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If you're too impatient to wait for Windows update to tell you your rolling wave install is ready for installation, you can download the media immediately.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

Yes, Visual Studio 2008 is very hard to come by, especially in 2015.

Yes, Visual Studio 2008 is very hard to come by, especially in 2015.

"why for heavens sake has it to be a desktop operating system?"

You're making assumptions. Rather than run a desktop OS like Windows XP Professional, it's more likely running Windows XP Embedded, which is intended for this type of use.

I want the benefits of mass production commodities and be able to buy a good PC gaming machine off-the-shelf for a lower price.

The Steam Machine won't give you that, because it's small and because it has a brand stamped on it. It's going to come at a higher price.

Iâ(TM)m tired of spending so much time building my own custom PC and doing OS installations.

So buy one prebuilt.

Iâ(TM)m sick of Microsoft charging me many times more than everybody else for a Windows license because I didnâ(TM)t buy a pre-configured machine from an OEM.

So buy a pre-configured machine from an OEM, which is what you are proposing to do.

Iâ(TM)m sick of Windows blue screening and corrupting my EFI boot partitions so my dual boots wonâ(TM)t work.

So stop putting multiple OSes on one disk. Segregate onto different storage devices. Problem completely solved.

- Iâ(TM)m sick of Windows nagging me about turning on Secure Boot. I donâ(TM)t want it.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2902864

Iâ(TM)m sick of big giant PC towers that take up massive space and donâ(TM)t fit well in home theater cabinets (or anywhere else).

Buy a SFF PC.

- Iâ(TM)m sick of loud PC fans and the unnecessarily high power consumption and heat

Buy a low-power CPU and GPU

I want a gaming PC that is fully utilized for games, not loaded down with needless background processes sucking up CPU and RAM

So disable the indexing service etc.

- Hardware driver updates for Windows is such a chore.

It is? The only ones that see many updates are the GPU drivers, and geforce experience handles that for me with very few clicks. Perhaps you are currently "enjoying" the AMD experience.

Windows mostly broke DirectX/DirectInput compatibility. Iâ(TM)m so sick of having to get xce360 working and re-configured for every single game I buy now.

Shoulda stuck with win7 for gaming, boyo

- I hate it that Fraps doesnâ(TM)t work any more with non-fullscreen mode starting in Windows 8

See last. Also, fraps is over, what are you, new? Now you use your GPU recording tools.

- I donâ(TM)t want to be pushed to Windows Store

Not going to happen yet. Maybe later.

TL;DR: a Steam PC isn't going to solve any problems; you didn't list any problems which aren't already solved.

MS changed their mind and will now allow you to hide/block driver updates: https://support.microsoft.com/...

"despite not making any hardware by themselves."

They have limited themselves to manufacturing/selling strictly high performance peripherals such as these, this, and that...

"despite not making any hardware by themselves."

They have limited themselves to manufacturing/selling strictly high performance peripherals such as these, this, and that...

"despite not making any hardware by themselves."

They have limited themselves to manufacturing/selling strictly high performance peripherals such as these, this, and that...

These people are complaining that their BETA software broke their drivers. Yes. Because it's BETA SOFTWARE.

Read TFM, what's out there now is RTM (so BYOG and FOAD).

In any case complaining about brain-dead behaviour in new Windows releases needs to start years in advance, with significant press coverage, for Microsoft to do anything. Look at their handling of WiFi connection administration, which was removed in Win8 nearly three years ago and still hasn't been reinstated. The WiFi issue seems a bit like the "we'll update your drivers for your automatically and you'll sit there and like it even if it bricks your system" in TFA, in the case of WiFi it was "we'll administer your connections for you even though we actually won't, and you'll have to resort to arcane command-line calisthenics to sort it out" (that link is to Microsoft's own advice on the topic, where they tell your seventy-year-old Auntie May how to drop to the CLI and enter netsh commands to do what used to be a mouse-click in pre-Win8 versions).

These modifications that would affect message signatures happen in many places.

I was having a hell of a time picturing someone manually inserting malicious headers into emails via MITM attacks...

FYI, S/MIME signatures do NOT sign the email headers. For example, you can alter the "Subject" header of a valid signed message you got from somewhere else, then bounce it off to a different recipient (ie. send as if from that same person), and the recipient will see a valid signature on the message with an altered subject line. The signature is on the message body only (more specifically, it's on a mime part and everything below that, so you can forward a signed message, add your message in a new part above it, and sign the combined message with your cert while the forwarded message will retain the original and valid sig).

Here's an example of an MS Exchange bug: https://premier.microsoft.com/...

Issue Definition: Edge Transport Server mangles S/MIME encrypted payloads

That one affected their IMAP adapter. Viewing the message in MS Outlook via the Exchange protocol, the signature was valid. Viewing the same message in MS Outlook (same client) via the IMAP protocol showed an invalid signature. Their description is flawed.. it was not related to encryption, but just a message signature, which was also unrelated, as it's really just a means to detect the alteration of the message.

You won't be able to view that bug unless you have a premier account with microsoft, but if you search for it via google you'll find a little more info (mostly an email I sent to the alpine list).

This was not the only issue like this. Prior to this, similar symptoms were seen, but it was then solved by adding "SkipDigitalSignedMessageFromAttachmentFilterAgent" key to the edgetransport exchange config.

Note, these two examples don't even have anything to do with systems in transit. It's just the last hop delivery to the user, and the problem is seen via MS clients to MS servers (and also seen from other clients).

Your example of an email account that gets loads of email, especially phishing emails, and you've never seen any altered messages... how would you know? How many of those have S/MIME signatures? I've never seen a single spam/phishing email that had a valid S/MIME signature. Your example would have to be turned on its head to be valid... you'd have to be receiving a lot of legitimate and valid signed messages with no bad signature validations (or sending a LOT of signed messages, and never hearing anyone complain... but then that's quite subjective cause most people don't pay any attention to the warnings).

All it takes to ruin a cryptographic signature is adding an extra linefeed between a Text/PLAIN part and the corresponding Text/HTML part, and you'd never notice that if the message didn't have a crypto sig or you weren't checking it. IE. without a sig, you don't know that the messages you think are legit weren't tampered with (on purpose, or accidentally).

There are several methods to turn off automatic driver updates in Win10:

• "Change device installation settings" wizard
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DriverSearching

  SearchOrderConfig=0

• https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3073930

Picasa was free (and decent) there were better ones though ---- or at least software that had actual options --- All of them died and are gone, except for a couple majors.

Free:
http://www.irfanview.com/
http://windows.microsoft.com/e...
http://www.faststone.org/FSVie...

Paid; less than $70:
http://www.acdsee.com/en/produ...
http://www.aftershotpro.com/en...
https://creative.adobe.com/pro... (admittedly subscription)
http://www.arcsoft.com/photost...
https://www.ashampoo.com/en/us...

There is no shortage of local photo management and editing applications available for Windows.

Or Email clients

I won't spend a huge amount of time posting more links; this page is pretty comprehensive:
http://alternativeto.net/softw...

I'm assuming that you're trying to avoid MS Outlook for whatever reason, and "Thunderbird" by some miracle never crossed your desk. Windows Live Mail isn't bad at all (it's still even a usenet reader!) Opera Mail, Zimbra Mail, and eM client are all excellent and free.

There is no shortage of either form of software. Alternativeto.net and Softpedia are great resources for this kind of thing.

Microsoft "shared source" licenses were actually more restrictive than that, as they had only allowed read-only access to the code, even for private and personal use without redistribution - i.e. fixing a bug and building your own version would already be a violation of the license.

If that is really what is meant by "accessing the source code" by the article submitter, then this is the way to go. You can just use MS-RSL verbatim for that. Just, please, don't call it "open source". Even Microsoft, back in the day when it was still doing this kind of thing and calling GPL a "virus", had the decency to not appropriate the term and use "shared source" instead.

I'll try to buck the trend here by skipping the derision and offering constructive advice. ;-)

A single license that gives users access to the code but limits the ability to redistribute the code and distribute patches to the "core" is what we'd prefer.

In this case, the closest match I can come up with off the top of my head is to apply the Microsoft Reference Source License to the source code.

This is not a Free/Libre or Open source license, because the constraints you are looking for are in direct conflict with the Open Source Definition, clauses 1 and 3; the Copyfree Standard Definition, clauses 1 and 3; and the Free Software Definition, freedoms 2 and 3.

Do you expect that if you were to permit redistribution of the core and modifications to it that others in the community would completely take over the project and continue its development without your business's involvement (a 'fork', in development jargon)? That would be the primary reason I can think of for such a restriction.

Honestly, Microsoft isn't nearly as bad as they used to be, security wise.

And here we are with Font vulnerabilities
This is broken so badly, that no popular (modern) browser can protect you against it. (Excepting, of course, console/text-based browsers, if any on Windows.)

Ha, shit that works.

Like Windows, where for the last 20 years you give away administrator access (no password needed) just by reading a webpage, or opening a document, or running an app.

This kind of "shit that works"?
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms15-078.aspx

I'd certainly take working open source that just lets someone try and fail to guess my password, than your shit that doesn't work that gives it away no password required.

If we look at the table from late last year, C++11 support seems quite well-rounded. If there's a bug, file a report.

UWP apps will run on any Windows 10 device, including [...] Xbox One

Will UWP developer licenses become available without charge for Xbox One the way they are for Windows?

Companies won't adopt 10 in large groups for quite awhile. That coupled with zero day vuln's which are bound to happen, it'll be patch Tuesday every day! Don't forget a brand new browser too.. After all today MS15-078 another zero day, critical was released out of band. Let chaos reign.

Welcome to June 2009 you mean.

Welcome to March 2009 https://technet.microsoft.com/...

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.03.utilityspotlight2.aspx

Hello,

It will be somewhat useful for troubleshooting, but Windows 7 has had the Problem Steps Recorder (filename: PSR.EXE) for years now, and Microsoft has offered a screen recording tool since at least 2009 for download via TechNet.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

The Problem Steps Recorder is a boon to anyone who hates doing doco. One of the best new features of Server 2008.

But the PSR doesn't take videos.

Hello,

It will be somewhat useful for troubleshooting, but Windows 7 has had the Problem Steps Recorder (filename: PSR.EXE) for years now, and Microsoft has offered a screen recording tool since at least 2009 for download via TechNet.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Actually, it would mostly just be Asian (Indian) employees that would need to be cut. If you look at the published diversity figures that some companies have put out, many (Here are figures released by Google and Microsoft) of the biggest don't even have as many white people as you would expect if the hiring perfectly followed the country's (we'll ignore local differences for convenience) racial demographics.

However, I don't think that the people who push that point of view would agree that in order to improve diversity it's necessary to hire more white people and lay off a lot of minorities, who are from a smaller minority group than Latinos/Blacks, especially when you break apart the Asian category as Indians would be even more vastly over-represented.

Or we could just realize that would be silly and that diversity is more than just a skin color. If you want a good team, you want people with different perspectives on life, and while race and culture can play into that, they're hardly limiting factors. Someone who grew up in a remote rural setting, has a special needs child, or grew up living under a totalitarian regime can probably offer a lot more insight into how a product can be used or adapted to suit the needs of different target markets than some individual whose main difference is that of pigmentation.

MIcrosoft would sometimes remove a codec

Which codec has Microsoft ever removed with a patch?

https://social.msdn.microsoft....

https://social.technet.microso... p> Sometimes after an update, it will play the video with no sound.

And more, always after an update.

or change a setting used by a program

Do your own research Coward. I provided the first veracity check, now if you care, you can do the others.

MIcrosoft would sometimes remove a codec

Which codec has Microsoft ever removed with a patch?

https://social.msdn.microsoft....

https://social.technet.microso... p> Sometimes after an update, it will play the video with no sound.

And more, always after an update.

or change a setting used by a program

Do your own research Coward. I provided the first veracity check, now if you care, you can do the others.

Greetings Sarah Lahav,

Seriously though, whenever addressing a techie crowd, never use the ' cloud ' word. What people unskilled in the art don't realize is that a virtual machine in 'the cloud' is virtually (sic) the same as a rack mounted PC. You still need someone to install and configure your business systems and no one is going to do that for free, certainly not your cloud provider. As for the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the firewall, someone else more advanced in the arts once put it better. The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security. For instance RPC over HTTP, specifically designed to bypass the firewall. ref

Gaaaaah why do people keep recommending this *STUPID* approach? DO NOT block update servers! If you're going to do that, do yourself *and* the rest of us a favor and just disconnect your computer altogether...

Here: https://technet.microsoft.com/... Microsoft's own documentation, years old and still valid, explaining how to control all aspects of Windows Update with simple registry changes. Yes, it's annoying that they removed the brain-dead-easy UI for doing so, but the problem with brain-dead-easy UIs that allow making bad decisions is that brain-dead people will use them.

I view this kind of thing as a shibboleth for "are you sufficiently competent to administrate your own computer?". It's amazing and horrifying how many people in this thread have failed that. Did *any* of you try typing "windows update registry" into a browser search box, for example?

Or, you could, you know, not be a *complete* idiot and use the clearly-explained steps for controlling this behavior ( https://technet.microsoft.com/... ) even if you want to be a *minor* idiot and run "Windows n00b edition". Or you could run an edition of Windows targeted at people who actually have a hope in hell of correctly administrating their own Internet-connected machine.

Yep. In fact, you're even more correct than you realize...
1) Microsoft has done this before! Windows RT has the same "no option to not update" behavior. As you say, they just removed the UI for changing the automatic update options, but the update service still runs exactly the same way including respecting the same registry keys.
2) No need to go find anything! Microsoft has already documented it all for you, listing what registry keys and values do what, and what the valid values are. https://technet.microsoft.com/... (scroll down to the Automatic Updates section).

There's an arguably even easier option: take control of Windows (Automatic) Update behavior by tweaking a single registry key. Here, Microsoft will even tell you which one and what the settings mean:
https://technet.microsoft.com/... (scroll down for the automatic update options).
You can also, as Hairyfeet mentioned above, disable the WU service except when you want to manually run it, but that's definitely not ideal because you *should* promptly install most updates. The registry change lets you select "Notify me of updates / download them, but let me choose when to install", and it works even on OS editions that have removed that option from the UI. It's like a really easy "I'm not completely incompetent at Windows administration" test...

With that said, the AC has a point about the advantages of using Pro editions of Windows. One of the big differentiators is transparent encryption; Home editions don't have any built-in support for encrypting data at rest, so if your laptop gets stolen attackers can take anything on the hard drive. My girlfriend has been dealing with the aftermath of this for a few weeks now (as if having her computer stolen wasn't bad enough), with constant attempts at various kinds of identity theft. It sucks. Encrypt your shit!
While Pro editions of Windows have had Encrypting File System for ages, it is per-file (or per-directory) and depends on you having a really strong password, since attackers can still pull the SAM and mount an offline attack. Since Win8 (for Pro; Vista and Win7 had it in Enterprise and Ultimate too) there's also BitLocker full volume encryption. I really wish Microsoft would make this available on all installs - they did for RT and phone, but not for PCs - but it's worth the upgrade to Pro. I also wish they would make it easier to use BitLocker without a TPM - it's entirely possible, you just need to change a setting most people don't even know exists, much less know how to find - but again, this is totally worth doing if you don't have a TPM.

This approach works, but generally it's better to just modify the behavior into "download but don't install (yet)". That's just a single registry change away. This isn't even the first time that Microsoft has tried to do this, but nobody (Microsoft included) remembers anything about Windows RT... Anyhow, just because the UI for delaying or manually installing updates was removed doesn't mean the functionality to do so was (it's still present in higher editions, after all). RT had the same behavior, and it was easily changed. Microsoft even tells you how! https://technet.microsoft.com/... (scroll down to the "Automatic Updates" section).

Controlling updates has always been a trivial registry value (a single integer). Just because they're removing the option in the UI for "let me choose when to install updates" doesn't mean they're actually going to force you to install them, just to demonstrate that you have non-trivial Windows administration skill. Considering how often I've wished for an "I'm not an idiot" option for most operating systems, Windows included (though on Linux you can usually get it by just making the right choice of distro), I'm OK with this.

For the record, Windows RT 8.0 - released three years ago - had this same behavior (no UI for delaying updates, configured to install them automatically). It was trivial to fix it then (and the mechanism was immediately found), and I doubt it'll be any different this time.

Don't give me any shit about "but what if granny can't defer a borked update that will blow up her machine...?". Granny has never been able to do that. She either installs all updates and on rare occasion "there's something wrong with the computer", or never installs them and gets hosed by malware until it blows up her computer.

Oh, FFS it's even documented by Microsoft. Scroll down to the "Automatic Update configuration options".
https://technet.microsoft.com/...

Reference is right here.

So appearently I was half wrong. You have EFI partitions on your WIndows 7 unit to have more than 2 TB. On my Bios based AMD which preceding my 8.1 system I could not do more than 2 TB as MBR limits the disk

Windows can obtain and renew a Universal Windows Platform developer license without charge. Open an elevated PowerShell, type Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenseRegistration, and press Enter.

A little more research on this showed me this thread:

http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

So, there are two options, disjoin from domain and run the upgrade, or wait for the ISO and run the upgrade then. All Enterprise licenses however will need to get new licenses through their software assurance, which is normal for larger IT groups.

There will be an ISO, as explained in their FAQ page:

Can I reinstall Windows 10 on my computer after upgrading?

Yes. Once you’ve upgraded to Windows 10 using the free upgrade offer, you will be able to reinstall, including a clean install, on the same device. You won’t need to purchase Windows 10 or go back to your prior version of Windows and upgrade again.

You’ll also be able to create your own installation media like a USB drive or DVD, and use that to upgrade your device or reinstall after you’ve upgraded.

If it is all so simple, here are questions for you than. I have a domain at home, how do I go about getting my free copy of Windows 10? How does one reinstall this copy of Windows 10 so that it isn't a buggy upgrade install? I have Windows 7 Ultimate (OEM as I built the computer from parts), so it isn't like I am caught in the hole of Windows 7 Enterprise.

Those aren't eligibility questions, those are process questions. The eligibility is very simple.

Anyone who is on either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 will be entitled to a free (as in beer) upgrade to Windows 10 during the first year of the Windows 10 launch. The exclusions to that offer are for Windows 7/8/8.1 Enterprise and Windows RT/RT 8.1. The licenses for the upgraded systems are permanent and perpetual.

Details are in the footnote at the bottom of https://www.microsoft.com/en-u....

Not me. Been beta-testing the preview builds for the last bunch of months, and I'm honestly unhappy to say there's no must-have, great, or even kinda-cool feature in 10 that compels me to upgrade from 7 (other than the stick-it-to-ya of planned obsolescence).

OTOH, there's a lot in Windows 10 that's just irritating. The lack of customizability in the UI (if you don't like the flat, playskool look, you're SOL). The yanking out of some of the fun time-wasting games (some have been replaced with "modern" versions for... what exactly? to acclimate users to the "modern" look? to force users to browse through the Store to find Minesweeper?). The unpolished split between the "modern" Settings app and the Control Panel for getting real work done. The insistence that you sign into a Microsoft account. The click-bait-laden live-tiles. The defaults to the use of ugly, too-big, less-capable "modern" apps for basic functions like PDF viewing, photo viewing, or even a simple calculator.

If I think about it,if I move from 7 because 7 is at EOL, I am going to spend my first bunch of hours shutting off everything that 10 offers. I would ditch Edge/Project Spartan for Chrome, first thing. Dull down the colors any way I can. Install classic-shell. Shut off the click-bait live-tiles from aggravating my ADHD with TMZ OMG bullcrap. Un-modernize everything by installing and making default 7-versions of the calculator, a PDF viewer, minesweeper, VLC, rainmeter, WinAero Tweaker, Picassa, etc. And then probably go looking for some skinning hacks, if any work on 10, because I can't stand that awful playskool look.

In other words, spend hours undoing everything that makes 10 look and act like 10. That's a helluva lot of wasted time for what's supposed to be an "upgrade". And for what? Touch? I don't use touch. DirectX 12? I don't game enough AAA titles to know the difference. The only reason I see to go to 10 is because Microsoft plans on pulling the plug on 7. Eventually. Or maybe if 10 handles scaling properly on ultra-high-res screens. Eventually.

If Windows to you is merely a platform from which to launch Steam and your favorite full-screen game(s), you probably have nothing to lose with 10. If you have a Surface, the "modern" apps make some sense (although when I tried them, Android and iOS equivalents are more polished and work better). But if you actually have to get real work done on the desktop like you do in 7 every day, 10 don't offer not one damn thing for the trouble. None that I can tell, anyway.

It's Windows 10 and the build number for the RTM is exactly 1024 * 10, and it takes 10 bits to reach 1024.

It's something of a tradition for Windows releases to have cute build numbers.

Windows 95: 950
Windows 98: 1,998
Windows 98 SE: 2,222
Windows ME: 3,000
Windows 2000: 2195 (the NT folks tried to stay boring)
Windows XP: 2,600
Windows Vista: 6000
Windows 7: 7,600
Windows 8: 9,200 (they wanted it to be 8,888, but that is not a multiple of 16).

Windows 10 being 10240 is certainly cute, being 10 * 2^10.

But I wouldn't get too worked up over it. As Raymond says:

There’s not much point in trying to “conserve” build numbers. They’re just numbers. They don’t cost anything. The important thing is that no two builds are given the same build number.

Why use optical? MS has all the tools to make bootable USB win 10 installs. https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

Activation can be delayed on Windows at least twice. It's kind of hidden but is supported. Lets you have sort of a trial period.

Open a root prompt (cmd, powershell, whatever).
slmgr[.vbs] /rearm
Reboot (shutdown /r /t 0 if you want to use the command line for that too).

The slmgr (Software Licensing Manager) script, and its rearm flag, is documented here: https://technet.microsoft.com/...

Works for me too, and outside the browser, so no cookies needed.

wget http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink...

Windows 10 Insider Preview (x64) - Build 10162
  Download (3.86 GB)
SHA-1 hash: C1C08D22876F45444880275D26CB5ECB8347620B

http://windows.microsoft.com/e...

Works for me too, and outside the browser, so no cookies needed.

wget http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink...

Windows 10 Insider Preview (x64) - Build 10162
  Download (3.86 GB)
SHA-1 hash: C1C08D22876F45444880275D26CB5ECB8347620B

http://windows.microsoft.com/e...

Exactly. And those are not all the reasons Mayer should be considered incompetent.

For example, I understand that she allowed a deal in which Microsoft pays Yahoo to use Bing search, but dishonestly calls it Yahoo search. (See the title of this web page: Advertise on the Yahoo Bing Network.)

Then, I understand, Marissa Meyer paid Mozilla Foundation to switch the Firefox browser to Yahoo (actually Bing) search during an "update". That was a sneaky trick. Users of Firefox weren't notified. Most of them don't know how to configure Firefox to use Google search again.

To me, that indicates that both Microsoft and Yahoo managers are dishonest and therefore incompetent.

I can never understand why people use or even buy antivirus software from not-so-trustworthy vendors when Microsoft offers one for free that is fast and effective.

I can never understand why people trust the same vendor that made their operating system swiss cheese enough to allow all these virus and malware programs on board to provide adequate security software to fill holes in said swiss cheese.

"We didn't design the barn door with a lock, but we have this goat that we trained to close the barn door every once in a while!" -Microsoft Security

What? This is the Chinese antivirus vendor that was caught cheating in antivirus tests not long ago.

In China, local antivirus software vendors have a reputation of being shady, often bundling questionable software and forcibly removing their competitors' software (imagine that!). I heard the "international" versions are less aggressive, but personally I still wouldn't let any of them near any of my computers. This is the first time I heard someone outside China using those.

See, this is where the value in /. comes from - the comments to the article, not the article itself. I honestly haven't kept up to date with AV news and didn't know all this (good thing I didn't pay them already!). If I could I'd mod your post up.

I can never understand why people use or even buy antivirus software from not-so-trustworthy vendors when Microsoft offers one for free that is fast and effective.

I already have security esstentials and ClamAV and one other one that I don't quite remember right now (bitdefender?) installed. I figured it couldn't hurt to add another one. TBH, the software itself doesn't look at all dodgy even if it does have UI issues. It looks and appears to behave in a completely legit manner.

What? This is the Chinese antivirus vendor that was caught cheating in antivirus tests not long ago.

In China, local antivirus software vendors have a reputation of being shady, often bundling questionable software and forcibly removing their competitors' software (imagine that!). I heard the "international" versions are less aggressive, but personally I still wouldn't let any of them near any of my computers. This is the first time I heard someone outside China using those.

I can never understand why people use or even buy antivirus software from not-so-trustworthy vendors when Microsoft offers one for free that is fast and effective.

"Yahoo" search is Bing with modifications in who gets paid. Evidence: The Microsoft article, Advertise on the Yahoo Bing Network - Bing Ads.

Since Microsoft is now apparently the major way that the Mozilla Foundation makes money, Microsoft essentially owns Firefox, or is in a position to Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.