Windows 10: Wonderful Microsoft

True but that's only a recent change. It wasn't always that easy to transfer an OEM license. Doesn't seem to matter how you got a DL now. I don't think it matters if it was obtained from an OEM or Retail install, its just a DL. The Product ID might tell you but I don't know how you decode those? In the past it would have xxxxx-OEM-xxxx etc, but I don't think its like that now. Activation has had some big changes with Digital Licenses. And is still changing with the linked to your account stuff. It appears as though every PC gets a DL. The only exception would be Enterprise activated with a KMS key. One would hope KMS keys are excluded.

 

Yep they have flipped ok in the wrong direction and if I knew then what I know now I would never have touched the 10 OEM and just installed it straight to this machine and then dual booted an ISO of my Home 7 to it afterwards.

As I said Wonderful Microsoft and even more so after reading some of this rot today
Microsoft adds another option to its complex Windows 10 patching story | ZDNet some extra links within it making for the folks with a PHd in gobbledegook forget the idiot plebs like myself*sarc

 

Hi there
Perhaps it's time for Ms to sit down and really work out a totally NEW way of implementing Windows security.

I've been running LINUX for years and never had the slightest problem with security / viruses etc etc -- that's not to say it can't be hacked but it's so much harder to do, and I've used some of those dubious sites in the past.

If you add in the fact that pretty well all Linux flavours is open source so any would be hacker has access to the entire kernel, GUI etc etc it shows the base system must be pretty resilient.

Maybe Windows should start by becoming Open Source -- most of the money Ms makes these days are from providing consultancy, networking, and various other services plus a lot of work in Robotics, X-boxes, VR etc etc. I think Office is the biggest money spinner for software these days.

With Open source a lot of defects would easily be cleared up pretty quickly.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Im confused - what were you trying to do? Install W10 OEM to a drive, then remove the drive and put it into an existing W7 system??????

 

But that could also create a chaos with hundreds of distros and compatibility problems Linux faces. In my mind, that's only problem with Linux, no organization and concentrated effort with wide system incompatibility of SW. Professional Linux sorts prove that it could be done by concentrated effort done professionally but that's not free.

 

HI there
@CountMike

actually TWO good Enterprise versions of Linux are available FREE -- they are identical to the robust commercial Enterprise server products. (There might be others but these are nr 1 and nr 2 in this type of environment).

1) My favourite --CENTOS - based on and supported by RED HAT - servers in use all over the world - very stable and almost unbreakable. Identical code to the paid for RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) version. The only difference is that you have to support it yourself.

2) OPENSUSE - based on SLES (SUSE enterprise server) also very good -- slightly more "leading edge" but also stable.

I agree for the vast majority there are so many distros etc that it would be a real "Dogs Dinner" to get any sort of standards -- however it does show that even with many many different distributions security isn't a mega problem like there is with Windows -- that's the area that Ms needs to fix -- even Networking which was a pain with any release of Windows seems to be operating OK these days !!!.

Other hacks like Denial of Service etc aren't the security of the OS itself but of Network access so any site is a potential target for that type of attack.

The other thing about Linux though - if someone say needs a DVD player etc - then it usually appears due to some dedicated hobbyists writing an application and is free. Windows does have a problem that there are all sorts of copyright issues -- how VLC hasn't been threatened with a zillion lawsuits over the DVD CSS de-scrambling and region by-passes I don't know -.

All in all Ms actually does a decent job considering the hugely varying types of users and the equipment they have. A lot of the security breaches though could be avoided if users THEMSELVES were more aware of the increasing sophistication of scams and frauds out there -- not all of which can be caught via Software protection.

I really think though Ms do need to beef up their QA a bit of course !!!!!.

Cheers
jimbo

 

My favorite is Mint (any flavor) just for shear SW base if nothing else. Also have OpenSUSE in a VM but Mint is still on a USB as live with perstinence and loaded with utilities. Practically irreplaceable for troubleshooting computers and accessing otherwise unreachable data on them and disks.

 

Hackers go for the biggest target. There are a lot more Windows systems out there than there are Linux systems. Plus the easy target, Joe average computer user doesn't run Linux, they run what it came with which is usually Windows. I don't think Linux is any easier or harder to hack than Windows, there's just less of those system out there. And those that use it for servers have it locked down, or at least should have it locked down.

 

I believe that hacking Linux takes more knowledge just as it takes more knowledge to change thinks inside system.

 

Hi there

good for that purpose - however I run mine as a server, my own VPN, Internet gateway, file and media server for windows clients and mail server so for me a robust standard server which is easy to run headless and rarely if ever needs re-booting is my "Weapon of choice".

I agree though Mint with a load of utilities on a USB stick can just about repair any computer in the known universe (assuming it's not a mega hardware defect).

Servers do need to be locked down -- but even with Windows the firewall should be ON and I'm also amazed that most people don't look at a good source of info --the router logs will be an excellent indication of "dubious" outbound and inbound requests.

Cheers
jimbo

 

I haven't anything to do with servers since early NT and it was much easier than comparable UNIX for which I had to call specialist many times. Anyway, my router is on a lockdown with it's own firewall too and only 2 devices allowed to access internet at a time. Should be enough for personal use.

 

Yes, but they also go for the notoriety of being the one who brought down all of the Linux servers. They may not be the dominant platform on the desktop, but the Internet is another story altogether.

Linux came from Unix, which came out as a multi-user operating system since day 1. Security has been ongoing in the Linux/Unix platform for like 40 years. It wasn't that long ago that all Windows users were Admins by default. No wonder we had lots of problems.

In addition, Windows can be a bit too easy. Click a few things and viola, it's running. Linux takes more effort, which usually means you prepare a bit better. If you put in the prep work, you learn about the security and make it secure right out of the gate. People don't usually accidentally get a Linux box up and running Apache. But many a person has installed Windows server, got IIS installed and then got Pwned because they had absolutely 0 security.

And Windows users want to do everything as Admin. Look at the people who scoff over the use of UAC. But a UAC like system is tantamount in Mac as well as Linux. You run as a standard user and elevate up for only what you need. But Windows people be like, "I haz admin skillz, i won't do no UAC, I haz no n33d5 for helpz".

 

No Colin as usual I just jumped in boots and all not knowing I already had the machine on their books as it were - so I swapped in a new SSD put that OEM on it and it worked fine. I then took out that drive and converted the swapped out drive back into the machine with 7 on it and tried to install 10 from the OEM DVD because I was thinking at least the key would be in the machine ?somewhere . Now it all went pear shaped as you can imagine and I now know.

So being the smart idiot I am I reclaimed the drive back to 7 and then installed 10 as dual boot using the free ISO and everything was fine in the world. This left me with a $230 OEM that I thought would be nice to try and create a dual boot on the Ivy desktop which is running Home Premium only to find that after preparing the drive with a partition for the 10 it just wanted to install 10 over the top of everything.

So me in my pea sized brain thought ok lets install 10 onto the Ivy and then install the 7 Home Premium onto the allotted partition I had made for it. But being (I think I am anyway) an honest person contacted Microsoft and told what I had done and had in mind - in effect made a horrible mistake, in hindsight now - naively thinking they would say ok just this once and then I would have tried setting Ivy up dual boot because on the small laptop I find it very handy.
All well and good - OH BLOODY NO as it turned out - because somewhere in a far off third world country some obnoxious ratbag knocked me back in no uncertain, uncompromising and in my book completely unsympathetic manner. Now I am as I think you might know work and have worked as an RN for many years and I would no more think of treating anyone however rude or irritating - like I was than I would fly to the moon so experiencing that was for me an extremely unpleasant and uncalled for experience.

What really upset me was how I was not allowed to use that OEM on the Ivy machine even after explaining what I had done as above - it was not as if I had tried to install it on any other machine it their bloody minded attitude I was given the impression that if you bought it then you should know about the rules and regulations.

But I am as you know am no expert on much at all let alone have a degree or doctorate in decyphering that licencing agreement and am sure there are many like me who are quite trusting in Microsoft that that crap is meant for students of corporate law, and like me have given up reading past the first few paragraphs of their hell sent licencing rules. I am just your very average end user and would like to think that Microsoft would be a little more flexible with us plebs.

Furthermore what got right up my nose was that in the past I have asked to use an OEM on a new board and back those early days they bent over backwards to help one out as long as you didn't constantly keep doing it. It is that very devil may care attitude they have now regarding Windows if you mess up on something like I have - and keep openly advertising it as the best thing since sliced bread and everything else is rubbish and shove their new system down your throat whether you like it or not.

In my simple mind what they are dictating now is or does not make very good marketing sense because after handing them $240 for that OEM and have this happen to me does NOT inspire me to spend much more than I absolutely have to with their products which in any case seem to appear day to day to be getting away from the enjoyment of computing (one of the few small activities I have these days) and more into grabbing every cent they can by introducing apps that are to me banal and unwanted.
I for one was really annoyed when I first installed 10 found the Start page littered with idiotic apps like Candy Crush games and/or some wretched thing or other and stuff I would not use in a lifetime, and we have grumbled about bloatware on manufactured machines for years now and here they are at it themselves!!

I am not fishing for any sympathy just relating what I experienced on that day because I have to accept what they have done to me and suspect that may will not give a rats toot about this sad and sorry affair. I shall just put it down to a bad experience and in future it may be an idea to run it past the forum before I do such things. However it does leave such a bad taste in one's mouth.

If the Linux based systems were not so alien to me after using M$ all these years then I would probably be tempted - no inclined to just go with those systems - I have tried but they certainly do's seem to me to be as easy to work as Windows - unfortunately.
Having been a member of these forums for long while now that going over to a Linux based system on my machines would be such a shame no more so than having made so many friends here in no just the 10 forum but more so in the 7 forum as many I greatly respect and for most part rely on to help me out .

Sorry for the rant but I am so disappointed with how things are now moving with computing and the technology associated with it.
John*Think

 

There used to be some (semi)automated way over Skype to re register W7 if you run into trouble after reinstalling it x times. More often than not OEM registration went thru too because I guess no actual persons were involved.

 

Sound good Mike but right now I am too angry to be bothered with them mate but thanks for the suggestion. *Smile