Saturday, December 19, 2015

But "Keep It Simple, Stupid" also works...


One of the reasons I've stuck to Windows through thick and thin, come hell and high water, has been because I love desktop gadgets and their cute informative stuff. And I've argued with Mighty Microsoft via their built-in Feedback in test versions about the security of such things. 

They tried eliminating gadgets, unsuccessfully, on the excuse these are a security hazard. Sure they are. So is your regular Windows, which is targeted by every crooked programmer, hacker, and desperado on the globe, mostly because Microsoft refuses to make its 'Windows Defender' anything more than the standing joke of the security industry.

But I'm digressing again. The same security programs (plural) that I'm using to protect everything else on here are naturally protecting my gadgets too, so where's the real cause for alarm? And if you thought I'm implying here that we do need more than one security program these days, you would be correct - we do. Because: (there's always a 'because') malware evolves just like everything else on here. And security that protected us five or ten years ago can't cut it today. And you need more than one form of protection, because there's no such thing as "one size fits all". Some are better than others at one thing or another, and most will now be compatible with others. So find which is best at what, and use it.

I have three different ones, because one is excellent finding adware, and there's tons of it out there, and another is tops at stopping incoming malicious stuff, and the third is a highly-rated regular anti-virus. Because an ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure, and it's better to prevent than to clean up the mess.

Or you could use a system like Linux, which doesn't have some of those problems.

2 comments:

  1. Hi friend, as I´ve announced in one of my previous comments (If I remember well), I´ve upgraded (denoted as a Clean Instal though) spouse´s Toshiba laptop from Vista to 10.
    It runs ok, all is well after the transformation (including the 32 to 64bit switch).
    Yet, I cannot see the point in paying 113 Euros for an operating system which is expected to be in the computer no matter what, because its main and only function is or should be to make the machine run and recognize its environment (ie printers etc), plus safeguarding the system by anti mal anti vir anti etc.
    Occasional updates are granted.
    After switching on Win 10 and going through its "first steps" section I felt as if I (the spouse) wasn´t the owner of the machine any longer but that I´d rented it from Microsoft, they wanted to delegate almost anything to their headquarters, sniffing out every keystroke and so much more.

    I´ve de-activated the respective buttons so I hope not much of our privacy is finding its way to Microsoft.

    I find your information which you have been giving in your posts about Windows, Linux, and so on more useful than ever.

    Have a good new week, stay healthy!

    (I´m on facebook: Paco Cortegiano).

    Greetings from good ole, no more GC because of the dogs, transport wood be too complicated. We´re planning a combined road-/sea-trip in our own car though...

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  2. AHA! Welcome Back!

    I'm on Facebook too as Ray Sutton - give me a Friend Request please.

    I'm glad that you're enjoying my blog, and if there's anything that you're
    having any trouble with in Windows 10, please don't hesitate to give me a shout,
    and I'll do my best to help you with it.

    As I've mentioned in the blog, I don't like "Cortana" the personal assistant,
    because I don't believe its always me she is trying to help. And I don't like
    the idea of cloud storage because I don't trust people I've never met to care
    for my personal info the same way I would. So I've deactivated Cortana, and
    I never use OneDrive, the cloud storage.

    Both of my machines have big enough hard-drives that I don't need to send out
    anything for storage elsewhere. And if I ever did, it makes more sense just to
    plug in another external hard-drive, and use that as a back-up. Then you have
    everything handy, and you don't need to go anywhere to get to it.

    I've probably said this already somewhere, but I'll say it again anyway - this
    latest version of Windows, when we look at all the features that want to take
    our information somewhere else to store or look at it while "helping" us
    seems just a little too much like a not-too-sly attempt at spying on the users.
    And that in turn seems a little too much like George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty Four"
    with "Big Brother" watching everything that we're doing.

    Here's some reading for you about all that.....
    http://www.infoworld.com/article/2972298/microsoft-windows/10-reasons-you-shouldnt-upgrade-to-windows-10.html

    I'm not saying it's all bad - I'm just suggesting we be cautious and think about it.

    And all the best to you and yours for Christmas.


    ReplyDelete