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Patch Tuesday Called Off

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Microsoft has called off Patch Tuesday
“Our top priority is to provide the best possible experience for customers in maintaining and protecting their systems. This month, we discovered a last minute issue that could impact some customers and was not resolved in time for our planned updates today.
After considering all options, we made the decision to delay this month’s updates. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this change to the existing plan.”

Despite the fact that this news spread around the web like wildfire I held off on posting this until I could run Windows Update after Patch Tuesday updates are released (1300hrs EST).
I’ve checked Windows 7 and Win10 on 4 machines. No updates.

Adobe Flash
APSB17-04 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player
Download

Nvidia
Nvidia GeForce Game Ready Driver 378.66 WHQL
“Provides the optimal gaming experience for Sniper Elite 4, For Honor, and Halo Wars 2 ”

Patch Tuesday Random Stuff…

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Happy Valentines Day!
It’s patch Tuesday. I’ll post all that jazz once all of it is released this afternoon. Until then…

AMD Drivers
AMD Radeon Crimson ReLive Edition 17.2.1 drivers are out. Several fixes for games, multi-gpu setups, and others.
Download

Windows Vista Broke PC Audio
So says a dude from Creative in this Podcast. Start at about the 13 minute mark to avoid the babble.
So how about you guys from Creative work on Linux drivers? There is no support for your newer cards.

CCleaner 5.27
“Improved…Updated…improvements…bugfixes”
Download

Random Thursday Stuff…

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AMD Ryzen
If you’ve been paying attention to upcoming PC hardware news you know AMD has a new CPU line coming out. “Leaked” benchmarks and pricing suggests AMD may once again be able to take on Intel. Of course all this is speculation. And, Intel may fight back. If any of this is true it is good news for PC Geeks as it would mean higher performing CPUs at cheaper prices.
I might even give it a shot. I haven’t owned an AMD powered computer since… hmmm… I think maybe it was an Abit BE6.
Ryzen will not have Windows 7 drivers. Hoping for a little Linux love here.

Speaking Of Linux
Anyone using Firejail? If so could you share your experience?

Anonymous?
Think you’re a nobody on the web? Think again.
“Researchers at Stanford and Princeton have succeeded in identifying 70% of users by comparing their web-browsing history to publicly available information on social networks.”
Reason #2,493 to get off social media.

coollinks
Essential Windows CMD Commands You Should Know

Win10 Game Mode
I’ve run 3DMark and Catzilla under Game Mode in 2 builds. Absolutely no difference.
PCgamer seemed to come up with similar findings.

Captain Apollo
Richard Hatch has died. Geeks knew him as Captain Apollo on the original BSG and the bad-guy Tom Zarek on the newer BSG. I remain a big fan of both those series.
I also enjoyed his role as Jan Berry of Jan & Dean in Deadman’s Curve as well as his guest appearances in various shows through the years.

Friday Random Stuff…

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Software Updates
Google Chrome 56.0.2924.87 (Android too)
AMD Radeon Crimson ReLive Edition 17.1.2 Drivers
Kodi 17

USS Enterprise Retired
Not the Federation Starship you Geeks, the real one!
There will be another!

Win10 / 8.1 Zero Day
Microsoft Windows SMB Tree Connect Response denial of service vulnerability
Apparently MS has been sitting on this since December but will patch on Feb 14th. Windows 7 is NOT affected.
“Microsoft designed the Windows 10 operating system to be the most secure version of the Windows operating system to date.”

My Galaxy S7
Supposedly the Samsung flagship phone.
Security patch level October 1, 2016 (I’m on Verizon).
Currently running Android Marshmellow (6.0.1).
Android Nougat final released AUGUST 22nd, 2016. Still not available for the S7.
And they wonder why people are switching to iPhones and hackers make fun of Android security.

Thursday Random Stuff…

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Google Chrome 56
“The Chrome team is delighted to announce the promotion of Chrome 56 to the stable channel – 56.0.2924.76 for Windows, Mac and Linux.”
Download

Firefox 51.0.1
Couple of bugfixes.
Download 32-bit(en-US)
Download 64-bit (en-US)
All Downloads
Release Notes

Win10 Update
KB3211320 – Servicing stack update for Windows 10 Version 1607 and Windows Server 2016: January 24, 2017
FYI:
“The servicing stack includes the files and resources that are required to service a Windows image. This includes the Package Manager executable, the required servicing libraries, and other resources. The servicing stack is included in all Windows installations.“

Monday Random Stuff…

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[H]ardLY Overclockable
[H]ardOCP has only managed to get 1 in 4 new Kaby Lake 7700K’s up to 5GHz.
A sad state of affairs for the high-end overclocking crowd.

Since GWX Didn’t Work Well Enough
Microsoft wants to remind you that Windows 7 support ends in three years. Better install Win10 before then.
“Windows 7 comes slowly into the years. Today, it does not meet the requirements of modern technology, nor the high security requirements of IT departments.”
Maybe so. But it works just fine for me and comes without all the hassles of Windows 10. We will discuss it again in 3 years. Maybe.
Source: Neowin

Game Mode
Teased again. Just a simple mention with no details.
Speaking of which. Not a single person has recommended a tweak for the game only tweak guide. 🙁

Wednesday Random Stuff…

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Win10 To Improve?
2 stories caught my eye today:
Microsoft To Provide Additional Windows Update Installation Options With Creators Update
and
Microsoft is working on a ‘Game Mode’ for Windows 10
The update thingy sounds like MS will put a button in to enable this tweak.
The Game Mode thingy is interesting but no details. Coincidentally, I’ve been considering a Game Only tweak guide.
Would anyone out there be interested?

The Tweaker
This is the best Steve Jobs article I have seen.
I’ve never been a fan of SJ so I’m not quite sure how I feel about the articles title.

Creepy
Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them
IMHO this article doesn’t even scratch the surface.

TV Malware
This man’s smart television with Google TV caught some malware, and now it’s bricked
“…installed an app of some sort to stream movies.”
Lesson: Don’t be surfin’ for free naughty videos on your TV.

“Fix Windows Update Errors” Almost Useless

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Over the past week or so lots have sites have pointed to a new Microsoft web page that supposedly helps you navigate Windows Update problems.
Fix Windows Update errors

Here is what it gave me:

Question – On which Windows version did you get the error?
Answer – Windows 7
Solution – Run the network troubleshooter

Like I don’t know if I have network issues?

Next Question – Did this resolve the issue?
Answer – No
Solution – Run the Windows Update troubleshooter.

In all the years I have used this, running this by itself never once fixed my problems.

Next Question – Did this resolve the issue?
Answer – No
Solution – Reset or reinstall Windows.

Really?

Random Christmas Eve Stuff…

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Sorry for the lack of news. I’ve been super busy with work and I’ve got a terrible cold/flu/whatever on top of that.

Linux Mint 18.1
Mint 18.1 got released last week. Very disappointed in this release.
It is using LTS kernel 4.4. Skipping this one.

Winbubble
Winbubble is tool I used to tweak some Windows stuff (mostly GUI customizations). They now have a version for Win10.
Not as many options as it had for previous Windows versions.
Old version for Windows XP/Vista/7/8 is at Major Geeks.

ETC.
Google sued for encouraging employees to spy on each other

Reader Emails
(shortened to make them a quick read)
Q – Where do I get Win10 ISO’s?
A – Official downloads: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO
Easiest way – Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool

Q – After installing and deleting openSUSE I have left over entries in my UEFI boot menu. How to I get rid of it?
A – EasyUEFI – http://www.easyuefi.com/

Q – I need a large regular hard drive for video editing. What do you recommend?
A – The best SSDs and hard drives are always listed here: http://www.storagereview.com/best_drives