac then you should immediately remove it from the Internet and use it offline only. It will no longer receive patches or updates and can now no longer be secured.
The now-current release of the Windows 10 (1909) is a pretty small update so will install quickly. Windows 10 pushes you to get the latest Windows 10 release every 6 months. If you don’t let it finish and you’re on a slow connection, this process kill your Internet performance forever. If you don’t have the bandwidth to download the bits, I’m happy to provide loaner USB drives to our local clients, or, if you prefer to have me mail it to you please contact me for information.
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 or use, reducing the attack surface.
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
Browser Updates
One or more of these are likely to be of interest to everyone.
Microsoft Edge 81.0.416.53 is a security update. Use Menu, Help, About to install the most current version.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/business/download
Brave 1.7.92 is a security update.
https://brave.com/
Email Updates
One or more of these are likely to be of interest to everyone.
Thunderbird 68.7.0 is a security update. Use Menu, Help, About to install the most current version.
Internet Updates
One or more of these are likely to be of interest to everyone.
Zoom 4.6.20559.0413 is a security update. Click the user icon, Check for updates to install the most current version.
https://zoom.us/
Media Updates
These are unlikely to be of interest to most people.
Unreal Media Server 14.0 adds support for live HEVC (h265) video, output to UMS and MPEG2-TS players, streaming HTML5 video elements, and resolves several bugs. This is not a security update.
http://www.umediaserver.net/umediaserver/download.html
Office Updates
One or more of these are likely to be of interest to most people.
Artweaver 7.0.5 improves hardware compatibility, and resolves several bugs. This is not a security update.
https://www.artweaver.de/
IcoFX 3.4 improves hostory and semitransparent export, and resolves several bugs. This is not a security update.
https://icofx.ro/
Adobe ColdFusion 2016.15 and 2018.9 are security updates.
https://helpx.adobe.com/coldfusion/kb/coldfusion-2016-update-15.html
https://helpx.adobe.com/coldfusion/kb/coldfusion-2018-update-9.html
Adobe After Effects 17.0.6 is a security update. Use Creative Cloud Desktop to install the most current version.
Adobe Digital Editions 4.5.11.187303 is a security update.
https://www.adobe.com/solutions/ebook/digital-editions/download.html
Adobe Camera Raw 12.2.1 doesn’t provide a changelog and download links don’t work. It could be a security update, but doesn’t look like it’s actually available yet.
Adobe DNG Converter 12.2.1 adds support for newer hardware. This is not a security update.
https://supportdownloads.adobe.com/detail.jsp?ftpID=6913
https://supportdownloads.adobe.com/detail.jsp?ftpID=6915
Security Software Updates
One or more of these is likely to be of interest to most people.
IISCrypto 3.2 adds a Protocols Enabled control. This is not a security update.
https://www.nartac.com/Products/IISCrypto/Default.aspx
Capture Updates
These are unlikely to be of interest to most people.
ScreenToGif 2.23.1 resolves a relative path bug. This is not a security update.
https://github.com/NickeManarin/ScreenToGif/releases/latest
Converter Updates
These are unlikely to be of interest to most people.
DVDFab 11.0.8.4 adds support for new encodings, performance improvements, and improved scaling with newer hardware. This is not a security update.
https://www.dvdfab.cn/download.htm
Utility Updates
These are unlikely to be of interest to most people.
DesktopOK 6.93 improves Tools. This is not a security update.
https://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Freeware/DesktopOK
GoodSync 10.11.5 resolves several bugs. This is not a security update.
https://12pd.com/click?goodsync
TeamViewer 15.4.8332 doesn’t have a published changelog so should be treated as a security update.
https://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/windows/
Developer Updates
These are unlikely to be of interest to most people.
Visual Studio Code 1.44 improves accessibility, adds preserved undo/redo beyond application closure, remote checkout into containers, timeline view, settings sync and more. This is not a security update.
https://code.visualstudio.com/
Java 8u251 is a security update. If you are not 110% sure you require Java, it’s best to remove it. Java and JavaScript are not the same thing and few desktop applications actually require Java.
https://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
Web Package Updates
These are likely to be of interest only to web developers.
myStickymenu 2.3.9 fixes a bug in the notification bar. This is not a security update.
Postie 1.9.46 resolves a notification bug. This is not a security update.
That’s all for now folks. Keep it clean out there. 😉
Regards,
Shawn K. Hall
https://SaferPC.info/
https://12PointDesign.com/