Woody Leonhard
Columnist
Woody Leonhard is a columnist at Computerworld and author of dozens of Windows books, including "Windows 10 All-in-One for Dummies." Get the latest on and vent your spleen about Windows at AskWoody.com.
Get Microsoft's October patches installed — and seriously consider Win10 2004
Odd ancillary patches have their problems, but the mainstream October patches look pretty reliable. The big question: Is Win10 version 2004 up to your stability standards. I’m skeptical -- especially because it has few worthwhile...
Microsoft Patch Alert: October 2020
The big news with this month’s patches – aside from the usual smorgasbord of strange errors – has more to do with the patches that are outside the regular cumulative update stream. Remarkably, we didn’t get any security fixes for IE...
With Patch Tuesday here, be sure Windows Update is paused
With all the flotsam floating around, it’s easy to lose sight of Second Tuesdays. October’s arrives tomorrow and, with it, another round of Windows and Office patches. Take a minute to make sure you aren’t in the front lines, as...
The coast is clear to install September's Windows and Office patches
It’s been an interesting month, with a couple of flubs, but no new major plugged security holes and Microsoft has replaced its buggy SQL Server 2019 patch. Win10 version 2004 continues to astound with the number of swatted bugs, but...
Pro tip: Sock away a clean copy of Windows 10 (2004)
It looks like Microsoft will release the next version of Windows 10 – version 20H2 – sometime in the next couple of weeks. Now would be a good time to squirrel away an official, clean copy of Win10 version 2004, even if you don't ever...
Beaucoup bugs beset this month’s Windows patches
July and August had relatively stable Patch Tuesdays. Not so, this month. Here’s the tip of the iceberg – the bugs that cropped up within a day of release.
With Patch Tuesday imminent, get Windows Update locked down
Patch Tuesday’s poised for another turn on the karmic wheel. Now’s a good time to check and make sure you’ve told Windows to pause patching. Wait for the crowdsourced beta testing to kick in. Let other folks take one for the team.
Yes, you can install the August Windows and Office patches now
There are a few odd problems with the latest Microsoft patches, but they’re sporadic and reasonably-well understood. Go get the outstanding updates installed now, but avoid “optional” patches.
It's Patch Tuesday time. Make sure to have auto updates paused.
As Patch Tuesday rolls around again, now’s a very good time to double-check and make sure Windows Auto Update has been throttled. We see problematic patches every month, so put your machine on the sidelines while we watch the cannon...
Despite an unexpected monkey wrench, now is the time to install the July Windows and Office patches
If it weren’t for the schizophrenic behavior of Microsoft’s preview patches, July updating would be a slam dunk. As things stand, you’d be well advised to go ahead and patch – but be aware of the odd behavior.
The Windows 10 'End-of-Service' myth
Microsoft publishes an “End of Service” date for each version of Windows 10. While you might think you can hold onto your version of Win10 until that date, Microsoft starts pushing you onto the next version four months early. That...