May Windows and Office patches are now relatively stable, but Win7 NIC problems persist

May Windows and Office patches are now relatively stable,
but Win7 NIC problems persist

If you’ve been holding off on installing the May Windows and Office patches, now’s a good time to release the kraken and get them installed. Just be aware that there are still acknowledged, unresolved problems with Win7 updates breaking network cards.

At least the really bad bugs, introduced by “security” patches earlier this month, have been fixed. The problems that remain reside in the dregs — not likely to bite, but worth knowing about in case something suddenly goes bump in the night.

And if you’re using Win10 1803, you should definitely ask Microsoft for an increase in combat-duty pay.

Read Full Article ComputerWorld // May Windows and Office…..now relatively stable,…………NIC problems persist

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Apple announces iOS 12 for iPhones and iPads

Apple announces iOS 12 for iPhones and iPads

Everything we officially know so far.

Apple has just officially unveiled iOS 12 at its annual WWDC conference. This is the software that will define the experience of 2018’s new iPhones, and also update current iPhones and iPads when it comes out to devices later this year.

“With iOS 12, we’re doubling down on performance,” Apple’s senior VP of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said on stage at the keynote. iOS 12 will come to all the same devices as iOS 11. Apple says it’s focusing its efforts on the oldest devices, like the iPhone 6 Plus. Apps will launch up to 40 percent faster, and you can slide to take a photo at up to 70 percent faster than with iOS 11.

Siri shortcuts burrow deeply into your day-to-day

Siri’s new shortcuts feature was created to provide the information and services that Apple thinks you need throughout your day. For example, if you go to a movie, Siri can remind you to turn off your ringer. It’ll prompt you to call your mom on her birthday

Read Full Article CNET // Apple announces iOS 12 for iPhones and iPads

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macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 brings Messages in iCloud and security updates

macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 brings Messages in iCloud and security updates

Today, Apple released the latest update for macOS. High Sierra 10.13.5 primarily adds Messages in iCloud support, but it also includes some enterprise and security updates. Users of supported Macs can download and install it from the Mac App Store now.

Messages in iCloud has been in the works for a long time, and it has appeared and disappeared from various beta releases of Apple software. It was added in iOS 11.4 earlier this week, and now it’s supported on Macs. The feature allows you to store communications you receive and send within the Messages app—plus associated file attachments—in iCloud to save space on your local device. It also means that changes like deleting messages are propagated across devices, and a new Mac that is logged into your iCloud account will immediately have access to your Messages history.

 

Read Full article ARSTECHNICA // macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 brings Messages in iCloud and security updates

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FBI warns of new North Korea malware attacks

FBI warns of new North Korea malware attacks

You may remember four years ago, there was a malware attack on Sony Pictures. That attack led to leaks of unreleased films, publications of executive salaries and passcodes.

And last year, there was the massive attack of ransomware called “WannaCry.” The WannaCry campaign has claimed 200,000 victims across 150 countries worldwide, targeting private companies and public organizations and has actually endangered the lives of people.

Now, the group that was behind those attacks is allegedly responsible for another high-profile attack.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are now reporting findings (again) of malicious malware, who they believe, come from communist North Korea.

Who are they?

These hackers from North Korea are not necessarily new news to the United States. The U.S. has been tracking this particular group of hackers since 2009.

Read full article Komando // FBI warns of new North Korea malware attacks

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Mozilla’s Firefox tries closing more privacy holes with new network tech

Mashing up two network technologies — DNS and HTTPS — thwarts snooping and tampering.

BY STEPHEN SHANKLAND

Browser makers are trying to thwart network snoopers by encrypting your connections to the web servers that host websites, but Mozilla on Friday began a project to go one step further.

Firefox Nightly, a rough-around-the-edges test version of Mozilla’s browser, now includes technology called DNS over HTTPS, Mozilla said. DNS is the Domain Name System used to find the numeric addresses needed to communicate with computers across the network — 64.30.228.118 for CNET.com, for example — and HTTPS is the secure version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol used to fetch data from websites.

 

Read the full article // CNET – Mashing up two network technologies

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Several state agencies targeted by malware threat

Several state agencies targeted by malware threat

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Some technical issues experienced by a few state agencies on Friday have been attributed to malware, according to Department of Administration public information officer Brena McCabe.

She confirmed to Eyewitness News, agencies affected are the Department of Children, Youth and Families, Department of Human Services, and the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals.

 

Read Full Article WPRI // Several state agencies targeted by malware threat

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Microsoft has reportedly acquired GitHub

Microsoft has reportedly acquired GitHub

Microsoft has reportedly acquired GitHub, and could announce the deal as early as Monday. Bloomberg reports that the software giant has agreed to acquire GitHub, and that the company chose Microsoft partly because of CEO Satya Nadella. Business Insider first reported that Microsoft had been in talks with GitHub recently.

GitHub is a vast code repository that has become popular with developers and companies hosting their projects, documentation, and code. Apple, Amazon, Google, and many other big tech companies use GitHub. Microsoft is the top contributor to the site, and has more than 1,000 employees actively pushing code to repositories on GitHub. Microsoft even hosts its own original Windows File Manager source code on GitHub. The service was last valued at $2 billion back in 2015, but it’s not clear exactly how much Microsoft has paid to acquire GitHub.

Read Full article The Verge // Microsoft has reportedly acquired GitHub

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Don’t Pay the Ransom Unless You Really Have To

Don’t Pay the Ransom Unless You Really Have To

How hospitals can protect themselves against ransomware.

By Josephine Wolff

This article is part of Update or Die, a series from Future Tense about how businesses and other organizations keep up with technological change—and the cost of falling behind.

Very early on the morning of Palm Sunday last year, the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, New York, was infected by the SamSam ransomware. Hospital staff members first noticed the ransom demand for 24 bitcoins (worth roughly $44,000 at the time) locking up their devices at 2 a.m. on April 9, 2017, and they promptly called the hospital help desk.

Read full article Slate // How hospitals can protect themselves against Ransomware

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Think your Mac doesn’t need antivirus software? Actually, it does.

There’s a common misconception that Macs don’t need antivirus software. Unfortunately, that’s far from accurate these days.

Macs are generally more secure than PCs, thanks to a more secure operating system where certain aspects of its software are more locked down and harder to infiltrate by rogue software. Also, fewer people own Macs meaning fewer targets for criminals. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to get a virus on your Mac, or receive a suspicious piece of malware either.

Read full article Mashable // Best Antivirus for mac

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Is Microsoft avoiding the Win10 (1803) upgrade on PCs running Avast?

Several Win10 version 1803 upgraders have raised a red flag about Avast antivirus: After running the upgrade, PCs hit blue screens with nonsensical options. Now, there appears to be an official note on the Avast forum that says Microsoft has blocked forced upgrades to 1803 on machines running the software.

What began as a complaint on Reddit about botched upgrades to Windows 10 April 2018 Update, version 1803, has apparently mushroomed. Now, according to MartinZ, a moderator on Avast’s support forum:

Microsoft temporarily disabled the updates on version 1803 on PCs with Avast. We are working together with MS to find out the cause of this issue, but unfortunately right now neither MS nor us are able to reproduce the issue.

The original Reddit post was updat…

Read full article https://www.computerworld.com/artic…..-microsoft-avoiding-…..1803-upgrade-on-pcs-running-avast.html

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