Posted on 05/05/2026 5:17:18 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
that was over 10 years ago ...
Am I the only person on this site that has never had a problem with Windows?
Why switch to Linux? I have been doing all financial transactions in Windows since 1995. Zero issues. Plus I have my own software to monitor investment performance. Do not need to learn another OS.
I use a cheap used laptop for connecting to my bank & broker. That is the only sites I have to worry about. I never connect to any other sites on my financial laptop. No emails, no browsing. That must reduce risk of hacking since no hacks in 30 years. For browsing and surfing the net I use another PC or phone. There is nothing of value on those.
Keep getting reminders about the need for an update. Always looking for a subscription to some protection program.
OneDrive or googleDrive have their advantages:
1. if your computer crashes, you don’t lose your data - you have BCP built in
2. you can port the data to another computer
3. you can collaborate
Good advice. Thank you.
I was merely being sarcastic. :-)
I’ve been a MS user since the 1980s: the days of MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, etc. I’ve used Linux too (for certain things), and it’s fine for what it does.
I’m hardly going to defend M$’s business practices or ignore it when they issue crapware, but the holier-than-thou Linux types who invade pretty much every Windows thread can be just a tad annoying.
So this one time I figured I’d do their job for them. :-)
” just format the hard drive and install fresh copy of windows. No virus survives that.”
That is untrue, there are several different kinds of exploits that will survive
UEFI/BIOS Rootkits: These inject malicious code into the computer’s firmware, surviving even hard drive replacements.
Master Boot Record (MBR) / GUID Partition Table (GPT) Viruses: These infect the boot sector of the drive, which may not be fully erased in a quick reformat.
Recovery Partition Malware: Some sophisticated malware copies itself to the hidden recovery partition, re-infecting the system during the “factory reset” process.
External Device Re-infection: Malware can reside on connected USB drives, printers, or network drives and re-infect the machine immediately after a clean install.
I remember the Nimda and Code Red that would infect your entire network within seconds.
I suspect that there are exploits that can infect your router without showing symptoms and then release a payload on your machines also, but I have never seen one in the wild.
Cast ye off the yolk of oppression, so says Zorin the wise.
Even if those viruses invade firmware, bios etc, it causes Zero problems for me since my browsing computer has nothing of value. If they steal my posts on FR or my social media postings, it costs me nothing.
The trick is I use a separate dedicated laptop for connecting to bank or broker where my money is. I only log in there once a week for a few minutes. Have not had a single issue since 1995.
Only remember getting the ransom virus once on my browsing computer. I ignored it, formatted hard drive, I stalled fresh copy of windows, and the virus was gone.
If you’re running a copy of Windows that updates without your interaction or asking your permission, you deserve what’s coming next.
“Microsoft” is an old Swahili anagram for “supreme masochist”.
“””””New icon badges “reflect the current certificate state.”””””
Where does one find this badge, I don’t see anything about all this and I just updated 3 W10 laptops.
Clever; but that's one more monster assaulting my inner tranquility.

Seriously though, this seems to be Microsoft wheeling out one more tactic to force Windows 11 adoption. They know that the vast majority of servers are set up to weed out the weakest (red) security protocols, so they're saying ditch Windows 10 or get used to finding sites you commonly used now rejecting your computer's access.
That's how I'm reading it but I'm very often wrong.
All these kinds of moves where one has no choice seem to me as a soft monopoly. Just wondering, how did you get that picture of my boss?
According to this I don’t have it, yet I always update.
“To see whether your PC has the updated certificates, open a PowerShell window using administrator credentials and then copy the following command and paste it at the PowerShell command line:
([System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetString((Get-SecureBootUEFI db).bytes) -match ‘Windows UEFI CA 2023’)
If the response is True, you’re up to date. If the response is False, you need a firmware update.”
Your boss is “the Yolk of Oppression”? You poor soul.
I found it searching the term “evil egg” using DuckDuckGo.
Since we’re here:
I’d had enough of Microsoft’s bullsh!t and decided to go Linux Mint full-time, since it did so well with a 15-year-old Dell I thought was past it’s usefulness. But what of the Window-centric applications and games that require work-arounds?
Dual-booting! I was getting a new or re-furbished computer anyway due to the memory chip cost escalation problem, so found a 1 TB off brand with 24 GB RAM for under $450. Installed the SPECIAL version of Windows 10 meant for commercial kiosks and such (hardened as to not require constant upgrades - good until 2032) as Primary on 1/3rd of the drive. Put the latest Linux Mint (2.23) in next and made the remaining third of the drive strictly storage for both operating systems.
So the Mint-That-Runs-Like-Windows-But-Faster is the real primary, safe from viruses, malware and greedy companies trying to shake down customers for their last nickel.
The Windows 10 Iot Enterprise LTSC remains at the ready for what little Linux can’t handle, safely fenced off from internet access, good for six more years at a minimum.
I just got all that together but so far, so good.
Thx. I think mine is still on deck, since the system didn’t restart overnight.
I did a memory upgrade for a poor lap top with a Celeron processor and put Zorin on it, pretty peppy compared to whenit ran windows.
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