Windows 10 and why I change my recommendation

On 1/17/2014 I wrote on this blog a rant titled: Microsoft Accounts and Windows 8 – A Rant

For Windows 10 this article is just as valid today. I want to quote the main point (emphasis added):

Apple has made an incredible fortune "having access" to all this information about their customers and as I see it Microsoft wants to bake themselves a similar pie, not only get a slice [of this pie of advertisement money]. Once I realized this my reaction was "Big Brother. . . ".

IMHO Windows 10 is a masterpiece of a copy of that pie, even with some improvements; it's main objective is to gather information about and from the user; why else would Microsoft assign a unique "advertising ID" to  every email address that unsuspecting users give them?

As often in this life where there is light there is shadow and vice versa. And besides the "shadow" that I call outright spying there is light:

Technically Windows 10 is a really good operating system.

The main complaints can by now be alleviated with third party programs.

• The data reporting can reliably be turned off (no more spying!) while the helpful reporting about the inner workings of the system (or failures to do so) remains active.
   
• The main menu can look and feel just like your old version of Windows; it can look and
  work just like you were used to from Windows Vista or Windows 7.  

If you want to upgrade to Windows 10, go ahead!
 
But be warned: When you upgrade to Windows 10 IMHO you have to install and correctly configure the program that turns Windows 10's reporting features OFF! And do NOT give Microsoft your email address, it will be treated as a Microsoft account!

Again, if privacy is of any concern to you then DO NOT give Microsoft your email address! That includes that you should NOT use Skype! We have a free alternatives to Skype that does not require to give your email address to Microsoft.

Remember what I wrote in Windows 10 Settings - What I Recommend (August 8th. 2015):

If you gave the system on first start your email address Microsoft has created on their servers the storage for an immense wealth of information about you that Win10 and it's programs will collect from and about you; and that besides the fact that every email address will have it's unique "advertisement ID" assigned. Guess what that will be used for!

Should you feel asked a bit too much with all this please contact me by email, I can help. An email address to contact me is in non-computer readable format at the end of the Welcome paragraph in the left side bar of my blog.

And if you upgraded and don't like what you see you have four weeks to 30 days (conflicting info from MS!) to revert back to what you had before.

Stay safe.

How To Buy A New Computer

Microsoft will drop the very last vestiges of support for Windows XP on April 8th, 2014. These computers have to be replaced by then!

I found an interesting article written by Microsoft's Director for Trustworthy Computing. You could read that rather tedious article or just settle for this quote:

As for the security mitigations that Windows XP Service Pack 3 has, they were state of the art when they were developed many years ago. But we can see from data published in the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report that the security mitigations built into Windows XP are no longer sufficient to blunt many of the modern day attacks we currently see. The data we have on malware infection rates for Windows operating systems indicates that the infection rate for Windows XP is significantly higher than those for modern day operating systems like Windows 7 and Windows 8.

To me that says loud and clear: Abandon Windows XP as fast as you possibly can!

Although Windows Vista was released seven years after XP I find many Vista machines from the early days of Vista that are mis-configured, mostly with way too little RAM (main memory) and technical limitations that would not allow to expand RAM beyond 2GB. I strongly recommend to upgrade these machines as well.

What new computer should I buy?

One of the first questions I often get asked is “Mac or PC?”. My reply is always the same: A MAC is almost always three to four times as expensive as a technically comparable PC. Plus you buy yourself into a very well maintained “gated community”. Any additional software for example will be more expensive and in the MAC world you find a much, much more limited selection of good free programs.

Those of my customers that switch to a MAC usually have compelling individual requirements and reasons. They accept the steep learning curve and the higher cost.

And opposite to common perception MACs do know viruses and are just as susceptible to browser based attacks and hijacks as PCs are.

There may be a difference in quality of the components; for my customers that is rarely an issue. I hardly ever recommend a rock bottom priced computer and decent average quality is available at very reasonable prices.

Where to buy the new computer?

I hesitate to write it down but many, many of my customers admit freely that they are not enough tech-savvy to go to a computer store; I recommend to simply avoid the risk of being sold much more than is really needed.

I offer to assist in selecting a suitable computer at a reasonable price. Buy it on-line at one of the larger, dependable and trustworthy dealers. Sometimes we find deals that seem to good t be true.

All-In-One, Desktop or Laptop? 

The one big difference that I always point my customers to is the text size on the screen. The nature of the beast dictates that things on a laptop screen are smaller than on a decent monitor. For people “up there” in age and/or with eye issues (like your's truly) this should be the major factor in that decision.

If on the other side you travel a lot or if you live for several month “down south” then a laptop may be the better solution because of the easier transportation.

All computers are built with mass production techniques. It is always a remote possibility to get a “lemon”, that one piece out of thousands that causes trouble.

All-In-One

This kind of computer has really “come of age” lately. A few weeks ago I bought a new computer for my wife, an All-In-One with a gorgeous 23 inch screen, 1TB disk drive, a fast 3Ghz dual core processor, built-in wireless and webcam. Needless to mention that she loves it.

The biggest advantage from the housewife's viewpoint is that there is only one cable going into the back of the machine!

Desktop with monitor, keyboard and mouse

If you already have a nice flat screen monitor and prefer a desktop computer, by all means just get another one. Very reasonably equipped standard computers cost between $300 and $500.

Beware of some sales rep talking you into a system with a touch screen. Do you know how heavy the hand gets when you stretch your arm out for only two minutes?

Touch screens are okay on tablets and phones; I don't see their usefulness in a classic computer environment; as usual, your views may differ.

Touch screen monitors are (so far at least) clearly more expensive than conventional flat screen monitors. It is a new technology that has had no time to mature yet.

As far as brands go: My reservations towards Dell and HP are well known; I just can not recommend to buy from companies that have deliberately lied to their customers (Dell) or still install at best questionable software.(HP, Sony and Samsung for example).

During the last two or three years I have recommended many Gateway desktop computers. Gateway (the brand!) is owned by Acer.

Laptop

Screen size is always measured in the diagonal! I recommend at least a 15.6” screen; laptops with 17” screens are clearly heavier than their 15.6” cousins.

The only brand I recommend is Lenovo. Their laptop computers are designed in the tradition of IBM laptops from long gone times. They are mostly just a tad better than the competition.

How much Memory?

Memory, main memory or RAM denotes the computer's internal work space. The more main memory the computer has the more programs can work at the same time.

For normal household usage 4GB of main memory (RAM) in a Windows 7 or 8 machine has proven to be enough, no matter was the sales rep at the store told you.

If you use any CAD/CAM software or Adobe Photoshop or if you edit videos then you want 6 or 8GB of RAM or even more. Most heavy duty users know that and buy accordingly.

What processor?

My typical home use customer will not experience lots of differences between an AMD and an Intel processor (CPU). If you actually really do create your own family movies you want an Intel i7 or i5 as fast as your budget allows. For everybody else the speed of the processor is more important than who made it.

Dual core processors are the standard now. Here a warning: When the store clerk sings the praises of an AMD quad core CPU he/she dupes you. AMD quad core means that you get two CPUs and two graphics processors in one chip. Marketing at it's best...

Laptops have thermal limitations; there just is not enough space in a laptop to create sufficient air flow to cool a fast CPU. Laptops in a reasonable price range tend to top off at 2.5 Ghz.

Desktop and all-in-one computers usually do not have the stringent air flow limitations of laptops Thar is why I recommend the faster CPU within reasonable limits and budget constraints.

In my experience a desktop with an Intel i3 3.4 Ghz CPU is faster than the same computer with a more expensive i5 with only 2.3 Ghz.

I see cheap desktop computers with 1.4 Ghz CPUs being offered. In every day usage you may only occasionally experience some sluggishness. But when Microsoft gives us a big update Tuesday the 1.4 Ghz computer may easily need 45 minutes to finish the updates versus five to eight minutes for the 3.4 Ghz machine. 

What about hard drive size?

The hard drive, the internal disk drive with moving platters supplies the storage space where the operating system, all programs and all data files are stored.

Modern computers offer typically from 320GB to 1 TB of storage space which definitely is enough for household usage. Only if you or your teenager download full length movies you can fill up these large drives.

Windows 8 or Windows 7?

You can try to find a Windows 7 computer but it will be $100 to $150 more expensive than the technically same machine with Windows 8.

If you buy Windows 8 you will likely want me to adjust a few settings to run the computer in desktop mode, just as you have been used to since 1995. I would love to help you “taming” Windows 8.

Do you have your software ready?

If you are replacing an older Windows XP system you may have an old version of Microsoft Office that originally came with computer. These licenses are tied to the machine they came on, they “die” with the computer.

Even if you still have the installation disks for MS Office XP or MS Office 2003 I strongly recommend NOT to install them on new systems. They are by now as hard to keep secure as Windows XP has become hard to keep safe..

One of the main reasons for new software versions is security against attacks by viruses and so on.

Remember: It is NOT possible to safely transfer programs directly from an old to a new computer, even if there is software claiming to do just that. Programs have to be installed on the new machine and that is only possible if you have your install disks and eventually required license or product keys at hand.

If you only want to create or edit Microsoft Word or Excel files I recommend Libre Office, a very good product developed out of the original Open Office.

If you use any other "old" software you have to check with it's manufacturer that it is suited to run on a computer with Windows 7 or Windows 8 Desktop Mode.

Where to Buy?

Naturally you can go to any store that sells computers. Just keep in mind that their prices need to pay for the brick and mortar buildings and the sales people there.

Most brick and mortar stores do not service a computer you buy from them, they usually send it to the manufacturer for repairs; then they charge you what the manufacturer billed them plus a margin for their efforts.

All too often the sales “representatives” are nothing more than high school or college students that “know about computers”.

TIPS!

• If you have wireless in your house, get a computer with wireless already installed in both laptop (standard) and your desktop where it is not yet standard, but worth getting!
• Buy an extended warranty only if you buy a a business computer; your business needs to be running and usually can't afford longer computer down time. Some of these extra warranties come with guaranteed same day or next day assistance.
• For obvious reasons I recommend NOT to buy from a rental center!
• Stay within your budget; temptations are plentiful!

Set it up

Certainly you can set up a new computer yourself.

With Windows 8 Microsoft has elevated “arm twisting” to a whole new level, IMHO at least! You definitely should NOT ever use a so called Microsoft account! Read this for more background information.

If you feel more comfortable to have the computer set up by a professional correctly and with added safety features then please read this article about my Set Up job, I would be glad to help.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

BIG Trouble With Java

Have you read or heard about the government recommending to disable Java?

Are you concerned about these warnings?

Or are you wondering if the warnings apply to you?

If you answered "No" to any of the questions above then please wake up, be concerned and do what needs to be done.

A wee bit of background information: Java is a programming language that makes programs largely computer independent. That means any program written in Java should run an any given computer.

The number of viruses written in Java has recently exploded. And some very nasty viruses are among these newcomers.

The software system that has to be installed on your computer to make Java "work" has found to be faulty; thus it endangers most computers.

On ALL my customer's computers Java is installed since it is required for some web sites and here especially for some web sites with games.

Java has to be turned OFF in all web browsers now! 

If a web page requires Java you better stay away from this web site, especially sites with any kind of games! Well, if it is a web site from a company, college or public administration that you have good reason to trust then you can enable Java in Firefox (or Google Chrome) and only for this web site.

You can follow the instructions in this article to easily disable any Java programs (called Java applets) running in Firefox or Google Chrome.

If you want to avoid Java running in any other web browser and if you have diligently kept Java up-to-date you can follow the instructions in the first three paragraphs of this article. "Diligently kept up-to-date" means you have Java version 7 Update 17 installed (per March 4th 2013).

Some related background information is in this article. 

Update 1/21/2013: here a quote from The Register:

Separately Trend Micro warned earlier this week that the latest Java security update may be incomplete. The update attempts to address two security bugs but fails to quash one of these completely.

The security firm advises users to avoid Java where possible, particularly as a plugin to their browsers, where the main danger arises. Users obliged to use Java, perhaps on the small percentage of sites which require it or for work-related reasons, can minimize their exposure by disabling Java on their main day-to-day browser and using a secondary browser with an enabled Java plugin solely for those sites. This tactic for minimizing exposure to Java-based attacks is advocated by many security firms.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Foistware - a BAD Example

Recently I read about the free video download and converter software FVD Suite. I thought some of it's functionality might be helpful so I downloaded and installed it.

And during installation it showed it's true colors. The Installer offered altogether FOUR pieces of typical foistware, some of it IMHO outright bad stuff. And on top of that it used a tricky switch of the method to avoid this unwanted stuff.

Here are the four installer windows that attempted to trick me into installing the additional junk.

1.  The first window has Quick Installation preselected. I am usually careful with my computer so I selected Advanced Installation. The switches to install Babylon were preselected and got greyed out immediately! That means I could not turn Babylon off anymore.  IMHO Babylon is outright CRAP! Pardon my French. it figures as translation software but why then do they need to change my default search engine and my browser's home page? Did I already say crap?

I had to switch back to Quick Installation; then I could remove the check marks in the three entries for Babylon and switch back to Advanced Installation. By then I was on high alert, trust me. 

2. The second window wanted my permission (naturally preselected!) to install Shop To Win and QwikLinx. I always think TANSTAAFL seeing this sort of garbage software.

This window required to deselect only one check mark.

3.  The third window offered PricePeep. See above, TANSTAAFL.

BUT: Since I wanted to avoid PricePeep this window required a change in the method to avoid the PricePeep gunk; I needed to click the Decline button. The graphic design of this and the next window is such that on first glance one might think that Decline would decline the installation of FVD Suite and thus click on Next Step. Which would be just the mistake the originators of this deceptive tactic want us to make. Decline affects PricePeep only. Tricky, tricky to say the least. 

4. Window #4 used the same method as #3, I had to click Decline to avoid getting WaJam installed.

Plus it had a graphic element resembling a check mark in a circle; only after reading the text behind this little thingy I realized what it meant.

 
That was this.

I hope you don't get bored by me repeating and repeating over and over again:

• Take the time to read EVERY little window when installing downloaded software
   
• Watch out for preselected check marks
   
• THINK before you click
   
•  When in doubt don't install what tries to trick you!

It is getting worse and worse every week; stay safe and keep your computer clean!

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Windows 8 - Do You Need It?

End of October will bring the introduction of Windows 8. The "new factor" seems to be intriguing to some people.

All Windows XP computers and some early Windows Vista computers are reaching the limits of their useful lifetime or even are outright beginning to fail. I always try to get the customer to compare the cost of a repair to the cost of a new computer. New computers generally are in every technical aspect a multiple of what a computer built for Windows XP was.

Whenever I have to talk to a customer about a new computer I am asked "Should I wait for Windows 8?".

 My current reply is usually along the lines of

• Currently you can get reasonably priced computers with Windows 7.
• Windows 7 IMHO is the best operating system Microsoft has ever released.
• Windows 8 and it's Metro user interface is meant and built primarily for touch enabled devices.
• You will have to re-learn many things that have become habitually
• I rather recommend to stay away from the bleeding edge of technical developments.
• Using a repaired (older) Windows XP computer with Windows 7 or Windows 8 is like attempting to keep up in Chicago's rush hour traffic with a Ford Model T.

I know that you will be able to use Windows 7 at least until January 2020. Yes, Microsoft has firm life cycle schedules available. If you look at these schedules you need to look at the "end of support" dates. In Microsoft's own words:

End of support refers to the date when Microsoft no longer provides automatic fixes, updates, or online technical assistance.

That is the date relevant for the average home user! After that date nobody will want to help you with the "old" operating system anymore.

Conclusions:

If there is any reason to currently think about possibly a new computer please think Windows 7!

If you are confused by the huge number of options out there and/or if you can't stand the quite often incredibly snotty sales people (for example but not only at Best Buy) then please ask me for advice. All my customers have my email address, my phone number and even my postal address. Or you can use the link way at the end of every single article on this blog; it looks like this: Click to send me an Email

As with any and all brand name computers I strongly recommend my Set-Up job. The customers that had me do the set-up job are those I don't hear from for years; that's how I want it to be!

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Why I Recommend A Backup Program for $$

Update June 20th 2016: Changed software recommendation

Again a customer's question required an answer that might be of general interest. Thank you Carrie L.

The lady asked: 

So you would recommend the xyz external disk drive PLUS the fully automatic solution which is the software that runs the xyz drive?  Or can I just get the fully automatic solution?  If I do, where does the backup go - to a company who stores it?

I would never recommend to store backups on a third party's computer or "in the cloud" as the many Internet based services are called now. Uploads (from your computer) to the Internet are just too slow! All these advertisements are an appeal to our complacency and unabashed attempts at getting a sticky finger into our wallets. These solutions may be feasible when a company has leased a fast connection into the Internet; technically we talk about T1 lines or faster. For the average home user this is simply cost prohibitive.

Storing backup data in the computer itself does not offer any security against data loss in case the computer fails badly. Everybody who has been around computers a little bit will agree that you need to store your data files outside of your computer; for the home user that is on an external disk drive! Ideally the files should be stored in the same format that the operating system uses.

So, yes, you need an external disk drive. These disk drives usually come with some sort of backup software. Mostly these programs create proprietary formats. Whether you can restore your data files from these proprietary formats on other, new computers is questionable at best. This specific piece of software might not run on a new machine or not be available for a new operating system.

Above mentioned proprietary formats usually are compression and/or encryption schemes of some sort. This makes backed up data files inaccessible for normal, standard means of the operating system. I totally oppose any of these schemes for home use, especially if the users are "normal" people that do not have a degree in computer science.

Every other backup program I know needs to be either run manually or be scheduled to run automatically. Manual operation usually gets forgotten or postponed until it's too late; I confess, I can't do it dependably!
Automatically scheduled solutions require

• that your computer is always turned on at the scheduled time and on the scheduled day of the week and
   
• that you do not work on the computer while the scheduled backup runs (the problem here are "open" files, files you are working with whether you know it or not; many backup programs can not handle open files correctly(!) and
   
• that the computer does not enter sleep or hibernation mode while the backup is running (all Windows computers are by default set to go into sleep and hibernation).

Update June 20th 2016:

All too often a backup does not get done because, honestly, to run "that darned backup program" is an additional chore. And such chores get "forgotten" too often. But this something I can not change; if you want to be secured against data loss you will have to run backups - and you will have to do backups regularly! 

And to be totally honest, you will have to learn about the different basic backup concepts and functions and their names. There are literally many hundreds of tutorials about that on the Internet.
 
For Windows PCs I recommend the $70 (one time payment!) program Macrium Reflect. The free version is sufficient for most home users but you always can pay to upgrade.

You may want to read additionally this article about backup devices.
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Stay safe.

Windows 7 - Everything Else Is FREE

I read a two part article series on the WindowsSecrets blog written buy Woody Leonhard. If you follow my blog you have read about WindowsSecrets before. I like the skinny of these two articles so much that I "stole" their text from the second part of the article to post it here, with some textual changes and additions to enhance the readability and understanding by non-geeks, IMHO at least.
Most if not all of the software that stores will try to sell you when you buy a new computer does not need to cost any additional money. But since stores and dealers live from selling you something they will try - and sometimes really hard. The most often applied method to up-sell an unsuspecting not-too-PC-literate customer is good old FUD, Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. The sales guys in some stores can scare the daylights out of you just to get you to buy some additional software.
The kicker is that if you steadfastly refuse these software add-ons they sometimes even will throw it in the bag anyway "because it's free"; stuff they five minutes ago wanted to charge you for! If my customers got any antivirus program in this manner I always tell them to give it as a gift to their best enemy.
If you buy a new PC with Windows7 Home Premium pre-installed then there is hardly anything else you need to pay money for besides your fast Internet connection.
Let me go into a few more details for the most commonly offered add-on packages. This first part is from the WindowsSecrets blog with some textual additions.

Antivirus: Microsoft Security Essentials is free and works for the average PC-user just as good as commercial products and often even better.
It runs totally unobtrusive in the background and it's work load balancing is so good that even on weaker older computers you hardly ever will recognize that it is running.
Even while it is scanning your machine you can still work with your computer; I don't know any other antivirus program that does that in such a graceful way.
And if it has to "talk" to you it speaks in clear, simple English; you don't need a college degree to understand what it's telling you.
Backup programs: Windows 7 backup isn't particularly neat or fancy, but it covers the bases automatically and (almost always) works well.
I strongly recommend to invest a little bit of time to learn the ins and outs; it's all right there in the Windows 7 Help and Support displays.
And I strongly recommend to buy an external disk drive to keep the backups outside of the computer. A backup on the C: drive is no backup at all, at best it's a fig leaf.
Defragmenters: Windows 7 defragments your drives automatically (once a week by default), and you don't need to lift a finger or spend a penny. But you can set it to your liking, like have it defragment daily at a certain time - or only manually started. The latter then very soon gets forgotten anyway.
Disk Partitioning: Windows 7 does all you'll need!
No, Windows 7 doesn't have a full-fledged disk-partition manager. But it does everything with partitions that most people need (if you need it at all!) -- and it gets the job done without messing up your hard drive. Which is more than I can say for some third-party disk-partition managers.
Where is Windows 7's partition manager you ask? In an administrator account, click Start and in the Search box type "Administrative Tools", without the quotes naturally. In the resulting window double-click Computer Management. In the left panel, under Storage, click Disk Management.
You will see all your disk drives and the partitions on the disk drives.
Again, I strongly recommend to invest a little bit of time to learn the ins and outs; it's all right there in the Windows 7 Help and Support displays.
Registry Cleaners: Some do more harm than good.
I have never seen a real-world example of a Windows 7 machine that improved in any perceivable way after running a registry cleaner. Registry cleaners and Defragmenters may have been useful for Windows XP (before SP 2) and certainly were a good thing for Windows 98 and ME as long as these programs worked correctly - what sometimes they did not. With Windows 7 I think they're useless, if not worse than useless.
In my experience, working with hundreds of Windows 7 machines, I have never found a single Registry cleaner that caused any perceivable change in performance.  The Registry is an enormous database, and all this cleaning really doesn't amount to much. It is like sweeping out one parking space in a parking lot the size of Texas.
Even Microsoft has abandoned its Registry cleaners. E.g. Windows Live OneCare (precursor to Microsoft Security Essentials) once included an online scanner and Registry cleaner.
(Disclaimer: I can not confirm this claim but usually Woody Leonhard is a dependable source of such information.)
Windows 7's Firewall works only one way, that is inbound.
Like its predecessors, the Windows 7 firewall only keeps outside threats from getting in — it is an inbound firewall. Outbound firewalls alert you when an unauthorized program attempts to send data out of your computer. At least that's the theory. In practice, many outbound firewalls bother you mercilessly with inscrutable warnings saying that obscure processes are trying to send out data.
If you simply click through and let the program phone home, you're defeating the purpose of the outbound firewall. On the other hand, if you take the time to track down every single outbound event warning, you might spend half your life chasing firewall snipes.
Some people think an inbound-only firewall is woefully inadequate. I think it's good enough for almost everybody. It certainly is big time good enough for the computers in my household.

It's surprising how much old advice isn't valid any more!

So much for the part that was inspired by and partly copied from WindowsSecrets. Let me add a few categories that are not part of MS Windows.
Office software: Almost all new brand name computers I have seen over the last 6 or 7 years came with some Microsoft Office package pre-installed.
When you just start to use these programs they will work for 30 or even 60 days. After that point in time you will have to buy a license from Microsoft or your favorite computer store. Depending on the version of MS Office the sales clerk talks you into that is anything between $100 and $300. Ka-ching says the cash register and sales guys in the store smile.
You don't need to pay for this! There are at least three packages with office programs around that will not cost you a single penny! They can read and write files in the commonly used Microsoft formats, at least for texts, spreadsheets and presentations.
Currently I favor LibreOffice; it covers 99% to 100% of what the average home user ever uses or needs; only in very "tricky" formatted text or spreadsheet files you will find some features that maybe are not 100% compatible; in this case the Help forum mostly has a workaround.
A category by itself: Google Earth just because it is such a great toy. Whether you want to check out a new vacation location before you book or just see the Kremlin or Tiananmen Square from the birds eye view, it is worth trying it. Even on average decent basic computers like I recommend to my customers it works very well; the speed of the Internet connection is much more important.
Photo Management and Editing: For the average home user Google's program Picasa IMHO is unbeatable. just watch it finding and removing the red rabbit eyes from the photos of your loved ones. And that for FREE! You can build albums with it, publish photos to the internet so the family members on the other side of the planet can see them and, and, and…
Web browser: If you are my customer or listen to me on WTKM then you know that I strongly favor Mozilla's Firefox web browser. Although quality and security wise Google's Chrome browser is a very serious contender as well.
Email Client: If you are my customer or listen to me on WTKM then you know that I strongly favor Mozilla's Thunderbird email client. I don't even know whether there is another alternative still around.
Should you require any other software and don't know where to begin to look for it, I will gladly help. For much if not most of what you may want to do on your computer there likely is a free solution available.
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.
Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

End of Support for some versions of Windows

Again and again I encounter computers with Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or even Vista without any Service Pack installed.

Although this can have multiple reasons the ones I most commonly encounter are

• Automatic Update is not set to automatically download and install updates and the user ignores the warnings telling her/him that updates have to be downloaded and or installed;
• Some obnoxious software thinks they can do a better job of alerting the user of updates, turns Automatic Update off and then gets deactivated or un-installed and does not turn Automatic Updates back on;
• Some malicious software disabled Automatic Update altogether.

Here is a literal quote from Microsoft’s Exploring Windows newsletter March 23, 2010:

Support is ending for some versions of Windows

• Support for Windows Vista without any service packs will end on April 13, 2010.
  
  
• Support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) will end on July 13, 2010.
  

If you're running one of these versions after support ends, you will NOT get any security updates for Windows.

If your computer is still running Windows XP, Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows Vista with no Service Pack then you are in deep trouble; call or email me (see below).

Above mentioned newsletter then has a link to the article Which version and service pack am I running? This article is invalid for Windows XP users, great advice, Microsoft!

Easier and better information can be had by

• Windows XP: Right click My Computer, left click on Properties;
• Windows Vista/7: Right click Computer, left click on Properties.

Currently

• Windows XP ought to be on Service Pack 3,
• Windows Vista ought to be on Service Pack 2.

I don’t mean to scare you but if your system is not yet at it’s respective service pack level something is seriously wrong and you better call me or email me at ejheinze*at*gmail*dot*com.
 
By the way, not knowing what operating system and what Service Pack your computer is running is somewhat like not knowing whether your car needs gasoline or diesel fuel. Please be informed!

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.