Do you trust Microsoft enough to use Windows 11's new 'Fix problems using Windows Update' feature?
Updates for Windows 11 have proved to be astonishingly problematic over the last year and a half. Just about every patch and update that has been released has ended up causing new issues that have had to be addressed with yet another update.
Considering the problems caused by Windows Update, it is interesting to see a new option Microsoft is working on at the moment. Hidden in the latest Insider builds of Windows 11 is a new addition to the Recovery tools in the System section of the Settings app: Fix problems using Windows Update.
Happy Data Privacy/Data Protection day
These days no important topic is worthy of the name if it doesn't have a day devoted to it. Today (January 28) it's the turn of data privacy -- or data protection depending on who you talk to -- to take its turn in the spotlight.
As organizations gather ever more data, concerns around how it is stored and used have grown which has led to legislators taking an interest too.
Insider threats: The cyber risks lurking in the dark
More and more IT professionals are dealing with a growing issue that is lurking within their own organizations. With recent high-profile data breach stories hitting the headlines, the risk posed by insider threats has become a matter of utmost concern for IT teams, with such incidents rising 44 percent over the past two years according to the 2022 Ponemon Cost of Insider Threats Global Report.
While insider threats are perceived by the general public as disgruntled employees actively sabotaging systems or stealing data to sell to competitors, the problem is much more complex than that. Due to the rising cost of living world-wide, more employees will become susceptible to the requests of malicious actors looking for potential accomplices for deploying ransomware. In addition, misusing insider access is not only limited to unleashing ransomware, as users may feel incentivized to also sell their credentials in a bid to make easy money. These risks raise huge concerns for any organization, as user privileges can be easily taken advantage of and escalated to take over critical IT resources. In fact, our own Quest security assessments found out that a significant portion of user accounts -- an impressive 70–100 percent -- have access rights that can be easily escalated by hackers to gain access to Tier Zero assets, including the Active Directory domain.
Satechi launches Pro Hub Slim for M2 Apple MacBook laptops
On January 17, Apple unveiled new MacBook Pro laptops with M2 Pro and M2 Max processors. Fans of macOS around the world were very excited for these powerful new notebooks.
If you end up buying an M2 MacBook, and you want to add a bit of functionality, Satechi has a new product called "Pro Hub Slim" that you need to check out. This mini-dock converts two of the Thunderbolt ports into several different useful ports. While it is technically designed for the M2 MacBook Air, it will actually work with any MacBook from 2017 or later.
Improving the hybrid meeting experience
Whether you are in the office full-time, part-time or completely remote, hybrid meetings have become a convenient and necessary way for employees who split their time between different locations to remain productive. The ability to work from home has become the ability to work from anywhere. Meetings and activities are moving to collaboration platforms as hybrid working has become the standard. Regardless of how many people are in the room or joining remotely, it’s important that everyone has a good experience. Flexible working will soon be the default for millions of workers, under new UK government plans that will allow people to request it from day one of their employment.
As hybrid work evolves, video meetings and content sharing will continue to be an essential point of contact between colleagues, partners, and clients. To deliver effective and collaborative communications, organizations will need to ensure that they have a strong foundation in place and adopt the necessary technologies to support their employees and this way of working. Here we’ll cover the tools and technologies that users will need to interact with on a daily basis and the key IT infrastructure considerations for organizations.
Best Windows apps this week
Five-hundred-and-twenty-seven in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.
Microsoft won't sell its Windows 10 operating system anymore on its website after January 2023. Third-party retailers and OEMs may still sell Windows 10 licenses though.
Trustwave updates its threat hunting to find unknown dangers
Threat hunting takes a proactive approach to identifying the security issues an organization might face. But since it tends to be based on intelligence about current threats it can overlook new ones.
Now though Trustwave has enhanced its Advanced Continual Threat Hunting platform, offering resulting in a three times increase in behavior-based threat findings that would have gone undetected by current Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools.
Hardware dependence -- what it is and why it's a problem [Q&A]
We're currently in the middle of a global chip shortage, while at the same time major hardware companies like Intel, NVIDIA and Arm are looking to dominate the hardware market for AI and ML applications.
This creates something of an issue where models have to be tuned and optimized according to specific hardware specifications and software frameworks, sacrificing the portability that the industry has come to take for granted..
Microsoft releases KB5022360 update to fix numerous Windows 11 issues
Ahead of a full, wider release next month, Microsoft has made available a preview version of the KB5022360 update for Windows 11.
This is a non-security update, but it does include -- in Microsoft's words -- "quality improvements". What this means in practice is that the update addresses a number of Windows 11 problems such as an issue with searchindexer.exe and another with firmware Trusted Platform Modules (TPM). It also introduces a change to the way .NET Framework update previews are installed.
Microsoft has started forcibly upgrading Windows 11 21H2 users to Windows 11 22H2
More than nine months before the end of support for Windows 11 21H2, Microsoft has started to forcibly upgrade users to Windows 11 22H2 -- or the Windows 11 2022 Update as it is also known.
While the upgrades may be unwanted, Microsoft is not being quiet about what it is doing. The company is using a security angle to try to win over those who may be unhappy with what is happening.
UTM 4.1 lets you install Windows 11 on any M1, M2 or Intel Mac -- for free!
Running Windows on Macs is nothing new, but with the loss of BootCamp support for the newer Silicon-based Macs (those running M1 and M2 chips), your only option for installing Windows is through virtualization software. You’ll find plenty of free and paid-for options available, so what makes UTM 4.1 stand out from a crowded field of virtualization tools?
When it comes to running Windows, UTM offers nothing you can’t find elsewhere in the form of Parallels Desktop, but there’s one crucial difference: UTM is open source and -- if you’re willing to update it manually -- completely free. If you want automatic updates, or you simply want to support the project, a one-time fee of $9.99 can be paid by purchasing UTM through the Mac App Store.
A world without cookies is still an advertising world
Third-party tracking using cookies is coming to an end. While the death of cookies has been delayed several times already, there is no doubt that cookies won’t play a role anymore in the future when it comes to advertising.
Google, being an advertising company, needs to get it right though, as most of the organization’s revenue depends on advertising. Good news for Google is that it owns Chrome, which more or less determines through an update when cookies are no longer usable.
Get 'Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies, 6th Edition' (worth $18) FREE for a limited time
Consider Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies your indispensable guide to learning how to program in one of the most popular programming languages -- Java! Java is an invaluable language to master, as it's widely used for application development, including Android, desktop, and server-side applications.
Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies is written specifically for newbies to programming. The book starts with an overview of computer programming and builds from there; it explains the software you need, walks you through writing your own programs, and introduces you to a few of the more-complex aspects of programming in Java.
CIO role gains in importance as economic hardship bites
According to a new report, 77 percent of CIOs say their role has been elevated due to the state of the economy and they expect this visibility within the organization to continue.
The 22nd annual State of the CIO report from Foundry looks at how the CIO's role has changed over time, as well as an in-depth analysis of technology and business initiatives that CIOs plan to focus on in 2023.
Island integrates ChatGPT into its enterprise browser
Since it was launched towards the end of last year ChatGPT has created quite a buzz, both for its legitimate uses and its potential to be abused.
Now though Island is announcing the integration of ChatGPT into its Island Enterprise Browser. It aims to provide deep contextual awareness, so you receive prompts that are informed by your behavior and relevant to what you're working on, as you work on it.
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