I rec critical notices from US-cert.gov....dating back to the days I had all DHs sensitive work info in this computer. They are calling this one 'emergency' and 'critical' but at the same time encouraging applying the patch within 14 days from today. I usually give it a few days to make sure any kinks are worked out, not wanting to be first in applying then sorry if underlying issues appear ;0)

I'm really due for a new computer and updated operating system, should be looking into that before the end of this month. I'd sort of self imposed a deadline for replacing all last Fall, then got busy and let things slide.

Anyone who has windows 7 will be getting notifications that the support ends today.

There are ways to still get the free upgrade to windows 10.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4057281/windows-7-support-ended-on-january-14-2020

It is updating NET framework, Malicious Software Removal Tool and a Cumulative update. 329 MG in my case. It is a lengthy download and install.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/free-windows-10-upgrade-still-works-many-windows-7-users-heres-how/

I've been using a Windows 7 desktop for several years. I have some programs I really like on it that won't run on Windows 10 because they are so old. I bought a new laptop a couple weeks ago with Windows 10. I plan on using the old desktop offline for crafting projects.

New computer I bought last weekend already had Windows 10

Here's an article about the windows 10 vulnerability.

https://www.extremetech.com/internet/304799-nsa-reports-major-windows-10-flaw-to-microsoft-patch-coming-today

There's lots of articles about it. Google it.

Did you update, Raven?

I don't have any computers with windows 10.

I have an old laptop that is windows 7. It doesn't go online.

I have a few chromebook laptops and Linux. I haven't found a need for windows these days.

i have win10 and haven't heard a thing about it - until now.

It's all over the internet

And apparently they have been sending out the updates today on patch Tuesday.

It was actually on the Houston news.

Another reason I like the KT so much. Thank you Elizabeth for posting about this, and thank you Raven for the link. You have helped me numerous times with computer woes. I am going to do the CNET upgrade on my Lenovo with Windows 7.

Elmer, I got a Raspberry Pi for Christmas and have moved my VNCTight remote desktop to it. Fun and adventurous, and I learned a lot.

According to some Pi geeks, you can access it remotely using an Android phone app. ( androidvnc). Perhaps something to consider for future use.

The primary program I use on the mini PC has a Linux version (and a large community of geeks who play and adapt its open source code) but the other programs I use on it don't have Linux versions. I also use it as the terminal for an all in one network printer/scanner I have and when I looked, the Linux drivers for the specific model were problematic and operated inconsistently. That's not uncommon as regards drivers and Linux.

Raspberry Pis have been around for many years and again, the geeky contingent of this one particular application I have have delighted in adapting customized versions for use on it. I'm a user, not an explorer, and I've never found the motivation to spend time to learn or use Linux. I suspect if I did, it might be by downloading it to an archaic PC with no other use such that if I bricked it, it wouldn't matter.

Have fun with what you have, if that's what you like to do. Yes, I have accessed this with VNC "server" running, using the Android app. I did it a few times and found it to not be of much use so I deleted the app.

Always happy to help.

I don't have a need for Windows these days. I have a Mac and a Chromebook. However, when shopping a Chromebook, be aware of the update expiration date. Sometimes the Chromebooks that are "on sale" may be expiring soon.

Chromebook suggest you always verify the update expiration date before buying your new Chromebook.

Chrome Support

Updated my laptop the night before last after reading this post. Still have to do my computer and get my husband to update his laptop.

I have a circa 2009 Sony laptop with Windows 7. Tried to upgrade to Windows 10 a couple years ago when Microsoft was offering free upgrades. I could not get W10 loaded onto it. I don't use the laptop for anything important and don't store anything of value on it. My only concern is whether it is a back door for a hacker to access my on-line accounts. I have AVG antivirus on it.

graywings,

Microsoft has a compatibility checker and a Windows 10 update assistant.

A quick check will verify if your laptop is eligible for an upgrade.

Use the Media Installation Tool to find out if upgrade is possible.

Tool

• Download the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool

• Launch the program

• On the License terms page, select Accept

• On the What do you want to do? page, select Upgrade this PC now

• Select Next

Michael, it's not a matter of the laptop being eligible. It's that the upgrade doesn't work.

I will try again, though, so I can more specifically report on how it fails.

I had the same experience with a different PC. The update was downloaded but a message reported that the graphics board was incompatible (which means too old and no available driver) so I had to end the process. No problem, it's a seldom used machine.

Michael, you have no need for Windows, I'm happy to say we now have an Apple-free house and I have no need for any Apple anything.

They're dogs. Updates for OS changes get cut off, enough changes are made to make new versions of apps incompatible, so you wind up with a worthless device. Tried to use Skype on an iPad a few days ago and got a message to the effect "App out of date, incompatible, please get update from App Store. Tried to do that, got message "App not compatible with this device ". Pound sand, dear customer.

Fortunately there was a quick and easy fix. Costco has a 10 inch Samsung 128 GB Android tablet at a good price right now. Always functional, always compatible, easy to use with no mysteries. Brilliant screen image. Problem solved.

Elmer, I'm sorry to hear about your regrets. I have none.

I do have a Windows laptop, but rarely pick it up since retirement.

My regret is small and now in the past - not listening to the inner voice that told me to not go with a iPad and get an Android tablet instead. If I had, I would have a still functioning device and more money in my pocket. I learned from that mistake and won't repeat it.

It amazes me how Apple fans accept the company's consistent record of heavy handed and self serving tactics to its benefit and to customers' detriment. Strong KoolAid works.

I have never owned an apple product. I never could accept the price difference and I have had multiple android devices that were excellent. And still enjoying Android devices today.

To give a balanced account, if you own a variety of its products, Apple offers a level of automatic interoperability and synchronization that other product lines don't. For some, that's useful. For others (like me), the inflexibility that goes along with it is an annoying problem.

An example of Apple BS I ran into some years ago (maybe 10 or more) - there was a free, Open Source podcast aggregation Win program named Juice that did everything you could ask and more. Easy to use, easy to add to, etc. Ran in the background. The iTunes program became such a ubiquitous tool that the users of Juice dwindled and the community of volunteers ceased producing updates. Okay, the writing was on the wall, I started using iTunes (Win version) to get podcasts. It was clunky, not as easy or user friendly, but it was the first choice site most podcast producers listed at so it was useful.

The program had an idiosyncrasy I discovered accidentally - if you didn't listen to podcasts ON THE DEVICE THAT ITUNES RESIDED ON, it figured the podcast was no longer desired and it automatically unsubscribed you from updates. I was using iTunes simply for the downloads and then transferring the files to another device to listen to, so I never listened to anything on the iTunes resident device. As a result, every podcast I wanted wound up being unsubscribed from.

I saw no way to change that so I went to my nearby Apple Store to talk to a Genius (what a joke that is). I asked and was informed there was no setting that could be changed but in fact that was a deliberate feature, not a limitation. Huh? That's an old joke in the software biz - No, that's not a shortcoming or a bug, that's an intended function. Sure, we can change it in the next version if you want. Not so with Apple, its way or the highway.

I'm still using iTunes version 10, it's 9 years old. Newer versions are harder to use (read - more automatic). I have updates turned off. It's still findable for downloads (from non-Apple sources). They'll needlessly turn it off some day.

DS ran out today and brought me an HP Chromebook for $250. (Exp 2026), I'm trying to get used to the different keyboard. Took only a few minutes to connect -- BIG improvement over the old machine with Windows. I could never see the appeal of Apple anything either.

DS ran out today and brought me an HP Chromebook for $250.

I hope you enjoy your Chromebook. I like mine.

I'm using the Lenovo S340 with 14" screen. It also expires in 2026 and was also $250. IMO one of the better Chromebooks in that price range.

I use the SwiftKey keyboard on my chromebooks. I like it much better than the standard one.

Elmer, "with Apple, its way or the highway" (I chose the highway) is what turned me off from the get-go from Apple, and I've always avoided any of its products for that reason, at least in the beginning. Later I avoided them because they moved to Ireland to avoid paying American taxes - that is not the kind of company I want to give money to. To this day I find Apple to be very heavy-handed and arrogant + I don't need them. At one time they had the best video and sound editing software, but that is no longer the case for consumers like me. In the early 1990s I used to do d-Base programming for databases, and I could not have done that on an Apple computer, due to its inflexibility. The only Apple product I ever bought was Quicktime, and I never renewed my license for that.

Today, I went through a Windows update that was mildly interrupting for a few minutes, but then it was over.

I get a windows update periodically. seems very random and no notice of it either. they use to pop up on the screen and give me the option to do right then or later. not anymore. and its seems that with every update something else go haywire!

Lars, back in the 1990's you were supporting Windows when Microsoft was found guilty of violating the nation's anti-trust laws. Microsoft has a corporate office in Ireland too.

Apple didn't move to Ireland. Apple opened a EU headquaters in Ireland. Apple's world headquarters is located at Apple Park, Cupertino, CA.

Apple's location in Ireland is their International headquarters serving the EU, along with Medtronic, Eaton Corp, Facebook, Microsoft, Allergan, Ingersoll Rand andGoogle, and many others.

Ireland is the most attractive European
business hub. Not only Google but many large companies like Apple,
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Yahoo etc. have established
their head-office there. Statistics shows that

• 9 out of 10 world-leading technology and internet companies,
• 8 out of 10 leading online game companies and platforms,
• 8 out of 10 world-leading Pharmaceutical companies,
• 15 of the top 20 world-leading Life Science companies,

Over 50% of the world’s leading Financial Services firms have established their head office there.

Check this out. Apple is the ONLY company under scrutiny. Be fair when judging.
Tax Arrangement Scrutiny

Michael, you're VERY misinformed on this topic. I spent my career working with this stuff in Silicon Valley and I know very well about how tech companies operate globally as well or better as anything else. Or, at least did until retirement.

Apple is no different than any of the others in what it does and how it
does that. Like most tech companies, Apple has utilized legal tactics to
minimize its income in the US and other large countries, and has
maximized income in low-tax jurisdictions. And has done so for many
decades. If you know what you're looking at, all the information needed
to understand tax posturing is available in any company's annual report.

As part of its strategy as an EU member, Ireland introduced an ultra low corporate tax rate, mostly for foreign companies, as a way to encourage inward foreign investment and job creation. Tech companies, almost all the large ones, flocked to set up operations there of various kinds to take advantage of the in-EU low tax rate opportunities. Other EU members complained about the Irish incentives and so ultimately Ireland dropped its tax rates for domestic businesses too so that what was being offered to foreign companies was nothing special in its tax system.

Apple has been in Ireland for decades, just like Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, HP, Dell, Google, IBM, and on and on and on. Hundreds and maybe thousands of them. A country with a population about half that of Los Angeles County that has tens and tens of thousands of employees working for companies in the tech sector. All are structured about the same way, all have intercompany transactions that are about the same, and all have a lot of income in Ireland taxed at low rates.All having accepted the proposition that the Irish Development Authority offered originally, tax savings in return for jobs.

In recent years there have been countless press accounts and government investigations around the world about the legal approaches THOUSANDS of multinational companies have taken to minimize income and taxes in high tax countries. The countries don't dispute the tactics but rather grouse about the results. The publicity is leading to settlements and a scaling back of past practices. But it's the effect of basic economics - when "prices" (in this case, income taxes) are lower in one place than in another, people go for the lower prices. That will never change.

Hold off on the KoolAid.

Elmer, I agree with you! I disagree with Lars who singled out one company he just happens to dislike, while ignoring the others he supports.

I am struggling a bit with the new Chromebook keyboard. It feels too 'sensitive'. It has no Delete key (going forward)-- at least none I've found. Raven...is the SwiftKey expensive?

chisue,

You can visit the Keyboard Settings and make a few adjustments.

The Auto-Repeat settings may be helpful. Adjust the "Delay Before Repeat" and the "Repeat Rate". Here's a shot of what you'll be working with.

Experiment with each setting. It may work for you.

Now you're probably asking, how do I get there?

Here's a link. Navigation

Thanks, Michael. I'll try.

Raven - thanks so much for posting the link. I successfully downloaded Windows 10. I have been a long-time lurker and was so pleased to find this that it prompted me to join!

This is a very interesting and informative thread.

Zoe you are welcome glad you were able to get it.

SwiftKey keyboard is a free app you can find at the Google play store. It has a lot of features and options. Different color themes and sizes. I prefer a dark background and white letters on my keyboard. It is easier for me to see.

https://support.swiftkey.com/hc/en-us/articles/204609851-How-to-use-the-SwiftKey-Keyboard

Still having trouble with the HP Chromebook. I miss the DELETE key to delete something shaded or just letters going forward (not back) and the END key to drop to the end without scrolling slowly down. There's no CAPS key to lock in capital letters without holding down the SHIFT key.

Something is offered to use the top keys for tasks, but wouldn't they then lose the functions they are labeled for? Is there a diagram of the keys and their functions?

I'd be in worse trouble without all of the help here!