Replies

https://www.howtogeek.com/224798/how-to-uninstall-windows-10s-built-in-apps-and-how-to-reinstall-them/

…and how-to-geek – with some extra helpful tips.

2 users thanked author for this post.

CyGuy, woody

Doh! I read that article as well. More haste less speed. Thank you for the update.

“Researchers noted that the malware only ran on 32-bit systems,”

…according to a BleepingComputer article: ‘CCleaner Compromised to Distribute Malware for Almost a Month.’

I’ve seen this comment in a few articles today, but by no means all of them.

Can anyone confirm whether this is the case and if it is regardless of whether the user is using an account with administrator privileges?

1 user thanked author for this post.

Microfix

Whoa – rare as hen’s teeth I’d say. MS_DEFCON 5? I’m a relative newbie and I’ve never seen it. Has there ever been a MS-DEFCON 5? I didn’t even realise it was such a nice shade of green lol. I feel like I should be having a moment of quiet reflection.

Ooooooh look how shiny and new everything is here. I like shiny new things.

If I may be so bold, for W7, there appears to be some clear winners – if we interpret ‘winners’ as culprits:

kb2952664
kb3021917
kb3068708
kb3080149

In addition, by avoiding these, you also don’t qualify for several other patches that follow on after them.

Would that be a fair interpretation?

Windows 7 x64

I’ve watched this pretty closely for a long time now – it has almost become a weird sort of hobby 🙂 For me, it’s not just the patches I avoid, but also the other measures I have in place to preserve my privacy. I really don’t think it’s enough now just to avoid the rogue patches – the beast has got too big.

On my hidden updates list there are just four patches:
kb2952664
kb3021917
kb3068708
kb3080149

Everything else I take: optional, recommended, the lot. This might seem barmy, but there have been some very wise comments both here and elsewhere referring to the interdependence of patches and other software and devices that might be in use on any given pc. In other words, I don’t go looking for trouble, but I don’t want it to find me either. As much as I may not like it, I figure that m$ will be working from a minimum baseline of installed patches. I don’t know what that baseline is, so to my mind, best not to fall below it.

However, I have taken some other measures. I always use local accounts and never sign into m$ or google. In addition and for other reasons as well, I use Spybot Anti-Beacon and Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit Free. Further, the CEIP is all turned off, I never ‘check for solutions’, I’m ‘never check for updates’, have the firewall set to block everything incoming including on the allowed list, have disabled a number of tasks and services and keep IE11 & WMP locked down – all the predictable stuff really that anyone with a bit of time can find out about.

Microsoft has been criticized over its Windows 10 software by consumer rights group Which?.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37431343

Here’s another little W7 twist for the eagle eyed – in the recent batch of updates, kb3179930 actually links to kb3179949 when you hit ‘more information’ in windows update. Go figure.

21/09/2016 – 19.54 UK time.

If you think about it for a moment, doesn’t it make sense that M$ would be hell bent on using the upgrade to force all of your previous settings for privacy, appearance and such, to revert back to their own defaults?

It’s very, very easy done too. I mean who would expect to find access to all those setup settings just by clicking ‘I’m not XXXX’? Miss it and your chance is gone. No wonder the upgrade breaks so much stuff in the process, when everything is flipped back on, when you’d already turned it off.

It was identical to using ‘custom settings’ after a clean install – complete with sliders to turn stuff on and off – even a new screen to change default programs like your browser and music player.

So far, on two laptops, despite the upgrade (now 3 days in), everything still works as per my original settings. Nothing has been changed, Cortana is still off, data is still where I left it, external devices all work and even the background screen color I’d set has remained the same.

So yes, exactly the same as the M$ dirty trick of changing the red x to mean ‘I accept Win10’.

Hi Woody – I took the anniversary update yesterday on an old sony vaio laptop. I don’t know if anyone spotted this, but M$ have been incredibly crafty (again). Let me explain…

Previously I had done a clean install of W10 on the same machine. You may remember that back then, you had a choice of ‘express settings’ or ‘customize’. If you went ‘customize’ you could knock out most of the rubbish before you even got to W10 proper and save yourself a ton of time going through all the privacy settings, for example.

On the anniversary upgrade, when it’s downloaded and done with all the faffing, you arrive at a similar screen. ‘Welcome XXXXX’ and a big ‘get started’ button in the bottom right. But did you notice the ‘I’m not XXXXX’ in the bottom left? Well, guess what? Click on that and you go through to all those menus again (like when I did a clean install) where you can turn a lot of stuff off again, before W10 starts proper. Very handy.

One particularly nice surprise is that you also have the choice to opt out of Edge being your browser and Groove being your music player.

In fact, after going through these menus – before getting to W10 proper – as far as I can tell, every setting for appearance, privacy and apps has remained entirely untouched.

Now, what was that phrase about chickens roosting…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36824687

I tried sending a screenshot – what’s the secret?

Do I get a prize if I have 2 x kb3035583?

The more I’ve thought about this recently, the more it makes sense.

Just before free 10 disappears, add up the numbers, put it next to a timescale for 1 billion users and subsequently change the goalposts for everyone who hasn’t taken up the offer. Doubtless planned months ago as one of several possible scenarios.

There’s already confusion about tactics with the current update system and ‘roll ups’ is an ingenious way to go on the part of M$. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but there’s a long road ahead yet before the end of 7. Of course, it makes things easier for those wanting a fresh install of 7 and at the same time does little for those that are already up to date. M$ just being helpful, of course.

But down the line, when the only updates available for 7 are ‘roll ups’, monthly cumulative ‘roll ups’ even, like 10? What then, my friends?