Windows10 worries...

[BrianT]

If this is old, I missed it. I've been reading the Win10 threads here and there's something that's bugging me big time about Win10.

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-02/surveillance-state-goes-mainstream-windows-10-watching-logging-everything

 

Talk about handing over your cyberworld to Microsoft on a silver platter. Dang!

 

I have heard people say that you can turn a lot of things off but if you do that, are you basically turning off most of the useful reasons you'd have Windows in the first place?

 

I'm still on the fence as to whether I really want to even install it. I mean, seriously, giving access to the files on my computer that I never send over the internet in the first place? If I read the EULA correctly, that's what I'd be signing up for.

 

Maybe there's something I'm not understanding. Or maybe I am understanding. (Yikes!)

[Pieere]

Heck the goverment already knows more about me than I do about myself; so it don't make a hill of beans. Really you can go into the start menu; click settings; click privacy and security settings and voila! Your there then if you run into trouble with the definition; click on the help settings and it describes it in detail.

[BrianT]

Kinda begs the question... Will the settings that I turn off get mysteriously turned back on with every update?

[DJW]

That's the card you turn over when you turn on your computer? You just never know. You can live a life of fear of the unknown or you can move on with life. Your choice!

 

Dennis

[k4rs]

I am also concerned about the privacy issues with Windows 10. I am using a local account and have turned off everything I can via the Settings -> Privacy control panel. For me, the answer is to use Linux for all of my important stuff and only boot into Windows when I need to use some software that is not available under Linux. Unfortunately, I know this is not a solution for the masses and don't know what else to suggest.

 

Safe Travels...

[BrianT]

Roger, it may not be a solution for the masses but I think it sounds like a very reasonable solution.

[skp51443]

A bootable Linux CD, DVD, external or thumb drive can work out well for folks, use Windows for whatever you want but reboot into Linux for stuff where you are worried about privacy.

 

I like OpenSuse for a full system that has a wide selection of programs but for just browsing something like the DoD sponsored Linux is a better fit.

 

OpenSuse: https://software.opensuse.org/132/en

 

DoD: http://www.spi.dod.mil/lipose.htm

 

The DoD standard version loads faster than the deluxe so try it first.

[BrianT]

Thanks, Stan. I've briefly gotten to play with OpenSuse13.1 but not enough to really get a feel for it.

 

What I kinda wonered is, what would be some of the things that Windows would do that OpenSuse wouldn't?

 

I hadn't heard of the DoD Linux.

[skp51443]

Linux offers a lot of programs, they come free and ready to run with something like OpenSuse (13.2 is the current release) so it will do quite a bit for you out of the box. The programs are maintained and updates are offered similar to the Windows update process except that all the programs get updates, not just the basic OS and paid add-on ones. If you are willing to spend the time fooling with it you can use the Wine program to run some Windows programs but not all

 

Windows has a better selection of mapping / GPS programs, I'm not sure what else it offers that you can't get something similar from Linux, I don't use Windows often aside from for some beta testing I'm involved in.

 

 

The DoD Linux is intended to give DoD folks a way to access secure computer systems from their personal computers, it isn't perfect but it bypasses a vast majority of the malware that can snoop on a Windows machine.

[Medico]

The last time I played with Linux was Mint. It was just too geeky for my liking. I do not have the time now to do the playing it would take to get accustomed to a new derivation.

[Medico]

Bob Rankin has 5 things to do in Win 10 on his website that will help to alleviate some of these worries.

[budeneighe]

Not to hijack this thread but I started looking into Linux versions several years ago and tested (to my satisfaction) Mint, Red Hat, Zorin, Ubuntu, Xubuntu and OpenSuse. For comparison sake, I setted into my top 3 (Zorin, Xubuntu, Ubuntu and Mint - in that order of preference). I had each in a separate bootable partition so I could get a good comparitive feel of each. Zorin was my favorite until I tried Opensuse 13.1. Now on 13.2, it is the only one that I considered to be a good enough fit for me to let it share my SSD drive as a bootable partition.

 

Opensuse, when it was installed on a HD, was always quite slow coming up as was MINT (>3-5 minutes). When I installed it on my SSD, it pops up in < 20 seconds.

 

Despite my lack of familiarity with LInux OS lingo, procedures (you do need to know "stuff" to work through most of the help threads when you have difficulties and a lot of how to's are terminal mode based (Command line operations with lots of parameters).

 

Having said that, I am still serious about OpenSuse and its future. It has sprung largely from Novell and I have seen it described as a "friendly Fedora". Until it came along I had very little patience to resolve issues in LInux because of my lack of background and experience with it. The only thing I have not been able to find a way to do in OpenSuse 13.2 is to get my Netgear A6100 USB WIFI adapter to work in it. Netgear wifi does not seem to have much support for Linux that I can find.

 

As for security in WIndows 10, I just don't get breached or infected so I can't talk to comparison to Linux. My curiosity with LInux has been more academic than anything else but I do find it very interesting that the differences between these OS's is also becoming mostly academic.

[BrianT]

Thanks, Budd! I appreciate the perspective from someone who's tried out a few different distros and compared a bit.

 

I had heard that Zorin was popular among those who were WinXP users. But I also hear such good things about OpenSuse that it's the one I think I'm gonna start with. Right now, I'm trying to figure out which of my computers I want to try it on. I have an old Dell laptop that was an original XP model that I really liked that I'm thinking of resurrecting just for this purpose. I figure I can pull off any old files I want to keep (if there are any) and it's pretty much a "nothing to lose by trying" kind of thing. An even older desktop would be a candidate if I had more room to play with, the RV really doesn't have a good space for it right now.

[skp51443]

An older laptop will be quite happy with OpenSuse, the grandkids have a couple they use that are really old and slow and I just gave away an antique HP-nx5000 Pentium M that a friend is happy with to do his banking and such after he got burned when something slipped onto his Windows box.

 

 

The DoD Linux is 100% non-geeky, you just boot it and open the browser, it doesn't have a lot of other programs (the deluxe adds an office set but is slower to boot) and you update by getting a new copy.

 

You can do OpenSuse as a bootable external DVD or device or install it on an internal drive, it is a bit slow to load from a DVD but a USB stick is pretty quick. OpenSuse it a tiny bit geeky but it has a tool called Yast that has point and click setup options for everything a new user needs, if you use the KDE (default) set of programs you get s similar tool for setting the desktop options. For new folks the 13.2 version is the way to go, they also offer a Tumbleweed version that has more cutting edge updates but save that until you have a bit of seat time. The original OpenSuse was taken over by Novell when they bought Suse Enterprise Linux and now is run by Attachmate (some really good folks and I believe a family business) that are making some major good changes. They are going to put the Suse Enterprise code into OpenSuse which will cut the workload on all involved and make the platform even more stable and faster to update. There is some news on both here:

 

https://news.opensuse.org/2015/08/05/the-weekly-review-tumbleweed-and-leap/

 

I have been an OpenSuse user for many years due solely to the Yast program, it is so much easier to talk someone through tweaking things when you can say click here then there than to take them through a lot of typing in the terminal program. I do use other versions, CENTOS mainly for some server tasks but the geekiness level for that is high and not for beginners that want something that just works.

[BrianT]

I wish there were a "Thanks" or "Like" type button to show thanks for good, thoughtful and useful posts! I'd be using it.

 

Thanks, guys. I appreciate your insights.

[TheDuke]

Can you linux geeks syRt you own topic insted of hijacking this one. We get it, you love linux. Get your own topic.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

 

Can you linux geeks syRt you own topic insted of hijacking this one. We get it, you love linux. Get your own topic.

You miss the logic. A new version of Windows User Interface is different so instead of learning the new UI, the answer is to change to a totally different operating system with a steeper learning curve than the new Windows UI. See how logical that is?

 

I don't either.

[Medico]

I agree. That subject should be a separate topic. I have seen it mentioned in 2 separate Win 10 threads. I am happy so far with Win 10. My DW does not really see any differences from her previous Win 8.1. I did install Stardock's Start8 on both PCs. I think this adds more functionality to the Win 10 Start Menu. Even with Start8 installed, the Windows key is set to open the Win 10 Start Menu. This is one of the optional settings in Start8. I particularly like the way the CP can be set as a menu on Start8. Even though I have pinned the CP (opening as small thumbnails) on the Taskbar, I almost never use it unless I hit it by accident.

 

A couple of my original FBs to MS have already been corrected with the daily updates to Win 10. I like that!

[BrianT]

Actually, as the starter of this thread, I have appreciated the "wandering" nature of the replies. From what I have read, both here and other places (one of which was linked in the OP), I just do not trust Win10. I still don't, even though people insist most of the spyware stuff can be turned off. I also still do not trust that automatic updates will not turn my turned off settings back on.

 

Linux and it's variations are appearing to be a viable alternative for me.

 

You like Win10 and want it, go for it. I'm just not there. And this thread is encouraging me that I don't have to be.

 

To each their own.

[chuckbear]

My solution is to stay with my Windows 7 which has worked just fine for a very long time and I have no issue with. I can't see going through all of this just to have the latest and greatest, when there is nothing wrong with what I have. I doubt very seriously that this "free" upgrade isn't going to cost something sooner or later. Chuck

[ed6713]

Privacy issues.

 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-secure-windows-10-the-paranoids-guide/?tag=nl.e540&s_cid=e540&ttag=e540&ftag=TRE5369823

[skp51443]

Can you linux geeks syRt you own topic insted of hijacking this one. We get it, you love linux. Get your own topic.

 

Duke, Sorry you feel that way but the DoD Linux is a viable option with a near zero learning curve that gives folks a way to accomplish their business safely until they sort out the Windows 10 issues. The DoD doesn't allow you to access their systems from Windows so they built their Linux to be dead simple and easy.

 

You miss the logic. A new version of Windows User Interface is different so instead of learning the new UI, the answer is to change to a totally different operating system with a steeper learning curve than the new Windows UI. See how logical that is?

 

I don't either.

 

Mark, You are missing the whole point of the DoD Linux, nothing to learn, just boot it up and click on the browser icon, the browser then works just like the Windows version.

 

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If anyone is interested in more on either then do start a new topic and we can discuss it there.

[Ray,IN]

This website echos the concern about downloading Windows 10. http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/windows-10-spies-on-emails-images-credit-cards-more/

Linux OS is looking better each day.

The Windows 10 FAQ webpage states if we are signed up for the free download we are already receiving small downloads that will prepare our computer for the main Win 10 download. Now I'm wondering if some trackers are already working to steal my privacy.

[mrschwarz]

Google, Facebook, Twitter, and on and on. You're worried about Microsoft? Really?

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

 

Mark, You are missing the whole point of the DoD Linux, nothing to learn, just boot it up and click on the browser icon, the browser then works just like the Windows version.

If I only wanted a browser, there are simpler tablet options.