one would think
plugging the holes in that decade-old code... A decade to fix the initial problems? How long to fix Win10??
The Windows 7 hysteria machine has most definitely kicked into gear today, with Viking burials and scary statistics for the orphaned operating system. Business continuity outfit Databarracks sent a Windows 7 box out to water aboard a slightly shonky-looking (and on fire) Viking longboat, sending the OS to Valhalla, before …
If they have to give up support for Windows 7 then there's no hope for any other Microsoft OS, they don't know how to write operating systems any longer, all they have is programmers adding "features" so Windows 8 and Windows 10 will be dead in a ditch soon too. Dave Cutler's just got his feet on the desk, beer in hand, playing on his X-box.
They're never going to write another operating system. They are going to slowly migrate over to Linux. Windows is not where their money is anymore. It takes a shit-ton of human resources to support it and fix it, on an on-going, never-ending basis. I have a friend that is a product evangelist at Redmond, and even he thinks Windows is on its way out.
The boundary between Linux and Windows will slowly blur in the coming years, I believe.
You're looking at it upside down. Actually what they are doing is making Linux applications run on Windows... which is not the outcome you all wish for....
Yup, transitioning over to Linux?
Nonsense
they still need something They can licence for a profit, transitioning over to Linux will mean users could migrate off of Azure or whatever future base and run it without paying Miscosoft.
It might be something almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Linux.
They can always do what good old Apple did decades ago: ditch their homegrown OS and go mainstream with UNIX, while keeping what defines "Windows" (the APIs).
Thus they can continue to license their "way" and software "for Windows" will continue to work.
An no, note I didn't say Linux. :)
They are going to slowly migrate over to Linux. Windows is not where their money is anymore.
Windows on the desktop PC is still a money maker, but there's more on the enterprise/server side and more importantly that is the core component that allows them all their software lock-in.
Last I saw, Windows on PCs earns them about $15bb/yr:
https://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/msftrev2017-630x472.png
Not a market to shun, even if it's not their most profitable segment.
Microsoft Office for Linux is an also-ran. SQL Server on Linux has tons of competition. XBox got popular because it offered game developers DirectX they were using on PCs. Their cloud service is popular because they can hand out cheap Windows server licenses. Without their proprietary/monopoly advantage from the OS, Microsoft's whole profit model breaks down.
The boundaries probably will blur, but having made the switch to Linux years ago I will stick with it. I will never go back to anything made by / associated with $MS. Think of it as a cultural preference. OH - and a fondness for stuff that actually works, as if functionality actually mattered when I am trying to do productive WORK.
Nothing wrong with Windows 10 at all!
Well, apart from the inherent instability and compatibility issues due to constant change, forced updates, inconvenient reboots, baked in telemetry, messy and inconsistent user interface, dreadful start menu, increasing demands to require a "Microsoft" account to use it, accessibility issues ("modern" apps ignore accessibility settings), potential to be cut off from updates when your laptop manufacturer declares your device "EOL".
But apart from that, nothing wrong at all!
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You mean Arabic numerals.
Did you know 56% of American said they did not want arabic numerals taught in their schools:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/arabic-numerals-survey-prejudice-bias-survey-research-civic-science-a8918256.html
Stick with imperial measurements and roman numerals. It is the future.
Except the number "zero", which I think the Arabs invented.
I've always had trouble with that belief. I mean of any number "0" is the most obvious - a complete lack of something. Or at least the concept of "0". That said, I don't know of a Roman or Hebrew numeral for "0" - did they leave the field blank?
"Dickus Maximus, how many amphorae of wine do we have in the store room?"
"Er, I don't know Sir. We have less than I, but more than -I. But despite all our civilisation has done somehow we cannot conceive of this number!"
How about forced obsolescence?
NForce 980a motherboard. Installed windows 10 on it. Windows 10 proceeded to try to commit suicide by installing two different version of GeForce drivers side by side until the registry got corrupted and it can no longer boot. And if you're on Windows 10 Home, forget about turning off Windows Update for drivers, they made it so the only way to turn it off is to use GPO.
Anyway, being serious for a moment - the issue is that Windows 10 is a very "marmite" OS. I do know people that really like it, however there are also a sizeable percentage of people that hate it.
Thing is, there's a number of tweaks and changes MS could make (some admittedly are major, some quite small however) that would greatly increase Windows 10's perception amongst those who currently dislike it. The simple fact is that MS isn't interested. They honestly don't seem to care that there's a sizeable chunk of people that do not like Windows 10 and they don't seem to have any interest in tackling some of the common gripes about the OS to improve its perception. Why? Because given time, people won't have a choice any more. 3 more years and W10 will be the *only* supported OS that Microsoft provides. Plus of course they're more bothered about "the cloud" these days and subscription products like O365 and Azure, so W10 development is a low priority.
And do I want to run an OS where the company behind it isn't really bothered, doesn't care about common gripes and would rather focus their efforts elsewhere? Not really, no.
>What's wrong with Windows 10?
Ahhh! Clickbait!!!!
There's absolutely nothing wrong with Windows 10, if you're into that sort of thing. Its a bit like switching from a computer to a phone, though -- its full 'o bloatware, its constantly being 'upgraded', the UI isn't really designed for desktop use. It's noticeably slower than Win7 running on the same hardware.
The problem with this kind of question is that if you don't know the answer already then the answer isn't going to satisfy you. If you're happy with Win10, great. The rest of us put up with it because we're forced to and run something else when we can.
>plugging the holes in that decade-old code... A decade to fix the initial problems? How long to fix Win10??
Well given W10 is just the further development of the W7 code-base which in its turn was just a development of the Windows code-base stretching back to the 1990's, I suggest never; they will simply draw a line and rebrand it as something shiny-and-new.
Microsoft already owns the Lindows trademark.
In 2001 the founder of mp3.com released a Linux distribution names Lindows OS.
Microsoft sued them in 2002 and in a 2004 settlement MS gave them $20 Million, they transferred the Lindows trademark to Microsoft, and changed their name to Linspire.
https://www.operating-system.org/betriebssystem/_english/screen_gallery.php?bsgfx=linux/lindows/shot0-scr-.jpg
Linspire is still a going concern, however(and is even running a Windows 7 EOL special right now); registration confers more benefits, but simple active use is enough to offer basic trademark protection. "Lindows" would be more properly dead, but that Microsoft sued over it once and effectively won is more than enough to keep other people from using it.
Industry and Govs have another few Years but the Public need not fear as long as they keep their firewalls and AV updated.
Problem is too many don't have either.
I'll be running7 for another decade until I can get a cut down version of WIN10ware without most of their "helpful" features.
Already have a few boxes with it just sitting there next the the Ubuntu box but see no need to use them unless I have to support a CLient.
Even if nobody is making new viruses for XP (I bet someone somewhere is), that doesn't mean that there isn't numerous amounts of viruses previously created, which were never patched still lurking about.
With that said, choose wisely which websites you visit, where you download your software and p from, and you should be fine*!
* For the love of tux, don't forget your AV / Firewall and any other defence you may need.
If you need to use file sharing with Windows XP, you only have SMB1 which is full of holes.
You might be able to firewall your Windows XP machine to protect it from incoming nasties, but allowing SMB1 on any device to serve files will likely cause you grief at some point.
And if you choose to browse the Internet, it looks like Firefox is the most up-to-date option with support ending in 2018 assuming all the script blockers still work with that version.
The elephant in the room is the fact that many W10 installations will need to start off by turning on support for SMB1 to assist step-by-step migration. So when all the legacy boxes have gone, who is going to remember to switch off SMB1 support? Many of us are from the if it ain't broke don't fix it school, reinforced by the bean-counter who doesn't want to shell out for changes such as this, so it is likely that many W10 boxes will be vulnerable for years to come.
>If you need to use file sharing with Windows XP, you only have SMB1
Out-of-the-box/vanilla XP granted, but there are still many third-party NFS clients around in addition to Windows Services for UNIX.
>it looks like Firefox is the most up-to-date option with support ending in 2018 assuming all the script blockers still work with that version.
There shouldn't be a problem with the relevant data files themselves, the issues will be firstly getting XP to connect to the relevant sources to auto-update the files, the second is for the blocker add-on to intelligently stop doing software updates when the next update is incompatible with XP...
I'll be running7 for another decade until I can get a cut down version of WIN10ware without most of their "helpful" features.Well, there is technically the LTSC version, which lacks "basic" features like Cortana and the Microsoft Store(which means you'll need to provide your own calculator and sticky notes program). The license is only available for enterprise, but it's still available to take for a joyride.
Speaking as an Aussie: hear hear. Roo leather for brims is silly.
Best such hat I've ever had, by a long way, is actually from Argentina. Stays on+stable in UK coastal winds, keeps you dry when it rains, keeps you warm when it's cold, keeps the sun off when it appears, soaks up bad treatment without losing its looks or shape.
Estribos. Argentinian mob. Available in UK now online or rock up to one of the free polo days at Goodwood and try-before-you-buy like I did. Argentinian hide which is still the same old quality that Aussie hide used to be (no longer :( ) But normal high-street prices. Mine's 12 years old and still looks great :
LINK "Fer" there is not a typo -- for some reason that's what they call that style of hat, like Fedora or Trilby. *shrug*
Argh! i liked your comment and now you have 43 upvotes. A millisecond before my finger completed its vertically descending journey against the mouse button, i thought "Haha, 42 upvotes? what are the odds of that?" and now i found out, likes can't be undone.
My profound apologies.
This makes me feel depressed. So depressed, that i'll be leaving now.
Mine is the one with the keys to the Infinite Improbability Drive in the pocket.
The problem is you W7 host is directly connected to a network - if there is a remote exploitable vulnerability (i.e. remote desktop, if enabled, or any other service) and there's a way to reach your host, you're at risk anyway. Even the hypervisor itself could become a risk, if it spots a vulnerability in its network stack or something alike. You'll need to mitigate anyway the network attack surface.
"You'll need to mitigate anyway the network attack surface."
The house router does not permit inward connections - and is as good a firewall against speculative port attacks as can be expected. The W7 has an AV protection.
As I said - it is not foolproof but it is defence in depth. My online bank account is protected by manual 2FA using an independent device that is not a phone nor network connected.
Would be a whole tonne more secure if it were a Linux desktop with Windows held captive inside a VM.
It's not just Web browsers, if you're using MS Office or a whole raft of other software - it's going to be making http(s) calls out to all sorts of web services in the background. You might be lucky but you might not.
I heard this headline on the news yesterday and was rather puzzled by the hysterical way it was reported - email will cause untold damage - viruses will attack - just playing an mp3 will trigger the end of times (OK I made that one up) - arrrrggggggggggg.....
My first thought was “this is Windows - what’s different?” Very odd
"the wailing over the perceived Windows 7 asteroid hurtling toward the huddled masses."
It makes a change for The Express not to have a clickbait panic headline about an actual asteroid on course for the Earth today.
I wonder if you can play that old arcade game "Asteroids" on Windows 7?
According to www.spaceweather.com the nearest known asteroid today is 2020 AO. At about 49 meters it is no world killer but more than big enough you wouldn't want it hitting too near where you are. But it went by at 9.3 LD (Lunar Distances = 384,000 km or 239,000 miles) so it wasn't even close on this pass.
Your garage problem has a solution:
In my town there are two principal garages. I will take the vehicle to one and say, "Please do the state inspection... But remember that Billy Bob down the street will get the repair work. I'm here for inspection only". Swap vendors as needed. Rinse, repeat.
Could be worse... I had one garage get my car through the MOT, passed with flying colours. Next day, went to start it up... BANG. IMO they redlined it far to much trying to do the emissions (only after it went back I though back to hearing too much noise coming from the test area). No way to prove it/anything though sadly. So was down a car. I'd had it all of 7 days too!
I wonder why the heck the garage was redlining your vehicle. If your car is new enough for OBD-II fitment I'd expect the emissions check to primarily consist of reading any emissions fault codes from your ECU.
I think there is a MOT test that checks whether your exhaust system is louder than a typical vehicle if the same type. Im not sure how redlining is an appropriate test for that...
El Reg needs a 'screwed' icon
I wish old Bill (or whoever calls the shots) would just open source the Win7 code and put it on GitHub. We could finally see how bad it is (or not) and how many bullets we dodged. And we could fix / expand the OS. From what I can tell MS is not making a lot of money from OS sales anymore and the enterprise customers would remain with 10 for sure, instead of putting their IT fate into the hands of the open source community (which they cannot sue...). So I don't really see any downsides.
Half of our few remaining customer on Win7 are saying 'oh my god how did this suddenly happen, we'd better do something about it, I'm worried about being hacked so much that I might explode!' and the other half are saying 'I don't want to change because... change' and then whine on about windows 10 being SO different from Windows 7 that they couldn't possibly cope, and that the really important architectural drawings they've got in a 20-year-old piece of software that just about runs in Windows 7 absolutely need to be accessible despite only being told about the software no longer having support in 2005.
> despite only being told about the software no longer having support in 2005
So what? If it still does its job 15 years later, what reason would one have to not keep using it for another 15 years?
Ah sorry, I forgot, "new & shiny"... "Upgrade yearly for that intoxicating scent of freshness (we slightly changed the background color and shuffled the menus around a bit). Your productivity will soar, your skin will feel like silk, and amazing people will want to be friends with you".
It’s not the ‘new and shiny’ aspect that’s important, it’s the fact that an unsupported piece of software will break, either because it’s faulty, or more likely because something in the environment changes. This is usually Windows itself. A Windows update can break an old piece of software. And why do you need Windows updates? Because the threat landscape is continually changing. New attacks, new vulns found etc. Basically if you’re connected to the internet, you need to keep up to date. It’s not for the pure fun of it.
ain't gonna see updates although methinks the crypt32.dll vuln announced today might change that calculation.
There is precedent. MS did release a patch for XP long past it's EOS date. That said, XP probably still had 50% of the market at that point while H8 was still struggling to get past 0.0005% :)
Talking about XP normal, not XP special :)
I was thinking of something that IIRC may have been related to Wannacrypt/Wannacry (whatever it was) in or around 2017 (or 16?), but I see there was one in 2019 as well, as per https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/05/15/may_patch_tuesday/
A quick search turns on non-El Reg news sites for 2017. Prefer to link El Reg of course but will leave that exercise up to the reader :)
> either because it’s faulty, or more likely because something in the environment changes
Well, if hasn't broken down in the previous 15 years, chances are it isn't faulty and unwarranted change is the only danger. That's why the OS has to stay the same, given there is no real reason for it to change. The whole "patches" thing is only relevant if you put your computer at risk to be infected/hacked.
Imagine, I still use a computer running Win98! It has Office95 on it, and is placed in a comfortable niche I like to sit when typing long texts. It is obviously not connected to Internet (although I wonder what the modern web would look like in Netscape Navigator...), and documents are only outgoing, never incoming, so I don't care about the lack of compatibility with the newest standards. It has been working for decades, It has successfully been used to write about 5000 pages and a thesis, so why would I throw it away? Just because it's old? I'm old too.
It's not that Windows 10 is so different it's because its so ****ing awful and a constant battle to use. I have 10 for VR gaming and the rest of the time I use Windows 7 and always will (with the usual safety procedures in place)
7 is vastly superior to 10, hell I'd rather use Vista than 10, both have the added bonus of not having Cortana snooping in the background
Someone used to be able to do it, but I haven't seen a recent example.
I believe I've seen that person this year, but it'd take a ton of hunting through the Reg topics I've read to find.
Some time back (2+ years I believe) someone actually posted how to do custom icons (including some of the missing ones) but I've not been able to find that page on El Reg either. If I get really bored over the weekend and feel like hunting for it I will (and the tabs on my weekend computer might already have it anyway)
>Someone used to be able to do it, but I haven't seen a recent example.I suspect that was because El Reg didn't make "Anonymous Coward" and variants such as "Anonymous Coward " reserved Forum user names...
I had wondered that myself. IIRC a couple of months back I clicked on the name and it went to the normal AC page on El Reg, otherwise would've gone to a normal account. That said, a glitch in the system could also affect it.
I recall there was some talk about the 'retired' icons (eg the RIP one, or the "devil Gates" or "something Ballmer" ones) and how you could have them appear in your post. Either El Reg has quietly hidden said commentard post or I'm just too tardified to figure out the right search term to bring it up (sucks that search engine rankings mean so much irrelevant crap comes up well before a lot of stuff that actually matches the terms you used, and googles "+" no longer makes a difference - otherwise trust me it'd be bookmarked by now (and now I think about it the weekend gaming machine has an "El Reg" bookmark folder... I wonder...)
I have a whole stack of HDD drives to be tested in the PC computer I built for the job. My other computer isnt a PC computer but an Acorn one which has 12 MB or RAM memory and 1MB of video memory and a HDD drive which spins loudly. It run on the RISC OS operating system and looks great on an LCD display. I have a gool ol' CRT tube monitor that I cold use but the LCD display is lighter to move about.
Hopefully I will be able to put a CD writer in it because burning CD-R recordable discs would make a good way of transferring data without having to faff about trying to get enternet working.
Many of my other electronics use not LCD displayes but VFD displays.
At work I'm currently moving data to a SAAS service which is pretty boring hence why I'm here.
According to Microsoft talking to the BBC, Windows requires....."In order to run Windows 10, PCs must have a 1GHz processor, 16GB of hard drive space, and 1GB of RAM memory."
Hmmm. So that means my old Sempron 3400+ box, with 2 30GB spinning-rust platters, and 2GB RAM (expandable to a whopping 3GB) will run Win10? You mean that box I just installed Linux Mint 19.3 on?
Who knew?!?
>There's still a 32 bit version, if you want to try it. The flat UI should be less CPU demanding too....
Needs to be, as recent generations of Intel CPU's don't support Win10 32 bit drivers. [ Intel's easy to read table and Microsofts fuller viewpoint, which includes Win10 builds, AMD etc.].
I'm running it on a Compaq Presario, two 2 GHz cores, 4 GB RAM, and 30 GB partition and it runs great. This PC has a Windows Vista sticker on it.
Way better than Linux, which for some reason locks up on boot, suspend, resume, or just randomly whenever it wants. I think it's the Nvidia graphics, but the open source drivers cause massive flickering and Nvidia's proprietary drivers just aren't working. I've tried a few flavors of Ubuntu, Mint, Zorin, Manjaro ... all have the same problem.
If your PC was running Windows 7, it'll run Windows 10. One trick I haven't seen anywhere else is to disable all the background apps you don't use or don't need to run in the background. That really speeds things up.
I've run Nvidia's binary driver since the day they released it as beta software. The first few months it was pretty unstable. Has not caused me any problems since then with newer versions though. Right now on this PC I have 102 days of uptime and I am running proprietary Nvidia binary driver on it too. I cannot ask for any more stability than I already have really. I guess what they say about Linux being choosy about who it's friends with is true? I've always gotten along with it myself though.
When I looked at 2 Windows 10 installations I have on my desk, (granted neither are fresh) the Windows folder alone was 28.3GB and 41.2GB. That is just the Windows folder. Now add to that...
User data
Hyberfil.sys
Swap file
System Restore
Program Files
16GB of HDD space seems like a pipe dream.
""In order to run Windows 10, PCs must have a 1GHz processor, 16GB of hard drive space, and 1GB of RAM memory.""
Bollocks. I have a 32G hard disk on my machine and it RUNS Windows 10. It's complaining that I need to update it to the latest version. But if I try to upgrade it to the latest version, it fails for lack of disk space.
I don't believe 16G is anywhere near enough.
I solved a similar problem by renaming the c:\Windows\Software Distribution folder to something else (requires temporarily stopping Windows Update Services ("net stop wuauserv")), and let Windows rebuild it (happens automatically when you re-enable Windows Update Services ("net start wuauserv")).
Note that once the new one was working I deleted the old one, it's several GB in size after all. All this needs to be done as root (administrator) of course.
After that, Windows Update managed to install patches it was choking upon before.
Another way to force install is to download the patch as an .msu executable (search by the KB number) and attempt a local install. It works some times. Also rebooting helps. Each time you tempt something, and even if it apparently didn't work, reboot.
My, since I've got used to the Linux updater I can't believe how clumsy, buggy and slow the Windows one is (and that was on a clean, freshly installed Win7, nothing on it, never used). Sorry Microsofties, Microsoft themselves admit their update service is "quirky" if not partially broken, and tries to offer workarounds to that...
since I've got used to the Linux updater I can't believe how clumsy, buggy and slow the Windows one is
One of the things the keeps me sold on Linux, and I've used to sell it to others as well. None of this waiting to install updates while shutting down and starting up, seldom any really large lots (unless you go for several months without updates!), and all done quickly and quietly in the background.
> Ever thought the problem can be in your system
Yes but no, in this case the problem is clearly with Microsoft: As I said above, Microsoft themselves admit Windows Update is buggy, and try to give workarounds for when patches don't want to get installed. It's a little sad for a program they have been working 20 years on (Windows Update)...
Real life example from December 2019: I made a clean install of Win7 on a VM (so no exotic drivers), and let it install all the updates and patches, so I have a working Windows VM for the years to come.
Well, letting a clean, fresh install of Windows download and install all its patches isn't as trivial as I expected. A dozen patches didn't go through, whatever I tried. It took me 2 weeks and about 20 hours researching the Internet to finally manage to arrive at a point where everything seems installed (or just isn't flagged as missing anymore). (Not that I really care, this VM won't see the Internet ever again.)
I still do interweb banking & send emails using XP, surely i should have been hacked to bits by now?
Prob because i don't use a browser made by M$ nor an email client by them.
W10 is just as infectable as xp,7 and the others in between if your a muppet & click on the *free* whatever links etc
LOL. You'll never know :)
I knew this would get a butt-laod of down-votes. I've been getting that since vista came out, i looked at, stood back and proclaimed "fuck that"
3rd party firewall, plus nat plus another nat & firewall. no-script. add block. no explorer, no outlook.
I clean peoples machines of infections on a daily basis almost, but not mine strangely in spite of some healthy pr0n & wares surfing.
Unfortunately, i can't tell you any more or i'll have to kill you ;)
Microsoft will continue to provide updates to companies which pay for it. The way Windows Updates on 7 will work going forward is by checking if you have the "extended support license " installed. If you don't, the updates won't install
There is already a bypass tool out there for it so that you can pass the check. It's not 100% as it doesn't let you update using the Windows Update tool anymore but you can update manually.
This should give people another 3 years to upgrade to 10 or do something else.
My Mum is 84 and suffering from Alzheimer's more and more every day.
Given she can barely use the PC, even though it's got good A/C on it, this will likely lead to my installing SuSE (or equiv) on it next time I am in front of her PC.
Not that she may recall she still has it.
not by choice, but by finances, my old as feck W7 box ill not support W10, so for me the issue is how to save up for the new PC and keep the existing device 'safe'
no more banking on PC --- CHECK
no more E-mails on PC --- CHECK
main concern is that my gaming is to be interrupted, don't get me wrong, I am pants at all games, but enjoy dying in style :o)
but if Emails and banking open up the W7 to all sorts of nefariousness, then why wont games / Steam etc
but hey ho, we will find out soon enough, all back ups are up to date, NAS is offline, Zone Alarm installed and set to be a right pain :oP
bring it on LOL
if I DO go quiet in the following weeks, you will know I failed, and dying in style was altered to whining like a biatch :o)
I'm not quite sure why there is this massive hype to get rid of the OS. I understand that network connected machines, particularly those that face the Internet and/or are not behind DMZ's/firewalls are definitely subject to possible security threats and should be mitigated appropriately (shouldn't you start considering the move to linux for those perimeter servers?)
For businesses that use appropriate controls, particularly those that meet stringent compliance requirements, PCI, ISO, etc. they should be able to continue without too much of a fuss but should nonetheless work out a phased strategy to move away from a deprecated system
> I'm not quite sure why there is this massive hype to get rid of the OS
Because they don't want a second WinXP!
WinXP took many years to die and outlived both its successors (Win8 and 8.1). So they decided to hit hard and use every trick in the book to get people off their Win7: Scaremongering, newly discovered bugs of catastrophic level, asteroids, everything.
Meanwhile PoSReady 7 and Windows Embedded 7 continue to get extended support until 12-Oct-2021... and paid for Win7 support available in parallel too.
Any major vulnerabilities will get a fix like Win 2K3 and Win XP continue to get despite being way out of any support.
What’s DataBarracks address, as they have breached WEEE disposal regulations and need grassed off.
Anyone still using Windows 10 mobile will probably be much safer using it without any further security patches as I doubt that there will be many hackers, virus coders, malware writers even considering going after such as small install base. After all there are many more unpatched Android handsets in everyday use due to the manufacturers either being slow to patch against vulnerabilities or just don't release updates at all.
I used my old phone for over 12 months without any security patches from the manufacturer.
I used my old phone for over 12 months without any security patches from the manufacturer.
Over 4 years on my current phone with no updates and no facility to. Previous phone got 7 or 8 years before its keypad started failing, also no updates.
Next phone will probably be a Doro or something similar. What can I say? I prefer basic phones, crappy no-name tablets, basic ancient laptops, and as much-as-I-can-afford desktops. The stuff that travels with me, if I crash I don't need a tablet or laptop or broken smart phone, I need a working reliable phone (hence also my liking of flip phones - get some extra protection for the vital bits). And if someone steals my gear off the bike, I'd rather they get a $50 2nd hand tablet and a laugh-themselves-hysterical phone than a $1,000+ phone.
(if I can find a basic flip phone with no FB etc "features" installed, I'll be very happy! Better still if I can tether over BT or something)
I've managed to convince one stalwart to install ubuntu on his aging Win7 lappie, here's hoping it has the oomph to deal with the modern gnome interface. Disclaimer: I've been using linux since the 0.9x days and I am settling into systemd life quite nicely, a needed upgrade on sysvinit with a reasonably unix way of doing things. Having not seen the planned systemd-home I agree that it sounds like a bucket of bollocks but there's no arguing that handling user storage requirements can be a pain. See also user memory limits. One thing is certain, it's far easier to deal with than whatever horror Microsoft has foisted upon lUsers in nightmare on windows 10 street.
All we need in linux land is real open support for decent gaming graphics and it will be ready for that segment of userland. for anyone who's not into gaming there's no excuse not to make the switch.
Much ado about not much. Some XP machines are still doing good work for their owners. Same will be true for W7 hardware. Old machines are good for all kinds of offline tasks, so why trash them?
Anyhow, security risks are mostly the users, and out-dated security software. There's no reason to panic just because MS will noi longer patch holes in Windows 7.
We know that MS has the ability to remote-wipe everything in your Documents folders, so that might put some people off taking a risk. Unfortunately for MS dthey id precisely this for legitimate users a while ago.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/10/10/microsoft_windows_deletion_bug/
I have also lost count of the number of times I've had to give people openoffice so they could amend Word documents and Excel spreadsheets whilst I find out why MS have disabled access to their (full-price) Office Shite for licencing anomalies.
>Why is a product key available "legitimately" on Amazon from several sellers for less than £20?
Amazon is a reputable seller, so I am sure it's fine!
Amazon themselves might be reputable, but not all sellers listed and especially that only sell really cheap MS Windows and Office (digital download) licence keys are reputable...
Been looking this week for licences and it is quite a minefield - I feel sorry for any legitimate sellers of discounted MS license keys (are there any left?), as given the number of scammers selling dodgy keys, it is very difficult to distinguish between businesses, meaning it is often quicker to simply stick to the big names and pay full price...
Sometime last year, my perfectly good Atom system dropped its Wifi support entirely.
Troubleshooted the problem to what looked like a broken keyboard, yet Fn + any other button worked as did the rest of the keyboard.
Strangely enough it had a 256GB SSD and 4GB RAM, and was *technically* supported by 10 alas not the graphics driver which was
some horrible bodge from Hell downloaded from insert_dodgy_driver_site.con but good enough to run 64 bit 7 with graphics maxed out.
One of these days I will dig it up from the AOL layer and turn it into a picture frame PC with external card probably stolen from the
WEEE pile of dead all-in-one printers, with a "RIP W7 2009-2020" and M$ tombstone logo etched on the inside of the glass.
Pretty sure a few blinkenlights can be added over the motherboard, with a couple of tiny bargraphs for the dual SSDs (HD0+HD1) and
some sort of cooling bodge.
Not sure about remote power though, any tips?
I will hang with my Win 7 until it dies a natural death. I am also slowly migrating to an all Linux system. One that can run my dieing Win 7 OS in a protected bubble. My needs are simple. I do not need ICBMs on my desktop or laptop. My 22 & 12 gauge still work fine.
MS had huge problems updating Win 7 correctly. To be honest, they have grown too big & too greedy to even recognize or care for any individual human being using their junk. Like any controlling cartel, they push huge amounts of the "stuff" & could care less who gets hurt using it. My experience has been that it is the users who end up solving most of the problems & are most approachable for advice. Not MS.
Linux may prove the best of both worlds & a new learning adventure as well. Win 10 has given me small headaches already just reading about the absolute disaster it has proven to be for so many using it. M$ doesn't seem to listen or learn. Insanity is doing the same thing over & over & expecting a different result. It is not working, M$. You keep it.