There are some reports that an Outlook 2010 update that was released today (KB3114409 Dec 8, 2015) may impact operations of Outlook 2010. You may find that it will only run in safe modem, or your Outlook settings may get reset to default, or configuration changes you make will not stick.
If so, uninstall KB3114409 for now. Read more here
I will be honest. My first two smart phones years ago were Apple iPhones. I had an iPhone 3, and liked it enough to upgrade to an iPhone 4. I enjoyed them both. I refuse to use the word “love” when talking about a phone! I also have a Galaxy tablet back then.
When Microsoft came out with their Windows 8 phones, I knew I wanted to try one. So I went with the Nokia Lumia 920 three years ago. I liked it enough that when the phone cracked from repeated drops to the floor, I picked up an exact replacement.
But I’ve been biding my time for the Windows 10 phones to come out.
Microsoft recently announced the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. I wanted to get the XL as it is slightly larger, but I decided to go with the Lumia 950 due to pricing and availability through AT&T, who released it on Nov 20th.
I will write up a report of my experience in a week or two. I have some an upcoming trip and will get to utilize the phone a lot during that time. I’m anxiously awaiting arrival of my Microsoft Docking Device
But my first impressions of the 950 are good ones. I was able to restore all my apps, settings, files and pictures. I was able to activate my SIM/Cellular from a web page or phone (so no driving to the local AT&T store to do it). It’s a cleaner image than the Windows 8 phone.
So, in the words of The Rocket Man … “I like it!”
Customer is running Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, and just had a Xerox WorkCentre 8530 delivered to their office.
Working with the local Xerox printer tech, we got the driver installed on the server and tested printing.
But he wanted to show me some things under the “Configure Port” option, but when we tried to do so, we got the following error message:
An error occurred during port configuration. Access is denied.
I was stumped, as I knew we were logged on as an administrator. I even tried using Print Management service.
I then found a helpful step-by-step solution to this problem over on the GeeksOnTech website. Their post includes screen shots, but here is a summary of the steps:
Hope this helps!
Thanks to my pal, Handy Andy, I found out that the November 2015 updates to Windows 10 introduced a new feature that will automatically set the last used printer as your new default printer.
Now, if you only have one printer configured on your computer, you can skip this post. But, most people will have several printer devices, from real printers to PDF-type printers.
Fortunately, this option can be easily disabled following these steps:
Step 1 / 2 / 3:
Steps 4 / 5:
I have done several in-place upgrades from Windows 7/Win 8.1 to Windows 10 without any real issue. But yesterday I unboxed a new Lenovo computer that came pre-installed with Windows 7 Pro, and I used the same Windows 10 USB stick that I have been using to upgrade this computer.
All seemed to go fine with the upgrade, and I was able to login successfully, including using IE and Edge to access the Internet. 
But, when I tried to click on Settings, I would see a quick flash on the screen, but nothing else.
I tried rebooting several times with no improvement. –>
I checked the event log and found a pair of events (Id 59 and 5973) that indicates an issue with Immersive Control Panel.
Doing a web search indicated that this issue has been encountered since the initial release of Windows 10 back in July 2015, but also, similar errors with Windows 8.1.
I finally found a Microsoft Answer post (click here) that pointed me in the right direction for a solution. Microsoft pushed out an emergency troubleshooter utility that you can download directly from the Microsoft web site:
Download, open and run this troubleshooting utility. It should identify the issue and fix it. No rebooting is required. It fixed my issue with opening the Settings app immediately.
Hope this helps!
The Windows 10 November 2015 update was a full upgrade, and in the process it stored a backup copy of the prior version of Windows 10 on your disk. And that’s a good thing … as it allows you to restore back to the prior version of Windows 10.
But that backup copy is taking up 20GB or more of disk space on your system C: drive.
It doesn’t hurt to leave it there.
But once you have been running with the updated Windows 10 for a few days, and things are running well, you may wish to reclaim that 20gb of disk space. You can do so in three easy steps:
Step 1: Run Disk Cleanup
You can start Disk Cleanup by typing in disk cleanup in the I’m Cortana. Ask me anything. search box at the bottom your Windows 10 desktop. Select to open up the Disk Cleanup desktop app, and select your system C: drive.
Optionally, you can right click on your C: drive from File Explorer, select Properties, and click on the Disk Cleanup button.
Step 2: Select to Cleanup system files
When the Disk Cleanup window display, on the bottom left, click on the Cleanup system files button.
Wait a few seconds while it rescans your disk drive.
Step 3: Select to remove Previous Windows installations
It will refresh the list of files that you can select to delete. Scroll through that list and look for “Previous Windows installations”.
On my computer, this was taking up 23GB of disk space.
Click to select this option, and then click OK. It will then display a final “are you sure” message box. If you wish to proceed, click Yes.
That’s it!
Amy Babinchak, President of Third Tier, has announced that they will be releasing an updated version of their Ransomware Prevention Kit next week.
http://www.thirdtier.net/2015/11/the-new-ransomware-kit-is-coming-soon/
Two years ago (October 2013), Amy and her team led the way in providing a solution to help block the CryptoLocker attacks that were causing havoc worldwide (see blog post).
A lot has changed in the past two years, and such threats can still do great harm and damage for both individuals and businesses. Thanks to Third Tier, I sleep better knowing that my systems are protected.
Finally, Third Tier wants to reach out and encourage more women to get certified and work in the I.T. field, and is using this new Prevention Kit to raise money for this effort!
Microsoft announced the release of the first major update to Windows 10.
In prior terminology, we would be calling this Service Pack 1, but Microsoft want to simply refer to it as the November 2015 Update. During pre-testing phase it was referred to as TH2.
This update will be pushed out automatically through Windows Update.
It contains a slew of new new features and improvements, including
Read more on the Microsoft site:
http://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2015/11/12/first-major-update-for-windows-10-available-today/
I am seeing many reports today of Outlook crashing after the recent set of Office 2010 updates, as well as getting a blank screen after pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL for the login screen.
It appears that KB 3097877 may be the cause. If so you can try uninstalling that KB patch.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3097877
There is also a suggestion to clear the Java cache. Instructions can be found here:
MaxFocus (formerly GFI) has announced that they will be upgrading all of their SHA-1 SSL certificates to SHA-2. This change may impact XP devices and Windows 2003 servers from connecting to the RMM dashboard, if they are not properly upgraded.
(Please note that Microsoft officially ended support for Windows XP and for Server 2003. As such we are providing this update in an advisory capacity, but cannot offer support with any installation issues of the patches on these endpoint devices.)