Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Support MFO
Donate through PayPal
Is Anything To Be Gained By Upgrading To Windows 10?
Even though I am a guy, I have heard some good things about the latest Windows. There is a lot of OSX stuff in there. I would think the cloud stuff could be disabled?
@Maurice, since you haven't had any problems with the current OS, the old adage of not messing with a good thing could apply here. Since you might be upgrading hardware in a couple of years, maybe just stay as is for now.
With that said, one good reason to upgrade would be if 10 has better security than 7.
On the other hand, how many other software packages might you have to upgrade to work with 10? Anti-virus and other third party apps?
Related: Google's Project Zero targeted to find software security holes, notifying the vendor with a 90 day fix period; thereafter releasing the data to the public.
A bit ironic, to a point; with Google's ability to gather personal data. But, this is the trade off in today's online world.
@Maurice Agree with fully keeping our personal items "at our house" via electronic device storage. Why do I need the cloud for these items? 'Course the common statement today would be that it is sooooo easy. Will maintain Windows 7 here as long as it will function for our needs.
Having a cloud backup would be beneficial if your home was burglarized and the computer and related disks were taken. A better reason is in case of disaster where everything is destroyed, you have the offsite backup.
Any important files should be strongly encrypted and your cloud password should be very strong.
@Maurice, Win 10 probably won't add much for your uses. Noted that Win 9 was skipped and went straight to Win 10. I am also using Win 7 Professional and will not upgrade for sometime to come. Next change will be away from Microsoft totally. Our household also using Apple OS for sometime that is likely the direction of future change.
I don't use the cloud service either since there is enough data hacking incidents recently. Like you we backup the data on several hard drives regularly and stored elsewhere from our residence in case of fire or theft. We use encryption at work but file transfer is general slow and software conflict causes the files to be unreadable.
@JohnChisum I agree as to your points too with personal data storage. We have fire safes for storage located in the most secure part of our house; not subject to water/flooding; and even less subject to fire/heat circumstances.
@catch22, sounds like a good plan. Hard drives are cheap nowadays.
The biggest issue is passwords. They need to be long and complicated. I just let the MPB make them for me and store in the Keychain. It's amazing how weak most passwords are that people use.
We're holding onto Windows 7 and waiting to evaluate a full release copy of Windows 10 before we schedule an upgrade. That said, running a college IT department means that we will be using Windows 10 eventually.
We've actually found that Windows 8 runs more efficiently on older hardware than Windows 7 does. We've upgraded some older laptops to Windows 8, for improved performance, and installed Classic Shell http://www.classicshell.net/ to make the user experience comfortable.
If Windows 10 also provides a similar performance boost, you may want to consider it. From early reviews, it promises a much more user-friendly interface than the disastrous Windows 8.
@Maurice: "I don't trust the Cloud for security reasons"
@catch22: "I agree as to your points too with personal data storage. We have fire safes for storage located in the most secure part of our house"
@JohnChisum: "since you haven't had any problems with the current OS, the old adage of not messing with a good thing could apply here."
What totally solid advice here! For local backup, in case of drive failure, I have a second internal hard drive which I update weekly to be identical to the main drive. For protection against theft, fire, or other destruction, I keep a number of portable hard drives also identical to the main drive, and rotate them on a regular basis to our weekend house for safekeeping.
As mentioned above, new operating systems sometimes require updates of other applications. More and more of those "new improved" application updates are NOT FOR SALE: if you want to use the app, you must rent it in perpetuity from the vendor, with payments due each and every month, forever.
I trust the ICloud quite a bit - after considerable reading and thought. Not sure if I'd trust anyone else's but Apple's though. So, my computer and the cloud pretty much know all. Honestly, I'd be more concerned about the "legal" snoopers getting into your cloud than criminals (warrants, court orders, NSA snooping, etc.)
A few key passwords I've decided not to record anywhere except in my marginally functioning brain. I try to keep them all similar enough to help with recall and yet imbue each with a logical variance. Change them every six months or even more often. It would be nice if the fiduciaries would standardize password protocol. Some require use of upper-case keyboard symbols in passwords for example, while other prohibit it. So it becomes difficult to standardize them for easy recall.
A real benefit of the cloud is when you upgrade to a new device. Just download all that data into it. (1) Be extra careful with your Apple ID & Password as someone else could use it to break in. (2) Keep a paper copy of that in a secure place so you can't lock yourself out of your device and than not have the password.
Hi Hank. My own marginally functioning brain seems to cope best with the old 'sentence' password idea using the first letter of each word, etc. Here's one I just sent to the scrap heap after a year: "I went to my brothers wedding at Paducah Arkansas in September 2002." Th fact that I don't have a brother and Paducah Arkansas doesn't exist and the 'at' is really an ampersand adds, I suppose, to illogical variance. Now I better worry about keyloggers. Thanks for your contribution to the other security thread. best, hawk "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
Ha - Used a variation of that for quick grading of multiple-choice quizzes when I worked in education. (Devise a silly sentence in which first letters of words replicate what you're looking for.) Worked great.
Agree - it's probably better than what I now use for passwords.
Comments
With that said, one good reason to upgrade would be if 10 has better security than 7.
On the other hand, how many other software packages might you have to upgrade to work with 10? Anti-virus and other third party apps?
A bit ironic, to a point; with Google's ability to gather personal data. But, this is the trade off in today's online world.
@Maurice
Agree with fully keeping our personal items "at our house" via electronic device storage. Why do I need the cloud for these items? 'Course the common statement today would be that it is sooooo easy. Will maintain Windows 7 here as long as it will function for our needs.
Any important files should be strongly encrypted and your cloud password should be very strong.
I don't use the cloud service either since there is enough data hacking incidents recently. Like you we backup the data on several hard drives regularly and stored elsewhere from our residence in case of fire or theft. We use encryption at work but file transfer is general slow and software conflict causes the files to be unreadable.
I agree as to your points too with personal data storage. We have fire safes for storage located in the most secure part of our house; not subject to water/flooding; and even less subject to fire/heat circumstances.
The biggest issue is passwords. They need to be long and complicated. I just let the MPB make them for me and store in the Keychain. It's amazing how weak most passwords are that people use.
We've actually found that Windows 8 runs more efficiently on older hardware than Windows 7 does. We've upgraded some older laptops to Windows 8, for improved performance, and installed Classic Shell http://www.classicshell.net/ to make the user experience comfortable.
If Windows 10 also provides a similar performance boost, you may want to consider it. From early reviews, it promises a much more user-friendly interface than the disastrous Windows 8.
@catch22: "I agree as to your points too with personal data storage. We have fire safes for storage located in the most secure part of our house"
@JohnChisum: "since you haven't had any problems with the current OS, the old adage of not messing with a good thing could apply here."
What totally solid advice here! For local backup, in case of drive failure, I have a second internal hard drive which I update weekly to be identical to the main drive. For protection against theft, fire, or other destruction, I keep a number of portable hard drives also identical to the main drive, and rotate them on a regular basis to our weekend house for safekeeping.
As mentioned above, new operating systems sometimes require updates of other applications. More and more of those "new improved" application updates are NOT FOR SALE: if you want to use the app, you must rent it in perpetuity from the vendor, with payments due each and every month, forever.
A few key passwords I've decided not to record anywhere except in my marginally functioning brain. I try to keep them all similar enough to help with recall and yet imbue each with a logical variance. Change them every six months or even more often. It would be nice if the fiduciaries would standardize password protocol. Some require use of upper-case keyboard symbols in passwords for example, while other prohibit it. So it becomes difficult to standardize them for easy recall.
A real benefit of the cloud is when you upgrade to a new device. Just download all that data into it.
(1) Be extra careful with your Apple ID & Password as someone else could use it to break in. (2) Keep a paper copy of that in a secure place so you can't lock yourself out of your device and than not have the password.
My own marginally functioning brain seems to cope best with the old 'sentence' password idea using the first letter of each word, etc. Here's one I just sent to the scrap heap after a year: "I went to my brothers wedding at Paducah Arkansas in September 2002." Th fact that I don't have a brother and Paducah Arkansas doesn't exist and the 'at' is really an ampersand adds, I suppose, to illogical variance. Now I better worry about keyloggers.
Thanks for your contribution to the other security thread.
best, hawk
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
Hi hawk
Ha - Used a variation of that for quick grading of multiple-choice quizzes when I worked in education. (Devise a silly sentence in which first letters of words replicate what you're looking for.) Worked great.
Agree - it's probably better than what I now use for passwords.
Good going.