Thursday, September 24, 2015

10 Reasons Against Win 10 - 10 Reasons For Win 10 (plus comments)


Besides my massive reservations towards Windows 10, voiced here and here, I want to give my readers the pro and con disregarding that personal opinion.
 
The following are excerpts from an Infoworld paper published under the title “Everything you need to know about Windows 10”.
Iinfoworld has these 10 reservations against Windows 10:
  1. Substantial privacy concerns regarding Windows 10. The trade-offs between privacy and what the system “needs to know” can not be simply decided as a black and white decision.
    The same is true for Windows 10's automatically attached Advertising ID.
     
  2. OneDrive works different from Windows 7 and Windows 8. VERY confusing!
     
  3. Media Center and DVD player missing.
     
  4. No useful “universal apps”. The Windows Store is a wasteland.
     
  5. Mail program and Edge browser are test versions at best. Maturing is badly needed.
     
  6. Tablet Mode partially useless (MS Office is better on an iPad than on a Win 10 tablet).
     
  7. The installer may determine that they (MS) are ot quite ready for your machine yet.
    Beg your pardon? Microsoft themselves seem to know that the upgrade isn't as easy peasy
    as they want us to believe!
     
  8. Forced updates have already caused quite a few problems.
     
  9. If it ain't broke don't fix it”. If you are using Windows 7 properly updated and have switched away from Internet Explorer than there is hardly a reason to risk the upgrade.
     
  10. WAY TOO MANY open questions!

And Infoworld has 10 reasons for an upgrade; I have taken the liberty to comment in the second line:
  1. Windows 10 is the way into the future (of Windows!)
    … the way into the Brave New World of Big Brother Microsoft.
     
  2. The new Start Menu is a big plus for keyboard and mouse users of Windows 8/8.1
    if they had never heard of Classic Shell (and here) which creates a menu identical to Win 7.
     
  3. DirectX 12 is a BIG plus for hard core gamers
    hard core gamers know what they want and where to get it.

     
  4. Some security improvements already in Win 10 and some announced
    the old game of a sparrow in the hand and a dove on the tree.
     
  5. Notification Center similar to smart phones.
    those who ignore notifications now have a central place where they can do their ignoring.
     
  6. Actually usable on touch screen units like tablets
    partially usable that is; MS Office still is better on the iPad!
     
  7. Multiple desktops built-in
    power users always knew how to get that, even free as in no money.
     
  8. Cortana may some day actually help you
    but when? And what does it in the meantime? Listening, recording and building a case?
     
  9. Edge browser is getting better
    meaning now it is not (yet) good enough for prime time.
     
  10. Navigation is easier for mouse users
    than in Win 8/8.1; only for those who could not help themselves so far.
I can only repeat what I have said many times before:
Get ALL the information, combine that with  your individual situation and then make an educated decision.
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.  

 For whatever reason the darned TOC (Table Of Contents) feature that I got from Google does not work any longer, sorry. And I just don't have the time to hunt down another solution; if you know one please tell me in a comment. Thank you.
 
 

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

2015-09-24 WBKV Talking Points


Microsoft “tricks” unsuspecting home users into installing Windows 10 (GWX program).
Since July 29th. (release of Windows 10) MS has “invented” two levels of trickery to get users to upgrade to Win 10. None is documented.

Windows 10 “talks” to Microsoft even when all feedback options are turned off.
This IMHO is
  • sleazy,
  • secretive,
  • dishonest,
  • disrespectful,
  • and two faced.

Even well known 'download web sites” use trickery to get unsuspecting users to allow installation of definitely unwanted programs. Stay away from – for example – cnet.com, download.com, softpedia.com and many others.
Download programs from the developer only.




Wednesday, September 9, 2015

2015-09-10 WBKV Talking Points


Malvertising “explodes”
2013 saw a more than 200 percent increase over 2012 according to the Online Trust Alliance; they logged some 12.4 billion malvertisement impressions.
2014 saw a 300 percent increase in malvertising over 2013 (ca. 37
billion).
2015 it increased by more than 260 % over 2014, in the first six months alone (over 100 billion/year)
Estimated damages 2015 alone about
$1bn!
That is why I say: If you see advertisements your computer is NOT SAFE!

Belkin routers NOT SAFE!
No details about what models; all I can recommend is: Buy another brand router (I prefer Netgear)

Many top level domains on the internet are dangerous!
More than 95 percent of the hundreds of thousands websites in each of ten top level domains (TLDs) including .country, cricket, .science, .review, .zip and .party are flogging spam, malware, or adware.
Stay away!
Here are names of TLDs and percentage of infectuous sites:
1
.zip
100.00%

2
.review
100.00%

3
.country
99.97%

4
.kim
99.74%

5
.cricket
99.57%

6
.science
99.35%

7
.work
98.20%

8
.party
98.07%

9
.gq
97.68%
(Equatorial Guinea)
10
.link
96.98%

.

Parents need to wake up!
Of 1,494 apps and websites for children 67% collect children’s personal information;
half of these share personal information with third parties.
22% gather children's phone number and 23% allowed them to provide photos or video.


Don't buy Seagate wireless disk drives; they are not safe! (Secret hard-coded login!)