It was recently announced that in 2025, Microsoft had given BitLocker Recovery Keys to the FBI that were stored on their servers as part of a criminal investigation. Bitlocker is enabled by default on every Windows 11 device, and with the requirement to use a Microsoft Account on every default installation of Windows 11, the recovery keys should not be considered secure.

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The Vintage Computer Federation hosted the VCF Montréal event on January 24th and 25th, 2026. This was the first time that I have ever attended this type of event, and it has been something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I was originally planning on attending the VCF Midwest event in September of 2025, but recent events changed my plans. I had a great time, but unfortunately it was cut short due to circumstances beyond my control.

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Despite being a few weeks late, I still wanted to take some time and go over what I worked on in 2025 and what my plans are for 2026. I accomplished a lot in 2025, including the completion of a book that I had been working on for some time, as well as starting a few other projects. 2026 is going to be a busy year for me, and I am going to work hard to stay on track and get everything completed that I need to get completed.

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I wanted to go over an initiative that I have been working on since the fall of 2024. Recent events have forced me to prioritize some of these tasks, as I really want to complete these tasks sooner rather than later. I am attempting to migrate as many of my online services as possible away from services based in the US. This is not an easy task which will require certain concessions on some things, and I am prepared to deal with that. It is impossible to avoid US services, but I will try my best to avoid them for critical services.

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Now available for sale, the follow-up to the Practical Guide to PKI with Windows Server book that I published in 2021. This new edition has been greatly updated and expanded from the previous version, and builds on steps that were not included in the original book.

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Today (mostly) marks the end of support for Windows 10 for the average consumer. Businesses that use the LTSC versions will have support for longer, as well as companies who are willing to pay for updates. Windows 10 was a major change from Windows 8 (8.1), and several of the changes were due to customer feedback. Despite the initial issues and reputation of Windows 10, it has become the next Windows 7 in people not wanting to move on to the next supported version.

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I have gotten into the habit of creating posts every few months offering updates on what I am currently working on and what is coming up in the future. It was always an informal thing to do, and I never really had a set schedule on creating those posts. I have decided that I wanted to be more regular on providing updates, so I have decided to create a newsletter for the website.

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On July 19, 2024 an incident occurred where approximately 8.5 million Windows computers were taken offline due to a bad definition file being deployed to the CrowdStrike Falcon product. Due to the way that the definition file was formatted, the way that Windows does not allow bad drivers to be bypassed at boot time, and the way that Windows handles Antivirus products in general all contributed to the outage. It has been a year since this incident and I wanted to go over what has changed, and if it is still possible for this issue to occur in the future.

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