WIN1804 BREAKS SMB Networks! AND WIN1809 is out OCTOBER 2 & REPORTEDLY WIPES DOCUMENT FOLDER etc??
HUGE PROBLEM being reported BACK UP BEFORE UPGRADE OR YOU MAY LOSE YOUR DOC FOLDER!
WIN1809 started rolling out yesterday – and already MAJOR MAJOR PROBLEMS! You MUST MUST backup your user folder BEFORE THE UPGRADE!
Various sources are reporting USER DOCUMENT FOLDER GETS DELETED!!!!! Yes, you read it right!
Also – if your system has a newer 6th+ gen Intel chip and you see a COMPATIBILITY problem with the Intel Display Audio with it wanting you to confirm – ABORT THE UPGRADE AT ONCE!
Various sources are reporting USER DOCUMENT FOLDER GETS DELETED!!!!! Yes, you read it right!
Also – if your system has a newer 6th+ gen Intel chip and you see a COMPATIBILITY problem with the Intel Display Audio with it wanting you to confirm – ABORT THE UPGRADE AT ONCE!
Also – WIN1803 breaks SMB!
Danger Will Robinson – anyone with a variety of external devices may have noticed – suddenly – that their external drive, big screen TV, and other streaming devices – may no longer talk to their Windows computer after the newest upgrade! And ‘network neighborhood’ no longer shows such devices! What gives?Well, in a nutshell – Microsoft – no warning – no alert – disabled the SMB V1 networking protocol.
This an old – old protocol dating from windows 3.1. And – it has always been rock solid! But it had vulnerabilities and the Wannacry ransomware attack last year used an exploit in SMB to spread through your network. Now – everyone (apart from Microsoft) immediately patched their operating systems and devices to block the attack – but Microsoft decided well we are just going to break the whole thing. They also rejiggered network neighborhood moving to a Microsoft-specific networking protocol with the result that ONLY Microsoft windows machines will show up where before your TV, streaming Network Attached Storage, backups and the like would also appear. No more.
This an old – old protocol dating from windows 3.1. And – it has always been rock solid! But it had vulnerabilities and the Wannacry ransomware attack last year used an exploit in SMB to spread through your network. Now – everyone (apart from Microsoft) immediately patched their operating systems and devices to block the attack – but Microsoft decided well we are just going to break the whole thing. They also rejiggered network neighborhood moving to a Microsoft-specific networking protocol with the result that ONLY Microsoft windows machines will show up where before your TV, streaming Network Attached Storage, backups and the like would also appear. No more.
You CAN override and allow SMBv1 to work again (they had to release a registry tweak to deal with the outrage) – but in case you have been left wondering what was going on – this is the information!
WHATS WITH THOSE EBAY OFFICE KEYS? ARE THEY LEGITIMATE? OR LEGAL?
I had occasion to have to investigate this. You know what I mean – seeing Office Professional keys being sold on eBay for $10-15. Can they be real? Whats the story?
Well – in fact I called some folks inside Microsoft, emailed them documentation I received with a 5-pack of such keys – and here is the scoop!
Well – in fact I called some folks inside Microsoft, emailed them documentation I received with a 5-pack of such keys – and here is the scoop!
Microsoft Office products come in 4 basic flavors.
1) Academic versions usually limited. and you need to show you are a student/educational institution to buy them. These are often noted as such on eBay, and are NOT the ones going for $10.
2) Normal retail version. you know it. you love it. $195-$295 or so per license. And there IS no 5-pack license (good for 5 computers).
3) Volume versions – which are sold to large Microsoft accounts, with the understanding that get lots of ‘extra’ keys for employees to use at home. These are not supposed to be sold. a Volume license version also often does not ‘care’ for or ask you for a key!
4) Developer versions. THIS is the interesting story. These versions are denoted by PLUS in the title. EVERY office version containing PLUS is a developer version. These versions are given under license to software developers – and they are given LOTS of keys for testing purposes. The developer is NOT supposed to resell these keys (as they paid practically nothing for them).
It is this FOURTH category of keys that you see on ebay. For example here is one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MICROSOFT-OFFICE-2016-PRO-PLUS-32-bit-64-bit-LIFETIME-PRODUCT-KEY-DOWNLOAD-LINK/173570694410?epid=22014152116&hash=item28699e9d0a:g:q8oAAOSwSDxbtbZI (if its not already removed!)
A Office 2016 key for $6.83. (actually British Pounds 5.25) What a deal!
Well – after detailed investigation – here is the scoop. The developer is selling the keys he paid practically nothing for (or an employee of the developer). Now – the keys ARE legitimate absolutely (once provisioned – activated within Microsoft’s network – it needs to be installed within 3-4 days or it becomes useless).
They will never wake up one day and be blocked. And Microsoft will never take any action against any end user (us) buying one of these keys. They will however discipline the developer selling these keys if they catch him!
And this is from a reasonably high up Microsoft source. WE wont get in trouble for buying them. The Developer would certainly get in trouble. And – especially on eBay – Microsoft will complain to eBay which is why in a few days that auction will get cancelled if you have not bought your key first or second day it will surely be unavailable.
Now – I’m not encouraging you to purchase these – but I’ve been asked plenty of times about them and I decided to get to the bottom of it! NOW YOU KNOW!
Well – after detailed investigation – here is the scoop. The developer is selling the keys he paid practically nothing for (or an employee of the developer). Now – the keys ARE legitimate absolutely (once provisioned – activated within Microsoft’s network – it needs to be installed within 3-4 days or it becomes useless).
They will never wake up one day and be blocked. And Microsoft will never take any action against any end user (us) buying one of these keys. They will however discipline the developer selling these keys if they catch him!
And this is from a reasonably high up Microsoft source. WE wont get in trouble for buying them. The Developer would certainly get in trouble. And – especially on eBay – Microsoft will complain to eBay which is why in a few days that auction will get cancelled if you have not bought your key first or second day it will surely be unavailable.
Now – I’m not encouraging you to purchase these – but I’ve been asked plenty of times about them and I decided to get to the bottom of it! NOW YOU KNOW!
HIGH SIERRA PROBLEMS:
Oddly we’ve been seeing some high sierra incompatibities that are unexpected. If you have been experiencing any oddities please contact us. Some have clear work-arounds. Mojave is also now rolling out!!! Playing with a copy currently!
ADOPTION CORNER
Lots of nice systems onhand – I’m making up a page especially for adoptions!
Have a very nice 2015 15in retina 2.2ghz i7. 256gb. 16gb.
A SUPER NICE Touchbar 15in 2.9ghz i7 16gb 256gb SSD.
Various 13in unibodies and 15in unibodies.
Various 13in unibodies and 15in unibodies.
A VERY nice 7th generation Dell Latitude
ASUS nice 15in gamer!
Too many to mention – tell me what you are looking for!
ASUS nice 15in gamer!
Too many to mention – tell me what you are looking for!