Wednesday 8th May 2019
Updating To Windows 10
Margaret found that removing Norton Antivirus from her Windows 7 PC enabled it to update successfully to Windows 10 after previously failing. In general, third-party antivirus programs can cause issues when updating Windows. I don't generally recommend installing any additional antivirus programs on Windows 10, as the in-built Windows Defender is perfectly adequate.
Windows 10 1903 Update
The 1903 Update to Windows 10 is still expected to be released at the end of May, although no official date has been announced. Many people are only just receiving the previous 1809 update. I envisage that many users will get the 1903 update without ever having 1809.
The twice yearly big feature update schedule for Windows seems unnecessary. The mobile operating systems - Apple's iOS and Google's Android - provide annual updates. iOS is currently on version 12 which was released in September last year. Android is currently on version 9 (aka "Pie") which was released in August 2018.
Windows, iOS and Android release bug-fixes and security updates as required between these major updates.
Is the Windows 10 Upgrade Still Free?
If theory the free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.1 ended on 29th July 2016. However, my own experience suggests it is still free. This article on ZDNet also confirms this view as at 17th April 2019:-
If you are attempting to upgrade from, say Windows 7, I suggest you first perform a Windows Image Backup in case things go wrong. Go to the Windows 10 download site at:-
Download the media creation tool and create the installation media on a USB stick. Boot the Windows 7 system as usual, remove any antivirus, insert the USB stick and run the setup.exe file from it. Then follow the on-screen instructions. Skip the screen where you are asked for a Product Key. If the installation completes successfully, go to Start, Settings, Update & Security, Activation and check that the system is activated with a digital licence. If the upgrade fails, you can revert to Windows 7, using the image backup if necessary.
Margaret mentioned a statement in a genealogy Newsletter called "Lost Cousins" by Peter Calver that you can upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Their web site can be found at:-
https://www.lostcousins.com/pages/info/about_us.mhtml
If fact, the link in their Newsletter takes you to the ZDNet web site I mention above.
Windows 10 Start Menu
Particularly if you are upgrading from W7 to W10, you may want to remove all the Tiles from the Start Menu so it is more 'W7-like'. To remove Tiles, right-click on each Tile and select Unpin from Start. You can then re-size the width of the Start Menu by dragging the right hand edge to the left, so you are just left with the alphabetical list of programs.
Snip and Sketch
This is a handy tool built into Windows 10. It is a replacement for the earlier Snipping Tool. To launch it, click the Start Button and begin typing Snip & Sketch. It will appear at the top of the search results - just click on it or press Enter to run it. It allows you to copy any part of the screen and you can then paste that image into Word or any other app. See this article on Windows Central for more explanation on how to use it:-
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-snip-sketch-take-screenshots-windows-10-october-2018-update
Margaret mentioned a statement in a genealogy Newsletter called "Lost Cousins" by Peter Calver that you can upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Their web site can be found at:-
https://www.lostcousins.com/pages/info/about_us.mhtml
If fact, the link in their Newsletter takes you to the ZDNet web site I mention above.
Windows 10 Start Menu
Particularly if you are upgrading from W7 to W10, you may want to remove all the Tiles from the Start Menu so it is more 'W7-like'. To remove Tiles, right-click on each Tile and select Unpin from Start. You can then re-size the width of the Start Menu by dragging the right hand edge to the left, so you are just left with the alphabetical list of programs.
Snip and Sketch
This is a handy tool built into Windows 10. It is a replacement for the earlier Snipping Tool. To launch it, click the Start Button and begin typing Snip & Sketch. It will appear at the top of the search results - just click on it or press Enter to run it. It allows you to copy any part of the screen and you can then paste that image into Word or any other app. See this article on Windows Central for more explanation on how to use it:-
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-snip-sketch-take-screenshots-windows-10-october-2018-update
Fibre To The Premises (FTTP)
Linda has had FTTP installed at her house to provide "superfast" broadband of around 300Mbps - a significant improvement over the 1 or 2 Mbps that she had before! FTTP requires an ONT (Optical Network Termination) box to be installed by OpenReach. Since the Club, I have found this excellent 12 minute video which explains the FTTP installation in some detail, but without getting too technical:-
The fibre can carry a voice service which could replace the traditional POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) which uses copper wire. This is why there is a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) installed alongside the ONT - this would allow the telephone to continue to work (for a period of time) if there was a power cut.
Most Hacked Passwords
You
may have heard in the news that the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) had
published an analysis of the most used passwords. They conducted a UK Cyber
Survey which is summarised in this article:-
You
may remember that, back in December (2018), we discussed Troy Hunt’s “Have I
Been Pwned” (HIPB) web site where you can check if your email addresses or
passwords are included in known data breaches. Based on information in the HIPB
database, the NCSC have created a list of the top 100,000 passwords. The above
article summaries the passwords which have been found most frequently in this
stolen data. 123456 is top of the list, occurring over 23 million times! The
full list can be found here:-
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/static-assets/documents/PwnedPasswordTop100k.txt
A fairly simple idea which the NCSC suggest for improving passwords is to combine 3 random words, each one of which may be easy to remember. If you want to use different, complex passwords for every account, you will need a password manager such as LastPass which we discussed at the January (2019) Club.
A fairly simple idea which the NCSC suggest for improving passwords is to combine 3 random words, each one of which may be easy to remember. If you want to use different, complex passwords for every account, you will need a password manager such as LastPass which we discussed at the January (2019) Club.
Next Session
Wed
12th June 2019 1:30 to 3:30 pm.
Topics: Printers - Purchasing considerations
