Posts by cFortC

Make Redmond angry by setting up Windows 11 with a local account

Easy way around

Some years back when Microsoft opened up outlook,com as an email service, I rushed to get my preferred user name @outlook.com.

So, for the Windows 11 installs that I've done, I've always just taken the easy way. I go ahead and complete the OS installation with that outlook.com address. Then, when the system finally opens up to the desktop, the first thing I do is create my preferred local user, administrator account. I sign out of the Microsoft account, sign into my local user, and proceed from there with data and application installation. There is no reason to ever sign back into Windows with the Microsoft account.

Within my local user account, traces of that Microsoft account still linger ghostlike. When I'm in (classic) Outlook creating my email accounts, the outlook.com email account goes right through without re-entering the password. Ditto for installing the Office 2021 suite linked to a Microsoft account (once installed, I sign out of the account within Office to avoid undue cloud entanglement).

Is this approach too easy? Does it entail too much Microsoft involvement for purists?

Official HP toner not official enough after dodgy update, say users

Mine still working, for how long?

I bought one of those printers last year. I just checked it and it's got that poison firmware update, but is currently still working (with the toner cartridge that came with the printer).

While I've avoided HP printer products for many years, this one was an irresistible bargain at Walmart, $89. At the time I needed a compact, low-duty cycle laser printer, so I went for it.

This printer must be connected to the internet to work, and there is no way to turn off firmware updates. So here's hoping that HP issues the corrective firmware release ASAP.

New Outlook marches onto Windows 10 for what little time it has left

Microsoft Office 2021 Outlook users affected?

I've been using various versions of Microsoft Office for many years. I have dozens of .PST files containing my email history.

I'm currently using Microsoft Office 2021 and the Outlook delivered with that release.

Is it safe? Or is the article saying that I'll sign in one morning and find my Outlook 2021 removed from the system?

Windows 11 continues slog up the Windows 10 mountain

Aging hardware or new seats

Other than aging hardware, or the October 2025 deadline for Windows 10 support, why would users or businesses spontaneously upgrade to Windows 11?

My personal situation, and my uninformed projection of how that applies to the wider world, is that users and businesses migrate to Windows 11 when they replace their PC's, or add new seats.

In my case, in 2022 I replaced my aging Windows 10 laptop and opted for the Windows 11 system image on the new one. I accommodated and set it up as much as possible to retain familiar look and feel.

Then, just last month I replaced my 12-year old desktop workstation. Of course I took the Windows 11 image since I've been there and done that.

Chalk up two new deployments of Windows 11 here, thanks to aging hardware. Otherwise I would have waited until October 2025 or beyond.

After nearly 3B personal records leak online, Florida data broker confirms it was ransacked by cyber-thieves

Re: SSN and DOB must be downgraded for online security purposes

Yes, the fact that they were forced to change Medicare ID numbers just emphases the widespread availability of SSN's -- real short-term money and medical privacy was at risk and the authorities acted appropriately for once.

Which leads to the idea that raw SSN be returned for use only as your retirement account number. For any other use, the SSN holder would go online to their SSN account and generate a single-use token string to hand over. The token could be one-time as for a credit check, or open-ended but bound to the digital ID of the employer or financial institution that requested it.

SSN and DOB must be downgraded for online security purposes

For some time now, knowledge of SSN and DOB no longer qualify to securely identify someone, especially (but not exclusively) on the internet.

All financial, health, phone and internet service providers, and any other entity who thought these items were valid to identify a client, should stop ASAP. Although less than perfect, such vetted ID services as ID.me must be utilized, at a minimum, for a more secure form of client identification.

This includes the consumer credit reporting agencies. This means that just SSN cannot be sufficient to run a credit check or open a line of credit. Also, last time I tried it, aside from SSN and DOB, I only had to answer (or guess) a handful of easily researched questions about past addresses, car loans, etc. to gain access to my complete credit report.

Hello? Are you talking on a Cisco SPA300 or SPA500 IP phone? Now's the time to junk 'em

Phones still OK on an inside non-routable network?

I've got three SPA525G's. I noticed back in 2022 that an "old QuoVadis certificate issue" was reported, eventually destined to brick these phones. But so far, they have continued working.

I have a question about this newly reported critical flaw in the web administration interface. My phones are all on the "inside LAN" and are presumably protected by hackers on the WAN by my IP gateway router which prevents incoming connection requests, performs NAT, and so on.

Do I still need to be worried about this attack vector?

Cisco warns it won't fix critical flaw in small business routers despite known exploit

Don't enable remote management

The workaround is simple: disable remote management.

These types of routers are almost always used in the home or SOHO where the requirement for remote management is nil.

Windows 10 to hang on for five more years with 21H2 update

Last security update for Windows 10, when?

So can someone just tell me the bottom line for Windows 10? I manage five PCs running Windows 10 Pro, and only one of them is likely to be upgradable to Windows 11. So the money question is, what is the projected date when these PCs running Windows 10 Pro will stop receiving Microsoft security updates?