Microsoft OneDrive is a powerful tool for storing, syncing, and sharing files across devices. But there are situations where a business may not want OneDrive running on every computer or server.

This is particularly common with Remote Desktop servers, hosted desktops, shared computers, specialized application servers, or environments where company data needs to remain in a specific storage location.

Fortunately, Microsoft provides administrative controls for managing how OneDrive operates on Windows devices.

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Managing business technology used to mean supporting computers, servers, printers, and the office network.

Today, that’s only part of the picture.

Employees rely on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, email, cloud applications, laptops, mobile devices, networks, passwords, MFA, file sharing, and cybersecurity systems every day. And increasingly, cybersecurity threats target the user and their identity, not simply the computer.

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Update 1/28/2022: South Jersey Techies has released OOB updates to fix the Windows L2TP VPN connection issues.

Microsoft released Windows updates to fix security vulnerabilities and bugs as part of the January 2022 Patch Tuesday that came with fixes for six zero-day vulnerabilities and a total of 97 flaws.

These updates also included KB5009566 for Windows 11 and KB5009543 for Windows 10 2004, 20H1, and 21H1.

Problems are being reported rapidly from Windows 10 users and administrators who are trying to make L2TP VPN connections after installing the recent Windows 10 KB5009543 and

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Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud Windows client upgrade scheduled for August 5, 2019

The SEP Cloud client for Windows is updated periodically to provide improvements and defect fixes. The next update is scheduled to start on August 5, 2019.

WHAT’S NEW ?

In this release, the SEP Cloud client for Windows will be updated to version 22.18 to provide an enhanced protection framework and client stability.

• Fixed an issue related to the OS feature on the agent, which was randomly failing with a medium severity while applying the Management policy.
• Fixed an issue related to the security event: “A process modified a critical system resource.” This event was erroneously displayed in the console as a threat detection/remediation event. The event is now removed and will not be displayed in the console.
• Enhancement to process HTTP error 429 status code request. The SEP Cloud agent will not attempt to connect with the cloud when the 429 status code is returned, but instead, try to connect based on the timeout information.
• If the timeout information is not available, then the product will retry to connect in 15 minutes by default.

IMPACT

All Windows devices that are currently enrolled in SEP Cloud will automatically be updated in the background, using LiveUpdate. This update does not affect the security of your devices.

To start, the update is distributed to a small set of clients over the first seven days of the release, and then the remaining clients will get the update. If you want to update sooner, you can run LiveUpdate from the Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud client UI.

Action Required

• Windows device restart
  All users with Windows devices will be prompted to restart their devices after the update. Even if they delay the restart, their Windows clients remain Protected.

If no user is logged on the device when the upgrade is made available, then the prompt is provided until the user logs on. The product update will not force the restart of the device.

• Windows installation package refresh
  Administrators who created a Windows installation package before August 5 should create and distribute a new one after August 5 to use for new Windows package deployments.

If you have any questions, please email us at support@sjtechies.com or call us at (856) 745-9990.

Based on the current progress for Windows 10 version 1903, due to arrive next spring, it now looks like the fall update for the OS will arrive around Sept. 10 or Sept. 24.

Microsoft last week released the first preview of what will become Windows 10 version 1903, the opening feature upgrade of next year, slated to ship in the spring.

The debut of what Microsoft calls the “Skip Ahead” build for Windows 10 1903 also hints that the release of this fall’s upgrade, aka 1809, will take place in September. If so, it would be the first time since late-2015 that the actual delivery date matched the numerical label.

On July 25, Microsoft forked the 1809 preview of Windows 10 – as it’s done before when a feature upgrade approaches – so developers could continue to deliver betas for that build while also beginning to work on the next-in-line, 1903. (Microsoft uses a yymm labeling system to mark its Windows 10 feature upgrades; 1809 should indicate a September 2018 release, while 1903 would be a March 2019 release.)

When it forks preview code, Microsoft provides the even-further-in-the-future build, in this case, 1903, to Windows Insider participants who earlier volunteered for Skip Ahead. As the current feature upgrade gets close to release, Microsoft switches Skip Ahead users to the following upgrade, so that engineers can start collecting feedback on that version even as they keep polishing the one set to launch soon. The bulk of Insiders remain on the latter.

Think of the Skip Ahead debut as a warning bell, like the one rung at track meets when racers start the final lap: When Microsoft begins to ship Skip Ahead code, it’s close to wrapping up the impending feature upgrade.

In 2017, as Windows 10 1709 (aka “Fall Creators Update”) neared completion, Microsoft first forked the preview code and distributed a different build to Skip Aheaders on Aug. 31. Windows 10 1709 began its release cycle on Oct. 17, or 47 days later. With this year’s version 1803, Skip Ahead debuted Feb. 14, or 75 days before the April 30 release of that upgrade.

(Windows 10 1803’s original launch date, reportedly April 10 – which was one of two dates Computerworld had forecast in February – was postponed by 20 days after a deal-breaking bug was uncovered at nearly the last minute.)

For one estimate of the release date for Windows 10 1809, Computerworld added 47 days to July 25, arriving at Sept. 10. A second estimate was generated by adding 61 days – the average of the two previous Skip Ahead triggers – to July 25, resulting in a Sept. 24 rollout.

Because the last three feature upgrades launched on either a Monday or Tuesday – April 11, 2017 for version 1703; Oct. 17, 2017 for 1709; April 30, 2018 for 1803 – Sept. 10 or 11 would be the most likely release dates for 1809, absent a show-stopping problem like the bug before 1803’s launch. Computerworld’s alternate forecast would be September 24 or 25, also a Monday/Tuesday combination, because it would match the previous upgrades’ average time-between-Skip-Ahead-and-release.

If Microsoft does release Windows 10 1809 in September, it would be the first time since November 2015 that the company has matched delivery date and the upgrade’s label. Version 1511 debuted Nov. 10, 2015. The four subsequent upgrades, 1607, 1703, 1709 and 1803, all missed their release months by between 2 and 30 days. (Version 1607 came the nearest, releasing Aug. 2, 2016.)

Although Microsoft has never expressly tied itself to March and September release months – in a support document, it gives itself wiggle room by stating that feature upgrades will be released “twice per year, around March and September [emphasis added]” – the disconnect between release and numerical designation has always seemed odd.

Issuing feature upgrades during the appointed months would be a sign that Microsoft has gotten a better handle on the rapid development tempo it has at times struggled with executing. It would also be a step toward a more predictable schedule, which was the point of the pledge it made over a year ago to issue a pair of feature upgrades annually.

Google sends a nudge toward the unencrypted web

Starting in July, Google Chrome marked all HTTP sites as “not secure,” according to a blog post published today by Chrome security product manager Emily Schechter. Chrome currently displays a neutral information icon, but starting with version 68, the browser is warning users with an extra notification in the address bar. Chrome currently marks HTTPS-encrypted sites with a green lock icon and “Secure” sign.

Google has been nudging users away from unencrypted sites for years, but this is the most forceful nudge yet. Google search began down-ranking unencrypted sites in 2015, and the following year, the Chrome team instituted a similar warning for unencrypted password fields.

The Chrome team said the announcement was mostly brought on by increased HTTPS adoption. Eighty-one of the top 100 sites on the web default to HTTPS, and a strong majority of Chrome traffic is already encrypted. “Based on the awesome rate that sites have been migrating to HTTPS and the strong trajectory through this year,” Schechter said, “we think that in July the balance was tipped enough so that we can mark all HTTP sites.”

HTTPS encryption protects the channel between your browser and the website you’re visiting, ensuring no one in the middle can tamper with the traffic or spy on what you’re doing. Without that encryption, someone with access to your router or ISP could intercept information sent to websites or inject malware into otherwise legitimate pages.

HTTPS has also become much easier to implement through automated services like Let’s Encrypt, giving sites even less of an excuse not to adopt it. As part of the same post, Google pointed to its own Lighthouse tool, which includes tools for migrating a website to HTTPS.