Don't use Microsoft's Security Update Guide (yet)
Microsoft announced a while ago that it plans to do away with the two-decade old security bulletin release scheme, and switch over to the Security Update Guide service instead for update information.
Planned for February 2017 initially, the change was postponed. We don't know why, but the postponing of security update releases for Windows and other Microsoft products in February may have had something to do with it.
In March 2017, Microsoft released security bulletins as if the previous announcement never happened. Coincidentally, we don't know why Microsoft postponed the February Patch day, the company never stated why.
Security Update Guide issues
The Security Update Guide will be the place to go for security update information in the future. There is little doubt that Microsoft will still go ahead with the planned change.
If you open the Security Update Guide right now, you will notice that it is already live. It lists release notes for February and March, and security updates that date back to mid-February 2017.
The site looks fine on first glance. You can filter the listing by date, product, severity, impact, or KB ID for instance, and also search in the results again.
If you look closely however, you will notice that Microsoft does not list all security updates there for a given operating system or product.
Take the recently released security update for Microsoft Internet Explorer, KB4012204 for instance. The bulletin lists KB4012204 for Internet Explorer 9, 10 and 11.
If you check the Security Update Guide, you will notice that Internet Explorer 10 and 11 are not listed there. If you search for the KB ID, you only get the listing for Internet Explorer 9 (which means Vista and Server 2008).
If you download security updates manually, you may miss out on this important Internet Explorer update as it is not included in the monthly security only update release for Windows 7, 8.1, 10, and the server versions.
As Woody notes, the Internet Explorer update is also not listed on the cumulative update history page for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, nor for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012, 2012R2.
The question is, how do you know about future updates that are released that are not mentioned by Microsoft in key locations?
This is not a problem for systems that are updated through Windows Update. The Internet Explorer patch is delivered along with other security updates in this case.
If you happen to install updates manually for Windows however, you may miss out on pages due to oversights by Microsoft.
In case you are wondering, the updates are listed on the Microsoft Update Catalog. The information that you need to install 4012204 is also listed on the KB4012213 KB4012212 KB4012215 KB4012216 pages of the security only quality update release.
Still, the fact that the information is missing on the Security Update Guide listing is a blunder by Microsoft that the company should address quickly. If it is intended to be your one-stop shop for all things security updates, it has to list them all.
Now You: How would you like Microsoft to handle update information?
Martin, I would appreciate that you do not censor this post, as it’s informative writing.
Onur, there is a misleading statement “[…] GIFs are animated images …”. No, obviously you don’t seem to have take much notice of what you were told back in March regarding; Graphics Interchange Format (GIF).
For example, https://www.ghacks.net/2023/03/31/whats-gif-explanation-and-how-to-use-it/#comment-4562919 (if you had read my replies within that thread, you might have learnt something useful). I even mentioned, “GIF intrinsically supports animated images (GIF89a)”.
You linked to said article, [Related: …] within this article, but have somehow failed to take onboard what support you were given by several more knowledgeable people.
If you used AI to help write this article, it has failed miserably.
EMRE ÇITAK posts are useless because they are fraught with inaccuracies and are irrelevant.
AI is stupid, and it will not get any better if we really know how this all works. Prove me wrong.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IYl1sTIOHI
Martin, [#comment-4569908] is only meant to be in: [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/09/how-to-send-gifs-on-iphone-two-different-ways/]. Whereas it appears duplicated in several recent random low-quality non relevant articles.
Obviously it [#comment-4569908] was posted: 9 July 2023. Long before this thread even existed… your database is falling over. Those comments are supposed to have unique ID values. It shouldn’t be possible to duplicate the post ID, if the database had referential integrity.
Don’t tell me!
Ghacks wants the state to step in for STATE-MANDATED associations to save jobs!!!
Bring in the dictatorship!!!
And screw Rreedom of Association – too radical for Ghacks maybe
GateKeeper ?
That’s called “appointing” businesses to do the state’s dirty work!!!!!
But the article says itself that those appointed were not happy – implying they had not choice!!!!!!
Rreedom of Association is one of our most important rights. Some people think it’s Freedom, but no, I say Rreedom is far more important. There are many STATE-MANDATED associations that save jobs, that’s right MANDATED. I can’t name any of them, but rest assured they are bad, because saving jobs are bad, and people having jobs leads to dictatorship!!! Anyone who disagrees is too radical for Ghacks maybe, because I’m not sure.
@The Dark Lady,
@KeZa,
@Database failure,
@Howard Pearce,
@Howard Allan Pearce,
Note: I replaced the quoted URI scheme: https:// with “>>” and posted.
The current ghacks.net is owned by “Softonic International S.A.” (sold by Martin in October 2019), and due to the fate of M&A, ghacks.net has changed in quality.
>> ghacks.net/2023/09/02/microsoft-is-removing-wordpad-from-windows/#comment-4573130
Many Authors of bloggers and advertisers certified by Softonic have joined the site, and the site is full of articles aimed at advertising and clickbait.
>> ghacks.net/2023/08/31/in-windows-11-the-line-between-legitimate-and-adware-becomes-increasingly-blurred/#comment-4573117
As it stands, except for articles by Martin Brinkmann, Mike Turcotte, and Ashwin, they are low quality, unhelpful, and even vicious. It is better not to read those articles.
How to display only articles by a specific author:
Added line to My filters in uBlock Origin: ghacks.net##.hentry,.home-posts,.home-category-post:not(:has-text(/Martin Brinkmann|Mike Turcotte|Ashwin/))
>> ghacks.net/2023/09/01/windows-11-development-overview-of-the-august-2023-changes/#comment-4573033
By the way, if you use an RSS reader, you can track exactly where your comments are (I’m an iPad user, so I use “Feedly Classic”, but for Windows I prefer the desktop app “RSS Guard”).
RSS Guard: Feed reader which supports RSS/ATOM/JSON and many web-based feed services.
>> github.com/martinrotter/rssguard#readme
We all live in digital surveillance glass houses under scrutiny of evil people because of people like Musk. It’s only fair that he takes his turn.
“Operating systems will be required to let the user choose the browser, virtual assistant and search engine of their choice. Microsoft cannot force users to use Bing or Edge. Apple will have to open up its iOS operating system to allow third-party app stores, aka allow sideloading of apps. Google, on the other hand, will need to provide users with the ability to uninstall preloaded apps (bloatware) from Android devices. Online services will need to allow users to unsubscribe from their platform easily. Gatekeepers need to provide interoperability with third-parties that offer similar services.”
Wonderful ! Let’s hope they’ll comply with that law more than they are doing with the GDPR.
No, they didn’t lmao.
https://twitter.com/vxunderground/status/1706523877478670542
What does this article about Musk/Tesla have to do with computing, devices, phones?
More irelevant filler.
yeah sure… they are always the victims and it is only against them ????
Believe them 100% and never question anything. This lawsuit sounds like the type you heard when people were eating batteries.