Closed's recommendations please?

closed

As a tech geek, you'll know the importance of backups then

matttye

closed wrote: »

As a tech geek, you'll know the importance of backups then

Lost/corrupted data isn't the only risk that viruses/malware pose; they can also harvest your contacts, steal your financial information, etc.

But yes - backups are very important, no argument there

closed

I installed a google plug-in the other day, and uninstalled it 5 minutes later, lo and behold, the uninstaller left google update all over the machine, I was given no indication this was being installed, and no option to untick ... it wasn't straightforward to delete. This sort of behaviour clogs up pc's with crap.

Some updates are important, unless you are very unlucky, most are not.

matttye

closed wrote: »

I installed a google plug-in the other day, and uninstalled it 5 minutes later, lo and behold, the uninstaller left google update all over the machine, I was given no indication this was being installed, and no option to untick ... it wasn't straightforward to delete. This sort of behaviour clogs up pc's with crap.

Some updates are important, unless you are very unlucky, most are not.

It would be pretty irresponsible to give users the option to untick an option to install the software update part, given that some updates are important.

That said, if you uninstalled the plug-in and that was the only software on your computer that used the updater, I agree it should have uninstalled automatically.

closed

Microsoft would like to install 172MB of security updates on my machine along with countless optionals, and as soon as I do that, it will find another few 100MB of updates to the updates it's just done, and another, this cycle will continue forever until support for the os is dropped. The machine runs fine without them, isn't infected, hasn't come across a site that exploits one of these holes, it could do one day, but the risk of any big downside is minimal, as I have many clean backups to revert to should the worst happen.

The same could be said of flash, java, and countless other pieces of increasingly bloated software that splat hard to remove updaters all over the machine. I update manually from time to time, as sites tend to say you need version xx of flash to work.

All this software is slowing the boot time, and using up resources under the hood, and apart from microsoft/windows update is uncontrollable.

The absolute worst that could happen is my bank account is emptied with a zero day exploit, in which case the bank will refund me.

matttye

closed wrote: »

Microsoft would like to install 172MB of security updates on my machine along with countless optionals, and as soon as I do that, it will find another few 100MB of updates, and another, this cycle will continue forever until support for the os is dropped. The machine runs fine without them, isn't infected, hasn't come across a site that exploits one of these holes, it could do one day, but the risk of any big downside is minimal, as I have many clean backups to revert to.

The same could be said of flash, java, and countless other pieces of software that splat hard to remove updaters all over the machine. I update manually from time to time, as sites tend to say you need version xx of flash to work.

The absolute worst that could happen is my bank account is emptied, in which case the bank will refund me.

So? Windows update runs in the background. Any critical updates aren't optional, so just tell it to update when you get the prompt and continue with what you were doing. Installing updates is no hardship. The ONLY annoying thing about the process is when it needs to restart your PC afterwards. I just click 'restart later' each time and then let them finish installing next I boot my PC.

Your bank will refund you but it's still a pain in the !!! to have to go through all of that when you probably wouldn't have to if you just installed updates.

Any keylogger that got installed could send all of your other account details to an attacker as well.

The pros of installing updates far outweigh the cons. It's an absolute no brainer that you should keep your software up to date.

closed

No I ran it manually.

Risk management is all about odds, what is the likelihood of something bad happening without my knowledge or control because I don't have flash updater running as a service in the background, and what are the potential consequences, once that is understood, each person can come to their own conclusion of the importance of bloated and continual updates. Virus scanner, image backups and bank guarantees mitigate any downside.

matttye

closed wrote: »

No I ran it manually.

Risk management is all about odds, what is the likelihood of something bad happening without my knowledge or control, and what are the potential consequences, once that is understood, each person can come to their own conclusion of the importance of bloated and continual updates.

Seems pretty simple to me.

Not updated software: higher risk of malicious software.
Fully updated software: lower risk of malicious software.

Why would you take the risk when it's so easy to keep up to date? I don't understand that point of view at all.

closed

Because it has downsides, slower machine, slower boot, slower internet connection, rogue updates causing unbootable pc and lost data for people who don't know how to recover, fuller hard disk, privacy issues. Buy a new machine, it runs pretty fast, 6 months later it probably won't, because of all the bloat that has been added under the hood, including updaters, toolbars, and multiple virus scanners and security products. A lot of people then go out and buy a new machine, when the one they have was perfectly capable before it had been hijacked with bloat.

Occasional manual or delayed automatic updates are a better way of reducing the risk and keeping a smooth running machine.

matttye

closed wrote: »

Because it has downsides, slower machine, slower boot, slower internet connection, rogue updates causing unbootable pc and lost data for people who don't know how to recover, fuller hard disk, privacy issues. Buy a new machine, it runs pretty fast, 6 months later it probably won't, because of all the bloat that has been added under the hood, including updaters, toolbars, and multiple virus scanners and security products. A lot of people then go out an buy a new machine, when the one they have is perfectly capable.

Occasional manual or delayed automatic updates are a better way of reducing the risk and keeping a smooth running machine.

I've had automatic updates enabled since I bought this machine and it's about six years old now, something like that. Can't remember exactly when I bought it. Still runs really well and I can't say automatic updates have ever added bloat or slowed it down. They slow down booting up a little bit when the updates are installing but that's a small price to pay for the security of having fully updated software.

Computer is nothing special by today's standards, E8400 processor (dual core 3GHz, core 2 duo), 4GB RAM.

Not sure where your bloat is coming from. :think:

There's nothing wrong with manual updates as long as people are savvy enough to remember to do it and know how to do it. Your average PC user wouldn't have a clue!