[Paladin2]

One should pwon3 one’s hardware and private data.

[Responsibility2nd]

Crapware. Computers and laptops come preloaded with it all the time. Is a PITA to uninstall, delete and get rid of.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Well this IS the Stallman. Take with giant grain of French sea salt.

[taxcontrol]

When you get a brand new computer:

1) go through the uninstall process and get rid of all of the junk

2) run a virus scan and remove any detected viruses (http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage)

3) run a malware scan and remove any detected (https://www.safer-networking.org/dl/)

4) run a registry cleaner (http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm)

5) defrag the hard drive (http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/)

6) take a snapshot of the remaining image (http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/backup.htm)

[MeshugeMikey]

the other morning I had a dream that the Whitehouse had been built with Malware installed

[UCANSEE2]

What I have noticed the most about the ‘trend’ in newer computers and their software is that they are LIMITING what you CAN DO, but giving you a multitude of WAYS to do the same thing (ergo having you believe you can DO a LOT).

I say that because I had to buy a newer computer with WIN 7 on it. They have made it harder to do certain things (user selected) but at least the device driver installs are smooth and pretty much automatic. Other than that, it’s still WIN XP but just with a bunch on flashy gadgets for inexperienced users to ‘awe’.

As far as malware, I don’t know who to believe or trust anymore when it comes to recommendations for the proper protection software.

My XP PRO system was recently destroyed by Microsoft who sent out some UPDATES that were intended to target unlicensed WINDOWS operating systems on Chinese computers, but somehow decided my was ‘unlicensed’. (I think that ‘info’ is a guess by the ‘expert’ that told me. I think Microsoft is just trying to destroy any and all existing XP systems to force you to buy a new computer with WIN 7 or 8).

[9thLife]

freeware is for socialists.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Ping

[TChad]

This might be an appropriate thread in which to complain about the new Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Document Cloud). While the old Reader permitted the user to choose to opt out of automatic updates, the new Reader DC requires that you permit Adobe to automatically install whatever updates Adobe chooses, without notification.

Sorry Adobe. I keep my programs updated, but I want to control what software goes on my computers, and when it goes on.

[AllAmericanGirl44]

bkmk

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Amazon’s Kindle e-reader reports what page of what book is being read, plus all notes and underlining the user enters...

Not if I turn off the 4G wireless access on my tablet...which is my dedicated eBook.