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I’d go to top 11 and add the free Keepass, imho it’s the best free password app available today. With over 300 passwords, it’s my most used app. For iOS, there’s plenty of choices for apps with database compatibility and most will sync the database with a cloud service and/or use iCloud and/or iTunes file backup.

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SkipH

I don’t bother with images for everything since the old laptops aren’t really running anything critical. They are generally just test machines running some open source apps – not really worth imaging, but also not worth the time and hassle to rollback a video driver.  Only image I consider important is my primary desktop which is a gen 10 diy so no updating worries.  Even my travel laptop has only a handful of software and I just copy over the files I need, as I need, and if I miss anything, I can access them from my NAS.

FWIW, I still have a few gen 2 to gen 4 i5 laptops serving various functions including my current travel laptop, so would have appreciated any suggestions going forward with the older graphics drivers. To-date, I’ve ignored graphics updates, but maybe I’m missing out on improvements.

Just happened upon this and out of curiosity had to take a look, figured I’d see some familiar old relics. I never really learned typing skills, my schools didn’t offer it to the math/science oriented back in the dark ages. I never even had a really good typewriter, just something to get me by to type out reports in college so I learned a hunt and peck style that worked for me. So, I never got into any keyboard feel “groove”. My first was whatever came with the original IBM PC at work in mid 80s. Personally I did originally have the gateway anykey someone posted above, but it got stolen due to a theft event long ago. When usb became a thing, I eventually bought a Microsoft kb, not the natural which my wife liked but I never liked the wrist positioning, so got a standard Microsoft kb, sadly squishy keys that I’m not even fond of using. About 10 yrs ago as I transitioned to consulting and part-time jobs, I started using a laptop regularly which my employer at the time bought for me. They normally used IBM/Lenovo T series which I find have decent keyboards. My wife still uses the T series with num pad and a fairly normal layout and seems to have a decent tactile feel. My predecessor at the company left behind a Logitech k750 solar rechargeable wireless, so I started using it. It’s been great for my needs. The low profile travels well, the keys feel decent for such a low profile, actually a mechanical feel to me, the original battery lasted 7 yrs and was easy enough to find and replace so the kb is still working like new, plus for my preferred wrist positioning, I like the very flat low profile so my wrists can remain neutral when I sit at the desk. We bought this model kb for most of the laptop users and most really like it. My wife types well and she finds this kb has a nice tactile feel and has become her go to kb, plus travels well for her as well. I’m sure an old school mechanical aficionado would not be impressed, though, so not recommending it. Just relaying personal info in case there may be other less fussy or non-typists like me stumbling upon this thread who would like a decent feeling wireless kb.

Over a month later the app is still available so has it been updated to limit data collection or have the companies simply chosen App Store revenue greed over responsible action?  I guess the thing that bothers me are the alarm bells these articles sound, but follow up is rare so concerned users are left wondering. If there has been follow up and I missed it, I apologize!

Good suggestion, hope someone will dig into the details. As best I can tell, if 2FA is enabled then we will still be able to use app passwords. I have one I need for my NAS to email me a daily status report, so I’ll be watching this topic.

I’ve decided to not renew. It’s no longer that important nor is it that uniquely informative. I started out getting a free subscription to the old Infoworld large format print publication back in the 90s when I took on IT Mgmt for our small company. At the time it actually looked like a newspaper, albeit a glossier version. I followed several of the columns. In fact I once received a gift from Bob Cringley for providing an industry insight he was able to use in an article. Brian Livingston was always a favorite. Anyway, in roughly 20 yrs, I’ve only found one or two Win patches to cause a problem with any of our systems, so that’s never been of much value. Any serious patch problems are normally highlighted by others so the patch watch is of little value to me. The biggest benefit was insight into the Win updates, to be able to both become proficient with the new OS quicker and to assist other users facing problems. The free security software reviews were helpful for my personal systems, but I also follow the AV testing sites. The Win tips and tricks were once quite helpful, but now I’m learning things faster just by investigating on my own or from reading other publications. I have been unemployed and have suffered through 2 major heart surgeries in the past few years. I no longer work in IT. I’m finding less and less value for the newsletter. If I have to use the web for details and further details from articles, then I might as well just use the plethora of free resources on the web and let this newsletter expire. I felt it was worth a $1/mo to help support Brian’s effort to keep it going. When he passed the torch, that fee was deemed acceptable and I deemed the value was still worth a fee. Now, it’s devolved and facing stiff competition. Even going to microsofts own forums can be just as useful, and many times more so. Sadly, I will not be renewing.

I believe that Sourceforge no longer bundle other programs in their downloads. That’s what they say anyway.

I think you are right – I recall a ruckus a while back about their bundling… just got an update on their site and it was bare, just the app. Not sure if it pertains to all or if only those dev’s who demand no bundling.

Now I just noticed ghostery shows 8 trackers on this page and no script shows 5 scripts… everybody wants to get to know our habits, even if anonymously, it is still irritating!

Once I started seeing bundled crap with sourceforge downloads, I stopped going to 3rd party sites for updates. I use a fair amt of open source and free versions of software – 7-zip, keepass, sync back, ccleaner to name some. I get update notifications from sourceforge but always go directly to the dev site to download the update. In addition to ad blockers and privacy addons, I love “no script”.

in addition to checking needed services, and other typical checks, have you checked to be sure all machines are using dhcp and are on the same ip subnet? You say something about a modem/router with the main PC wired and a wifi router for the others. I’d suggest move the wired main PC to a port on the wifi router, the wifi router should be the only device connected to the modem. If you are paying extra to rent a router/modem combo, you might save a few bucks by returning it for a standard modem and just using your own wifi router. Now, be sure to go into the router to see exactly what ip subnet it is using. Normally, 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x, some companies prefer to use the 10.x.x.x sub nets since they are not commonly used by home routers. Next double check the routers address or the gateway address, normally 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 – now make sure all machines have this as one of the DNS server addresses in the IP networking settings for the connection. The other DNS server can be set to google 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 – you can add more than 2 in the advanced settings if you are so inclined. While in the router settings, make sure there are no blocked ip ranges within your subnet and/or make sure the DHCP server is enabled and if there is a range of ip addresses allowed, that the range is big enough for all your devices including phones, tablets, cameras, etc. if you have some static ip addresses on the network, a printer or NAS maybe, make sure those addresses do not conflict with the range set for DHCP. Now make sure the unseen machine is set to get its ip via dhcp and that the router gateway is one of the dns server addresses. Also, on the unseen machine, make sure it’s host file has not been modified to inadvertently block your home network addresses by directing them to 127.0.0.1.

If if you’ve already done all that, just double check and make sure nothing was missed. I have a win7 desktop primary PC wired to my router with several notebooks on wifi with 2 notebooks upgraded to Win 10. I initially had a problem getting one win 10 to be seen by the primary in the home group. All looked fine but it suddenly appeared and now is fine, I suspect it was fixed in a win 10 patch. As others have mentioned, you can also share via basic networking and can even map drives to folders on other machines on your network if so desired. I’m not sure the benefit of home group over basic network sharing other than it makes folder selection less manual.

anyway, hope I might have hit on something useful.

I’m done. No longer makes sense for me to pay. There are too many other sources of equivalent info for free on the web with no more advertising than you are forcing upon us by moving to the web. The only attraction for me of WS Newsletter and the only reason I was willing to pay was the fact that I did not need to open a browser to be bombarded with advertising. Everything was easily read and easily archived, easily searched right in the folder I created for it in my email account, all with minimal advertising.

Now the only searching for info is via your website and if I am not online, there is nothing, unless I take the time and make the effort to cut and paste text, or print to PDFs and save every article of interest. The idea of an actual newsletter provided by email was the attraction. I was originally a recipient of Infoworld and a follower of Brian Livingston. I used to clip articles and keep them in an actual file folder for reference. I’ve been a subscriber since Brian moved the newsletter to email when he parted ways with Infoworld. I have retained my emails since 2010 when I shutdown my last XP machine!

Your new ownership apparently is more concerned with strong arming a minimum fee and ensuring a steady stream of advertising income than providing what we originally felt was worth a subscription fee. There really is no compelling info you provide for my needs that I cannot search for and find multiple sources for free – PC Mag, PC World, Infoworld, Cnet, ZDnet, a gazillion blogs and of course Microsoft and the other manufacturers, AV test sites, etc. In fact, looking back, I have not actually been able to apply much of what I’ve been reading recently. The majority of win 10 articles have been behind my own learning curve. I based my payment on the actionable knowledge I got specifically from the newsletter. It has been dwindling since win 7, my primary OS, is quite mature now and there is little new to learn. I skipped win 8/8.1 and only run win 10 on a test machine for which I have found most of my questions answered via the insider info. I plan to stay with Win 7 so I’m seeing less value to this e-mag. If I’m going to be using a browser, I might as well just follow the links to free info via those I follow on Twitter or Facebook.

I guess you’ve accepted my payment and have not billed me for a differential since I paid less than the $25 back in Oct. I’ll run out my subscription and give this the benefit of time to prove its value, but initial feelings are that this will be my last subscription. Finally, it is one thing to change for improvement sake, it is another to promote change hidden behind a blatant grab for greater profit.

I used an old i3 Lenovo idea pad to test out 10 pro figuring it was old enough to see how well ms will provide drivers for older hardware, mainly because it recently dawned on me my newest machine is 4 yrs old now. Overall it seems fine, except it has taken a while to get a decent touchpad driver and even the latest driver seems a little limited in the options compared to the original which offered all the necessary tapping and scrolling options. Meanwhile, my Logitech mouse and keyboard drivers seem to be fine so the touchpad is not a big deal. The other issue is that 10 doesn’t seem to support the fingerprint reader very well, sometimes it works for login, but most times it fails to respond. On win 7 it worked fine. The other issue is cortina refuses to respond to my mic, even with the latest driver. The mic works fine when I test it and responds when I try it with Skype, but cortina is deaf on this machine. For the most part, I’m ok with that because I still feel stupid talking to a device rather than typing in my query. I rarely use SirI, maybe more so due to constantly fighting my New England accent, but verbal searching is more frustrating than it’s worth. Plus I never feel stupid when typing. Win 10 does seem to run faster, definitely boots faster. Not a lot of apps on the machine and auto starts are at a minimum, all seem ok so far. But, I doubt I’ll upgrade my other machines. I much prefer the simplicity of the win 7 start menu and I really do not like tiles – I’m not that social, nor do I need constant updates to news, weather, Facebook or whatever.

The other issue is the added privacy vigilance required – it’s bad enough with the apps we use these days, but piling on with all the stuff ms is tracking, it just feels overwhelming. Whether it is or not is moot, but to me, it feels more of a burden than it’s worth in my perceived value which seems to me to be limited to a somewhat faster boot time and a somewhat improved file manager. I’m just not seeing any other benefits.

Curious if anyone knows if the ms enterprise av, forefront, is tested anywhere? I never see it mentioned. I used kaspersky back when I was an admin for a small company. I found it easy to admin and it was rock solid. Seems like it is still a top performer. Now at a big company that uses forefront and a file server just got hit with cryptolocker. I personally believe security is not Microsoft’s forte. An enterprise like ours should be using a company that specializes in security such as kaspersky or another top performer. Any thoughts on forefront out there?

For other reasons, I did a clean install of 10130 via dvd ISO I downloaded. It took several reboots and many times appeared to be stuck, but I left machine alone for about 2 hrs and it eventually finished ok. But then it is a test machine that has nothing else on it and very few third party apps.

I’m not holding out too much hope for ms to improve access to the start menu for tweaking/customizing. It seems they are moving to an apple m.o. of foisting unwanted apps upon all users, like the old Nike-iPod app and now the apple watch app – they fail to recognize a large portion, maybe even a majority, of users have no desire or need for those apps but they eliminate any means to remove them so they sit idle in some folder wasting space. It is no wonder that jailbreaking idevices has become so prevalent. I see the same future for MS if they continue on this path.

Fwiw, nothing I could find removed the “&” entry in all apps, however I managed to break the mail, calendar and people apps and lost my ability to log into the store. Tried a restore, it failed to fix, tried a reset, it failed to fix. Finally downloaded the 10130 ISO and did a clean reinstall. All apps start menu back with no broken or odd entries but there were a slew of broken “@microsoft.something.whatever” “dead” live tiles. Up pinning them cleaned out the start menu and none showed up in the all apps sidebar start menu. So finall yhave a clean install to continue to fiddle with.