September 2022 Optional Preview Release for Windows 11, Version 22H2

         Microsoft has released the September 2022 release preview cumulative update with non-security improvements and fixes for Windows 11, version 22H2 – also referred to as the Windows 11 2022 Update. This release is designed only for devices already running the Windows 11 2022 Update.

Following are the highlights for KB5917389 (OS Build 22621.608) for Windows 11: 

• Addresses issues that cause updates to the Microsoft Store to fail.

• Updates the start date for daylight saving time in Chile. It will start on September 11, 2022 instead of on September 4, 2022.

• Addresses an issue that affects the font of three Chinese characters. When you format these characters as bold, the width size is wrong.

• Addresses an issue that forces the IE mode tabs in a session to reload.

• Addresses an issue that successfully opens a browser window in IE mode to display a PDF file. Later, browsing to another IE mode site within the same window fails.

• Adds more dynamic Widgets content to your taskbar with notification badging. When you open the Widgets board, a banner appears at the top of the board. It provides more information about what triggered the notification badge.

• Addresses an issue that affects Dual SIM calling. If you select no SIM on your phone and initiate a call on your device, Dual SIM functionality does not work.

• Addresses an issue that affects some apps that were not signed by the Microsoft Store. You must reinstall them after you upgrade the OS.

See the referenced KB article for the long list of improvements and fixes included in the update.

Microsoft now combines the latest servicing stack update (SSU) for your operating system with the latest LCU.  For general information about SSUs, see Servicing stack updates and Servicing Stack Updates (SSU): Frequently Asked Questions.

Update:  To get the update, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. The link to download and install the update can be found in the Optional updates available area.  To get the standalone package for this update, go to the Microsoft Update Catalog website.

For information about the types of updates released by Microsoft each month, see Windows 11 life cycle and servicing update.

Windows 11 update history

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Pale Moon Version 31.3.0.1 Released with Small Update

 

Pale Moon has been updated to version 31.3.0.1.  This is a small update to back out the changes to handling of flex containers in 31.3.0 since it caused severe usability issues on several websites.

Update

To get the update now, select "Help" from the Pale Moon menu at the upper left of the browser window.  Select About Pale Moon > Check for Updates.

Release Notes
Release Cycle

Windows 11 Out-of-Band Non-Security Cumulative Update

         Microsoft released an out-of-band non-security update with quality improvements for Windows 11.

The Key changes in KB5019311 (OS Build 22621.525) include: 

• Addresses localization issues for some setup files. These issues might stop you from creating installation media for non-English languages.

If you installed earlier updates, only the new updates contained in this package will be downloaded and installed on your device.

Update:  To get the update, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced Options > Optional Updates. The link to download and install the update can be found in the Optional updates available area.  To get the standalone package for this update, go to the Microsoft Update Catalog website.

Windows 11 Update History

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Pale Moon Version 31.3.0 Released with Security Updates

            

Pale Moon has been updated to version 31.3.0.  This is a major development, bugfix, and security update.

Linux versions will follow shortly.

Changes/Fixes:

• Implemented .at(index) JavaScript method on built-in indexables (Array, String, TypedArray).
• Implemented the use of EventSource in workers.
• Enabled the sending of the Origin: header by default on same-origin requests.
• Changed how Pale Moon is built. We are now using Visual Studio 2022 on Windows, and have made build system changes to reduce build times and pressure on the linker on all platforms.
  
• Changed how Pale Moon handles standalone wave audio files (.wav). See implementation notes.
• Improved string normalization.
• Updated the handling of CSS "supports" to now accept unparenthesized strings (spec update).
  
• Updated the handling of flex containers in web pages for web compatibility.
• Fixed various issues when building for Mac OS X.
• Fixed various C++ standard conformance issues in the source code.
• Fixed several issues building on SunOS and Linux with various configurations and gcc versions.
• Fixed an issue with regular expressions' dotAll syntax and usage. See implementation notes.
• Switched custom hash map to std::unordered_map where prudent.
• Cleaned up and updated IPC thread locking code.
• Removed spacing for accessibility focus rings in form controls to align styling of them with expected metrics.
• Removed the unnecessary control module for building with non-standard configurations of the platform.
• Removed the -moz prefix from min-content and max-content CSS keywords where it was still in use.
• Security fixes: CVE-2022-40956 and CVE-2022-40958.
• UXP Mozilla security patch summary: 2 fixed, 11 not applicable.

*DiD This means that a fix is "Defense-in-Depth": It is a fix that does not apply to a (potentially) actively exploitable vulnerability in Pale Moon, but prevents future vulnerabilities caused by the same code, e.g. when surrounding code changes, exposing the problem, or when new attack vectors are discovered.

**Rejected security patches: This means that patches were theoretically applicable to our code but considered undesirable, which could be due to unwanted changes in behavior, known regressions caused by the patches, or unnecessary risks for stability, security or privacy.

Pale Moon includes both 32- and 64-bit versions for Windows:  Pale Moon for Windows downloads.

Update

To get the update now, select "Help" from the Pale Moon menu at the upper left of the browser window.  Select About Pale Moon > Check for Updates.

Release Notes
Release Cycle

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May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

Mozilla Firefox Version 105.0.1 Released with Update

    Mozilla sent Firefox Version 105.0.1 to the release channel today.  

Fixed

• Reverted focus behavior for new windows back to the content area instead of the address bar (bug 1784692)

Release Notes

Rapid Release Calendar

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September 2022 Windows 10 Non-Security Optional Preview "C" Release

   

 
Microsoft released KB5017380 (OS Builds 19042.2075, 19043.2075, and 19044.2075) optional “C” release preview cumulative updates with non-security improvements and fixes.

The following are the highlighted changes included in the update:

• New! You can now search for the controls for news and interests on the taskbar and modify them using the Settings app. To change your settings, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > News and interests. Otherwise,right-click the taskbar and select Taskbar settings.

• New! All taskbar orientations now support news and interests. A top, left, or right taskbar now has features and settings much like the horizontal taskbar.

• Addresses an issue that requires you to reinstall an app if you did not get the app from the Microsoft Store. This issue occurs after you upgrade to Windows 10 or a newer OS.

• Addresses a rare error that leads to a blue screen. This occurs after you change the display mode while you are using more than one display.

• Addresses an issue that forces the IE mode tabs in a session to reload.

• Addresses an issue that affects IE mode after you open a PDF file. When you try to open a different page using the same browser window, the page will not open in that browser window.

• Addresses an issue that affects the Microsoft Japanese IME when it is active and the IME mode is on. When you use the numeric keypad to insert a dash (-) character, the IME inserts the wrong one.

• Addresses an issue that affects the rendering of the search box. It does not render properly if you sign in using Tablet mode.

• Addresses a known issue that affects daylight saving time in Chile. This issue might affect the time and dates used for meetings, apps, tasks, services, transactions, and more.

See the referenced KB Article for the additional improvements and fixes included in the update.

This update makes quality improvements to the servicing stack, which is the component that installs Windows updates. Servicing stack updates (SSU) ensure that you have a robust and reliable servicing stack so that your devices can receive and install Microsoft updates. For general information about SSUs, see Servicing stack updates and Servicing Stack Updates (SSU): Frequently Asked Questions.

Update:  To get the update, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. The link to download and install the update can be found in the Optional updates available area.  To get the standalone package for this update, go to the Microsoft Update Catalog website.

Windows 10 update history

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September 2022 Windows 11 Non-Security Optional Preview "C" Release

        Microsoft released the monthly “C” release preview cumulative updates with non-security improvements and fixes for Windows 11.

Following are the highlights for KB5017383 (OS Build 22000.1042) for Windows 11: 

• New! Adds more dynamic Widgets content to your taskbar with notification badging. When you open the Widgets board, a banner appears at the top of the board. It provides more information about what triggered the notification badge.

• Addresses an issue that requires you to reinstall an app if you did not get the app from the Microsoft Store. This issue occurs after you upgrade to a newer OS.

• Addresses a rare error that leads to a blue screen. This occurs after you change the display mode while you are using more than one display.

• Addresses an issue that forces the IE mode tabs in a session to reload.

• Addresses an issue that affects IE mode after you open a PDF file. When you try to open a different page using the same browser window, the page will not open in that browser window.

• Addresses an issue that might cause a black screen to appear on your display. This might occur when you use a pen to turn on high dynamic range (HDR).

• Addresses an issue that affects the touch keyboard. The touch keyboard immediately closes when you tap to switch apps.

• Addresses a known issue that affects daylight saving time in Chile. This issue might affect the time and dates used for meetings, apps, tasks, services, transactions, and more.

See the referenced KB article for the long list of improvements and fixes included in the update.

Microsoft now combines the latest servicing stack update (SSU) for your operating system with the latest LCU.  For general information about SSUs, see Servicing stack updates and Servicing Stack Updates (SSU): Frequently Asked Questions.

Update:  To get the update, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. The link to download and install the update can be found in the Optional updates available area.  To get the standalone package for this update, go to the Microsoft Update Catalog website.

For information about the types of updates released by Microsoft each month, see Windows 11 life cycle and servicing update.

Windows 11 update history

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

Windows 11 2022 Update (22H2) Released

        The Windows 11 2022 Update (22H2) has been released for eligible Windows 11 and Windows 10 devices.  

Windows 11:  Devices with Windows 11 22H1 installed can get opt to install the update now via Windows Update (Settings > Windows Update) and selecting Check for updates. 

Windows 10: Eligible devices can install the update the same as for Windows 11.  To determine if your device meets the minimum system requirements for Windows all, use the PC Health Check app. 

Following is a list of the new features included in the Windows 11 2022 Update provided by Zac Bowman at Windows Central:

• App folders in Start menu
• Resizable pinned area in Start menu
• Drag and Drop on the Taskbar
• Focus Assist integration with Notification Center
• New "spotlight" wallpaper feature
• New Voice Access accessibility feature
• New Live Captions accessibility feature
• New gestures and animations for touch users
• New snap layouts bar when moving app windows
• New Task Manager app
• New "Suggested Actions" feature when copying dates/numbers
• Tabs in File Explorer
• Better OneDrive integration with File Explorer
• Numerous UI improvements and consistency updates

Additional information about the update is available at the Windows Experience Blog at How to get the Windows 11 2022 Update.

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

Mozilla Firefox Version 105.0 Released with Security Updates

                 Mozilla sent Firefox Version 105.0 to the release channel today.  The update includes seven security updates of which three (3) are rated high, two (2) moderate, and two (2) are rated low.

Firefox ESR was updated to Version 102.3.

High

• #CVE-2022-40959: Bypassing FeaturePolicy restrictions on transient pages
• #CVE-2022-40960: Data-race when parsing non-UTF-8 URLs in threads
• #CVE-2022-40962: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 105 and Firefox ESR 102.3

Moderate

#CVE-2022-40958: Bypassing Secure Context restriction for cookies with __Host and __Secure prefix

#CVE-2022-40961: Stack-buffer overflow when initializing Graphics

Low

• #CVE-2022-40956: Content-Security-Policy base-uri bypass
• #CVE-2022-40957: Incoherent instruction cache when building WASM on ARM64

New

• Added an option to print only the current page from the print preview dialog.
• Firefox now supports partitioned service workers in third-party contexts. You can register service workers in a third-party iframe and it will be partitioned under the top-level domain.
• Swipe to navigate (two fingers on a touchpad swiped left or right to perform history back or forward) on Windows is now enabled.
• Firefox is now compliant with the User Timing L3 specification, which adds additional optional arguments to the performance.mark and performance.measure methods to provide custom start times, end times, duration, and attached details.
• Searching in large lists for individual items is now 2x faster. This performance enhancement replaces array.includes and array.indexOf with an optimized SIMD version.

Fixed

• Stability on Windows is significantly improved as Firefox handles low-memory situations much better.

• Touchpad scrolling on macOS was made more accessible by reducing unintended diagonal scrolling opposite of the intended scroll axis.

• Firefox is less likely to run out of memory on Linux and performs more efficiently for the rest of the system when memory runs low.

Update: To get the update now, select "Help" from the Firefox menu, then pick "About Firefox."  Mac users need to select "About Firefox" from the Firefox menu. If you do not use the English language version, Fully Localized Versions are available for download.

References

• Security Updates
• Release Notes
• Rapid Release Calendar

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

Microsoft September 2022 Security Updates

               

The Microsoft September 2022 security updates have been released and consist of 64 new CVEs.  Of these CVEs, 5 are rated critical, 57 rated important, 1 rated moderate, and 1 rated low in severity.  At the time of release, one is listed as publicly known and as under public active attack.

The security updates apply to the following products, features, and roles: .NET and Visual Studio, .NET Framework, Azure Arc, Cache Speculation, HTTP.sys, Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based), Microsoft Graphics Component, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office SharePoint, Microsoft Office Visio, Microsoft Windows ALPC, Microsoft Windows Codecs Library, Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES), Role: DNS Server, Role: Windows Fax Service, SPNEGO Extended Negotiation, Visual Studio Code, Windows Common Log File System Driver, Windows Credential Roaming Service, Windows Defender, Windows Distributed File System (DFS), Windows DPAPI (Data Protection Application Programming Interface), Windows Enterprise App Management, Windows Event Tracing, Windows Group Policy, Windows IKE Extension, Windows Kerberos, Windows Kernel, Windows LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, Windows ODBC Driver, Windows OLE, Windows Photo Import API, Windows Print Spooler Components, Windows Remote Access Connection Manager, Windows Remote Procedure Call, Windows TCP/IP, and Windows Transport Security Layer (TLS).

See the list of KBs at the bottom of the page at September 2022 Security Updates - Release Notes - Security Update Guide - Microsoft for information regarding known issues with the security updates as well as the CVEs with FAQs, Mitigations and/or Workarounds. 

Recommended Reading:   See Dustin Childs review and analysis in Zero Day Initiative -- The September 2022 Security Update Review.

 

Additional Update Notes:

• MSRT -- The Malicious Software Removal Tool is now run on a quarterly basis rather than monthly.  See Remove specific prevalent malware with Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. 
• Servicing Stack Updates -- Microsoft now combines the latest servicing stack update (SSU) for your operating system with the Latest Cumulative Updates (LCU). For general information about SSUs, see Servicing stack updates and Servicing Stack Updates (SSU): Frequently Asked Questions.
  
• Windows updates are cumulative. The monthly security release includes all security fixes for vulnerabilities that affect Windows, in addition to non-security updates. The updates are also available via search for the KB number in the Microsoft Update Catalog.
• For information on lifecycle and support dates for Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems, please see Windows 10 Home and Pro - Microsoft Lifecycle | Microsoft Docs and Windows 11 Home and Pro (Version 21H2) - Microsoft Lifecycle | Microsoft Docs.
• Windows Update History:
• Windows 11
• Windows 10
• Windows 8.1

 

References

• Security Update FAQ
• Security Updates Guide

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

 

Adobe Acrobat DC and Reader DC Updates Released

     

Adobe has released updates for Adobe Acrobat DC and Reader DC for Windows and macOS. 

Release date: September 9, 2022

Vulnerability identifier: None
Platform: Windows and MacOS

Bug fixes

Adobe Sign

• 4369414: bShownEducateRecipientAboutSignCT Registry key cause slow opening of larger files

Editing

• 4345063: MS Paint is not opening when Edit Using is selected for an image in Edit PDF on Windows 11

Viewer

• 4371416: Unable to set Hand Tool as default

Update or Complete Download

Reader DC and Acrobat DC were updated to version 22.002.20212.  Updates should become available via the internal updater or checks can be manually activated by choosing Help/Check for Updates.  Reader DC and other versions are available here: https://get.adobe.com/reader/

Note: UNcheck any pre-checked additional options presented with the update. They are not part of the software update and are completely optional.

References

• PSIRT
• Release Notes
• Security Bulletin
• System Requirements

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...

Mozilla Firefox Version 104.0.2 Released

    Mozilla sent Firefox Version 104.0.2 to the release channel today.  

Fixed

• Fixed a bug making it impossible to use touch or a stylus to drag the scrollbar on pages (bug 1787361).

• Fixed an issue causing some users to crash in out-of-memory conditions (bug 1774155).

• Fixed an issue that would sometimes affect video & audio playback when loaded via a cross-origin iframe src attribute (bug 1781759).

• Fixed an issue that would sometimes affect video & audio playback when served with Content-Security-Policy: sandbox (bug 1781063).

Release Notes

Rapid Release Calendar

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...