Microsoft the Target of FTC Antitrust Investigation

By DustinPosted on

The US Federal Trade Commission has started investigating Microsoft (again) for possible unfair business practices as well as several other issues. Some are related to the July incident involving Crowdstrike, which helped show that Microsoft has a dominance in the PC and IT industry, running many enterprises, from manufacturing to transportation to news and everything in between.

With Microsoft’s cloud offerings having multiple services bundled with their licensing (E5 can get you a lot of services), from basic AI to security to Office 365 (email, Word, Excel, etc.), Teams, Sharepoint, the list goes on. Some say that having so many things in a single offering could be unfair for competition as well as a single point of failure.

The initial news story comes from Bloomberg, and Microsoft and the FTC have declined to comment (as usual with legal things, not out of the ordinary). In the past, Microsoft has faced scrutiny from bundling their web browser with their operating system, monopoly, among others.

In a November 2023 report, the FTC highlighted concerns that the concentrated nature of the cloud market means that “outages, or other issues that degrade the service of a cloud provider, could have a cascading impact on the economy or specific sectors.”

The CrowdStrike crash that affected millions of devices operating on Microsoft Windows systems earlier this year was itself a testament to the widespread use of the company’s products and how it directly affects the global economy.

 

Microsoft Does NOT Scape M365 Data For AI Training

By DustinPosted on

After several claims by folks that there is a ‘hidden’ opt-out option for Microsoft Office to scrape your data for use in it’s AI training, Microsoft has come out and cleared the air. It is NOT used for AI training, but for features that require an internet connection like co-authoring a document. I have to agree with the first reply on the @Microsoft365 Twitter post.

I am sure a more official news post from Microsoft will bring more details in the near future rather than a single Twitter post.

Microsoft Outage Affects Outlook, Teams, and Sharepoint

By DustinPosted on

Microsoft is suffering an outage that is affecting Outlook, Teams, and Sharepoint that has lasted for several hours. They have updated on the X platform about resolution efforts. They will update as they work through the issue to bring services back to a fully operational state.

There are many reports on DownDetector.com as well as people noticing it in their enterprise this morning as they logged in, like myself. They’ve  been deploying a fix but it has been slow going and having delays.

 

Windows 11 24H2 Update Blocked for Breaking USB Scanners and Printers

By DustinPosted on

A second post today for a similar block in Windows 11 version 24H2, this time it’s blocking the update for users that utilize the eSCL scan protocol. As before, they have put a compatibility hold on the update until they have a fix available.

If you have a device that uses an eSCL protocol, which can also include printers, fax machines, modems, and network devices, along with scanners, you may not get this update yet. If you already have it and are having issues it may be caused by the 24H2 update and a roll back could fix the issue.

After installing Windows 11, version 24H2, you might experience issues discovering USB connected devices that support the eSCL (eScanner Communication Language) scan protocol. You might observe that your device does not discover the USB connected peripheral and the device discovery does not complete. This issue primarily affects USB-connected multifunction devices or standalone scanners that support scan functionality and the eSCL protocol.

eSCL is a driverless scanning protocol designed for networked scanners. It enables driverless scanning over a network (Ethernet, Wi-Fi) and USB connections. This issue is caused due to the device not switching out of eSCL mode to USB mode, which allows the scanner drivers to be matched.

Windows 11 Update 24H2 Paused For Ubisoft Games

By DustinPosted on

If you have one of several Ubisoft games installed on your Windows 11 machine and haven’t upgraded to version 24H2 yet, your update may come later than expected. Microsoft has put a compatibility hold on devices with these games installed. For those that have already had the update installed, you may have some issues with the game itself including unresponsive, black screen, or other anomalies.

The affected games are:

  • ​Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
  • ​Assassin’s Creed Origins
  • ​Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
  • ​Star Wars Outlaws
  • ​Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Note: Ubisoft released a temporary mitigation for Star Wars Outlaws to prevent the game from failing and stop responding. You might still experience some performance issues.

To safeguard your Windows update experience, we have applied a compatibility hold on devices with these games installed. These devices will not be offered to install Windows 11, version 24H2 via the Windows Update release channel. IT administrators using Windows Update for Business reports can check these issues using the following safeguard IDs: 54437462 and 54580160.

Important: We recommend that you do not attempt to manually update to version 24H2 using the Windows 11 Installation Assistant or the media creation tool until this issue has been resolved.

Workaround: If the game stops responding to your commands and you cannot exit the game as usual, use Task Manager to close the application. Follow the steps below:

Open Task Manager. This can be accomplished by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can right-click on the Start button and select Task Manager from the menu.
In the Task Manager window, look for your game in the Processes tab. It might be listed under the name of the game or the game launcher.
Click on the game’s name to highlight it. Then, click the End Task button at the bottom right of the window. This will close the game.
Next steps: Ubisoft and Microsoft are working on a resolution and will provide more information when it is available.

Preview Windows Recall With Copilot+ PC With Dev Channel Update

By DustinPosted on

Another preview build has been released for Windows 11 Insiders, this time with the dev channel. This one brings the preview of the Recall feature that’s been much debated as whether or not it’s a valuable feature or a privacy accident waiting to happen. The feature is available for Copilot+ PC’s only, so if you want to give it a spin, it’s open for you to give it a shot. I’m interested in seeing how this works in general use and seeing the security community take a few hits at it and see how it fares.

If you’re not looking to try out the new features or don’t have a Copilot+ PC, there are still some updates and fixes being rolled out gradually to users in the Dev channel.

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.2415 (KB5046723) to the Dev Channel. With this update, we welcome Windows Insiders with Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs to join the Dev Channel to try out Recall (Preview) with Click to Do (Preview).

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4515 (Beta Channel)

By DustinPosted on

Microsoft has released a new build to the Beta Channel for Windows 11 Insiders. Some users may not get everything as some of the new features are being rolled out gradually.

  • Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel.

Microsoft Introduces Windows Resiliency Initiative

By DustinPosted on

With the still recent Crowdstrike and Microsoft Windows incident from July still fresh in our minds, Microsoft has introduced the Windows Resiliency Initiative. The initiative has four areas of focus designed to help keep Windows reliable and resilient.

Some of the changes include Quick Machine Recovery, which will allow IT administrators the ability to recover and execute fixes to a machine even if it is unable to completely boot into Windows, without the need for physical access to the device. This feature is set to be available to Windows Insiders in early 2025.

We are committed to ensuring that Windows remains the most reliable and resilient open platform for our customers. As part of this commitment, we are introducing the Windows Resiliency Initiative, covering four areas of focus:

  • Strengthen reliability based on learnings from the incident we saw in July.
  • Enabling more apps and users to run without admin privileges.
  • Stronger controls for what apps and drivers are allowed to run.
  • Improved identity protection to prevent phishing attacks.

 

Microsoft’s Hotpatch Comes To Windows 11 Enterprise

By DustinPosted on

Microsoft’s Windows Server platform has utilized the hotpatch update method for a couple years. Microsoft has announced they are bringing the feature to Windows 11 Enterprise editions.

What is hotpatching for Windows? I’ll let them explain:

The first month of each quarter of the calendar year (i.e. January, April, July, and October), devices install the standard monthly security update and restart. This cumulative update contains the latest security fixes, new features, and enhancements. The following two months, devices are offered hotpatch updates, which include only security updates and install without the need to restart. At the start of the next quarter, the cycle repeats.

That’s it. Devices stay secure and productive, and you reduce the number of required restarts for Windows updates from twelve to just four thanks to eight planned hotpatch updates each year!

While most environments aren’t using the latest and greatest using Windows 11, M365/Entra, Intune managed devices – a big Microsoft Entra stack, the requirements are pretty normal for a company that is using that Microsoft stack – a Windows environment using Windows 11 24H2, Microsoft 365, Intune, etc.:

To take advantage of the public preview, your organization will need the following to be eligible for hotpatching:

  • A Microsoft subscription that includes Windows Enterprise E3 or E5 (e.g. Microsoft 365 A3/A5 or Microsoft 365 F3); or a Windows 365 Enterprise subscription
  • Targeted devices running Windows 11 Enterprise, version 24H2 (Build 26100.2033 or later)
  • Microsoft Intune

You can enable hotpatch updates for eligible devices using a new Windows quality update policy in Intune and Windows Autopatch. Using those policies, you can opt devices in (or out) for automated hotpatch update deployment. And, good news, the quality update policy can auto-detect if your targeted devices are eligible for hotpatching. All other Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices will continue to receive the standard monthly security updates, ensuring that your ecosystem stays protected and productive.

All in all, if you’re all in with Microsoft, this is a great feature. Having less restarts due to Windows updates is always a great thing. They are noticeable in the workplace and can happen at the worst possible time (even with the nag screens and a timer when it’s forced). This will be a huge positive thing for the end user and the reputation of the IT department and keeping the security folks happy that everything is patched and protected.

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27754 (Canary Channel)

By DustinPosted on

Microsoft has released a new build for Windows 11 Insiders in the Canary Channel. Some good new features, some fixes, but as usual it’s still an early build so it does come with some caveats. If you’re good with them, it’s a great channel to be a part of. Either do regular backups or don’t do it on your main workstation, depending on how much of a risk taker you are. I’ve yet to have a single issue or had to restore a backup, but it’s there just in case!

Also, we’ve updated the side bar to show the latest Windows 11 Insider builds with links. They’ll be updated as soon as I can when notified of the new releases. I’ll be adding a link to an Insiders article soon, as well. Any feedback on the look or requested features for the site are welcome, just email me at dharper @ mstechpages. com (remove the obvious spaces).

  • The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windowsand features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready.