Category: Windows Update

Microsoft Defender Borks up the Start menu icons

Paul

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Microsoft Creates issues

This all started on Friday the 13th, 2023. We all started getting tickets galore for this issue, when we first saw this issue we thought it mgiht be something to do with company’s policies being changed and someone didn’t do their job testing it. Being that I am doing my job and trying to solve the issues that are at hand, I didn’t think twice that it was more globally than just our little corner of the company. As we get back into the office Monday we get even more of these tickets where the icons have disappeared and the little work around we sent out friday night still hasn’t solve some of the issues. Icons from all sorts of places have disappeared including stuff I didn’t even think would happen.

Well there it is, it seems Microsoft released an update that caused all the icons to disappear or not to function at all. I’ve been dealing with this issue for the past 5 days as our company scrambles to get the issue resolved for their employees. We’ve learned a few things and I will be glad to share it with you.

Icon restoration

There are several ways I’ve found that works to help restore the icons in the Start Menu.   One of the easiest way is to go to “Add and remove programs” and modify the app that isn’t showing up and Repair or reinstall if that is the option.  This is what we had to do at our location but that isn’t all we are having to do.  We are also having to do this for like Adobe and even Office 2016 but I am sure this affects all versions of Office.

Other ways you can restore icon is to registry edit the default icons and make them get repopulated with the right Icons.  I even go into default apps and reset that to help push the apps back into place.

Another way people have found tofix this issue at least with Office apps is to run it siliently and let it repair it selve in the background:

“C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\ClientX64\OfficeClickToRun.exe” scenario=Repair platform=x86 culture=en-us DisplayLevel=False

Microsoft Defender

According to Microsoft it was a the Microsoft Defender ASR rules that caused all this in the first place.   I don’t Know how many IT Admins are happy right now, I am sure not because of all this that happened but It really makes you wonder how this got past the pre-test phase and how anyone would push out an update like this that caused so much trouble.

Many people are wondering how this happened but My real question is will it happened again.  This isn’t going to be a big post but a short one to help those fix the issue at hand and hopefully we get it solved as quickly as possible and everyone get’s back to a normal routine.

It might be time to change your ethernet cords!

Paul1 Reply

Ethernet cords 101

Why would you need to change your ethernet cords?  You’re probably asking that because you’ve been using the ones in your hose for years without a problem.  This can seem quite different if you really consider the process of the network cords you have now.   Older houses are probably only using Cat5 or Cat5e cables.  The newer ones probably cat 6 but did you know there are more than that.  We’ve got Cat 1 ,2, 3 ,4, 5, 5e, 6, 6a,7,7a,8.  Each one of these is a much faster and more productive than the next.  Here’s a graphic to show you what I mean:

Those ethernet cables

Most of the time, those old ethernet cables are slowing you down.   If you are going to install ethernet cables into your house infrastructure you really should install the highest possible cat cable you can into your house.  This isn’t going to be  cheap but it will at least help with speed and it will also make it more useable in the future.  You might only have speeds of 10000mps down or up.  If you decide later on you want more speed you could easily upgrade your fiber speeds and be able to use the speeds without having to redo your ethernet cables in your house.  Gaming on ethernet cables would make it so much faster and less lag on the network than if you didn’t have those faster cables.

Network speeds to your Modem

If you don’t upgrade the cables from your modem to router if you have one of those then you will not be increasing the speeds of the network.  You’ll be bottlenecking all the speeds because of the cables you are using to the router to the modem.  You should consider buying a small cat8 cable and installing that into your router and connecting it to the modem.  This way the speeds will not be bottlenecked.  Also if you choice to use the highest speeds possible then will will allow you to get the most bandwidth from your ISP provider.  If you really do want the fast speeds possible, consider buying your modem and stop renting  your modem from the ISP.  This will help you in the future because the speed of the modem can be increased as the speed from the ISP.  ISP might be using some kind of throttling software in their modems to make it much slower for you for bandwidth.  This might be used or might not be used it just depends on the ISP.

Finally as you can see if you are like me, I use network cables in my house due to the saturation of the WIFI networks in my area.  This way I can get the most out of my ISP and not depend so much on my WIFI.  It can help with me to not have network interference from other WIFI broadcasting equipment.  I recently bought Cat 7 cables to help with my speeds on my modem since I can get 10gbps down and 5gbps down.  Which makes me having faster downloads and faster network speeds.   Don’t forget to check your cables from time to time for wear and tear and replace them from time to time.

It’s not a Bug but a feature : The Print Nightmare and Microsoft

Paul

It's Not a Bug but a Feature Comic

The Benefits of a central print server

It can be challenging to have a CPS(Central Print Server Infrastructure) due to a lot of demanding things.  This is the nature of allowing users to print to one location can bring on so many problems with how the IT people deal with it can seem almost impossible to some and down right chaos to others. After all, we have to deal with printing issues from time to time and even the unexpected problems that might arise.  For instance just in September, Microsoft released an update to the Print spooler and point to print features to cut off access to a zero day vulnerability called “Print Nightmare”.  Microsoft has stated in the past this was always a feature and not a bug, but I am sure that people may think this shouldn’t of been a feature to begin with.  Even then, you still have issues with having to fix the issues that Microsoft broke in the updates that are supposed to fix those other issues.   The Cost alone of productive might be hindered by the fact that workers can’t print what they need to print or have access to scan the papers they might need to scan to email or to use in production.

IT support

It will cause challenges to the IT support because it might not be as easily seen as you might expect with the current climate of people working from home or remote support.   After all, you don’t have any way to physically touch the printer or to examine the printer in details to know if it is a software or hardware issue.   This can be an issue on itself because some printing issues are both hardware and software in the same light.   One might look like a software issue but later find out it is a hardware issue because the manufacturer has determine the EOL(End of Life support) for that hardware.   In the end the printing to a centralized printer can have some good and bad benefits to all.

Acceptance of Printing

Even the accepting that you can not print can even be a challenge for the office staff.  There will be days you can’t print and there will be days you can print.   The office team will have to have ways to get around those challenges day by day.   They may eve have to come up with backup plans in case they may need to print something that day and we have issues just like this.  Although those are probably few and far between due to the how we are more dependent on email now a day.  It however isn’t something we should over look because of just how much people may need to use a printer.   There will always be a need for paper backups and there will always be a need to snail mail a form.  These are the challenges they will always face and we must accept that we will be there to fix their issues when the need arises.   Do you agree or Disagree?

How I passed my A+ Certification

Paul
Photo by Valentine Tanasovich from Pexels

How did I pass my Core 1 and Core 2?

If you haven’t read about my journey in to getting my A+ certification then you really should go back and read from the beginning. It all started in Sept and it took me a Month to get it. After the first failure, I thought to myself will I even be able to get a good grade on my Core 2? That was the really a good question in my mind. Could I get a passing grade in the Core 2, or would I fail that one also. I did some preparing for Core 2 and that seemed to help. I was sure I was going to fail but I went to take my Core 2 even though I failed my Core 1. You can take Core 2 even if you fail your core 1, I found that helpful to know that you didn’t have to pass the tests in order to get your certification.   It can be quite frustrating to get worry about getting the exam done and getting the certification.   I am sure I am not the only one who had this stress.

So How did You pass the 2 time around with Core 1?

I’ll tell you what I did but I knew I didn’t have to study as much as most because I’ve been doing computer repair for years and I understand some basic concepts well before I even took the CompTIA Tests.   I knew about it due to my life long experience about 10 to 20 years and that is just the beginning on how I didn’t expect to fail the first time around.   The other part depends on your first score was it really low or did you just barely miss the 675 or 700 points needed to pass?   My first score for Core 1 was just shy with 37 points needed to get a passing on the core 1.  You can pretty much do the math but it was 638 was my first score.   So I knew I only had to study  a little bit those with lower scores will probably need to study even more. You can go back and find out how I prepared for the Core 2 but I wanted to pass my core 1 test for sure so I went into depth even more just to be sure.   Here’s how I prepared to take the Core 1:

Even though this is very little I did differently, it obviously did help with my grade as I went up by almost a 100 points after take the Core 1.   If you really need to get your score this is definitely a good step to do to get your points you need to get your certification.   I know this isn’t going to be for everyone but I did learn a thing or two.  Know how you learn is how you get the good grades and this is the first step at getting grades you want in college and even in exams.   I can’t emphasize this as much as I should because people just don’t understand that their way of learning is far different than those that learn a different way.

How did you pass your Core tests?

I’d really love to know how others have passed their core tests.  Why not leave a comment and tell me what you did to help others to get the grades they need to get their certifications.  I am finally certified in A+ and that is a big accomplishment for me.   I worked really hard at it and now I have something to show to employers who might require that to get a job.

Have a good Tuesday everyone.

The Failures of Board manufacturers and Windows 11

Paul

Motherboards Diversity / SML.20120917.164110.IP3

Motherboard BIOS

Don’t try to understand the system but rather see it as a broke system and try to fix it. When Windows 11 came out, you can bet everyone who was wanted the next version of Windows wanted it so they can test it out.  The real problem is Windows 11 made every one get into their BIOS and figure out what needed to be turned on.  Motherboard manufacturers each have their own way of creating the BIOS settings.   They like to call it something you might not know about or even want to try to understand.   Just like enabling TMP can be hard to find since Intel and AMD uses different wording such as PTT (Intel Platform Trusted Technology) for Intel and fTPM (Firmware Trusted Platform Module)  for AMD.  Even this can be frustrating for even the most seasoned IT guy.   There is so many Mother Manufacturers out there, from MSI to ASRock. according to Wikipedia there is at least 7 to 15 different manufacturers of Motherboards.   So each one will make the Bios Menu’s just a little bit different.  It can be quite hard to figure out where you might need to go to enable something or disable something in bios.

The Failure of all parts

It isn’t every time I see Microsoft releases a new OS that I wonder just how much the consumer will suffer from the new systems requirements.    Most of the time the requirements were not that big of a deal but with Windows 11, we now need to enable TPM and Secure boot for systems that may or may not have the requirements to run Windows 11.   This to me just seem an arbitrary requirement because we’ve seen people run Windows 11 on a system that doesn’t  have  a TPM.   Microsoft says this is for security but I can’t see this being for consumers.  I’ve talked about how Windows 11 will fail, and I still think this will happen eventually once people see If Windows is worth upgrading.

The PrintNightmare

With the recent Windows updates the last few weeks has caused more pain for Microsoft.   Since most people who are having problem probably have to buy new printers and those old printers are probably going to the waste side.   Even manufacturers aren’t going to update their drivers for old printers.  Microsoft likes the idea that people will need to buy new printers and maybe even new systems for that Windows 11 OS.   They make their money by people upgrading their systems and getting a new Windows 11 key or even a new system by Dell, or some other OEM.   Every computer technician is having to work harder for people who might want to install Windows 11.  Even then the process of install Windows 11 is not something that can be done very quickly depending on how big the HDD you are going to be converting.

What is to come?

Some people are not going to install Windows and maybe will wait to see what Microsoft does.  We’ve already seen a comparison from Windows 8 to Windows 10 and you know how well Windows 8 didn’t work out well.   Some are probably going to install another OS that won’t require people to have some stringent requirements like Microsoft.   Are you going to Install Windows 11 or are you waiting like I am because you don’t want to worry about all the security requirements to install Windows 11?   I’d like to hear your ideas about Windows 11 and or what your will do in 2025 if they still require all these things.