April patch roundup: mostly quiet on the Microsoft front

April patch roundup: mostly quiet on the Microsoft front
            A diferencia de marzo, cuando las actualizaciones de parches causaron problemas con algunas impresoras, las actualizaciones de Microsoft para abril fueron relativamente moderadas.  Los usuarios de Windows han perdido la versión anterior a Chromium de Edge;  algunos usuarios han visto problemas de rendimiento;  y Microsoft empezó a hablar de "Noticias e interés".
In fact, it is the latter that worries some IT administrators. (More on that below).

Old Edge out, new Edge in

First, Microsoft installed the new Chromium-based Edge browser this month and removed the old Edge. Now that the browser is based on the Chromium engine, it will receive updates on the same schedule as Google Chrome. Note: The deployment was not without its side effects. If you had another app set to open PDFs, the April release reset your default PDF reader to Edge. Therefore, you will need to reset the default app according to your preferences. (This can be easily done - see this recent YouTube video for more details.) Microsoft has also moved the default download location from the bottom left corner of the browser window to the top right corner, in line with other locations. Browser download. If you're a long-time Edge user like me, it'll take some getting used to. Finally, because Edge is now updated at the same rate as Chrome, attackers can launch zero-day exploits at the same rate. Expect Edge to get updates for these, though they'll be happening in the background; you probably won't even notice that an update has occurred.

Performance impact of Windows 2004 or 20H2

If you are a gamer running Windows 2004 or 20H2, you may have seen blue screens of death or performance below expectations. As Microsoft noted, "Most users affected by this issue are playing in full screen or borderless windowed mode and using at least two monitors." Microsoft has rolled back the non-security patch that caused these issues. As a reminder: Windows 10 cumulative updates include both security and non-security components. For non-security fixes, Microsoft includes the new code and leaves the original code in your fix. If you later discover that one of these non-security fixes is a problem, the company can activate the systems to uninstall the new code and revert to the original. Please note that you only need to restart your computer for the fixes to take effect. (Microsoft activates the change through a setting in Microsoft Update in the cloud.) restaurar el registro para Win 10 Microsoft Here's how to determine if your system has experienced the April patch rollback. If you're an enterprise patcher and don't allow direct access to Microsoft Update, you'll need to tune and enable rollback through Group Policy or Intune settings. Having said that, I didn't see anyone outside of the game being affected. To determine if your system has seen the restore, in the search box, type "regedit" to open the registry editor. Click on the User Account Control dialog box that appears. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > FeatureManagement and finally Overrides to check the registry keys there. Look for the 1837593227 entry under the value 4. If you see an "EnabledState" entry with the value 1, the hotfix has been applied. My Lenovo laptop is not a gaming rig, but I found the entry. The ability to roll back fixes deployed by Microsoft is limited to non-security fixes included in Windows 10 cumulative updates. Security updates can't be fixed automatically because Microsoft doesn't want to leave security code vulnerable on your system . If so, attackers could attack your system and trigger the vulnerability. Microsoft has indicated that 2004 or 20H2 provide full support for this restore feature; older versions, such as 1909, have less ability to automatically roll back updates.

New in the taskbar: "News and interests"

Starting with preview builds this month, Microsoft is introducing a new "News & Interests" feature to the taskbar. Code for this feature will be included in April previews and major security patches in May. It reminds me of the Vista gadgets, which let you activate various gadgets on the desktop to keep track of the weather, time, and news. The News & Interests feature will roll out slowly in a metered rollout, but I've already seen some IT admins report that they plan to block it on their networks. If you want to block this feature, you'll first need to wait for it to be implemented; then there are several options to keep it at bay. Once it arrives, you can, for example, right-click on the taskbar, find news and interests settings, and then click "Disable." You can also use a registry key to disable the feature, as explained on Tenforums. The registry key you need to set is: HKEY_CURRENT_USER SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Feeds "ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode" = dword: 00000002 las noticias y los intereses están apagadosMicrosoft Here's how to turn off "News & Interest" after it's implemented. At work, Windows administrators can use Group Policy (after, as shown, the code is published). Many system administrators wonder why Microsoft is rolling out changes outside of the normal feature release process without a specific date and time when we'll see them. Note: News & Interests will be implemented on Windows 10 2004/20H2 as well as earlier versions of Windows 10, so it is not limited to any particular feature version. Hopefully, this is not how Microsoft plans to make changes to Windows 10 in the future. Most of us have resigned ourselves to the changes that are rolling out through feature releases. But the Office 365 style of making changes where admins don't know exactly when it will happen isn't typical of Windows 10. I'm looking to see if Microsoft continues this process or if it gets feedback from companies urging it to change it. .do it.
<p>Copyright © 2021 IDG Communications, Inc.</p>