Why I Don't Like Windows 10 and MS

In quite a few articles on this blog I have referred to, quoted from or linked to one of the web sites I regularly draw information from; I am talking about Tech Support Alert aka Gizmo's Freeware.

Two days ago they published an article titled "Windows 10 connects to these websites after a clean installation". Since many of my customers are not very technically minded let me quote some points that I consider to be the important details. 

IMHO it is, to say the least, misleading to use Microsoft's wording "telemetry" when our Windows 10 systems talk to Microsoft [MS] all the time without ever having asked our permission. They even don't ever tell us about the simple fact that they do that; you have to be a technology geek and read lots of very technical stuff to even become aware of what is going on.

The article lists 20 web sites that Windows 10 connect to when you start a brand new Windows 10 system. All these sites collect technical information about our computers and about us. As a simple example: Why does MS want or need to know where I am? That is information I personally would only disclose to the police if they ever wanted or needed to know that.

Here is list from above mentioned article. I have added the bold typeface in Line 1.

Windows 10 connects to one or more websites in these categories:

• Cortana and Search
• Certificates
• Device authentication
• Device metadata
• Diagnostic data
• Font streaming
• Licensing
• Location
• Maps
• Microsoft account
• Microsoft store
• Network connection status indicator (NCSI)
• Office
• OneDrive
• Settings
• Skype
• Windows Defender
• Windows Spotlight
• Windows Update
• Microsoft forward link redirection service (FWLink)

All this can on slower Internet connections add significantly to the time it takes for the system to start up. I have experienced that quite often when a sluggish or outright slow system all of a sudden works with normal reaction times after all that got turned off.

And to top it off, the program I use to turn off this talking back to MS is from a well reputed company and totally free.

Any questions or comments? Pleas use the Comment feature of this blog.

Please stay safe.

It's Amazon vs. Google. Did You Know?

Have you ever or are you sometimes watching a YouTube video or two?

Have you ever or are you sometimes looking at something or even buying something on Amazon?

If you can answer any of above questions with Yes then you should read this article.

It shows very clearly why I always say that, no matter what companies say, we, the paying customer, are a voiceless, powerless "necessary evil". They just don't give a hoot about us.

Their talk of "how important" their customers are and how they care for us and how important it is for them "to serve the customer" is nothing but marketing hullabaloo and all too often they just plainly lie to us.

Never the less, I will stick with my Amazon Prime account and I will keep using Google's services.

For now at least.

Stay safe.

WOT and the darned Purists at Mozilla

WOT vanished from many of my customers Firefox web browsers. I got some questions about that so here is my diatribe.

Mozilla, the maker of the Firefox web browser, is a European organization and over there they have a MUCH more narrow view of privacy issues. That is a double-edged sword.

WOT has a few month ago modified their end user license agreement to conform more closely to what the add-on all can do. No surprise to me that they collect some information on the things you search for and where you then click on. Google does that for years and nobody gives a hoot.

WOT finally made it public and Google and Mozilla went ballistic pulling the WOT extension (add-on) from their web sites. I am pretty livid but they don't listen to you or me.

WOT in the meantime has changed the wording of their end user license agreement and you again can get and run WOT in Goggle Chrome.

The Europeans don't seem to see the value of WOT for the normal non-geek end user and remain stubbornly on their negative stance towards WOT. 

And Mozilla even tricks people into disabling or removing WOT - despite the fact that there is no even remotely similar functionality available anywhere else.

It is a shame but I have to tell my customers that they have to use Google Chrome for their web searches if they want the advantages of WOT, naturally with WOT and a good Ad-Blocker installed. These get installed from within the web browser, they are extensions.


Currently IMHO only Adblock Plus from adblockplus.org and uBlock Origin qualify as "good" ad-blockers.


Supposedly WOT and Mozilla are working on a resolution but that already takes many months.

If you have an affected computer and on the desktop is a folder named "Old Firefox Data" I may be able to resurrect WOT; but that definitely would be a trial and error thing that I can not guarantee. But at least I can do it remotely. 

Stay safe.

"Force Feeding" Windows 10

"Force Feeding" are the only words adequate to describe what Microsoft is doing right now! My email inbox is overflowing with complaints and cries for help. Microsoft seems to be really desperate, it must not be going as well as they had hoped.

After the upgrade to Windows 10 (not update) you have 4 weeks to revert to your previous system. This process has so far worked without a hitch for those of my customers who reverted.

1. Click the Start button
2. Click on Settings (on a few systems it is PC Settings)
3. Click on Update & security
4. In the left side bar click on Recovery
5. Find the entry Go back to Windows x (x is 7 or 8 depending on what your previous system was) and click on it

Depending on the speed of your computer it will work for anything between 30 and 90 minutes. After you have reverted to your previous version of Windows Microsoft will again begin to permanently nag you to upgrade to Win 10. This nagging can be reliably turned off!

Microsoft has since about November 2015 been busy to put some of the telemetry of Windows 10 into Windows 7 and Windows 8 systems; this happens in addition to forcing upgrades to Windows 10. That means that Win 7 and 8 systems now contain some of what I call Windows 10 spying on me/us and IMHO that should to be turned off!!

My recommendation is to turn all this junk off and luckily since about February 2016 I know of a dependable piece of free software that allows everybody to do just that on their systems whether it is a Windows 7, 8 or 10 computer!. See this article for more details.


If after the upgrade any icons or programs are missing or if you rather have me install SD Anti Beacon I can do all that via remote support. For remote support please call one of the coming Monday through Thursday evenings between 6PM and 8PM. If I am already at home I want to connect remotely to your computer. If I can not answer on your first attempt please assume that I am already helping somebody else and keep trying every 10 or 15 minutes.

If I have set up or worked on your computer during the last three years you should be set for remote support; if you have an icon labeled either "Teamviewer ..."  or "EJH Remote Support" then all is prepared. If you do not find either of these icons please call anyway, I can walk you on the phone thru the steps to get the remote support program going. Alternatively you can prepare for remote support as described here.

Please have your computer up and running; if your computer is a notebook (or laptop) computer then please have the power supply connected and plugged into a working power outlet.

Stay safe!

Wrong, Every Step She Took Wrong

Original text of email I got from a long ago customer:

Recently our Microsoft Essentials "little house"  has been erratic in its stability.  We have done full scans and quick scans with it staying green for a short period of time changing to orange and then eventually to red.

I googled this question and received an answer that Microsoft is not updating this since last year - so the definitions are not really up to date.  Is this true?
It was suggested that I get AVG Anti Virus which is Free.  I did do this and it  appears to be doing the job with the green circles, etc. 

On that same page there is a area where I can check to "fix performance".  It is a PC Analyzer - After doing this, the report was: many errors in various areas and they said it could be fixed for fee/one time and/or I could get a program for 1 year.  I would not need one for one year but I would like take advantage of the free analyzing of this performance.  Do you think I should do this and is AVG a good solution if indeed Microsoft has stopped updating?

... [I] realize we will have to update to windows 10 when they force us to do so.  If we do not do this will they charge us?

 And here is the original text of my reply, please judge for yourself:

Thanks for asking. If you remember I do not express myself politically correct so please brace yourself for some rough truths:

• The "little house" you refer to represents Microsoft Security Essentials which was your anti virus program until you installed AVG.
• ANY anomaly with your anti virus should have rang a LOUD alarm bell.
• If it has not updated since last year your computer potentially was not protected against common viruses.
• AVG is a program that I urge my customers to stay away from!
• It installs really crappy programs, that is how AVG (the company) makes money nowadays.
• PC Analyzer IMHO is known malware.
• I bet you that almost ALL the errors that you get shown are false messages meant to scare you into installing even more useless programs.
• Keep going with these silly suggestions and soon your computer will likely not be usable any longer.
• No, DO NOT take "advantage" of the "free" solution that you mention, it will make it only worse.

I believe I still could fix the situation and hopefully repair your computer. I guarantee that the free solution will not work to your satisfaction. 

The question about "they" ( I assume you mean Microsoft?) charging you only Microsoft can answer and they, MS, has been asked the same thing thousands of times; so far MS has only replied with marketing blah-blah; we just do not know. My personal suspicion is yes, no later than January 2020 when in MS's view Windows 7 comes to the end of it's supported lifetime.

In case my replies offended you I apologize, that was and is not my intention at all.

For my readers here: No further comment from my side; please come to your own conclusion and PLEASE, don't make similar or the same mistakes.

Stay safe.
 

Is Microsoft Pushing Windows 10?

Let me, at least by name, introduce Susan Bradley to you. The lady is a very experienced and knowledgeable system administrator in the world of Microsoft networks and she is a Microsoft MVP. She is very active on widely read internet forums and generally well respected.

Ms. Bradley started a petition on Change.org asking Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella to reconsider the Windows 10 policy of forcing updates of the Windows operating system on user's machines.

Today Ms. Bradley posted  an update to her petition that you can find here.

I have little doubt that Microsoft could and will attempt something like that. I would consider this to be an intrusion into my personal and private sphere.
MS seems to think they own my computer! Have they gone nuts?

It is time that we begin to talk publicly about alternatives to MS Windows!

And before you ask, yes, there are alternatives. I do not want to discuss these here because this blog is named "Computer Trouble..." and that means trouble with MS Windows computers and I will keep it that way.

Why Not Windows 10?

I have been asked one too many times why I oppose Windows 10. Here is some more fodder for thought.

Besides all eventual arguments for or against technical merit here are only three facts that everybody can check out in Microsoft's Terms of Use for Windows 10. Every single install of Windows 10 must agree to Microsoft's Terms And Conditions for use of Windows 10. This is (supposedly) a 12,000 word document. Everybody I know, me included, just clicks on Agree - and Microsoft knows that.


We usually allow Windows 10 to install with Express Settings (the default that most people choose!); in the Terms of Use we can find that we agree among others goodies to:

1. Windows 10 is logging all keystrokes
    
2. Windows 10 is always listening to the microphone
    
3. Microsoft will turn over all your data and info about you to authorities

Re. point #1: 

Programs that log our keystrokes on the functional level of the operating system (or even below that) have always been called Key Loggers and always have by all security systems been flagged as viruses and removed.

Just think of every keystroke being logged and stored at MS (Microsoft); what about your username(s) and password(s)? What about account details like credit card or bank or investment account numbers?

Re. point #2:

Many desktop computers and virtually all laptop computers have a microphone. Windows 10 will record and store on MS's servers every spoken word that reaches the microphone while the computer is running. Big Brother is always listening!

Windows 10 will (at least try to) make an automatic backup copy of every file you create on your computer and store that copy on MS's servers. What about confidentiality requirements? No lawyer, doctor, real estate agent, CPA or PI can ever use Windows 10; actually everybody who by law is required to respect and guarantee any degree of confidentiality should never use Windows 10. 

Re. point #3:

That sounds kind of "normal" and okay - on the surface at least.

BUT: MS does not say that they require a court order or warrant for that.
Any "authority" can request and will receive all your files and all information about you that MS has gathered.

With no court order at all!

Then there is yet another side to the whole thing that, for me at least, is even more scary; although I have to warn you, it will take 30 minutes away from your busy day to listen to this "video" - which actually is a recorded audio interview.

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.

Is Microsoft Really As Dumb As They Act?

I can't believe it!

I am doing my Set-Up job for a customer on a Windows 8.1 computer.My very first thing after getting it to work in desktop mode always is Windows Update until the system is fully up to date; then comes everything else.

Well, maybe if an anti virus or security system is installed I will remove that before I do the bulk of updating; many of these systems make a basic computer run clearly slower.

Above mentioned system was brand new and it had been bought from the Microsoft Store as a so called "Signature system", that is guaranteed free of any gunk, trial or other potentially unwanted software.

This was the very first startup of the Windows 8.1 system and I expected GWX not to be present. GWX is Microsoft's trickery software to coax unsuspecting individuals into "reserving" and/or outright downloadung the free upgrade to Windows 10.

When I started Windows Update for the first time it showed 122 important and 6 or 7 optional updates. I checked that there was nothing called anything like "Upgrade to Windows 10" or similar; there was nothing of that kind. I told the system to install the updates.

Imagine my shock when as the very next thing Windows Update showed me exactly this window:

WHAT it screamed inside me; I did not ask for Windows 10! I immediately stopped the download and resolved to talk it over with the customer.

So I called, explained the situation and asked if she would be okay with Windows 10 if I would include for free all the steps to make it respect privacy that I have described in previous articles. The lady was okay with that so I told Windows 8.1 to install the updates - and it showed again above depicted window.

To my greatest surprise Windows 8.1 did all the 8.1 updates, always showing above progress window but actually never downloading or installing the Windows 10 upgrade.

PHEW! 

My very personal conclusion to this story? Some people at Microsoft are either overworked, totally stressed out, simply not at all caring about quality and quality control or they are outright idots. 

Or any combination thereof, you choose.

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 isn't working any longer, sorry.

Lenovo? NEVER AGAIN!

For years I have recommended not to buy Dell computers because way back when Dell had been caught with dishonest business practices. After years of staunch resistance I have relented for reasons of price/performance. Recently I had to recommend some Dell laptops from the Microsoft Store.

Well, something nasty has happened - again.

I stumbled over an article detailing the most recent failures by Lenovo. Bummer!

Their laptops for quite some time had been on the forefront of machines I recommended.

No more recommending Lenovo computers, at least for the foreseeable future.

Will these companies never learn that they will get caught, hopefully always?

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

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

NO to Windows 10

Please click this link if you are looking for general information on Windows 10.


My verdict on Windows 10:   

Do not install Windows 10.

If the word privacy and the concept of privacy mean anything to you then you should stay away form the biggest data slurp this world has ever seen. That IMHO is what Windows 10 is going to be.

Here is an example of what others think about Windows 10; this a literal quote from a reply to an article about Windows 10 privacy settings (bolding added by me):

Microsoft has built into Windows 10, the most comprehensive personal surveillance system ever built into an OS. . .
I cannot, for the life of me, envision any reputable business or government entity running this illegal and unconstitutional monstrosity - and still claim that they are able to protect client/citizen's privacy. Doctor's, lawyers, banks or anyplace where client/patient privacy is important should probably avoid Windows Malware 10 at all cost.

And as far as technical "improvements" are concerned here is a snippet from one of the support forums I follow. A user of this forum put it very nicely and IMHO he nailed it precisely:

Personally, I haven't seen a compelling reason to upgrade to Windows 10. ... I haven't found a good reason to upgrade from Windows 8.1...

PRO: Start Menu.
CON: I already have Classic Shell, which is more like the Start Menu to which I am accustomed, and much more configurable.

PRO: Edge Browser.
CON: I'd rather use Firefox.

PRO: Cortana.
CON: This is a security risk just waiting to happen; that being said, this may be a pro... Then again, maybe not. I'm on the fence...

PRO: Multiple Desktops.
CON: Already available to XP and above from Microsoft Sysinternals Desktops 2.0.

PRO: Windowed Universal (Metro/Windows Store) Apps.
CON: I haven't found any Universal Apps that are any better than the desktop programs I already have installed.

PRO: Comes with Solitaire:
CON: You can get solitaire in Windows 8.1 also, from the Windows Store.

PRO: New Mail and Calendar Apps.
CON: Not even as capable as Microsoft's Windows Live Mail 2012 with Microsoft Accounts, and relatively useless with some other accounts. Where are my local folders? Why is the Spam from the junk folder archived forever, it's Spam!?!

PRO: New Photos App.
CON: Better photo editors are out there.

PRO: DirectX 12.
CON: I can't think of a con to this one, except I don't really play games on this computer. That's what consoles are for. (And I don't really care about the XBox App...)

PRO: Unified Settings.
CON: Thanks for moving around the Control Panel again...

PRO: New Task Switcher.
CON: Alt-Tab

PRO: Schedule Restarts.
CON: Forced Windows Updates. Because Microsoft never fudges updates...

PRO: Hello.
CON: Like I have an infrared 3D camera...

etc.

So far for the quote. I had a similar compilation in an earlier article; in case you are interested it is here.

As I said above, my verdict is clear; if you have a well working Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 system there is no compelling technical reason to upgrade to Windows 10; you only would give up what vestiges of privacy there are left in the brave new world of Windows 10 home computing.

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

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.
    

Windows 10 - Better Instructions to Make it "SAFE"

After writing the previous long, long article about how to make Windows 10 running without the glaring privacy issues I discovered on a forum a link to a MUCH better organized article with visual examples for everything from installation to changing the relevant settings.

You find it here: https://fix10.isleaked.com/

I thank the author(s) of this web page; GREAT work!


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

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.
   

Windows 10 Settings - What I Recommend

Please click this link if you are looking for general information on Windows 10.

If you absolutely do not mind to be followed by "Big Brother" then please do not read the remainder of this article, you are excused and may leave.

By now I have decided to recommend to my customers NOT to upgrade to Windows 10. There are way too many IMHO serious privacy issues that go along with a so called Microsoft account.

In the following I will give some tips on how to remedy at least some or much of that messy situation. For every instance of something I deem in need of correcting or changing I will preface the paragraph with "Gripe:".

Because virtually all of my customers work on the desktop and use a mouse and a keyboard all the following step by step instructions are for desktop mode only.

Immediately after upgrading to Windows 10 your computer will work quite differently than it did before the upgrade.


Gripe:
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!

If you want to change your inadvertently created Microsoft Account back into a normal, local account then:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click Settings
4. Click  ====================to be finished 

Gripe:
Synchronizing personal settings between various computers could under certain circumstances be a convenience. But some of us don’t want the same settings on all of our various Win10 computers. Just imagine using Win10 on your “old” keyboard/mouse computer and on a tablet; ARGGHH!

Plus: My settings are my personal preference and are none of Microsoft's business! Obviously I am way too old for that brave new world where everything is made public! If you are like me here is how to turn synching off:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click Settings
4. Click Accounts
5. Click Sync your settings 
6. Turn OFF Sync settings to disable synchronizing

  
Gripe:
Microsoft Edge, the new web browser, will be the default for all things Internet. You should set that back to Firefox following these steps:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click Default Programs
4. Click on "Set your default programs"
5. You should see a list of installed programs
6. Find and highlight the entry for Firefox
7. Click on  "Set this program as default" (my cursor points to it)
8. Click OK to close the window

 

Gripe:
System Protection is the Win10 name for the feature that creates Restore Points. This is turned off after the upgrade on many systems! It is by no means a good backup system but still better than nothing. Here is how to turn it on again:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click System
4. In the left sidebar click System protection
5. Highlight your system disk C:
6. Click Configure (see screen shot)

 

     7. Click on "Turn on system protection" (see screen shot below)
     8. Click OK and OK to close all windows

Gripe:
 Especially important to users of laptops computers are Wi-Fi-credentials

A new Win10 feature — WiFi Sense (online FAQ) — has generated more than its share of controversy. Just read what well renowned security researcher Brian Krebs has has to say about it in a recent column.

Simply said WiFi Sense allows all your Facebook friends, Outlook and Skype contacts to automatically sign in to your WiFi router when they are in range; likewise you can use their WiFi network as soon as you are in range of their router. In short, it “blabs” access to your WiFi network to numbers of people who you might not know well enough. And that feature is turned ON by default! Here is how to turn it off:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click Settings
4. Click Network & Internet
5. Click Wi-Fi.
6. Scroll past your wireless networks and click Manage Wi-Fi settings. 
7. Turn off  Connect to suggested open hotspots and
8. Turn off Connect to networks shared by my contacts.

Gripe: 
Simply said, I hate Cortana, the so-called “digital assistant” in Win10.
 
My wife and my best friend may know a lot about me that you don't know and likely even don't want to know. The NSA, Apple and now Microsoft want to know more about every Apple or Win10 user then we want to know about ourselves.

The End User License Agreement (EULA) for Win10 clearly states that Cortana has the ability to collect and use various types of personal information, including your location, calendar data, and programs (called "apps") you use. Cortana collects information about your choice of music, alarm settings, what you view and purchase online, your Bing search history, your use of other Microsoft services, and can even use the camera and microphone of the computer. In short, it is ALWAYS listens when the computer is on. Remember, practically all laptop computers have a microphone and a camera.

This sort of always on data collection worries me deeply; 1984 anyone?

Here is a decent PC World article explaining how to disable Cortana. And don't forget additionally and separately to disable Cortana in the new Edge browser, even if you don't use it!

Remember, Big Brother is always listening, always watching.


Gripe:
Since Microsoft announced that the upgrade to Windows 10 will be free, I have been waiting for the catch. And, surprise, it's very first installment comes with the ubiquitous game of Solitaire.This popular app is included with the new OS, but it includes advertising. To remove the ads, you have to pay a monthly subscription, as reported in a Business Insider story.

Currently I do not know of a hack to get around this.

Just do not go into the trap of recurring payments. There are many free alternatives on the internet. 




Gripe:
Along with forced updates, Win10 also includes — again, on by default — the option to share patches with other computers on your local network or the Internet; this is called peer-to-peer updating. You might want to disable update sharing.

There are serious concerns that attackers might find a way to inject malicious code into the process; many internet connections are metered and with the almost 3GB download size of Win10 you can easily run over your limit and that costs dearly.
 You want to disable peer-to-peer updating obtain patches only directly from Microsoft? Here is how:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click Settings
4. Click Update & Security
5. Click windows Update (it is no longer in the Control Panel!)
6. Select Advanced Options
7. Click Choose how updates are delivered
8.  Turn Update Sharing OFF

So much for today. This article is meant to be continued as more details become 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.
 
 

Bye bye Viruses, Hello Carelessness

It's almost like in the Everly Brothers song "Bye Bye Love" from 1957. They sang

Bye bye happiness, hello loneliness...

I am enticed to, no, don't be afraid, not sing but say

Bye bye viruses, hello carelessness...

In August 2014 I wrote in this blog the 2014 Update On Malicious Programs. Everything in this article is still valid today – which in the fast changing world of computers is astonishing all by itself. Self replicating viruses that "find and infect" our computers by their own accord have gone almost extinct.

What has massively changed though are the tricks and methods used by miscreants to foist their malicious junk software on our computers. It is so bad that I feel compelled to say

Do NOT click on any link in any email,
do NOT open any email attachment
and NEVER click in any advertisement.

Does that sound extreme to you? Good, because it is extreme. We are in an extreme situation and it's getting worse so extreme measures seem appropriate.

In the meantime you have learned to immediately delete emails with an unfamiliar sender address. But what about the email from that buddy of yours who always sends all the jokes? My advice is to IGNORE it! Just hit the Delete button. If that email really was from him and if he were a nice guy he would have told you in the email why and what he sends there. If he does not have the decency to do that you better err on the side of caution and delete that email; you may “miss” a joke but what is that compared to $100 or $200 cost for a good clean-up job?

Another way how modern malware (called PuPs) is distributed are dirty tricks pulled on us when we apply required updates. Even big, well known companies participate in these schemes; names that come to mind as examples are Oracle, Norton, McAfee and Adobe. Some visual examples are here.

And don't get me going on advertisements. Listen up:

If you see advertisements on your computer screen then you computer most likely already is compromised. Get it cleaned up!

And then the sneaky methods that well known download web sites like Download.com, Cnet.com and other use. You want to download that nice free little program and what they give you is a specially crafted downloader program that in turn is supposed to download the program you actually want. But what you get are one or several PuPs and then the program you really wanted.

The only method to help here is to watch for the tricks, traps and deceptions. 

In July 2013 I published my 10 Commandments Of Safe Computing. To heed the first of these has become more important than ever before; it reads:

Thou shalt read and think(!) before you click.

Be vigilant, pay attention to details and always remember: If it sounds too good to be true it usually is not true; especially in this day and age on the Internet.

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

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Nasty Surprise - Thanks Micro$oft!

To hell with Micro$oft, we are getting royally “scr***d” over. “We” here being every home user with Windows 8! We have to decide if we want to stay on version 8.0 or upgrade to 8.1 and then to 8.1 Update.

Watch the capital U in Windows 8.1 Update, it is a major distinction, sort of like of but not quit like a service pack. What is Micro$oft thinking - if somebody is thinking there at all?

There is no big harm in staying with Windows 8.0, Micro$oft is going to supply at least two more years of updates. But after these two years? Not a word ... yet.

Totally out of the blue Micro$oft has decided that Windows 8 users need Windows 8.1 and on top of that 8.1 Update if we want to receive future updates. No warning, no information that gives us time to prepare, nothing. You can read the truly puzzling, no almost confusing details here.

Remember, these Updates are mandatory for the average non-geek home computer user.

Micro$oft defenders put it like this: “If you want security patch C, you need to have installed security patch B first. In this case, security patch B just happens to be the 8.1 Update.” What a joke, what an arbitrary and confusing labeling system!

While there is some merit in above point of view, it overlooks three important facts:

1. Many people are having problems installing Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Update — and Micro$oft hasn’t fixed the problems.
   
   Not the least problem being the huge size of 8.1 (ca. 8.2GB!) and of 8.1 Update (ca. 890MB); it is a pain to download that on “slow”, in our area regular DSL connections.
   
   
2. Windows 8.1 Update is a lot more than a security patch. It includes some significant changes to the Windows User Interface.n The latter luckily is no problem for my customers because of the way I set up Windows 8 computers.
   
   
3. Micro$oft is going to continue making patches for Windows 8.1. It just won’t give these updates to the average Windows user. That hurts.

And as if to add insult to injury Micro$oft puts a deadline of May 13^th on having Windows 8.1 Update installed!

It all boils down to trust, trust that Micro$oft is recklessly playing with.

And here is an important side note: The whole process takes a lot of time. Basic DSL connections and slower computers will be greatly affected. Brace yourself and prepare for many hours of work. Thank you Micro$oft!

For anybody with original Windows 8 and wanting to update to 8.1 I hope to be able to amend this article with instructions on how to get from Windows 8 to 8.1 and then to 8.1 Update. Hopefully I can do this on the upcoming weekend. Please stay tuned and check back if you are interested.

Update 4/25/2014:

For users with Windows 8:

• If you want to avoid the pain of updating to 8.1 you can stay on Windows 8.
   
• If you want the newest and greatest then you should update to 8.1 and then to 8.1 Update. Please consider the implications, especially the extreme time it takes to download over 9GB of updates on average Internet connections!
   
•  On slower computers the installations can easily take two to four hours!

For users with Windows 8.1:

• Micro$oft has made that decision for you: You have to download and install 8.1 Upate if you want to receive future security updates via Windows Update. 

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

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Driver's License for Computers?

If you drive down the highway, you’re at risk of getting in a car wreck.

If you log onto the Internet, you’re at risk of identity theft, viruses and malware — no matter who you are or where you’re coming from.
 
Like safe driving, maintaining a secure computer is all about being attentive, defensive, proactive and educated. 
This is why drivers of cars need to be trained and licensed to drive.

This is why many computer professionals think computer users should be educated and licensed to browse the Internet and handle email.

What about your "Internet License"?

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

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Microsoft Accounts and Windows 8 – A Rant

In a nutshell, any email address can become a Microsoft account just by “registering” it with Microsoft (MS). Almost any live, usable email address is acceptable. But since we talk about MS it actually is not quite that simple; there are, for lack of a better word, implications.

Any email address with or issued by any MS service is a Microsoft account. Some of these services are Hotmail, Microsoft Passport, Microsoft Live, MSN, Outlook email service, .NET Passport, Member Services Passport, Messenger ID, Windows Live ID, Xbox Live ID, Zune/Zune Pass ID, Windows Phone and SkyDrive ID. To name only the most well known ones.

I documented my opinion about MS accounts already in October 2012 in my blog post “What does Microsoft want to do with Windows 8?”.

Have you ever set up a new Windows 8 computer? Or, even worse, updated from Windows 8 to 8.1? MS goes through quite some trouble and IMHO actually tries hard to literally trick you into setting up Win8 with a MS account. I wrote here in some detail about the tricks MS uses.

I smell a rat and my opinion voiced in “What does Microsoft want to do with Windows 8?” has only been confirmed by MS' shenanigans and seemingly desperate attempts to make us use a MS account.

With establishing a MS account you get automatically some GB of “free storage space” on SkyDrive, MS' cloud storage service. Again, that sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Like in “free is always good”. For the home user “cloud storage” is nothing but a glorifying name for a File Hosting service.

It may only be me but I am troubled by getting sucked into using SkyDrive. In May 2013 I documented my personal take on cloud storage; IMHO much more revealing is what the rest of the world thinks about this.

Disclaimer: Yes, I know that there are advantages to cloud storage and I use it to some extent.

The brighter side is that it is fairly easy to avoid all the implications of MS accounts and cloud storage, even when using Windows 8. Win8 can be set up to work nicely with a conventional local computer account without any direct connection to MS. And it works very nicely in desktop mode, just like we have gotten familiar with during the last 20 years. 

The main reason that MS gives for all this is that you can log into your MS account from many different computers or tablets or smart phones and you will have everywhere “your” desktop, the sane apps and programs, your individual settings and even via SkyDrive the same data files. Sounds almost too good to be true, right?

Smart phones are telephones with lots of added computer like capabilities and very small touch enabled screens.

Tablets are easily portable media consumption devices with added computer like capabilities and relatively small touch enabled screens.

Computers can be more or less of all of the above plus I can get work done on them. I can not write this blog on either a smart phone or a tablet! So far at least computers usually do not have touch enabled monitors (screens).

And frankly, do you know how heavy your hand gets when you stretch your arm forward only for two minutes? Thank you Microsoft, but I DO NOT WANT to be forced to stretch my arm and work with my fingers on a computer monitor; and so do literally all of my customers.

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

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Windows 8: What the Rest of the World Thinks

Recently on a Microsoft run web site and Windows 8 blog I ran across a reply to an article written by a Dutch IT consultant.

It summarizes what I have glanced from many, many similar comments I have read. I have modified some language and grammar quirks and fixed some misspelled words to convey the meaning correctly and in correct English.

Yes  it's true; Microsoft wants us to massively migrate to Microsoft based cloud based services. But in my country that will not happen as Microsoft wants it, especially   because these "virtual cloud services" are to 85% physically located within the USA.  

That is for most foreign people simply unacceptable. It's not only for reasons like privacy, piracy, taxes, company secrets - there is also a difference in mind-sets.

What if our sensitive data sits there in a physical data center somewhere in the US of A, and 'shit' really starts happening, like for instance war, wide spread diseases, natural disaster, terrorism attack, you name it -  anything could happen anywhere.

Foreigners don't trust CIA/FBI/NSA that much, we learned from the past months.

My customers are saying..., even refusing, to migrate their financial and sensitive business data to somewhere in the 'Microsoft' or even  the 'Amazon cloud'; abroad, unknown where it really is, in a far away foreign country, and nobody knows, or even checks what is happening to their data. It may be leaked to the NSA, via a built-in back door when Micro$oft sold this opportunity to the NSA/US-Government.

 No, sorry, not with us!  We aren't like that!

We even don't come close to this kind of behavior.

Yes, people in other countries don't trust their sensitive data into American hands; they approach privacy questions with a totally different mind set.

Maybe Microsoft's management better begin to acknowledge that not everybody will follow to where they, Microsoft and others, want to lead us?

What may be good for Microsoft may not be that good for the other 310+ million Americans. And what may be "good for Microsoft's America" may not be that good for the other 95% of the world population. 

In my opinion this is NOT a technical problem, it is an ethical problem. There are just too many of us who check their ethics and morals at the entrance of the office building before they begin their daily jobs.

No, it's not government agencies or organizations or companies that "do the wrong thing"; all these entities are run by people that collectively make questionable decisions.

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

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Is Government Data Collection Bad? (PRISM)

Just yesterday a customer asked me verbatim what I think "about all the fuss about the NSA having all our phone records".

I said that my personal opinion might be irrelevant because of my status in the country. And today I find this 10 minute video.

Be warned though: The speaker is a German stutterer with a strong accent. But what he says and visualizes made me shudder.

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

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10 Commandments Of Safe Computing

1. Thou shalt read and think(!) before you click. 
2. Thou shalt check for updates every week but ONLY on Windows 7/8!
   
3. Thou shalt check Security Essentials (Win 7) or Defender (Win 8 & 10) every week.  
4. Thou shalt ask if thou knowest not.  
5. Thou shalt use only safe passwords.
6. Thou shalt use common sense.
7. Thou shalt not use Internet Explorer or MS Edge.
8. Thou shalt not use any Microsoft email program/service.  
9. Thou shalt not use Bing for the bling.
10. Thou shalt not visit pornographic websites.

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

Beware of Micro$oft's newest Daylight Robbery - UPDATE

All my customers and everybody else who ever talked with me about computers is pretty much aware that I have quite a few misgivings about Micro$oft. Their newest "pony trick" is in my opinion not only price gouging but outright daylight robbery.

The background: So far you could buy a so called "Home and Student" license for Micro$oft's MS-Office suite. With this license you did not get MS Outlook, their big email program that medium and lager companies might use. For the average home user that was rather a positive thing; you can read more details about the background for this statement here.

Above mentioned Home & Student license mostly came with DVD's containing the software. Additionally it came in two flavors, one where the license was valid for only one computer and another version of the license that allowed you to install MS-Office Home & Student on up to three computers in a household. The price difference mostly was a mere $10! And to top it off, if a computer had to be replaced you could install it on a new computer.

In comes MS-Office 2013, the newest incarnation. And guess what:

Micro$oft has changed the terms of the license drastically! 

You can install every license on one computer only, the license is tied to this computer and not transferable. That means if you get a new computer you have to buy the same license again! Original quote from the license agreement:

How can I use the software? We do not sell our software or your copy of it – we only license it. Under our license we grant you the right to install and run that one copy on one computer (the licensed computer) for use by one person at a time, but only if you comply with all the terms of this agreement. Our software license is permanently assigned to the licensed computer.

I really don't know whether Micro$oft has simply gone nuts or whether they really believe they can take the world's public for a fool!

There are alternatives to MS-Office available, two out of three even FREE!

1. Softmaker Office ($100 with support!)
2. Kingsoft Office Free ($0.00 as the name says and much like MS-Office 2003)
3. Libre Office (free, lively development, needs know-how for set-up, available here)

Please warn everybody who might be interested of Micro$oft's newest money trap!

UPDATE March 8, 2013:  User outcry was heard!

Effective immediately Micro$oft has reneged and changed their terms for the license. Here is the relevant part of the modified license agreement:

You may transfer the software to another computer that belongs to you, but not more than one time every 90 days (except due to hardware failure, in which case you may transfer sooner). If you transfer the software to another computer, that other computer becomes the “licensed computer.” You may also transfer the software (together with the license) to a computer owned by someone else if a) you are the first licensed user of the software and b) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement before the transfer.

Not what it was for Office 2007 and 2010 but better than before.

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

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