Posted on 12/29/2015 8:57:57 AM PST by zeugma
The website listed to go to for signing in to your Microsoft account is not a Microsoft site. How do I know that is not a phishing site meant to get info on how to break in to my computer?I realize that my first response was inadequate. You are right to question this.
One way to check the ownership of a web site is to go to:
https://whois.icann.org
and type in the web site name. If you do this with "live.com", you will see that Microsoft owns the domain.
There’s a simple answer, you should have purchased a Mac! People who buy PC’s are like the British continuing to buy British cars. It gives them something to work on every weekend instead of taking a drive!
I was under the impression that you can install Windows 10 without ever logging into Microsoft.
I don’t know how wholly accurate this article’s suppositions are.
Well, I really didn't want to bring that up, so as to not make this a religious discussion, however, there is a clear difference between the way that Microsoft and Apple deal with encryption. If you encrypt your i-device, and lose your password, Apple can't do anything at all to recover your data because they simply do not have the key to do so. They can't 'fix' it for you because they don't have the key. Similarly, when the NSA asks for Joe Public's data, Apple cannot provide them with the ability to decrypt it.This, to me, is a major selling point, not because I'm doing anything wrong or illegal, but simply because what I'm doing on my phone is none of the feral government's freaking business.
There is a sharp contrast here. I think we should act accordingly.
i use this nice little program named 'AxCrypt' to encrypt individual files under Windows. It integrates nicely with Windows Explorer.
Sounds like another reason to NOT load Win 10 or, if you do, another reason to not create a Microsoft account.
If you’re dumb enough to create a Microsoft account when you first install your Windows OS, you deserve what you get.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE A MICROSOFT ACCOUNT TO USE WINDOWS!
I believe you do, if you want to use their disk encryption, which is what this is about.
Windows 7 will endure. There will be non-Microsoft updates to it same as there were to Windows 98. That update was ~ 18mb
Windows 8.1 is non toxic and will also endure. I like its flat GUI better than Windows 7. fwiw I have 7 and 8.1 computers and doubt I will move to any “free” Windows 10
Unless you have a reason folks, and a serious competence with the subject, DON’T encrypt your drive.
I’d disagree. Everything should be encrypted.
Absolutely, completely, unequivocally false. BitLocker is built into the OS and does not require a Microsoft account. You should have a trusted platform module (TPM) and save your encryption key to a thumb drive stored somewhere safe, but you do not need to have a Microsoft account to leverage this functionality.
You obviously don’t repair computers for Joe User.
Oh, okay! Thank you for the information!
Nope. I also don't want encrypted bits to stand out.
These days just about everyone with an iPhone has a fully encrypted device that the seem to have no problem using and managing on a daily basis. I guess some companies aren't up to the challenge.
If someone else has control of your keys, your device effectively isn't encrypted.
I've been using crypto since PGP2.1. I don't seem to have issues with it.
Right... because all of their data is automatically pumped up to Apple's servers. Android offers a similar thing. Imagine my surprise when my 'droid tablet needed a reload and all of my crap showed back up on it a couple days later.
If all your data is backed up to someone else's server, that is in fact, no different than giving them the dang keys anyhoo.
Most users do not have a propensity toward backup (part of why it's becoming automatic on phones), and since I kind of specialize in soft recovery of hard drives, I get a whole bunch of desperate people trying to get their crap back from a damaged and failing drive - I can tell you from experience that even with encryption keys, my chances of getting anything off of a damaged and encrypted drive hover on the negative side of 0%.
Again, unless you know what you are doing - DON'T encrypt. Unless you have at least two chains of backup to unencrypted devices, off the primary machine, DON'T encrypt.
You apparently don't understand how that actually works on Apple devices. if you choose to use the cloud, which you don't have to do, by the way, your data is encrypted with the key from your device. Apple doesn't have the key to decrypt it. To them it's just a big blob of data. The feral government is kinda pissed about that and is making quite a bit of noise about it. You see, Apple has implemented the crypto correctly. You control the keys, they just hold the data, if you choose to use their 'cloud'. They can't even recover the keys if they have physical posession of the phone if they don't know your password. There has been a bit of news of late about some android encryption implementations that have not been quite as robust. Crypto done properly is not simple, so Microsoft, and others have had issues with it, as has Apple in the past. With recent releases of their OS, that's not the case.
As has been stated here and elsewhere many, many times, Microsoft simply doesn't do cryptography well at all. I think it comes from the mindset they seem to have where they are a bit confused as to exactly whose data it is in the first place. Seems to me that they believe it is somehow theirs. Google seems be largely the same, but that's just my opinion. I haven't really looked at google's stuff too much. I have an android device that I use as a book reader. I don't keep anything really important on it, but I really like it for the tool that it is.
I'm not really much of an Apple partisan, as I prefer Linux for my main computers, and I don't particularly care for their walled garden approach for my computing needs, but I respect when they do things right. I'll bang them when they screw up, but their implementation of cryptography is not one of those things.
I did mine right, on that last link, it says I have no backed up keys. I did bitlocker with local only. It’s not that hard.
Thank you for the correction - And I do remember articles of this nature, now that you mention it.
It still does not detract from the point - That novices should not be encrypting... That sh*t will indeed happen, that they will come to one like me, and I will get to tell them their drive is bricked and I can't help them.
Even in regard to backup - I would recommend the same thing. Back up raw files. Uncompressed. unencrypted. At least two backup chains. Storage is cheap. Data is priceless.
It's a different story if you have need of higher security - If your data is in fact sensitive - But if that is the case, then you should have the knowledge and discipline necessary to maintain encrypted things properly, before committing to encryption. It surely isn't for Joe User.
I'm not really much of an Apple partisan, as I prefer Linux for my main computers
Same here - Never have liked Apple's ecosystem... I prefer Linux - Though as a Residential/SOHO service tech, it is necessary for me to keep myself in Win/Office, so my main machines tend to be windows... One day I'll hang up my pocket protector, and I won't need samba anymore ; )
but I respect when they do things right. [...] their implementation of cryptography [...]
That's right - Thanks again for the correction.
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