Tony’s Questions
Tony’s wife added a payment card to her Amazon account. That card was then automatically added to their Google account (which they share). We guessed that the payment method in Amazon may have been Google Pay which would account for the link between the two platforms.
Also live voicemail transcripts are appearing on his iPhone. This feature seems to have existed since iOS17. My guess is that a recent update turned this feature on. This Apple Support article tells your how to turn it on/off:-
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph3c99490e/ios
John suggested that you could reserve a credit card with a fairly low credit limit for all your online transactions. If this card becomes compromised this would limit your potential loss.
Emergency Alert Scams
As you know, the second test of the UK Emergency Alert System took place on Sunday 7th September. When anything like this happens, the scammers try to capitalise on it. Which? are warning about fake emails which ask for feedback on your experience of the Alert – see this article for more:-
https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/scam-warning-fake-government-emergency-alerts-emails-circulate-aiCuH6b4y1fj
Be very cautious of clicking on links in emails and report any scam emails by forwarding them to:-
report@phishing.gov.uk
Windows 10 End of Support
Support for Windows 10 ends next Tuesday, the 14th October. See this Microsoft Support article for more:-
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-10-support-ends-on-october-14-2025-2ca8b313-1946-43d3-b55c-2b95b107f281
We discussed this in some detail in July – see the blog:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2025/07/
We explained that Microsoft are offering the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program which allows you to continue receiving security updates for another year by either:-
- Paying $30,
- Using 1000 Microsoft Reward Points (check https://rewards.bing.com/ to see your Reward Points), or
- Use Windows Backup to sync to OneDrive.
Go to Settings, Update & Security, Windows Update and click Enrol now to select one of these ESU options.
If you select the Backup option, you can choose to back up just one or two files so that you do not need much space on your OneDrive. As Dave suggested, having set up Backup to get the extended support, you could then cancel it and we think support will still continue.
For more about Windows 10 ESU, see this Windows Central article which includes screenshots of the enrolment process:-
https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-10/how-to-use-windows-10-esu-to-keep-getting-updates-after-october-2025
It is interesting to note that there are calls for Microsoft to just continue with support for Windows 10 for everyone. Consumer Reports, a non-profit body in the US rather like our Which?, has just (16th September) written an open letter to Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, arguing that support should be extended. See this Consumer Reports article which includes a link to the full letter:-
https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/research/consumer-reports-calls-on-microsoft-to-extend-support-for-windows-10/
Microsoft has subsequently announced (on 22nd September) that ESU will be free, with out going through the enrolment process, for consumers in the EEA (European Economic Area) to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act. See this article from Windows Latest:-
https://www.windowslatest.com/2025/09/26/no-youll-still-need-a-microsoft-account-for-windows-10-esu-in-europe/
The EEA comprises the EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, but does not include the UK. The article points out that you may be able to change your region in Settings! The above article links to a letter to Microsoft from Euroconsumers, which further presses Microsoft to continue support beyond just one year.
Something that should have been straight forward seems to have become a total mess!
Microsoft Office Support on Windows 10
If you are running Microsoft 365 Office apps (e.g. Word, Excel, etc) on Windows 10, then these will continue to be supported until 10th October 2028, even though support for Windows 10 itself will have ended before then.
Note that if you are using Office 2016 or 2019 (these are one-time purchase perpetual licence versions), support for these ends on 14th October this year, i.e. the same date that Windows 10 support ends. You can, of course, use them beyond this date, but there will be no further updates. Office 2024 support ends on 9th October 2029.
Windows 11 End of Support
Don’t panic! Windows 11 support is not ending completely, but you do need to keep it up to date to continue getting security update. If you have the latest version, 24H2, this is supported until 13th October 2026. Version 25H2 began rolling out on 30th September, and will to be supported until October 2027. The 25H2 update is very small and changes almost nothing apart from the version number!
If, for some reason, your Windows 11 system has not been updated, note that support for version 23H2 ends in about a month on 11th November this year. Previous versions, 21H2 and 22H2, are already out of support – see this Microsoft document:-
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-11-home-and-pro
There are couple of easy ways to check which version you have:-
Method 1
Hold down the Windows Key and press the “R” key. This will bring up the Run box.
Type “Winver” in the box and click OK.
This will open a box showing the version number.
Method 2
Click Start, Settings (or hold down the Windows Key and press the “i” key). Click on System, then scroll down and click About.
Scroll down to the heading Windows specification to see the version number.
iOS 26 Has Arrived
We talked about iOS 26 back at the Club in June – see “Announcements from WWDC” in the blog:-
https://computerclub100.blogspot.com/2025/06/
iOS26 is now available, having been released to the public on 15th September. You can find a number of articles about it including this one from Ars Technica:-
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/ios-26-review-a-practical-yet-playful-update/
Tony asked about opening side-by-side windows on an iPad using iPadOS26. This Apple Support page explains more about windowing on an iPad:-
https://support.apple.com/en-us/125309
New Amazon and Google Hardware
Amazon held a hardware event on 28th September which includes new Alexa devices which feature its Alexa+ AI chatbot. Alexa+ is free for Amazon Prime subscribers, otherwise it’s $20 per month.
Three new Kindle Scribe devices, new Fire TV sticks and new Ring and Blink cameras were also announced. For more details, see this Engadget article:-
https://www.engadget.com/home/everything-announced-at-amazons-fall-hardware-event-143557140.html
Google also announced new hardware, including its Home Speakers, and Nest Cams, all of which seemed to be enhanced with their Gemini AI. See this PCMag article for more details:-
https://www.pcmag.com/news/google-finally-refreshes-its-home-speakers-nest-cams-with-gemini-inside
iPhone 17 Enhanced Security
At the last meeting we mentioned the new iPhone 17 range and the iPhone Air which were announced on the 9th September. These new phones feature a new “System on a Chip” known as A19. The A19 chip has a new security feature called Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE) which is designed to add additional protection from hacking attacks.
The majority of hacking attacks exploit errors in the software which allow areas of memory to be accessed which should be prohibited. MIE adds hardware features that can prevent this type of access and so makes such exploits impossible. You can read more about MIE in this article from The Hacker News:-
https://thehackernews.com/2025/09/apple-iphone-air-and-iphone-17-feature.html
SMS Blasters
Cybercriminals have got a new gadget – an SMS Blaster! This a briefcase-sized device that works like a small mobile cell tower. The SMS Blaster can broadcast to any mobile phones in its range and send out malicious SMS message. It does not need any phone numbers, it will connect to any phones within a radius of about 1,000 yards.
The messages it send are the usual sort of scam message which tempts you to click on a link. It uses the 2G protocol to send these message as this has less security protection than the modern 4G and 5G networks. Reports indicate that these devices can transmit around 100,000 SMS message per hour.
These are most likely to be deployed in densely populated areas such as city centres and shopping malls. If you avoid clicking on links in SMS messages, you should be OK. You might be able to disable the less secure 2G network on some Android phones – google for your model. It seems the only way to disable 2G on iPhones (iOS 16 or later) is to enable Lockdown Mode, but this will disable a lot of other functionality, so is not recommended.
See this Wired article for more on SMS Blasters:-
https://www.wired.com/story/sms-blasters-scam-texts/
Next Session
Wed 12th November at 2pm by Zoom
