I set up passkeys for my Microsoft account

MICROSOFT

By Lance Whitney

Are passkeys worth using with your accounts, particularly your Microsoft account? Here’s my experience.

To try to eliminate or at least reduce the need for passwords, technology companies have been turning to passkeys. Now available through more websites and apps, passkeys are supposed to provide an easier and more effective way of authenticating your accounts.

But is that truly the case?

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.25.0, 2025-06-23).
This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

AI is for everyone

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

Don’t totally dismiss artificial intelligence. It’s not all bad. Used with a little caution, it can be a wonderful helper for everyone, not just Microsoft 365 users.

I know Copilot and AI are sometimes considered unnecessary. There is an understandable suspicion of AI generally and of Microsoft’s Copilot in particular. I bow to no one in having legitimate concerns about privacy and the accuracy of the information given by AI.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.25.0, 2025-06-23).

Terabyte update 2025

HARDWARE

By Will Fastie

Prices this year are so chaotic that there is no way to determine trends.

There are many possible reasons for this chaos. Uncertainty about global semiconductor manufacturing is a factor. Tariff upheaval no doubt contributes, although I predict this will even out by the time I reprise this article in 2026. There has been significant inflation.

This makes it hard to predict trends reliably, but the data is interesting anyway.

Migrating from Windows 10 to Windows 11

TAME YOUR TECH

By Susan Bradley>

I’ve written frequently about migrating to Windows 11.

I’ve written about setting up a new Windows 11 PC. I’ve written about the decisions one must make before setting up a new PC.

But I’ve received many requests to discuss moving to Windows 11 on an existing Windows 10 PC. Here we go.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.25.0, 2025-06-23).

Are Macs immune?

If you are a Managed Service Provider, you know about the company Huntress. It has long been at the forefront of advanced guidance in the managed space. As a result, it often sees new or trending threats.

Case in point is a recent attack that targeted Apple users. As noted in the Huntress blog, these attacks are specifically going after Mac users and are using techniques unique to the Apple ecosystem.

“Historically, macOS has been viewed as a smaller target compared to its Windows counterpart. Spoken alongside the ‘Macs don’t get viruses’ adage that has permeated the space over the last two decades, they are often seen as ‘not requiring protection.’ Due to these sentiments, it understandably dovetails into more targeted attacks. Over the last few years, we have seen macOS become a larger target for threat actors, especially with regard to highly sophisticated, state-sponsored attackers.

“In this instance, we saw BlueNoroff utilizing Mac-specific techniques in a very targeted attack. They leveraged AppleScript, which is unique to macOS, multiple implants, keyloggers, and screencaptures. Additionally, they would capture contents of the clipboard, clean up their session history, and also look for a very extensive array of cryptowallets, showcasing their focus on macOS.

“As these attacks and the frequency in which they occur continue to rise, it will be evermore important to protect your Macs. As we saw here, the attackers didn’t just use common, cross-platform attack techniques, but instead leveraged Mac-specific binaries, APIs, and functionality.”

No one is immune.

Is your battery draining?

Have you noticed your iPhone’s battery draining more quickly after upgrading to version 18.5?

Now granted my phone is getting older, but the impression I’ve gotten is that I’m not alone. Some of the suggestions include the following:

Wait a few days: Battery drain is often temporary and related to background optimizations. (Susan: it’s been a few days)
Reboot your device: Restarting your iPhone may help. (Susan: Done that)
Reduce background strain: Close apps and turn off features like Location Services. (Susan: I leave it on for some items will have to investigate)
Check for outdated apps: Update your apps. (Susan: they are on auto update)
Monitor display brightness: High brightness can drain the battery. (Susan: hmmm will have to review)
Avoid extreme temperatures: Extreme heat or cold can affect battery health. (Susan: I don’t get it in extreme heat as I try to stay out of the heat)
Consider a full iOS restore: If issues persist, back up data and perform a full restore. (Susan: I try not to do that if I can)

What about you? What have you experienced?

National scam day

June 15th was World Elder Abuse awareness day. I’d like to expand that from a mere day to declaring every day National Scam day. I am getting increasingly concerned about friends and acquaintances that fall for scams, ranging from clickbait to photos that aren’t real and to stories on social media that are just flat-out fake.

Sometimes the effort it takes to verify that something actually did happen is frightening. As with many things in technology, we build the shiny new thing, and only later do we realize that we need to put up guardrails.

Remember some guidelines:

• Use fact-checking tools — See if a fact-checker site has debunked the story.
• Find the source — Click on the link in a social media post to take you to the original story, so you can see if it comes from a trusted source.
• Verify the source — Check to see if the source is real and whether they have a good track record.
• Check other sources — Do a search to see if other news outlets are reporting the same story.

I’ll add one more test. If the post tugs the heartstrings just a little bit too much, consider it suspect. The Internet can be such a good thing and then it can be such a bad thing. Make sure you can determine the difference.

AI is good sometimes

Yesterday I was using my file sharing tool and when I went to upload a file it would get to the point where it would run its internal wizard to determine if the information had sensitive information and offer up more secure options and would fail with an extremely helpful message (uh, not helpful at all). Interestingly enough the file upload actually did upload the file to the cloud. It just didn’t build the file shortcut so I could send the link to the other party. I could manually do so, but clearly something was broken.

After calling the vendor and having him gather trace files from my browser he walked me through going into the admin settings and temporarily turning off the AI option that runs the sensitivity detection as a “temporary workaround”.  No, for me this is a long term fix.

Vendors are throwing AI at EVERYTHING. For some things it’s helpful. For others, like this when it’s clearly still a work in process it just gets in the way. Dear Vendors, when rolling out new AI stuff, tell us. Show us where the enable, disable settings are. I get it that we’re your beta testers. But if it’s a cloud service on subscription?  It’s not that “sticky” in my organization and I can find another vendor.

Lesson learned for me: When something starts misbehaving these days, go into the settings, and see if there is any new AI buttons.  See if turning them off solves my problem.

Ben’s excellent adventure with Linux

BEN’S WORKSHOP

By Ben Myers

Why not install and use Linux on a well-appointed laptop that does not meet Windows 11 hardware requirements?

This is my adventure setting up a laptop to run a Linux distribution and to use it productively for writing. The PC in question is a really nice but elderly Lenovo ThinkPad W541 laptop, a trade-in. Rather than recycle it, I decided to turn it into a laptop with the latest Linux Mint 22.1 Cinnamon distribution, my Windows-like favorite, and use it to run quick hardware diagnostics.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.24.0, 2025-06-16).
This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

Seconds are back in Windows 10!

PATCH WATCH

By Susan Bradley

Every so often, your feedback does make a difference.

When you ask for feedback, sometimes respondents provide answers based upon what they think you want to hear. When that is followed by testing to observe actual behavior, vendors discover the difference between those answers and reality.

What brought this to mind is a change originally described in KB5058481, a May 28 preview for Windows 10 22H2:

Brings back the clock view that displays seconds onto the calendar that was once removed. This feature is rolling out gradually. This means that users receive the updates at different times, and it might not be immediately available to all users.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.24.0, 2025-06-16).

WebBrowserPassView — Take inventory of your stored passwords

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

By Deanna McElveen

By now, you probably have dozens — if not hundreds — of passwords saved in your Web browser. Those created by your browser are super strong. But some are a pet’s name with maybe a number or two thrown in.

Today we are going to accomplish two things. First, we’ll take a peek at all those saved passwords and make note of the weak ones that need to be changed. Next, we’ll print a hard copy and not stick it to the fridge with a magnet for all to see.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.24.0, 2025-06-16).

OS news from WWDC 2025

APPLE

By Will Fastie

Apple’s entire keynote for this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference focused on extensive changes to all its operating systems.

There were no hardware or device announcements, but changes to macOS have profound ramifications for Intel-based Apple devices from previous generations. Some Apple users will be unhappy.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.24.0, 2025-06-16).