MS-DEFCON 2: Closing out the year

By Susan Bradley

As we close the year of patching, I’m surprised to see that our vendors are facing many of the same issues they faced years ago — governments looking over their actions.

But this time, instead of scrutinizing monopolies for on-premises software, they are looking at how Microsoft is making monopolizing cloud services as well as coercing governments to use more of their services. Recently, a ProPublica investigation questioned how much Microsoft’s free government outreach to enhance the security of its products was designed to lock government customers into these subscription services.

Then the Department of Justice asked a judge to break up Google and force it to sell off the Chrome browser and restrict their use of artificial intelligence and the Android mobile operating system. I still remember the lengthy monopoly trials against Microsoft. It seems like the more things change, the more things in technology stay the same. We constantly have a push-pull relationship with our vendors.

My push-pull relationship is intensely focused on patching. I am a proponent of patching on your schedule, not that of the vendor. It’s always wise to ensure that you are not part of the beta-testing platform of any vendor unless you explicitly want to be one.

Next Tuesday, updates will be out for the Microsoft platform. As usual — and because I always recommend that we test and confirm patches before installing them — I recommend you defer, block, and generally ignore the upcoming December updates until such time as we fully understand both the benefits and any side effects that may result from their installation.

In the Apple category, I’m still considering iOS 18.1.1 an optional update, needed only if you have a specific use case. If you have an older phone and are a heavy user of the native photos application, I consider iOS 17.7.2 ideal. That’s due to problems with the Photos app in iOS 18.

If you have — or are planning to purchase — Apple’s AirPods Pro 2, they can be used as hearing aids after you go through an audio test routine. On Thanksgiving, Apple launched a touching ad for the AirPods Pro 2 called Heartstrings, which as of this writing has been viewed 11 million times on YouTube.

Forum manager PKCano recently posted about the results during an important testing event: Thanksgiving. Remember: You must be on the latest firmware version for the AirPods, and this may take some time.

As usual, and always with informed caution, I am raising the MS-DEFCON level to 2.

Consumers

I’m still tracking too many concerning issues with the Windows 11 24H2 platform for me to make a recommendation to install it. Many of you may have already updated without problems but there are too many nagging issues, especially surrounding games. In fact, some Ubisoft games are now documented as not responding. Ubisoft has posted temporary workarounds for some of the issues and is working on long-term fixes for the performance problems.

Microsoft is once again spending energy fixing things that I don’t think need fixing. Case in point: a shortened visual date and time in the system tray. Instead of the full time of day followed by AM or PM, followed by the full date (in the format for your locale), the AM/PM designator and the year have been dropped (left). You will see just the time, with no AM or PM designation, and then just 12/5 — with no year.

This change will be rolled out in the December updates next week for both Windows 11 23H2 and 24H2. Unfortunately, it’s another one of those annoying dribbled changes.

If you don’t like this new look, you can roll it back. Go to Settings | Time & language | Date & time and scroll down to Show time and date in the System tray. There is a new option (Figure 1), which you can set as desired.

Figure 1. You can toggle the abbreviated date/time in Settings.

The abbreviated form clearly takes a little less horizontal space on the Taskbar. I suppose that might help if you are short for space down there, but it still seems like a frivolous change.

The December updates for 23H2 also include two fixes for File Explorer:

These fixes will arrive gradually.

The December update for Windows 10 22H2 includes a few remedies, including fixing a bug encountered when you drag and drop files from a cloud files provider folder. This might result in a move instead of a copy.

I’ll be monitoring for any side effects and report later on in the month.

Businesses

24H2 is also triggering issues with certain scanners — in particular, Ricoh Fujitsu models. The vendors are aware of the issue and are working on a fix. Epson scanners appear to be working fine, but Brother scanners may be affected as well.

Microsoft finally rereleased the Exchange updates originally released on November 12. The v2 versions include fixes for the original bug that caused Exchange transport rules to stop after a certain amount of time. Microsoft has released full info on what you should do if you did — or did not — install the original Exchange updates.

Microsoft recommends you install the revised updates as soon as possible.

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