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One answer: Turn off auto updates. You probably don't need them if you have good virus protection that does NOT come from MSFT (e.g., Avira or Avast.) I haven't run auto updates in over 15 years, and have had only 1 virus problem (and I didn't lose anything but a few hours time.)
The other option is using Linux instead of Windows, which does involve learning a slightly different interface, and giving up some of your favorite programs (although they can still be run in a virtual machine with Win7 and VirtualBox software if you really need them.)
Is your privacy important, or not?
Microsoft has made many wrong decisions recently, including crippling their programs eg (the 'ribbon' bars do not give access to the tools I had before), mistaking work computers for youtube/Facebook access units, and now trying to force the use of an OS that, rumor says, may be subscription and cloud based.
Even to use Win7, I have steadily had to uninstall recent versions of, for example, Word, and replace them with the older versions that actually had the abilities I needed. Everything on recent MS OS seems to be made into a toy.
We run our medical software on MS OS so it is important to me that this software continue to be prevalent and useful. It would be nice if Microsoft were of similar opinion.
Jan, tool user
Jan
Have not reached it yet: still hoping that MS wakes up to the fact that business needs a steadfast produce that is not swayed by the latest trend.
Jan
Sometimes now when I get these calls from the "Windows Technician" that tells me my computer is sending out errors, I just play along with them until they actually want to get into my computer or ask for some personal information. A few have gone over an hour (It's great to have free time to harass someone else once in a while). It really ticks them off when I tell them "I'm just f___ing with you. I'm just trying to waste as much of your time as I can to prevent you from ripping off some poor elderly person that doesn't understand your scheme." Recently they've actually stopped calling me.
I just might update to Windows 10 on one of my systems, I've heard some good things about it and I've really got little to hide. If only they had finalized a version of XP, the one running my CNC machine has been working perfectly for years, ever since I took it off line.
could do just what you suggest. . I would rather have it
look up diesel engines or glockenspiels instead, though,
to prevent the intrusion of viruses and stuff which tends
to accompany porn. -- j
.
which my brother-in-law could remember ... shut down the machine
until he could remedy the situation. . I learned the lesson heartily. -- j
Whatever happened to MYOB?
My time has finally come. I don't think I'm going to like the brave new world. I'm tempted to pull an Edward G. Robinson as in "Soylent Green." If you think you'll be able to circumvent the nosiness, none-of-your-goddam-business, you are mistaken. Microsoft and others are not about to give up on their intrusion on your personal business. Sooner or later, they getcha with a gotcha.
I spent too many years in the bowels of the intelligence agencies to advise people to go along with this nagging for personal information that incessantly bombards us. Ironically, I can see a day coming when some government agency will consider a sparsely populated online profile an indication for suspicion, placing such individuals on a watch list for domestic terrorism.
.
Your link is helpful, but from 2010 and XP in nature. Here is a link to some more info on ridding yourself of Win10
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...
MrGolem says:
Here is the answer Microsoft does NOT want you to know about. I posted a question and answered my own post with a solution. In the time that has past, I had time to confirm it works.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...
My own second reply offers the cleanup solution to remove what I called a Virus. In the way this upgrade offer was forced on our systems and how much work is needed to remove it, I can find no other word than VIRUS to describe it. Judge by yourselves.
Removing KB3035583 will remove the Icon in the taskbar but Windows will still try to infect your system.
You need to remove KB2952664 (Win7) or KB2976978 (Win8 and 8.1) using the solution in the other link.
Keep in mind, the Icon can be uninstalled from the Control Panel - Programs and Features - View Installed updates and searching for KB3035583 and accept the reboot.
When you come back, then, from DOS (Command line and described in my other post) remove the Updater for your appropriate Windows Version.
Do not despair. On a friend's system I had to run the uninstall command 18 times in a row before I removed ALL the VIRUS files. Once you run the DOS Command and remove 1 instance of the offending file, use the UP ARROW to REPEAT the last command making sure NOT TO REBOOT until ALL the copies are removed. At a certain point you will get a message that the KB is NOT installed, then do the reboot.
Do not forget to Check for Updates again when you have finished and ask to HIDE THESE UPDATES (right-click, Hide), (in Win 8.x do not use the Update App but instead search and use the OLD Windows Update that let's you pick and choose), there also, choose to HIDE the KBs.
Hope this helps.
Jan
I will copy this to a file which I will show to him.
this whole subject scares me. -- j
.
Jan
on freedom, life and property -- it's sad that we have dipped
to that point with this nation. . this forum is about the only place
where I feel healthy ... and it's being monitored by the NSA
in my firm opinion. . gee whiz. -- j
.
Jan
we also got a copy of San Andreas ... both of which we have yet to view!
seen any good ones lately? -- j
.
Looking forward to some of the upcoming Star Wars in December.
Jan, total SF geek
(let me know if San Andreas is good - that one caught my eye in the trailers)
with you -- all "they" have is sunlight!!! -- j
.
Jan
below my home, when I have no drill rig.
water can be separated into its parts, but making potable
water on mars....... might be a tough process. -- j
.
Now I've just recently added a Mac and am learning that as I post. Not running MS on this one. Already seems to be easier to do stuff.
Easy is good in my world of computing. I don't have the mind for the code or something. That would be my son who is gifted that way.
Thanks to all on Galts Gulch for the education re: 'peters.
have an Internet computer at home. I use the ones
at the library. From what somebody in these com-
ments said, I understand that you can circument
Microsoft by using Google, which is what I us-
ally use. But I have long held the opinion that
if you don't want the whole world (or at least ev-
erybody in the United States) to see something,
don't put it on the computer.
and it's been long enough for the capacitors to discharge!!! -- j
.
I understand that if you shut off windows updates, you'd be safe... which I did a long time ago because of all the problems the updates caused.
A lot of programs are Microsoft only sadly. I would love to use just my Apple devices but currently that isn't the case. Therefore I still use Windows 7.
B-T-W if you're masochistic enough, you can run MS Windows software on your Apple hardware. If I ever feel nostalgic enough to need to see the "blue screen of death" again maybe I'll give it try - NOT!
Neither MSFT or Apple are perfect vendors with perfect systems. Both have bugs (or features if you are in software sales;^).
Govenment and Apple feel I can't be trusted to manage my own affairs.
I don't consent to either.
If Apple meets your needs, more power to you. Your needs are different from my needs.
I download ALL installable files to THAT drive into subdirectories labeled for the particular apps. Newer releases go where their older siblings went before and I run them from there and let the installs go wherever they want on the C:\ drive.
Sort of makes for a backup drive for installables that might not be visible to worms, viruses, etc.
It's worked well for years, and a DVD backup of That Drive becomes a living treasure.
I decided to bite the bullet and go to MS10 after seeing the user-hostile interface of 8 and 8.1.
It wasn't all that bad. Fairly robust and recovers from some of the stupid error situations that forced user gymnastics to recover from with older versions.
But imnsho, virtually ALL of the MS APPS have flaws in them that used to be nice features in earlier generations.
I was/am-still unable to figure out how to graph spreadsheet data in Excel... it was SO simple and easy many rev's ago. Such 'progress.'
The IE replacement lost many of the nice features of IE 7 or 8 or so. Favorites are barely manageable, right-click to open a link on a new tab and the link opens but isn't displayed until you select it! Such a benefit/improvement? Beats me...
And, for counter-counterpoint, when I got my last Android OS update on my Samsung, it conveniently 'forgot' virtually all of my stock-symbols I had tracked and weather locations I'd keyed in. And took an hour or two to download and install before not saving or recovering any such settings. Rocket scientist programming?
So we switched to iPhones. Yep, many new user interface metaphors to learn, but SO Intuitive, right? Bullshit.
One day I wanted to use the built-in calculator. But I wanted memory store and recall! Calculator had nothing visible to do that.
I tapped all the places I could but could find NO reference or explanation of how to get to those features... Until my 15-year-old grandson showed me the Solution.... Turn the phone sideways and in landscape mode, the calculator switches to just about all the functions I was looking for.
Now, I've been screwing around with computers since IBM-360/45 days in college around 1967, and I learned some of the DOS internals because I wanted to learn the why and how 'behind the curtain.'
But any and all of you have a LONG WAY to go if you think you can convince me that there is ANYTHING INTUITIVE about holding the phone sideways in order to get M and MC functions.
NOTHING intuitive about it. Never saw that before in any user interface, and sure as hell didn't see any clues, hints or directions on how to discover that 'feature.'
I still have MS on my desktop and probably won't toss the iPhone, but life isn't as ginger-peachy with Apple products as ... pardon the expression... Believers would have you think.
Happy 'computing,' all...
.
:)
.
High probability of pregnancy within a year or two... I've seen it happen! Good luck, no matter what technique(s) you choose. :)))))
for all of the above ... it is a fond memory, though!!! -- j
.
However, I stopped using Windows of any flavor back when they killed Windows XP. I now use Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. This is linux based software. It is awesome and it is free. However it is not for the faint of heart. If you are lacking in basic programming then you may struggle to keep it running smoothly as it is not meant for folks that rely on Microsoft just doing all of the hard work for them. But if you want to stretch yourself then give it a try. Many resources exist that can walk a person through any situation that may arise in its usage.
I have been able to turn them off for Windows 7. Don't know about 8 or 8.1.
But once you have Windows 10 there is no way to turn them off.
Also beware: when you get "updated" to Windows 8.1 or 10, they delete the free Solitaire and other games that came with your earlier version. They want to make you buy them all over again. But there is a workaround -- http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-bring-...
What you are saying is not correct. There are measures you can take that will stop auto updates. Read here for further information:
http://www.howtogeek.com/224471/how-t...
AS for solitaire, many aren't happy with this "pay to play" Microsoft is attempting to force on us. I say, forget microsoft, go play solitaire here. Its free, no ads, no fuss. just plain solitaire:
http://solitaireforfree.com/
I'm figuring out how to port my apps to Linux, then it'll be no more M$.
With news that Windows 10 is basically a comprehensive spyware suite written right into the fabric of the OS itself and which therefore cannot be removed, that's an absolute no-go and grounds for boycotting MS if not switching to something else altogether (Apple is run by a goose-stepping eco-fascist, so they won't get a dime from me. Maybe Linux?) I urge everybody here to make complaints to MS about this outrage and to encourage others to do the same. Perhaps more alarming than the spyware that is Windows 10 itself, is the mentality at MS that thinks personal privacy is obsolete and can be blithely violated - also the sheeplike acceptance of that gross violation by the millions who've clicked the "I Accept" block during their Windows 10 install. The time to draw a clear line on privacy is now. [On a tangential note, I think the advent of the digital age has made it necessary to enact some explicit and sweeping protections of privacy in the electronic age, codified in law - protections against governmental and private violations of privacy alike. I'm not a lawyer and therefore have no idea how much of this is feasible, but I'm thinking the penalties attached to violating people's privacy via electronic means (or any other for that matter,) should be among the the most harsh this side of those for murder convictions. This party has to be brought to a screeching halt and the mess cleaned up, like right now.]
Since MS is even pushing elements of Win10 at users of Windows 7 and 8, along with the normal practice of disabling multiple startup services it's now imperative to turn off Windows Updates from the outset of any drive-wipe and Win7/8 clean install.
The updates are supposedly there to fix security holes and functionality bugs, but since Microsoft has left us no choice but to sever ourselves from their updating service altogether, I'm doing a standard "Nuke it from orbit - it's the only way to be sure" workaround:
1. Leave nothing personal on your system. Save any and all documents, photos, videos, whatever, to external media, not your system's HD;
2. To ensure that any data leftover from surfing is eradicated - usernames and passwords used for log-ins that may still be lurking in your browser's auto-fill or whatever; form data, cookies, etc. - do a complete drive-wipe / OS clean install every month or so.
If there's nothing residing on your system that's of use to any hacker, my thinking is that surfing with a system whose updates aren't installed only exposes you to here-and-now threats. True, I suppose it's possible you could pick up malware that could load a keylogger that steals your passwords on the fly, as you input them - so maybe this strategy too is flawed. Obviously it's vital to do regular password resets for every place you frequent, but if someone's able to harvest them immediately, that won't help much. (If there are any IT techies here, feedback and advice on this strategy is welcomed.)
Other than instant malware exploits, if you're doing a monthly drive-wipe and saving everything externally I don't see how the bulk of the Windows updates are needed in any case. There's a variety of alternative 'Net browsers from which to choose (for the moment I'm using Epic Privacy Browser,) so the latest-lousiest IE is not needed either. There're those functional elements like "Net framework 4" and Direct X that are bundled within the Windows updates, but I'm thinking those can be located and downloaded independently.
If Microsoft does not reverse this outrageous intrusion, presumably at some point the OS versions prior to Windows 10 will no longer run newer software or internet programming. At that point I guess I just stop using the internet altogether - or maybe do the occasional necessary bit of shopping during lunch hour at work?
I'm also wondering why, a full two decades after the internet really took hold on a world wide basis, there are still only three different OS options available to computer users - Microsoft, Apple and Linux. There should be dozens upon dozens of them by now, particularly with the violations of rights Microsoft is shoving at us and the ethical problem with buying anything from the noxious Apple company. Maybe it's just the sheer complexity of the product, but why aren't there as many OS brands as there are athletic shoe brands, microbrew beer brands, fast food franchise brands, toothpaste brands, clothing brands, soft drink brands, etc. Instead there are: three. Why?
Some articles on the subject:
http://www.techworm.net/2014/10/micro...
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/co...
https://boingboing.net/2015/08/10/win...
http://bgr.com/2015/07/31/windows-10-...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/8/...
.
.
there are many people in here who are quite concerned
about this, and they may not be checking back on this post
from a month ago. . I'll do it for you, if you would like. . Thank You! -- john
.
thread will help to re-focus us on the problem. . Thanks! -- john
.
With backups and that means the second you don't want to lose anything no matter what you can always to a high level format and start over from scratch.Linus, Firefox etc. Open office all manner of choices.
The irksome part for me was with XP Couldn't run anything with it crying to call the office. Hard to do from the middle of the ocean. For that. When the mandatory monthlies did arrive it was a full day to get the machine working again. I left all kind of FU very much notes for MS to find. In the late eighties and nineties we told our customers never buy MS until it's at least three years old. It was on a big dot matrix fan fold banner on the wall right behind the cash register. When Vista came out I took one computer and dedicated to no net operation. No problems. The other one was a time waster so I let what happen happen and then went back to C Prompt deleting then began with Linux. I'm typing on a Win 7 the cure for Vista. IT has exactly the same flaws as it did when it first come out.Whatever they do it has nothing to do with customer service. My rate of infection is not at nil. I turned MS off and put in a reputable program. MS treated it as a virus. It was ...but a good one it smashed MS. etc etc etc
You can also uninstall "update" KB3035583 that arranges for the prompts: http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to...
Also turn off the automatic updates in W7 or W8.1 so you can select what "updates" to install when prompted that new "updates" are available. When one shows up as available that you don't want, tell the system to hide it so it no longer appears in the updates available notices.
These methods have been publicized for several months and they do not guarantee that usoft won't do something sneaky in the future.
Use a Mac or Linux, you will be much happier. Office 2016 was just released on the Mac ahead of the Windows version coming out a few months later, even Microsoft seems to be emphasizing the Mac. Parallels or VMWare Fusion allows you to run Windows apps acceptably when needed anyway.
However I'm slowly drifting into Linux and some other areas. and who ever you think I am when you read this? I'm not and I'm not there.
As much as these conversations have posted damn near everywhere people still think doing the off button turns the cel radio phones off.
Massive case of mamagumpitis. Yet a few years ago they screamed at the idea of implants. Now they pay to do the same job free of charge to yonder hermano mejor.
Pathetic.
Why Rico ...it's a conspiracy to defraud. Why; in bed with government. Seen any arrests or investigations? I thought not.
Back to cell radio phones I change tracphones fairly often and keep one number on with no minutes or service time. Two years now and it's still chugging mindlessly away. the next idea was to throw the phone turned off but not internally on a long haul truck All bought in the same store same time for cash. Who knows where they ended up. I did not use a code. lock.
Wrench in the monkey.....
I have opted to go with Linux based systems because the community oversight will slam shut attempts by private companies and governments to insert back doors and prying software. However, one still needs to maintain vigilance in any internet access because once it is off of your computer and on the net it is fair game.
I'll be glad when some enterprising young kid develops an open OS for cell phones that incorporates an encrypted mesh network that can handle BitCoin type transactions between individuals.
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