Microsoft will soon end Win10 RTM support, plus Tor Browser and Firefox get emergency fixes.
Windows 10 1607 now official for business use
One more confusing aspects of Windows 10 upgrading is its “branch” system. When the Anniversary Update version was released in July, it was the “current branch” for consumer systems and business pilot evaluations. Now, Microsoft has announced that the “Current Branch for Business” (CBB) release of Win10 1607 is now ready for corporate deployment. That essentially means that the latest version of Win10 is now stable enough for business use — thanks to beta testers; aka, consumer users.
It also means that those who selected “Defer feature updates” in Windows Update should now receive the latest nonsecurity patches.
What does that mean for most of us? In the Microsoft updating system, only two CBB versions are supported at any one time. According to follow-up notes in the aforementioned announcement, Microsoft will stop releasing updates for the original Win10 (ver. 1507) in March 2017. If you’re still on the original RTM release of the OS, plan to update to Version 1511 or 1607 soon.
Ensure that Tor/Firefox is fully updated
An Internet Storm Center InfoSec post reported that a vulnerability in Firefox has been used to attack the Tor Browser, which uses an open-source version of Firefox. The post initially recommended not using Firefox until there’s a fix.
Tor has responded with an update (Version 6.0.7) and Mozilla has announced Version 50.0.2 (rated critical) for Firefox and Version 45.5.1 for Thunderbird. Look for an update soon.
