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Patch Tuesday

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Time To Run Windows Update
Among the updates are several critical updates for all Windows versions. Full breakdown of patches at the end of this post.
See also:
Windows 10 July 11, 2017—KB4025342 (OS Build 15063.483)

Flash Updated
Version 26.0.0.13 is out.
APSB17-21 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player
Download for IE
Download for Firefox

CCleaner
Monthly update is out. Get 5.32 version here.

After less than a handful of days off over a 6 week period I took a few off and headed to WVA:

Click the read more link below to see the Microsoft Security Update Summary for July 2017
[Read more…] about Patch Tuesday

Patch Tuesday, Part 2

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More updates coming out…

Windows XP Patched Again (Vista Too)
June 2017 security update release
“Microsoft releases additional updates for older platforms to protect against potential nation-state activity” (WannaCry/WannaCrypt)
Microsoft security advisory 4025685: Guidance for older platforms: June 13, 2017
“This section summarizes resources for customers running editions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 8, or Windows Server 2003.”
The above link has links to all the downloads/KB articles.

Firefox 54
“Version 54.0, first offered to Release channel users on June 13, 2017
Today’s release is the first to run Firefox using multiple operating system processes for web page content, making Firefox faster and more stable than ever. Learn more about how multiple processes strike a “just right” balance between performance and memory use on the Mozilla Blog. Dive into the details (including performance benchmarks) on Medium.”

Peek Squad
Ah, Geek Squad. Remember the good old days when they were just searching your electronics for nudes and posting them on the web? You would think an outfit with a 1.1 satisfactory rating would strive to do better, but alas…
EFF – Why We’re Suing the FBI for Records About Best Buy Geek Squad Informants
“Law Enforcement Should Not Be Able to Bypass the Fourth Amendment to Search Your Devices
Sending your computer to Best Buy for repairs shouldn’t require you to surrender your Fourth Amendment rights. But that’s apparently what’s been happening when customers send their computers to a Geek Squad repair facility in Kentucky.“

Patch Tuesday

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Windows Updates
Updates, Update Rollups…
See:
Microsoft Security Update Summary for June 2017 farther down this post.
June 2017 Security Release
For Win10: 2017-06 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1703 for x64-based Systems (KB4022725)
June 13, 2017—KB4022725 (OS Build 15063.413 and 15063.414)

It should be noted that Windows Telemetry update KB2952664 is back in Optional Updates.
Watch AskWoody for more on this months updates.

Flash Updated
APSB17-17 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player
Download

Latest Video Drivers
AMD Crimson ReLive Edition 17.6.1 (6/8/2017)
Nvidia Ceforce Game Ready Driver 382.53 WHQL (6/9/2017)

Best Of The Rest
CCleaner 5.31
FileZilla 3.26.2

[Read more…] about Patch Tuesday

More On Wanna Cry Attacks

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I’d Rather Be Lucky Than Good
Some Geek registered the domain name involved in the attacks and slowed the attacks to a crawl. Despite the articles claim, it did not “put out the fire”. The attack is still alive.

But I’ll repeat myself
At the risk of being crude
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover…
Get rid of SMB1 dammit!
(Paul Simon – 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover)

***Microsoft – Customer Guidance for WannaCrypt attacks***

XP Patched Too
Hit the link above. Downloads at the bottom of the article.
Below is my XP Pro Virtual Machine.
As you can see I normally have the network connection disabled.
Other steps you can take.
– Disable all Exceptions on the firewall
– Disable the Server service
– Unbind file and printer sharing
There are other steps but XP is supposed to be dead. If you care about security you are only using it in a VM with no internet connection, if at all.

SMB1 Attacks Out There

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A few weeks ago I mentioned how you could remove SMB1 from your computer. There is a serious vulnerability that is now involved in ransom-ware attacks.
1 – Patch all your Windows boxes. ( Microsoft Security Bulletin MS17-010 – Critical )
2 – Get rid of SMB1. Follow the instructions on the following page. ONLY remove SMB1:
How to enable and disable SMBv1, SMBv2, and SMBv3 in Windows and Windows Server

Tuesday Random Stuff…

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Is Kaspersky Software A National Security Risk?
Apparently some in our intelligence community think so.
“In February, the Department of Homeland Security issued a secret report on the matter to other government agencies. And the FBI is investigating the nature of Kaspersky Lab’s relationship to the Russian government“.
For it’s part Kaspersky “has repeatedly insisted it poses no threat to U.S. customers and would never be used as a government tool.”
I know almost nothing about Russian politics. I have never been to Russia. The closest I ever got to Russia was East Berlin a couple of years before the wall came down.
Having said all that, I can’t imagine anyone in Russia telling President Vladimir Putin or his boys “Nyet“.

Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 58.0.3029.110 for Windows, Mac, and Linux…In order to improve stability, performance, and security, users who are currently on 32-bit version of Chrome, and 64-bit Windows with 4GB or more of memory and auto-update enabled will be automatically migrated to 64-bit Chrome during this update.”
Download: Google Chrome Web 32-bit    Google Chrome 64-bit

O&O ShutUp10 Version 1.5.1390
Version 1.5.1390 – released on May 09, 2017
– Changing languages now available in the Help Menu
– Adjustments to the UI
– Small bug fixes
– Available in German, English, French, Italian and Russian.
Download

Intel SSD Toolbox 3.4.5
See download page for release info.

Firefox 53.0.2
A few days late with this.
Windows 64-bit (en-US)
Windows 32-bit (en-US)
Other systems and languages

Adobe Flash Updated
APSB17-15 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player
Download Flash

Wise Disk Cleaner 9.47
– Improved Microsoft Edge Cache and Cookies cleaning.
– Improved Microsoft IE Cache and Cookies cleaning.
– Other minor improvements.
Download

Wednesday Random Stuff…

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Latest Windows Security Issues
Last week there were sensationalist reports about Windows and the NSA’s hacking tools. In a nutshell the NSA was using security holes to hack what they could. The thing is Microsoft has already patched the holes, at least most of them. The only thing I think you may want to do is eliminate SMB1 from your computers. SMB1 is a 30 year old networking protocol which is unneeded in modern operating systems.
Here is how to remove SMB1 from your computer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2696547/how-to-enable-and-disable-smbv1,-smbv2,-and-smbv3-in-windows-vista,-windows-server-2008,-windows-7,-windows-server-2008-r2,-windows-8,-and-windows-server-2012 Only disable SMB1.

CCleaner Updated
“Improved, updated, new, bug fixes…”
Download

Firefox 53
This will be officially out today It is up on most mirrors now.
Windows 64-bit (en-US)
Windows 32-bit (en-US)
Other systems and languages

Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.4.3
– Support for Windows 10 Creators Update.
– Support for Radeon RX 580 Series Graphics.
– Support for Radeon RX 570 Series Graphics.
Download

Edge Still Dull
Paul (Don’t call me bro) Thurrott is showing his age and giving a run through of Microsoft Edge Browser’s shortcomings. I give the article an A+ for the Stevie Nicks reference.

Patch Tuesday Morning

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I’m taking off for a few days. I’ll leave you with this stuff…

Win10 Creators Update Official
This will hit Windows Update starting today. Because Win10 Windows Update is a Charlie Foxtrot, you may not be offered this for a while.
Watch the Windows Blog for the official announcment.
Watch Neowin for more download links.
Watch Ask Woody for watches, warnings, and upgrade advice.
Update and/or get official ISO here so you can update on your timetable: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO
I wouldn’t be in a hurry to update. Backup before proceeding!

Time To Run Windows Update
https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-us/security-guidance
Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 update history

Hasta La Vista, Baby!
Windows Vista is dead. Good riddance!

Storage Deals
Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day: Save up to 35% on select SanDisk memory products
Some great deals on Flash Drives, SSDs, and Memory Cards.

Adobe Acrobat And Flash Updated
Security updates.
Download Flash
Download Reader

Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire
“Last October, Microsoft announced that the third major feature update for Windows 10 would be marketed as the Creators Update. And it created, ahem, a video showing off new features that would arrive in that update.
That video is a lie.”
Fact Check: Microsoft’s Creators Update Introduction Video