This month, we are again seeing evidence of recent security changes by Microsoft. We see signs of continued frustration, in the process of publishing comments - and publishing posts, as part of the Import process.
In the process of diagnosing an apparent comment publishing problem, I ventured into the comment publishing experience, yet again.
I temporarily tweaked commenting permissions for this blog, to allow anonymous comments and to require the CAPTCHA.
With CAPTCHA required, I published a test comment to my earlier post in this blog.
I did my best - which was not good enough.
CAPTCHA solving continues, as a challenge.
I entered a test comment, and made appropriate selections.
I got a challenge.
"Select all the food."
I did my best.
Apparently, my best was not enough.
"Select all images with a store front."
I tried again. Not all images here were completely obvious, either.
My second try was successful.
Hmm.
Select all the food.
Zoom in on the fourth image, above - and tell me which pictures, that I did not select, are food? To whom? Will zooming always improve chances of success?
CAPTCHA solving, as spam interdiction, will always lead to frustration.
There will be cultural issues - and resolution problems - with CAPTCHAs. This version of the CAPTCHA beats the one from several years ago - but still will cause frustration.
And need I again point out - will require proper filter tuning, on each computer used. Note that ongoing changes by Microsoft are currently affecting publishing comments - and publishing posts during the Import process.
And our experience may very, depending upon many different details, varying by blog, by computer, and by person. My sympathies to all who must deal with spam - and with spam interdiction.
The CAPTCHA continues to be an unavoidable element in comment publishing and other episodes of #Blogger life. And like life, some episodes are more pleasant than others.
If you use a computer that runs Microsoft Windows, you may have been affected by Microsoft supplied updates, distributed 3 weeks ago.
May 10 was the day termed "Patch Tuesday" - the day when Microsoft releases important security related patches, to its various Internet updated products. During the 3 weeks after May 10, we've seen a significant number of security related discussions, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
It appears that Microsoft updates, for May 2016, affect use of Blogger.
The Microsoft Security updates, applied May 2016, appear to have affected various Blogger features, that are known to be vulnerable to layered security.
- CAPTCHA visibility when daily post limit is exceeded.
- Publishing comments, or replying to published comments.
- Quick Edit icons.
- Followers / Reading List maintenance.
- Stats self initiated pageviews.
All of these features are known to be affected by cookie filters, and / or by script filters.
If you are using a computer that runs either Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows 10, and you are experiencing a problem with publishing comments, or with using Quick Edit, or with blocking your own views in Stats, or similar problems, you may want to check your cookie and script filters.
I note that some of the reports mention the browser used as Chrome or Firefox. You'll want to check filter settings in Windows Security Essentials.
Being realistic, it's also possible that Microsoft broke something within Windows - but we'll have to wait patiently, for them to admit that.
If you need different or more advice, please start a new topic in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
Microsoft released monthly security updates May 10, 2016 - and since that date, there have been a number of security filter related issues, reported in Blogger Help Forum. It appears that the the Microsoft Updates involve cookie or script filters, which affect use of Blogger.
For several weeks, we've seen a steady stream of problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about the latest monolithic error in Blogger history.
bx-hg9hg2
From several conversations with Blogger Support, it now appears that this latest error code (and a few similar ones) is related to Internet Explorer, and the use of Compatibility View. Apparently, Blogger Engineering has finally updated Blogger so it is compatible with Internet Explorer V11 - and having done so, has made it incompatible with V11 using Compatibility View.
The simplest way to resolve the bx-hg9hg2 is to reset Internet Explorer.
Many Blogger blog owners may be using Internet Explorer for more than just Blogger blog maintenance - and may not appreciate the possible effect on access to other websites, caused by a browser reset. In this case, it may be better to Edit the Internet Explorer settings, and remove Blogger from Compatibility View.
To edit Compatibility View, you use the browser Tools menu, and select "Compatibility View Settings". Select any or all entries referencing "blogger.com", and hit "Remove", then "Close".
Having either reset Internet Explorer, or edited the Compatibility View list, you may next need to restart Internet Explorer.
A third possibility would be to use a different browser, until Blogger Engineering resolves all issues with IE V11 and Compatibility View. This may not happen immediately, however - and some blog owners may prefer to use IE in general. Advice to "Use a different browser" is not always appreciated, by every blog owner.
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This week, we are seeing various reports from people who are reporting different problems with Blogger - all problems which were associated with security issues in the past. In the past couple days, we've seen several reports of problems with Commenting, and with Stats - both problems which were known, in the somewhat distant past, to be caused by filtering of cookies and / or scripts.
Those details, in themselves, would probably be merely coincidental - except that last Tuesday, 4/10/2012, was Patch Tuesday - and I have seen online discussions by various Microsoft security experts, suggesting that some significant changes were made to Microsoft Windows security components.
I'll note during that during the immediately previous past few weeks, we have seen very few reports of problems with commenting, and with Stats. The massive level of complaints about both concerns, seen during the latter months of 2011, have been quiet recently - until this week.
I myself awoke this morning to find this computer, having updated and restarted during the previous night. Looking at a Microsoft Patch Summary, one can see references to some interesting changes.
I don't think that it's terribly imaginative to suggest that some of us may find some odd changes in security on our computers, installed in the last couple days.
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