April’s Patch Tuesday brings us several, security-related, Microsoft Office updates and some small changes in UX and accessibility. In addition, Microsoft has also announced the much-needed retirement of the “legacy”, non-Chromium-based Edge Browser. The changes will come into effect at 10:00 PST. The decision to remove EdgeHTLML, by actively replacing it with Chromium, following the March end-of-support Edge announcement. At the same, Microsoft has encouraged organizations and consumers to upgrade to the latest Edge version.

Jan 16, 2020 Microsoft is going to support Edge Chromium on Windows 7, 8.1 and 10, alongside macOS, Linux (coming in the future) and mobile apps on iOS and Android. Actual Edge versions. The actual versions of Edge Chromium at the moment of this writing are as follows: Stable Channel: 79.0.309.65; Beta Channel: 80.0.361.32; Dev Channel: 81.0.389.2. Jan 15, 2020 Microsoft launched Edge based on Google's Chromium open source project for Windows 7, Windows 10, and macOS. This is Edge 79 stable. In this video I have shown how to install Microsoft Edge Beta version which is a Chromium Based browser.Link to download Microsoft Edge Chromium Beta:https:/.

April Patch Tuesday Highlights

On the 6^th of April, Microsoft has pushed the KB4486672 update for Office Standard 2016, Office Professional 2016, Office Professional Plus 2016, Office Home and Business 2016, and Office Home and Student 2016.

As Askwoody’s MS-DEFCON columnists pointed out, Office 2016 was the only EOS MS product to receive an update. We would like to remind the users that Microsoft officially ended mainstream support for the 2016 business and home versions of Office on the 13^th of October 2016. End of Support is scheduled for the 14^th of October 2025. As expected, the vendor encourages all clients running any of the above-mentioned products to deploy the update as soon as possible.

So far, there’s just one issue associated with the KB4486672 deployment. Some users (i.e., Microsoft has yet to disclose if the issue predominantly affects home or enterprise end-users) might experience Office application stability or non-responsiveness issues. Microsoft stated that the problem lies in the registry code writing process and proposes the following fix:

• Download the KB4486672 update manually and execute the .msi pack. Alternatively, you can use Microsoft’s Update Center to automatically download and deploy the pack.
• Run Regedit.msc with administrative rights.
• Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSSoftwareMicrosoftOffice16.0General.
• Find the value EnableAdvancedRegistryHangDetection.
• Set value type to DWORD and Value data to 1. Save changes.

Note: if you are unable to locate the General key in 16.0, you will need to create one. When you’re done, define EnableAdvancedRegistryHangDetection under General by right-clicking on the right panel, highlighting new, and left-clicking on the DWORD button.

As mentioned in the intro, Patch Tuesday also delivers several UX and accessibility improvements. To name a few, as of the April roll, Microsoft fixed an issue with the zoom function that appears when a user utilizes the Microsoft Edge IE Mode on a multi-mon high DPI setup.

In addition, MS also fixed a minor HDR-related issue that made the display appear darker. Some child account-related issues were patched – users are now notified when a child account defined in the Family Safety section attains andor requests administrative privileges. Last, but not least, Microsoft also fixed an OneDrive syncing issue that caused the endpoint to stop working if the user would delete files or folders currently in use by OneDrive.

Edge’s anticipated retirement will impact most Windows 10 versions, from build 1803, released in April 2018, all the way to the 20H2 build. Microsoft’s decision to discontinue support for Microsoft Edge and replace the EdgeHTML rendering engine with the Chromium, open-source project, is a sound one and should facilitate the web development process as well as eliminating any disparities in web compatibility. Chromium updates will not impact users running Windows 7, Windows 8.0, or Windows 8.1.

Additional Security Tips

We always encourage our readers and customers to deploy every security and non-related security update in a timely manner. Here are some other things you can try in order to increase your overall security.

#1. Ensure that all Edge related updates are deployed correctly when using a private WSUS server.

To enforce the update all across your endpoint network, make sure that the new Edge version has been added to your WSUS catalog. Please refer to Microsoft’s Edge Management for additional information and instruction on how to deploy Edge with WSUS.

#2. Use legitimate means to deploy security updates.

Only download and install Windows Updates from known and legit sources like MS’s Update Center or MS’s official website. If you receive emails urging you to install critical Windows updates, please disregard and delete the email. Clicking on any of the links enclosed in such messages could lead to debilitating virus infections or even ransomware.

Heimdal™ Security recommends a safe and automatic updating and patching solution to prevent these fraudulent attempts. Patch & Asset Management is your one-stop, fully automated updating and patching toolbox that empowers you to download, install, and configure any 3^rd party, MS, or updates for proprietary software.

#3. Restore points.

Before deploying the new updates, don’t forget to create restore points. No major issues have been reported so far, but better safe than sorry. Creating a restore point is easy and can save you from a lot of trouble if something goes wrong during an update.

Parting thoughts

Edge is dead, long live, well, Edge. April’s patching bout isn’t as ‘meaty’ as the one in March, but still crucial to your endpoint’s wellbeing. As always, stay safe, subscribe to Heimdal’s newsletter for more cybersecurity awesomeness, and shot me an email if you have any more questions.

You might be aware that Microsoft has built an entirely new version of its Edge browser. This new version of Edge browser is based on Chromium which is the same engine behind Google’s Chrome browser. Not only Google Chrome, but Chromium is also used by other popular browsers such as Opera, Kiwi and more and Microsoft follows suit.

Up until now, we knew that Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser was available in the beta channel for Windows 10 users. As Windows 10 is the latest and most used version of Windows, it also made sense. But Microsoft has now decided to expand this browser to other versions of Windows too. So Microsoft’s Edge browser based on Chromium will be available on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 too.

Windows 7 was the most popular version of Windows until Windows 10 was released. It is fair to say that Windows 8 and 8.1 did not do as well as Microsoft expected. And therefore, people waited to upgrade to Windows 8 and 8.1. Now that the Chromium-based Edge browser is released for Windows 7 and above, more users will be able to test and give Microsoft feedback regarding it.

At the moment, Microsoft Edge’s Canary Channel is only available for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users with support for Dev Channel and Beta channel coming soon. Microsoft says that the only change from Windows 10’s Edge browser is that Internet Explorer Mode will be missing. However, Microsoft says that the feature will come later for Enterprise customers.

Here is Microsoft’s statement on the latest release of Edge browser:

“You will find the experience and feature set on previous versions of Windows to be largely the same as on Windows 10, including forthcoming support for Internet Explorer mode for our enterprise customers.

What Is Edge Chromium

The first Canary builds do have a few known issues, including the lack of dark mode support and no support for AAD sign-in, which we are working to resolve soon. If you need help or support, just press F1 from within Microsoft Edge Canary or Dev to visit our support website.”