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December 2021 Patch Tuesday

(16 posts) (5 voices)

Started 2 years ago by mikiem2
Latest reply from Suze

mikiem2
Moderator

neowin[.]net/news/microsoft-releases-patch-tuesday-updates-for-windows-81-and-windows-7/

neowin[.]net/news/windows-10-patch-tuesday-kb5008212-is-out--here039s-what039s-new-and-what039s-broken/

neowin[.]net/news/windows-11-patch-tuesday-kb5008215-is-here-includes-quality-improvements/

petri[.]com/patch-tuesday-december-2021-apache-log4j-windows-appx-installer-zero-day

zdnet[.]com/article/microsoft-december-2021-patch-tuesday-zero-day-exploited-to-spread-emotet-malware/

Haven't seen any reports of the patches breaking anything, and haven't had problems so far myself, but there's plenty of time left this week for that sort of thing to surface.

Microsoft has released 67 security fixes for software including seven critical issues and a zero-day flaw being actively exploited by cybercriminals.

Posted 2 years ago #
Terri218
Member

I think it broke my computer. I can log on and it loads my icons onto the desktop but not on the lower part of my screen and I can't get anything (including games) to open (I just get the little blue circle spinning around). I got the update message last night when I turned off the computer. It was OK this morning but when I closed everything for lunch (leaving the computer on) and then came back, the icons weren't showing anymore. I was able to get into the internet by opening the System tab and asking for computer support. That opened my Chrome browser. All other support options I tried opened Edge. I had tried turning off the computer and even pulling out the power cord but that didn't fix the problem.

I'm losing my mind. I really need to get into my Word documents (I use Open Office). Any help on how to restore things would be greatly appreciated. I remember there is a system restore point somewhere but I don't remember how to access it and if that would be the solution in this case.

As always, thanks for your help.

Posted 2 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

Sounds *almost* like what happened to my wife's PC last month. In that case I just bit the bullet & upgraded the PC to Win11, figuring if I'm going to reinstall Windows, might as well. I copied the files from a mounted Win11 ISO to a USB stick, and in Win10 used File Explorer to access the USB stick double clicking setup.exe. It kept all her files and software. While that's probably a worst case fix, it would work using the Win10 ISO as well. Note: I had a full image backup that I could have just as easily restored, so I wasn't really concerned about the risk of something going wrong, which can happen.

The way to get to a previous Restore Point is Settings -> System -> About -> System Protection [it may be on the right or further down the page depending on the window size]. The window that opens has a button to select & restore a prior restore point.

It may help to uninstall the latest update -- there are 2 ways to get to the same window where you can uninstall them... Settings -> Update & Security -> Windows Update -> View Update History -> Uninstall updates [up at the top] -- or -- Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> View installed update [upper left]. Selecting any update gives you the option to uninstall.

You should be able to access your documents from Safe Mode, copying them somewhere else, like a USB stick. If you've got an external or another internal drive you can use, and you have the bootable USB stick from a backup app, you could boot to that & backup the drive partition with your docs. Afterward you might be able to mount or explore that backup while running from the USB stick, & hopefully copy them, or it could be a safety in case the originals get lost restoring a restore point or reinstalling Windows etc.

You should also be able to access them using a bootable USB stick, though that will be painful if you've never done it. A rescue USB stick created by a backup, partitioning, or anti-virus app etc. *usually* has an option to use a command prompt [aka DOS window], and using the command line you can change to the directory [folder] where the docs are, & copy them to the same or another USB stick. "CD" is what you use to change directories, & "CD /?" will show the help screens [both w/out quotes]. "copy /?" works the same way. File names **may** be truncated, showing the first 6 characters followed by ~1, e.g. thisfilename.doc = thisfi~1.doc. Usually the easiest way to get into the BIOS settings to set it to boot from a USB stick is with the stick plugged in, repeatedly hit either F2 or Delete while the PC's starting up from off. You can also try Shift + right clicking the power icon on the lock screen, or go through Win10's Settings -> Update & security -> Recovery to get to Windows troubleshooting boot screen, which has an option to get into the BIOS. Once there you want to find the boot disk order, making sure the USB stick is number 1.

If I can think of something else I'll post it -- Sincerely, Good Luck

Posted 2 years ago #
Terri218
Member

It reached the point where it was so slow nothing was working so I rebooted yet again and it seems to be OK now. The icons are restored and I can open my word documents. I have a feeling the upgrade got stuck and never fully downloaded until the final reboot. Fingers crossed it will be OK from now on.

What a stressful day. Did I mention I HATE WINDOWS!

Thanks for the response mikiem2. I'm sorry you and your wife had to go through that.

Posted 2 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

VERY glad it's working again for you!

My *gut feeling*, & it's not even an opinion I could argue, let alone back up, is that Windows is no longer long-term stable.

XP, maybe Vista, definitely Win7, could run & continue running for a decade, if not longer -- the copy of Win7 installed on my Wife's PC, soon after it became available, is still running fine as a VM, and has never been reinstalled. But the people responsible for quality assurance with XP through Win7 no longer work for Microsoft -- they were all laid off or canned. Many [most?] of the people that designed those versions have moved on or up. Microsoft's published emphasis is on getting product out the door, fixing it, maybe, sometime later -- Win11 had the shortest testing cycle ever, less than if Microsoft still called it Windows 10 & left the GUI the same. Their original plans were for two Win10 upgrades requiring reinstalls per year, and as long as it was reinstalled at least once a year, things seemed fine. But Microsoft's been sticking with cumulative updates & no reinstalls for quite a while now, and I think random serious problems are going to start becoming almost expected. At the same time Microsoft's recommended fixes increasingly call for reinstalling Windows, e.g. with the bad update they pushed out last summer.

But the one thing that really drives my saying Win10 is not all that stable is that each copy behaves at least a little differently. The same goes for the updates that Microsoft pushes out, e.g. on Tuesday one copy got just the update to Win10 21H2, one got 5 updates, then the update to 21H2, another got 3 updates & no 21H2, and so on. And Every copy of Win10 seems to have minor, but different problems that can sometimes persist for months, then go away. Little things that if they all did it wouldn't be that noticeable. It's like having 1/2 dozen pet dogs or cats, each with their own, unique personality. In contrast copies of XP & Win7 were pretty much identical clones.

Posted 2 years ago #
Terri218
Member

Sad but probably true. Other than security updates, I don't know why they can't leave well enough alone. Why constantly "fix" something that's not broken? Recently something popped up at the bottom of my screen which gives you a lot of information like weather and stories. The problem is that if your cursor comes anywhere near it or you look at it funny, it opens up taking up over half the screen and there is no X to close it so I have to keep trying to open things to get it to close. This is something I never asked for and would rather not have. Why do they get to alter my computer that I paid for with things I don't want?

Posted 2 years ago #
Terri218
Member

Another thing that takes over my computer without asking for permission or asking if it's a good time is my Avast anti-virus. I am seriously thinking of removing it because it keeps doing these updates which causes my computer to run like molasses while it's downloading without bothering to tell me what it's doing.

Posted 2 years ago #
gergn
Member

Last week, I collected an unused HP 6600 Pro W7 64 Pro desktop, to be taken to the scrap. I could not resist the temptation, opened it and found it very dirty inside. After cleaning and replacing two one GB DDR3 chips with two 4 GB DDR chips from another HP computer (that now has two 8 GB chips), it now runs Linux Mint 20 with 10 GB RAM. I am presently using it as a test machine with VirtualBox VM's of XP, W7 ThinPC, W7 Starter, W7 64 Pro and W10 64 Pro to find the best option for me in four years time, when W10 retires and I still have operational hardware, unfit to run W11.

I have four years to migrate to Linux, including replacements of my favourite Windows applications. And - you never know - Apple. Linux gives me the same look-and-feel on a large range of machines.

To keep any Linux machine up-to-date, I just enter Ctrl-Alt-T to get into terminal mode and type two commands:
sudo apt-get update (comparable to search for updates in Windows)
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade (comparable to install updates and upgrades in Windows)

Linux even remembers these commands during reboots, so you only need to type them once and then use arrow-up to retrieve them from the buffer.

Posted 2 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

Those Microsoft employees developing new features for Windows wouldn't have anything to do if they didn't try to invent [often / mostly?] useless stuff. ;)

Some new things do have a purpose, but for Microsoft, Not you. Microsoft's spent tons of money on Bing, but even paying people to use it with rewards hasn't helped it gain ground against Google. So now they're loading features into their Edge browser, like shopping & rebates, and they gave you News & Interest in Win10, & Widgets in Win11 -- the hope is that you'll click something, which would open Edge & use Bing. Both can thankfully be turned off. TO turn off New & Interests right click the Task Bar, hover the cursor over News & Interests, then click on Turn off.

bleepingcomputer[.]com/news/microsoft/windows-10-news-and-interests-enabled-for-everyone-in-latest-update/

There are a couple of tiny free apps that can help tame some of the junk Microsoft stuffs into Windows. WinSlap for Win10, ThisIsWin11 for Win11.

github[.]com/svenmauch/WinSlap

github[.]com/builtbybel/ThisIsWin11

The (Windows) Defender included in Windows has gotten pretty good -- it now gets top marks, competing with the very best AV suites at sites like av-test[.]org. One thing I'm concerned about is that since every copy of Windows includes Defender, it's got this HUGE target on its back -- cyber criminals may or may not always be working on ways to get past 3rd party AV software, but it's guaranteed they're constantly working to get past Defender. That and that it's still Microsoft, which despite having some truly brilliant people, regularly insists on shooting itself [and every user] in the foot.

We like BitDefender on our more powerful PCs -- it's got good to great protection, and stays out of the way... the only things you'll see are occasional notices that it blocked a dangerous web site, usually ad-related when you visit whatever site / page, and notices prompting you to turn on their VPN -- a data capped version of their VPN is included free. It's somewhat regularly on sale, with Total Protection going for $10 - $20/yr for 3 or 5 PCs, but it doesn't run well, is simply too much for i3 and slower CPUs. For those we run an older Mcafee package called LiveSafe, which includes their top-end suite & goes on sale every Black Friday [so far] for $10/yr for an unlimited number of devices. Like BitDefender it's top rated, but can be a little more intrusive unless you disable some of its features, e.g. vulnerability scans, which search for Windows & software updates.

You're not the only one on a 4 year clock gergn... there are billions of Windows devices that can't officially run Win11. I know I'm probably dreaming, but the Huge, HUGE problems because of Log4j, which could plague IT for years, **might** open some eyes in the big corporations, making them realize they need to support more open source projects. Maybe Wine [or another Windows emulator] might benefit? There will certainly be a Very large user base unless Microsoft either extends Win10 support or makes clear running Win11 on unsupported hardware is OK. Meanwhile do please continue posting about your experiences with Linux etc. as you look for your alternative.

Posted 2 years ago #
Terri218
Member

mikiem2 Thank you so much for telling me how to get rid of that annoying News & Interest thing!

I usually use Bing but after reading this, I think I'll go back to Google.

Posted 2 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

There's also DuckDuckGo - duckduckgo[.]com

They've also got browser extensions to increase privacy, and they're working on a couple of interesting features that will be available using their Android app. One is an email forwarding service that strips out all the trackers in email, then forwards it to your regular email address, and the other blocks Google tracking you when you use your phone -- not just the Google apps, but a surprising number of 3rd party Android apps send data on what you do back to Google.

thurrott[.]com/cloud/web-browsers/248628/duckduckgo-web-browsers-dont-prevent-tracking

thurrott[.]com/cloud/web-browsers/248958/duckduckgos-browser-extension-blocks-floc-now

thurrott[.]com/cloud/253433/duckduckgo-announces-email-protection-service

thurrott[.]com/mobile/android/259381/duckduckgo-is-bringing-app-tracking-protection-to-android

thurrott[.]com/cloud/259520/hands-on-with-duckduckgo-app-tracking-protection

Posted 2 years ago #
Terri218
Member

I discovered the reason I use Bing so much is because my computer automatically defaults to it every time I open a new tab. Is there a way to change that? I didn't see anything in settings.

Posted 2 years ago #
gergn
Member

You could change the settings in Edge: 1) choose Duckduckgo as your standard search engine, and 2) delete Bing as a search engine.

As I am using a Dutch version of the preview version of Windows 11 on my laptop, I cannot give the exact location to change this. I can only advise you to start with Settings and type search engine in the search box in the top right part of the window.

Or use FireFox: I use the portable version of FireFox, of PortableApps.

Posted 2 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

To choose which search engine Edge uses, the easy way is to copy/paste or type "edge://settings/search" [w/out quotes] in the Edge address bar & press Enter, then select a search engine under "Search engine used in the address bar". TO do it the harder way, click the 3 dots in the upper right in the Edge window, then click Settings, then "Privacy, search, and services", then Address bar and search.

You can set another browser as the default going to Settings -> Apps -> Default apps, but you have to do it for each file type, and Edge will remain the default whenever Windows opens a web browser. The other browser devs figured out how to use a single button that when clicked would make sure Windows used your choice of browser, and there was a small app you could use that did the same thing, but Microsoft blocked that with a recent update. There's now a new app in beta that was put together using AutoIt, which is more of a scripting / macro tool, and reports are that it works.

neowin[.]net/news/update-for-windows-10-and-11-blocks-default-browser-redirect-but-there039s-a-workaround/

windowscentral[.]com/msedgeredirect-can-work-around-microsofts-block-forces-you-use-edge

Posted 2 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

Ed Bott talks about Microsoft's desperation when it comes to Edge in the 2nd part of this article...

zdnet[.]com/article/microsoft-2022-redmond-faces-two-old-challengers-in-the-new-year/

Posted 2 years ago #
Suze
Member

@mikiem2, Congratulations -- I just noticed that you've been promoted to Moderator! I can't think of anyone who is more deserving with your always timely and helpful participation in this Forum as well as in the main site. Your insights and suggestions are very welcome; thank you!

Posted 2 years ago #

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