Over the past year, we’ve seen Microsoft make radical improvements in its browser stability and significant positive changes to its Windows update communication and telemetry strategies. And this month’s Patch Tuesday release brings with it an incredibly light set of updates — maybe the fewest number of updates I have ever seen.
There are no zero-days, which is a great finish to 2023, though Windows gets three critical updates and Visual Studio will require immediate attention due to several re-releases of past critical application patches.
The team at Readiness has created a helpful infographic to outline the risks associated with each update in this last release of 2023. One note of caution: we have seen several potential updates to older patches (October/November) potentially coming down the release pipeline from Microsoft. It might be worth checking in during the upcoming holiday break to see whether there are any out-of-band patches for the Windows ecosystem.
Known issues
Each month, Microsoft details the known issues related to the operating system and platforms included in its update cycle.
Microsoft has raised a reporting-related issue with Microsoft Intune and BitLocker. Using the FixedDrivesEncryptionType or SystemDrivesEncryptionType policy settings in the BitLocker configuration service provider (CSP) node in mobile device management (MDM) apps might incorrectly show a 65000 error in the “Require Device Encryption” setting for some devices in your environment. Microsoft is still working on resolving this issue.
Windows devices using more than one monitor might experience issues with desktop icons moving unexpectedly between monitors or see other icon alignment issues when attempting to use Copilot in Windows. This was raised last month and it appears Microsoft is still working on the issue.
Though we are not experiencing printer problems with Patch Tuesday as we have in the past, HP Printers are now being displayed on Windows computers, even when HP printers are neither connected nor installed. Symptoms of this can include:
Some Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices are installing the HP Smart app.
Printers are renamed as HP printers regardless of their manufacturer. Most are being named as the HP LaserJet M101-M106 model. Printer icons might also be changed.
Double clicking on a printer displays the on-screen error ”No tasks are available for this page.”
Microsoft has confirmed that this is not the result of an HP Printer update and is working on a resolution.
Major revisions
This is an unusual month for Microsoft, as there are normally several “information only” revisions to previous updates. This month, Microsoft has re-published updates for both Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Visual Studio that will require (in the case of Visual Studio, urgent) attention. I have updated these Browser and Development sections accordingly.
Mitigations and workarounds
Following the pattern set this month, Microsoft…
2023-12-16 19:41:03
Link from www.computerworld.com rnrn