Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY
Posted: 03 Jun 2014, 03:43
Does this mean that buying books and having them on the shelf is safer than Kindle etc.??
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Most USB drives "go to sleep" when they haven't been accessed for a while but they wake up again as soon as the computer wants it again. The malware will wake it up because it has control of the computer. A disk with a hard switch should be OK if its switched off. The way to do it would be to have 2 backups and swap them over say every week. Statistically, its unlikely to "get" you. Security is more a state of mind than anything, some people who frequent the same sites over and over and don't download stuff from habit won't usually attract malware. I often get called out to customers to remove rubbish when their grandkids have been over and played on the computer. I haven't had a cryptolocker yet. I often see mature computers that are used regularly and are absolutely clean, and unfortunately I also see computers that are less than a week old that are riddled with junk. Its the attitude of the owner more than anything IMO.plaques wrote:Pluggy, I'm a bit naive when it comes to computer virus. I use a WD desk top hard drive to do my backing up on but I always have it switched on while the PC is on. The blurb on it gave me the impression that it only woke up when it was asked to do something, ie: not in operation until you asked it. Is your recommendation that I actually unplug it until I need it? There is no on/off switch on the disc unit itself.
Yes, however they have changed the rules for Windows 8, for every version except RT you are able to downgrade to Windows 7 ProfessionalPluggy wrote:They have since Vista on Business versions of Windows. But most machines have Home versions, few home users pay the extra for the business version. Lenovo usually ship them with 7 already Imaged on the drive ands give you a set of DVDs to upgrade to 8 if you were so inclined (stupid enough).Steven Chorkley wrote:Microsoft offer downgrade rights http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensi ... tu_u9moW5gTripps wrote:Thanks for that.
Yes - I bought it because it had Windows 7 on it. There didn't seem to be many new ones available with it at the time.
I have a Lenovo which I obtained in a "horse trading" deal which had been down graded from Vista Business to XP Pro, I put Vista Back on it with the demise of XP, It dual boots with Ubuntu, but it never sees the Windows half, like another laptop which my wife claimed which dual boots Ubuntu and Windows 8. I fire 8 up sometimes to let it do upgrades...
I have a copy of 7 and XP in VMs on my main Ubuntu Box. Its useful sometimes to be able to run a particular vesion of Windows.
Drm... however if you manage to avoid it, the digital world isn't so bad.Tizer wrote:Liz, Those who run and make money from the digital world often like to tell us how they are increasing our freedom, how liberal they are etc etc but the reality is that they use their digital trickery to limit what we can do and to suit them and their profits.
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More trouble...
From Metro, 2nd June 2014
Two weeks to save your computer from major cyber attack
http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/02/two-weeks ... k-4747797/
I'm also not so sure about this.... i've read about it, but never been affected. I think they are turning it into something it isn't.Tripps wrote:There is something very strange about this latest attempt to frighten us. On each interview I've seen the same expert has responded, and advised us all to go to an organisation called Get Safe Online. They didn't even give the usual caveat "other protection sites are available". The site of course crashed under pressure of demand, but seems to be back on now.
The story seems to be that this very bad Russian man has been pillaging the internet for ages, and making billions of pounds, but the good guys have now stopped him. However they say it will only take two weeks for him to be up to mischief again - so we must go to get safe online.
I've looked at the site briefly, and find that it seems to run by the Government, but in close association with many private companies - including Microsoft. Makes me wonder why they didn't warn us when he was 'at it' , rather than now when they have stopped him.![]()
I have decided not to worry about it at all, and take no action. Mr Gates will keep me safe - and of course, I won't open any attachments on strange emails.
Isn't that a little OTT?Pluggy wrote:Most USB drives "go to sleep" when they haven't been accessed for a while but they wake up again as soon as the computer wants it again. The malware will wake it up because it has control of the computer. A disk with a hard switch should be OK if its switched off. The way to do it would be to have 2 backups and swap them over say every week. Statistically, its unlikely to "get" you. Security is more a state of mind than anything, some people who frequent the same sites over and over and don't download stuff from habit won't usually attract malware. I often get called out to customers to remove rubbish when their grandkids have been over and played on the computer. I haven't had a cryptolocker yet. I often see mature computers that are used regularly and are absolutely clean, and unfortunately I also see computers that are less than a week old that are riddled with junk. Its the attitude of the owner more than anything IMO.plaques wrote:Pluggy, I'm a bit naive when it comes to computer virus. I use a WD desk top hard drive to do my backing up on but I always have it switched on while the PC is on. The blurb on it gave me the impression that it only woke up when it was asked to do something, ie: not in operation until you asked it. Is your recommendation that I actually unplug it until I need it? There is no on/off switch on the disc unit itself.
One word of advice, if you're still on Windows XP, don't use Internet Explorer. Its become something of a target because its getting old and Microsoft haven't been going out of their way to keep it secure. Its been abandoned altogether since early April this year.
The present version of IE is version 11 which you can have on Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1. Vista is stuck at Version 9.
There are still around a quarter of computers (as apposed to phones/tablets) accessing the Internet using XP, Windows 7 has around half, The other quarter are shared among Windows 8/8.1, Vista, Mac and Linux.. All of which are in single figure percentages.
I have over 2000 photos on my hard drives, just over two years work. I add about another 20 /30 each week. Last year I updated my computer and backup system purely because the old one started creaking a bit and I couldn't bear the thoughts of trying to replace pictures of buildings that have since been demolished. If people with far more experience than I have say I should be doing X,Y,Z. to be 100% safe then that's what I will do. Nothing is OTT for me.Steven Chorkley wrote:Isn't that a little OTT?
Fair enough! I just use a 1TB drive and back that up with http://www.code42.com/crashplan/plaques wrote:I have over 2000 photos on my hard drives, just over two years work. I add about another 20 /30 each week. Last year I updated my computer and backup system purely because the old one started creaking a bit and I couldn't bear the thoughts of trying to replace pictures of buildings that have since been demolished. If people with far more experience than I have say I should be doing X,Y,Z. to be 100% safe then that's what I will do. Nothing is OTT for me.Steven Chorkley wrote:Isn't that a little OTT?
Thank you Pluggy.
Whats OTT ? Two backup hard drives and swapping them around ? Its good practice even without crypto-locker in the equation. Its not like they're expensive.Steven Chorkley wrote:
Isn't that a little OTT?
And none should use IE, please please use Chrome or Firefox.
Fair enough about Archiving, but it isn't the same anymore. I trust my backups, and i've never actually had to use them. I don't really need to backup a lot of data, maybe just over 100GB's worth the majority of my work is in thick thick foldersPluggy wrote:Whats OTT ? Two backup hard drives and swapping them around ? Its good practice even without crypto-locker in the equation. Its not like they're expensive.Steven Chorkley wrote:
Isn't that a little OTT?
And none should use IE, please please use Chrome or Firefox.
Are you writing off every version of IE ?. I've no hangups with running the latest. (Even if I'm a Linux nerd and don't run it myself). 10 or 12 years ago before Microsoft discovered security I'd probably have agreed with not running IE. All browsers have had security issues in the past, I don't think the latest IE is generally any worse than the alternatives.
/usr/bin for many of them.although as with windows, its not just as simple as that....Steven Chorkley wrote:Rookie question.... where are your applications installed in Ubuntu?
Link ?Steven Chorkley wrote: Yes, however they have changed the rules for Windows 8, for every version except RT you are able to downgrade to Windows 7 Professional