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Windows 10

Win10 1903, Are You Ready?

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Windows 10 May 2019 Update
Win10 1903 brings several changes, most of which the average user won’t care about. Two changes of note are supposed increased performance and improved control of Windows Update. The best breakdown I’ve seen to date is:
Neowin – The Windows 10 May 2019 Update is coming – here’s what’s new

Release Date
– “Official” date unknown at this time. “End of May” often quoted. Expect it somewhere between tomorrow and hell freezing over.
– ISOs are floating around now

Blocking 1903
– Easy way: Use O&O ShutUp10
See also: Windows Update section of the Tweak Guide.
(1903 will bring major changes to this.)

Preparing for 1903
– Update all your apps and drivers.
– Backup everything. Make a system image. I use the free Macrium Reflect. This is also a good time to backup everything else.
See also: Windows 10 Backup And Recovery Options

My Recommendation
– Put off installing 1903 at least one month.
– Better safe than sorry. Microsoft will, at some point, state that 1903 is “safe for business”. The October 2018 Update was declared safe on March 28th, 2019.

Tweaking Windows 10
It will be at least a month after release before the Win10 Tweak Guide is updated.

Patch Tuesday

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Updates available for all supported versions of Windows.
Office updates available too. (how to check for Office updates)

Win10 1809 – February 12, 2019—KB4487044 (OS Build 17763.316)
Win10 1803 – February 12, 2019—KB4487017 (OS Build 17134.590)
Win10 1709 – February 12, 2019—KB4486996 (OS Build 16299.967)

Windows 8.1 – February 12, 2019—KB4487028 (Security-only update)

Windows 7 – Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 update history

Office 365 11231.20174 and other versions

Note from Microsoft:
February 11, 2019 12:45 PM PST
Windows Update customers were recently affected by a network infrastructure event caused by an external DNS service provider’s global outage. A software update to the external provider’s DNS servers resulted in the distribution of corrupted DNS records that affected connectivity to the Windows Update service. The DNS records were restored by January 30, 2019 (00:10 UTC), but downstream effects continued. We believe the issue to be fully mitigated because the majority of local Internet Service Providers (ISP) have refreshed their DNS servers and customer services have been restored. If you are still encountering download failures, please contact your local ISP.
While this was not an issue with Microsoft’s services, we take any service disruption for our customers seriously. We will work with partners to better understand this so we can provide higher quality service in the future even across diverse global network providers.

Wednesday Morning Random Stuff…

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Win10 1809 Updated
19 “addresses an issue” and 1 driver, for a tape drive. I swear I didn’t know tape drives were still use in but I reckon they are.
January 22, 2019—KB4476976 (OS Build 17763.292)

The Samsung 970 EVO Plus (250GB, 1TB) NVMe SSD Review: 96-Layer 3D NAND
With Samsung launching the 970 EVO Plus at the same prices as the 970 EVO, they’re taking one of the fastest TLC drives and making it a slightly better deal…For most purposes, the 970 EVO Plus can now be regarded as Samsung’s flagship consumer SSD, and it deserves that title.
https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/consumer/970evoplus/
Not showing up at Amazon, Microcenter, Frys, or Best Buy (as of this writing).

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Google Maps will now display speed limits for its Android and iOS apps
displays the posted speed limit on roads in the corner of the app, and also introduces an icon to denote the location of speed cameras
Thats good news. For the past few years I’ve bounced back and forth between Google Maps and Waze. Waze is great for getting you out of a fix and for letting your know where “emergency vehicles” are. However it’s directions have gotten weirder over time.

Tim Cook pretends to care about privacy in Time op-ed
If Tim Cook and Apple really cared about privacy, they wouldn’t have thrown 1.2 billion Chinese under the bus by handing over iCloud data to the Chinese government, and by sheepishly refusing to even mention “China” when it comes to Apple’s thin veneer of “privacy first”.
Apple’s complete cooperation with the Chinese government makes it very clear that Apple is all too eager to roll over and disregard its privacy chest-thumping the second their own bottom line is at risk. And lest we forget – China is a totalitarian, repressive regime that doesn’t shy away from torture and concentration camps.

Geolocation Data Could Get Privacy Protection Under New ADD Act
The bill uses as its framework the Privacy Act of 1974, which governs how federal agencies handle and protect records about individuals. Under the 1974 Act the government cannot (with some exceptions) share data about someone without their prior permission and must allow a person to see, get a copy of and correct records about themselves. The government can be sued for violating the Act.

Gap between rich and poor growing, fuelling global anger
A new billionaire was created every two days last year, just as the poorest half of the world’s population saw their wealth decline by 11 percent
World’s 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%
The growing concentration of the world’s wealth has been highlighted by a report showing that the 26 richest billionaires own as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of the planet’s population.
Make No Mistake, Davos, the Fat Cat Backlash Is Coming
There has always been a whiff of hypocrisy at Davos, where elites expand their carbon footprint, eat $43 hot dogs and throw lavish parties in the name of making the world a better place. “Fat cats in the snow,” the regular attendee Bono once called it (and he should know). But given the rapid advances of populist politics, it’s remarkable that in 2019, those felines are looking better-fed than ever. The past decade and a half has seen U.S. corporate profits outgrow employee compensation at an unprecedented pace, according to the St. Louis Fed. A Bloomberg News analysis of the fortunes of a dozen Davos attendees found that they soared by a combined $175 billion since 2009.

***Aspirin lowers heart attack risk but raises risk of dangerous bleeding
Big warnings floating around this week over this news. Be sure to actually read what the article/study says and talk to your doctor before buying into these hyped up articles. Doctors have long recommended low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Bayer, Walgreens, CVS, Equate, Kirkland, St. Joseph and a host of other brands of  low dose aspirin are 81mg. The study claims increased risk but they measured doses as large as high as 500mg.
Doctors today typically don’t prescribe doses higher than 100 mg.
Still, the results reinforce the need for doctors and patients to have a thoughtful discussion of the benefits and harms of aspirin for primary prevention of heart attacks and strokes, Dr. Michael Gaziano of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston writes in an accompanying editorial.
The study page (account needed for full access, sorry fellow peons):
Association of Aspirin Use for Primary Prevention With Cardiovascular Events and Bleeding Events

Saints Fans Are Suing The NFL Over A Blown Call And It’s The Legal Equivalent Of A Hail Mary
&
Second Saints fan lawsuit names NFL, individual refs over pivotal ‘no-call’ in NFC title game
There was one BS call after another this season. There were missed calls everywhere too. The NFL has become a farce. But, these lawsuits will fail.

Tuesday Random Stuff…

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Windows 10 Updates
Only for builds 1803, 1709, and 1703.
Addresses an issue…
1803 – January 15, 2019—KB4480976 (OS Build 17134.556)
1709 – January 15, 2019—KB4480967 (OS Build 16299.936)
1703 – January 15, 2019—KB4480959 (OS Build 15063.1596)

Nvidia Geforce Game Ready WHQL Driver 417.71
Includes support for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics cards as well as support for G-SYNC compatible monitors.
Download | Release Notes

Horowitz – I found a Windows 7 PC still infected with GWX (Get Windows 10) software
He found some GWX related tasks going. I double checked all my PC’s. All good but I had been blocking GWX from the start.

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Feds Can’t Force You To Unlock Your iPhone With Finger Or Face, Judge Rules
“If a person cannot be compelled to provide a passcode because it is a testimonial communication, a person cannot be compelled to provide one’s finger, thumb, iris, face, or other biometric feature to unlock that same device,” the judge wrote…The magistrate judge decision could, of course, be overturned by a district court judge, as happened in Illinois in 2017 with a similar ruling. The best advice for anyone concerned about government overreach into their smartphones: Stick to a strong alphanumeric passcode that you won’t be compelled to disclose.
We haven’t heard the last of this. I would imagine it goes the the Supreme Court.

https://www.google.com/search?q=gillette+toxic+masculinity

Related???: Men talk about the things that “suck” about being men : theCHIVE

‘Star Trek’ Boss: Picard Leads “Radically Altered” Life in CBS All Access Series
The Picard series will be the first onscreen Trek story set in the aftermath of that event, which would have altered the balance of power in the galaxy. The destruction of Romulus would also have extra resonance for Picard, who has a long and complicated relationship with the Romulans, the alien race that split from Vulcan society thousands of years ago and founded a separate civilization.
As long as they don’t turn him into a mutineer we’re good.

Too Many Workers Are Trapped By Non-Competes
Why have wages been so slow to rise at a time when demand for workers has pushed the U.S. unemployment rate to its lowest point in nearly half a century? One answer: contracts that tie millions of unspecialized workers to their jobs.
In far too many cases, these so-called noncompetes are an unwarranted restriction on freedom to transact and a drag on growth. If Congress won’t act to narrow their scope, states should take the lead.

U.S. Restaurant Prices Jump the Most Since 2011
It’s getting more expensive to eat out. Full-service restaurants, facing higher labor and food costs, raised prices the most in more than seven years in December…The gap between how much it costs to eat out instead of grocery shopping “has continued to widen pretty aggressively. It’s a problem,” said Michael Halen, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.

Industry wary of alternatives tries to protect a word: meat
More than four months after Missouri became the first U.S. state to regulate the term “meat” on product labels, Nebraska’s powerful farm groups are pushing for similar protection from veggie burgers, tofu dogs and other items that look and taste like real meat.
Nebraska lawmakers will consider a bill this year defining meat as “any edible portion of any livestock or poultry, carcass, or part thereof” and excluding “lab-grown or insect or plant-based food products.” It would make it a crime to advertise or sell something “as meat that is not derived from poultry or livestock.”
Similar measures aimed at meat alternatives are pending in Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming.
Had me a burger with bacon, cheddar cheese, onions, and jalapenos last night. Animals are delicious.

Patch Tuesday

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Windows Update
Updates available for all currently supported versions of Windows. Updates for Flash and .Net available where applicable.

Windows 7
January 8, 2019—KB4480970 (Monthly Rollup)
January 8, 2019—KB4480960 (Security-only update)

Windows 8.1
January 8, 2019—KB4480963 (Monthly Rollup)
January 8, 2019—KB4480964 (Security-only update)

Windows 10
1809 – January 8, 2019—KB4480116 (OS Build 17763.253)
1803 – January 8, 2019—KB4480966 (OS Build 17134.523)
1709 – January 8, 2019—KB4480978 (OS Build 16299.904)

– – – – – –

Wise Disk Cleaner 10.1.5 Released
Download (I use portable) | Release Info

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Hey Apple, what happens on iPhones doesn’t stay there, and your ‘clever’ CES ad is promoting a dangerous illusion
That’s a cute ad you have in Las Vegas for the CES tech convention. “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone” is both a good dig at your rivals and a clever restating of Sin City’s popular catch phrase.
But it’s literally a lie. What happens on customers’ iPhones doesn’t stay on them — and you know it.
Preach

Survey: Americans Warming to Use of Facial Recognition Tech
I’m not sure I buy the results of the study. If it is even close to true then, well, SMH.

Came up in an email convo with a reader and friend:
SiriusXM stations I mostly listen to:
Hair Nation ’80s Hair Bands 
Ozzy’s Boneyard Ozzy’s Classic Hard Rock 
Classic Rewind ’70s/’80s Classic Rock 

Wednesday Random Stuff…

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The holidays are over. Hopefully the tech world will start to slowly come out of it’s hangover induced lethargy.
Thus ends the slew off Off Topic posts. We now return to our regularly scheduled program.

Web Site Feedback On A Couple Of Issues

1 – Errors – A reader had contacted me earlier and said when he went to this site it appeared as a download. I didn’t understand what he meant but I’ve now seen it. The problem seems to exist for a while and then go away. My new web host is Inmotion. Their tech support continues to deny the situation exists and if it does it must be on my end. Never mind that I keep telling them that the problem first appeared when I switched to them. If you see this issue PLEASE take a screenshot and send it to me at tweakblog@gmail.com .

2 – Quote font color. I’ve been trying to differentiate quoted text via color vs italics. Is the color too light? Any suggestions?

Software Updates
7-Zip 18.06
Notepad++ 7.6.2

Windows 10 is now more popular than Windows 7
The latest Windows 10 operating system is now the most popular desktop OS in the world, finally beating Windows 7’s market share according to Net Applications. Windows 10 held 39.22 percent of desktop OS market share in December 2018, compared to 36.9 percent for Windows 7. It’s a statistic that’s taken Microsoft three and a half years to achieve, and it demonstrates just how popular Windows 7 has been since its release nearly 10 years ago.
For the most part you haven’t been able to by a Windows 7 computer in 2 years and Win10 was being given away for free (still is). Congrats on nothing Microsoft.

First-Ever UEFI Rootkit Tied to Sednit APT
Researchers hunting cyber-espionage group Sednit (an APT also known as Sofacy, Fancy Bear and APT28) say they have discovered the first-ever instance of a rootkit targeting the Windows Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) in successful attacks…The rootkit is named LoJax. The name is a nod to the underlying code, which is a modified version of Absolute Software’s LoJack recovery software for laptops…The infection chain is typical: An attack begins with a phishing email or equivalent, successfully tricking a victim into downloading and executing a small rpcnetp.exe dropper agent. The rpcnetp.exe installs and reaches out to the system’s Internet Explorer browser, which is used to communicate with the configured domains…Once the UEFI rootkit is installed, there’s not much a user can do to remove it besides re-flashing the SPI memory or throwing out the motherboard…By enabling Secure Boot, and making sure their UEFI firmware is up to date, end users can protect themselves against attack
Great, just great.

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Netflix drops satire episode critical of Saudi Arabia
Netflix confirmed Tuesday that it removed an episode of a satirical comedy show that criticizes Saudi Arabia, after officials in the kingdom reportedly complained.
Another American tech company sacrificing freedom for a dollar.

New Horizons Successfully Explores Ultima Thule
“Congratulations to NASA’s New Horizons team, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and the Southwest Research Institute for making history yet again. In addition to being the first to explore Pluto, today New Horizons flew by the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft and became the first to directly explore an object that holds remnants from the birth of our solar system,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “This is what leadership in space exploration is all about.”
Well done NASA.

Kentucky Distillers Scientifically Emulate A Century-Old Bottle Of Bourbon
But that antique bottle of Old Taylor, which was originally released in 1917, inspired Eaves — whose background is in chemical engineering — to use new technology to examine the bourbon’s past.”The most dominant flavor in that 1917 bourbon was the butterscotch note,” Eaves says. “That’s something that bourbon aficionados and the ‘dusty hunters’ recognize about historic Old Taylor bourbon is this beautiful, rich, creamy, sweet butterscotch note — and the mouthfeel of that particular bottle was really unique for a historic whiskey.”…According to Reigler, many people still don’t recognize all the science and technological innovations that underpin the bourbon industry — from increasingly computerized distilling systems to spirits analytics like what Eaves did with the antique bourbon.