Windows 10 Now a Forced Download

[TheTravellers]

BTW, these articles are good, they tell you what kind of crap MS is sharing, privacy concerns, etc., and how to turn them off. I plan on following his advice when I upgrade, seems pretty sound.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015...ws-10-spyware/

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015...ows-10-update/

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015...-wifi-sharing/

[SoonerDave]

I can't agree with you more, except that I gave up on Redmond some seven years ago and now do all my serious work on a pair of Xubuntu boxes that form a tiny LAN in my home office. I have more than a dozen virtual machines on one of them, all but a couple running either Win2K or WinXP, and that's where I do my support for Windows customers. It all works quite well and backup of a VM is simplicity itself -- just copy the VM's directory tree to a different drive!

But the "normal" user finds it hard to comprehend that a VM can even exist, much less learn to be comfortable using one. I've tried to teach my wife to do that; it didn't work. All three of my sons (who are older than most folk on the board here) have abandoned Microsoft and now use Macs -- and one of them is, in fact, a Windows developer who maintains C# packages all day, then comes home and relaxes with his Mac!

I tell ya, Jim, sometimes I think you're a spy You've *almost* described my home - I turn off the laptop and come home to my Ubuntu box with its handful of VM's that do whatever else I need to have done. I get 70-80% of what I need to get done accomplished on my Android tablet, leaving a decreasing range of activities for my Windows laptop to accomplish....the whole VM thing just makes most people's head explode....

[jerrywall]

I don't think these privacy concerns aren't valid, but I sure hope all the people in a panic about them don't use chrome, or google services, or amazon, or android devices, cause they're in for a rude surprise.

[SoonerDave]

I don't think these privacy concerns aren't valid, but I sure hope all the people in a panic about them don't use chrome, or google services, or amazon, or android devices, cause they're in for a rude surprise.

The issue is transparency. Those other services are transparent that they collect data. Microsoft buries it in the cloak of "user experience."

[traxx]

I bought a W10 laptop not long ago. I don't find it all that different from W7 which I use at work along with a Mac Pro.

I've had a Mac Book Pro at home for the last 7 years but it was getting to the point that it needed to be replaced. It was getting really difficult to use. What I think is happening is the battery gets hot and expands and makes the track pad go crazy. Sometimes I can use and external mouse and it works but other times it doesn't help at all. As soon as I get all my pics and videos onto my home cloud, I'm putting the MBP out to pasture for good.

For what I do, I just couldn't see spending over $1000 for a laptop. I bought a core i3 Asus for $300. I also use an android tablet for convenience but for some operations a laptop is a better experience. W10 hasn't been all that difficult to figure out. I used edge or ie or whatever they have installed to download Epic browser and set epic as my default browser.

It has a free trial of Office but to use the free trial you either have to have a MS account or create one. I hate hate hate how MS makes you use their stupid account system to do anything. So annoying.

[TheTravellers]

I don't think these privacy concerns aren't valid, but I sure hope all the people in a panic about them don't use chrome, or google services, or amazon, or android devices, cause they're in for a rude surprise.

Or possibly the people that are concerned about the way Win10 is collecting info have *also* turned off google location in android, and don't allow cookies, and and and and...

[jerrywall]

Or possibly the people that are concerned about the way Win10 is collecting info have *also* turned off google location in android, and don't allow cookies, and and and and...

Well, if they can do all that...

[Jim Kyle]

I've subscribed to the (free) vulnerability reports published every Monday by US-CERT@ncas.us-cert.gov which is a service provided through Carnegie-Mellon University that serves as a collection point for software vulnerability reports from everywhere. Last Monday's included far too many involving Chrome!

Bottom line: software security is an oxymoron.

[ctchandler]

I've subscribed to the (free) vulnerability reports published every Monday by US-CERT@ncas.us-cert.gov which is a service provided through Carnegie-Mellon University that serves as a collection point for software vulnerability reports from everywhere. Last Monday's included far too many involving Chrome!

Bottom line: software security is an oxymoron.

Jim,
Funny, I switched from Firefox to Chrome for the same reason. It was over a year ago. As a "techie", I'm sure you know that any software can be hacked and apparently, the software updates that Chrome has have opened some holes. I might have to switch back to Firefox. What do they say about Safari?
C. T.

[SoonerDave]

I've subscribed to the (free) vulnerability reports published every Monday by US-CERT@ncas.us-cert.gov which is a service provided through Carnegie-Mellon University that serves as a collection point for software vulnerability reports from everywhere. Last Monday's included far too many involving Chrome!

Bottom line: software security is an oxymoron.

What drives me absolutely bonkers these days in that very realm is this idea that sites sell the "security of your data" solely on the basis that they provide an HTTPS connection to their web site. "Your data is secure! We use industry standard HTTPS encryption!"

GAAAAKK!!!

That's like a bank saying your money is safe because there's a security guard in the lobby. Means next-to-nothing.

[TheTravellers]

What drives me absolutely bonkers these days in that very realm is this idea that sites sell the "security of your data" solely on the basis that they provide an HTTPS connection to their web site. "Your data is secure! We use industry standard HTTPS encryption!"

GAAAAKK!!!

That's like a bank saying your money is safe because there's a security guard in the lobby. Means next-to-nothing.

Or the gov't saying you're safe because of the TSA and their scanners. But the American people believe it, so that's all you need...

[Jim Kyle]

What do they say about Safari?
C. T.

Haven't seen it listed in any of their three categories (severe, moderate, and low risk) for several months now. Firefox has been pretty quiet ever since they went to new versions every 2 weeks or so, too. Adobe, of course, is always well represented in both the severe and moderate groups, as is Oracle....

[traxx]

Or possibly the people that are concerned about the way Win10 is collecting info have *also* turned off google location in android, and don't allow cookies, and and and and...

I only turn on location on my phone if I absolutely have to and then turn it off when I'm done with it. Like I said, I use Epic browser which prevents sites from tracking and it runs through a proxy to obfuscate your location. I do a My IP check every once in a while. My address is always different and it's put me in locations such as Kansas, New York, Florida and even India among others.