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Bit of advice? Try Asus, I've been getting quite a few from them for customers and the amount of trialware was very low, just your standard MS Office trial and the option of having a Norton trial if you wanted it. If you didn't you simply said no at first start and voila! No Norton.

BTW once you have the PC set up the way you want it, which I suggest using WSUS Offline for the patches and Ninite for the third party stuff like Flash? Well once its set up all nice and clean and fresh smelling you can just use Comodo Time Machine to make it pretty much unfuckable. Just lock the first snapshot (so you have your own version of a factory restore) and set it to take a snapshot daily and tada! Even if they manage to make the machine unbootable you can have it back up in under 20 minutes by phone, all they have to do is hit the Home key when they see the clock (right after BIOS) and then pick which snapshot they want to go back to, couldn't be easier.

I agree about the trialware infections though, last time I had to deal with a factory reset on a Dell mini I wouldn't to pull my fricking hair out! We're talking an Atom single with 1Gb of RAM and they had something like NINE things running at startup! What a fricking mess, but once I had him all nice and ready to go CTM means I won't have to deal with that crap again, its a life saver if you have to deal with clueless people. But I've tried dealing with ARM friend and you do NOT want to go there. What you end up with is pissed off people because they can't run their dumbass Windows programs, it wouldn't matter if you sold them a dual core netbook for $40 they would still be pissed that it couldn't run whatever crapware program they wanted.

Let old Hairy show you how to seriously cut the time down on a boot and nuke there friend. First go to WSUS Offline and have it download the patches and/or service packs for whatever version of Windows it is, you can then put 'em on a thumbdrive or DVD and have them ready to go once the OS is installed. Once the patches are all installed just go to Ninite on the now clean machine and check the boxes for any third party software you need, AV, flash, media players, codecs, etc.

And then finally once you have it just the way you like it slap in Comodo Time Machine and have it set to make a snapshot on boot. personally depending on how stupid the user is I have CTM take up 10%-20% of the drive, this way next time they do something stupid you can walk them through restoring the system in about 15 minutes. Nice thing is even if they hose the machine so badly it won't boot you can tell them to just hit the Home key on boot and run Time Machine from there. With these little tricks you are talking maybe an hour and a half, maybe six clicks all told, and once set up it'll be damned hard for them to pwn it again. Personally if it were me I'd use Comodo Internet Security for the AV as its not only free it plays nice with time machine, although I've also used Avast and its played nice too.

As for TFA its not like there aren't a bazillion and one warez sites out there, i'm sure if Demonoid goes tits up another will take its place by the end of the week. You'd think they'd learn its like whack a mole with those things but if the *.A.As want to pay some Media Pretender to play whack a site? their money to blow I guess.

Yeah you really gotta watch for the flaky PSUs. I had one customer, in the same building mind you, that kept bring his PC back because "it'll run for a little bit and just die" so after the first PSU replacement i called the super and had him check the line....it turned out his outlet was getting less than 87 volts on average which would stress the PSU as it struggled to boot and then it'd cook.

Be sure to also test the RAM though, i've been noticing a LOT more chips coming down the line with bad cells. my guess is because its a race to the bottom they are just cranking those suckers out with little QC and a bad cell will act a lot like malware or a flaky drive.

But if you don't already know about 'em WSUS Offline and ninite make a nuke and install pretty much a "clicky clicky, go have a smoke" kinda deal. Just let WSUS update all the patches (and service packs if your Windows disc is behind) ahead of time and when the OS is installed just let 'er run, you can put 'em on a DVD, flash, hell I just leave 'em in a network share, and when its done ninite will give you all the third party stuff like browsers, AV, flash, etc. Can't be simpler so when you DO have to nuke you don't have any real work, just clicky clicky and go.

Actually I've found you lose money on Linux because its a fucking support nightmare from hell. How do you tell if that new device will work with Linux? you can't, any hardware lists are horribly out of date, its a total crap shoot. Hell try the Hairyfeet challenge, take ANY distro, your choice, from just 4 years ago (less than half the Windows support cycle) and update it to current using JUST the GUI as any normal user would be expected to do. Know what you'll get? A broken mess, that's what. In just the last 4 years you went from ALSO to Pukeaudio, KDE 3 and GNOME 2 to KDE 4 and GNOME Shell, and that's just the top layer stuff, the guts are even worse off, with all kinds of incompatible bullshit down in the networking guts especially. Any Windows machine I sell will continue to function for the life of the Windows install barring hardware failure, possibly even longer as I have a few customers that only recently retired their Win2K machines. Linux? Can't do it, the whole system from the kernel up is in a state of flux and shit breaks constantly.

Finally if you'd taken just 10 minutes of your time before install you'd never have had that problem with drivers as there is this place called DriverPacks where you can simply download a pack with ALL the drivers for damned near every piece of hardware, all compressed with a nice little GUI that will do the work for you. Just pick the OS you are planning on install or do as i did and download the packs for every Windows OS and you are good to go. Once done you can simply slap them on a DVD, put them on a flash, whatever, and run it once you get to the desktop and go make a sammich, it does ALL the work. Finish up with Ninite while you have your dessert and tada! From a blank drive to a fully loaded and ready to go Windows in about an hour, an hour and a half if you use WSUS Offline to install the windows updates which you have had it download previously. I keep it on a shared drive but you can use DVD, flash, whatever floats your boat. Again hassle free and an hour and a half and maybe 4 clicks total, couldn't be simpler.

No because that was the root cert revocation that MSFT released to cancel TFA. if you are truly worried about Windows update frankly there is NO reason to run it the old fashioned way, especially when you have more than one machine as it'll just be a waste of bandwidth.

Instead just use WSUS Offline which will get the updates directly from MSFT using WGET and drop them in the folder of your choice, all nice and neat and complete with a simple .exe launcher. It can also take care of .NET, MSE updates, and MS Office from 2K3 up if you have any of those that also need updating. Its great and takes the hassle out of updating, especially on a new build but works just as well for any Windows from XP-Win 7 X64. Combine this with Ninite for third party software and frankly anybody can have a Windows system fully patched and loaded with the basics with almost zero effort.

Actually friend its really not, you just haven't had anyone show you the correct way to do so. before you do a wipe and reinstall you need to go to WSUS Offline and have it download any patches and service packs you need for later. In mine I have every patch and service pack from Win2K through Win 7 X64 so no problems there, just launch once a month to have it update the latest patches. If you use MS Office you can have the service packs and patches included with WSUS, same with MSE antivirus. At this point you can download the latest drivers if you wish, but I only go for the graphics and wireless usually as I've found some of the OEM drivers for sound and NICs to be more buggy than the Windows defaults.

Next once the OS is installed you run WSUS, depending on how far behind your OS disc is from current this could take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour but since its all automated who cares. My discs have the last service packs already so only the patches after the last release are needed, about 30 minutes or so depending on the system. after that has finished and you see all the drivers are checked out you simply go to Ninite and pick any of the third party stuff you need,browser, Libre office, codecs, flash, whatever. the only third party I use that I don't get from Ninite is either Pale moon (a Firefox fork compiled for newer CPUs) or Comodo Dragon (Chromium based with some nice security features) but since I have both of those on my network drive along with WSUS no time there. Once that is installed i go to Ninite and pick Klite, flash, Hulu TV (my customers enjoy having Internet TV) LO, Foxit, and PDF Creator. I usually give them Comodo Internet Security but if you use MSE or Avast you can just skip that step or grab Avast at Ninite.

Voila! You are talking about maybe an hour, hour and a half tops and since the majority of it is fully automated you only have to look in once in a while and see if you are ready for the next step. Since I usually have the systems on my KVM all I have to do is click over once in a while, couldn't be simpler friend. That is why I only charge $50 plus tax for the same service MSFT is wanting $100 for so I don't see why MSFT couldn't do it even quicker and cheaper than me.

No ya don't friend, here let old Hairy help you out...Ninite to the rescue! See how easy that was? While you are giving them your choice of CCCP or Klite (I prefer Klite myself) you can go ahead and check the boxes for Flash, Java, .NET, CutePDF Printer, hell give 'em all the good stuff. simple as check boxes and run installer, oh and NO TOOLBARS or any other crap, just what you want. between that and WSUS Offline Windows couldn't be simpler to set up, hell you can even check the boxes with Ninite if you think they have the older version and it'll skip anything that is up to date. its free and easy, what could be nicer? enjoy!

You are most welcome, thanks for the warm fuzzy feeling from knowing I've helped out another geek make their life just a little easier. Another link you might enjoy is WSUS Offline which makes updating Windows to current beyond simple. No more of this "update and reboot, update and reboot" crap, and it gives you the option of adding .NET and IE, as well as MSE or Windows Defender definitions, just two clicks and it'll update the OS to current. I have every update from XP-Win 7 X64, all nice and neat and easy, but if you are only gonna be installing a single version of Windows you can simply check the box for that version and have WSUS Offline download all the updates and have them ready for you, oh and can include all the MS Office updates if you plan on installing MS Office as well. Between that and Ninite it really takes all the hassle and bullshit out of a clean install. It even has a checkbox so that you can have it copy the updates to a stick or burn a disc, that way if you are like me and don't like letting a Windows machine that isn't fully updated onto the net you can just pop in the stick and let WSUS take care of the rest.

But I'm glad you enjoy Ninite, please tell your friends as it makes clean installs about as hassle free as they can be. you can even suggest new apps and if they get a lot of calls for a program they'll add it to the list, for example myself and several others asked for kilte (has really great DXVA support) and voila! there it is. Enjoy!

http://download.wsusoffline.net/

WSUS Offline Update. For those who can't/won't run a Microsoft WSUS Server but have enough machines to need one. Can be run on Linux.

I'm sorry but if you can't have a PC go from a pile of parts to POST in under an hour? Uhhh...you suck. Its not like you are being asked to stamp the sheet metal here folks, parts go in box, cables go in box, plug in power, stick in Windows disc, done. If you use WSUS Offline for the updates and Ninite for the third party software you are talking zippola on the OS install too.

As for what is keeping me on windows? i'll get hate for saying this but until a truly user friendly distro comes out that I can give to my customers i simply have no use for Linux. And before anyone trots out the usual suspects I've already tried them and not a single one passed my "is it safe?' test, go ahead, try it yourself. since Windows gets on average 7 years i cut Linux a break off the bat and only use a 3 year old distro CD, simulating what my customer would go through if they bought a Linux PC from me and tried to keep it current, standard best practices, nothing fancy. I install the OS, make sure ALL the hardware is working, then let it update/upgrade to current, what happens? things break, a LOT of things break. Sound or video gets flaky, maybe the network gets borked, settings in programs don't seem to stick or don't stick past reboot, its always a flaky mess.

I mean when i'm talking to a long time Linux server admin and desktop user about my problem and they confide in me "As soon as I'm done backing up I'm switching to BSD and if that isn't stable on the desktop I'm quitting" and most likely going to Mac? There is trouble in paradise folks. Funny how it used to be "Oh you have to wipe Windows and start over, while Linux is safe!" has turned into the complete opposite. I did a ton of in place upgrades from Vista to 7 for folks that didn't want to lose their settings, that is 5 years with another 8 years to go for 7, and it just worked. I've tried Ubuntu, PCLOS, Mepis, just about every supposedly "user friendly" distro I can find and not one has passed my "is it safe?" test.

I sell to and support normal folks, so telling them to play find the fix or spend a couple of days reading man pages and dealing with CLI gobbledygook is right out. I also can't plan my entire business around the LTS releases so if the bog standard release won't cut it then its no good. I'm gonna try Linux Mint and FreeBSD over the turkey week holiday and give them my "is it safe?" test if I can find the releases from 3 years ago. If they pass? yippee skippy i can have FOSS machines next to the Windows ones. if not? I'm just gonna have to give up for a couple of years and scour the earth for someone that will give me a good deal on Starter, which is actually a nice OS, especially for older machines.

Actually there is even an easier way, as long as you don't mind using "wink wink nudge nudge" software friend. What you want is "Windows 7 all versions pre-activated" which i'm sure you can find a copy of. this disc has ALL the different versions, X86 and x64, all on a single disc and it gives you the option of inputting the OEM key at first install. With it all you have to do is input their legit key and voila! One disk to rule them all. there is also one out for Vista.

Then just use WSUS Offline (I keep it on a network drive) and Ninite and you can seriously cut down the times it takes from first install to completed system. I went from 3 to 5 hours to a flat 90 minutes using this method, with 90% of the time fully automated.

With XP sadly there is no "one OEM to rule them all" but I've found that the Dell and Compaq discs usually have most of the bases covered. There are a few Acer machines that won't take them but the rest will happily take the OEM keys from the machine if you use one of those two. And if you find one that doesn't? frankly the Indian help at MSFT don't give a crap as long as you can read them the key off the back they are happy to give you a phone code that'll activate it. all they care about is how fast they can get you off the phone so you don't screw the metrics, so unless you have used that key more than once they really don't care.

But by using those two discs, the 7 and Vista preactivated, I've cut down from nearly a dozen discs to four, one for 7, one for Vista, and one OEM Compaq for XP Home and Pro. I've found this will cover a good 80%+ of the machines out there and if you have the Dell XP OEM in a drawer that covers another 12%. Then like I said all you have to worry about is the occasional Acer or emachine, but I don't see those much around here so YMMV.

Uhhh...dude? You DO realize that MicroSD cards, like say the one in that camera, coming with viruses is quite common nowadays, yes? And having Autorun enabled is seriously fucking dumb? And I gave one of those Kodaks to my now ex and I can tell you the reason why it asked for a net connection is it has a nice feature in the software where she could push a single button and it'll upload to FB, email family or friends, it really is a nice little feature.

Now if you know enough about tech to be hanging on a geek site like /. these instructions shouldn't be difficult so let your old pal hairyfeet show you what to do. first off you need to go to WSUS Offline and make her an offline updater. Really simple, just check the box by which OS she has and it'll download the updates from MSFT. Simply check the box by "copy updates for selected OS into" and choose where your flash stick is located and voila! An easy to carry windows update on a stick. Now for the AV I'd suggest either Comodo or Avast free, both have the ability to be updated by file and both have by default sandboxing so she shouldn't have to worry about an infected microSD or CD she gets from a friend. Simply disable the looking for updates in the options and when you come by to visit her bring the latest update on your flash. if she is offline once or twice a month should do it, no need for daily updates since she won't be dealing with zero days.

but don't think just because she isn't on the net she can't get pwned. i have senn cameras, those cheap digital frames, flash sticks, basically if it has memory and a way to launch an exe it can be infected. but follow the simple tips above and she'll have a nice safe up to date PC so if she does get the net back later on down the line (she might want to look at DSL, they don't advertise it but most have a very basic 756k hookup for sub $20 a month) she'll be ready to go and she'll be safe in the meantime.

Probably not from Microsoft. But maybe from some third party. Currently, there is the WSUS Offline Update (http://download.wsusoffline.net/) for instance. WSUS Offline Update is a small Open Source application that will download the more important patches for you (see http://forums.wsusoffline.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=172).

So get a tool like this, let it run shortly before the cutoff date, and it will make a "collected updates" DVD for you.

Probably not from Microsoft. But maybe from some third party. Currently, there is the WSUS Offline Update (http://download.wsusoffline.net/) for instance. WSUS Offline Update is a small Open Source application that will download the more important patches for you (see http://forums.wsusoffline.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=172).

So get a tool like this, let it run shortly before the cutoff date, and it will make a "collected updates" DVD for you.

You are most certainly welcome! Having to fix Windows boxes 6 days a week one tries to find ways to make them easy to use, hard to break, and reliable. Not always easy, especially with certain versions (Vista oh how I hated thee) but with a handful of tools one can make Windows a nice reliable OS.

The easiest way I've found is to use a combination of WSUS Offline so you don't have to wait on Windows Updates (If you have a server with a Fat32 partition you can just keep it there and update it once a month, easy peasy) and Ninite which makes it easy to give users, even if they are in another state, clean and malware free software. I would recommend Avast and Sumatra and Klite, the rest according to your users interests, and finally although it isn't free I can't recommend highly enough TuneUp Utilities as it is even more handy and useful than Norton utilities was in the days of DOS. Nice thing is its automatic, every three days it'll clean the cruft and make sure the drives aren't fragmented.

With these handy dandy tools it is easy peasy to setup a clean machine and keep it that way. For a browser I would suggest Comodo dragon, as it is based on Chromium but has some nice extra security features like better SSL validation. Finally if you DO come across one already pwned MSFT has a nice free system sweeper that will give you a CD to boot from that will wipe out the latest bugs. But if you added TuneUp (truly awesome BTW) and a nice selection of software from Ninite along with Avast Free you're talking maybe an hour and a half from start to finish, and after which they shouldn't need you for anything. I have customers running 8 years now, the only thing I do is hardware upgrades and blow out the fans. The key with Windows is a little time at the start saves a LOT of time down the road.

That is why Apple is allowing you to download on their connection at the Apple store and why we Windows guys have WSUS Offline that lets you have EVERY version of Windows from XP 32bit to Windows 7 64 bit plus all the office versions from XP on up, all either burned to DVD or on a flash stick so all it takes is a single friend/relative with a decent connection. I have been using it for awhile now so I even have the complete Win2K in case I run into one of those that needs the final updates.

So it isn't like anybody is screwed here if they don't have fast net. If you have an Apple laptop I'm sure you know where the Apple store is so that is taken care of and WSUS Offline is "clicky clicky" simple so Windows is covered too. I don't know about Linux but I assume they have something similar as well.

But lets face it if you are still on dialup I don't think you really need to worry about updates as I don't you'll be downloading any big malware packages for either OS before you time out anyway. Hell does Apple laptops even come with modems anymore?

McGrew there is actually a REASON for patch Tuesday and that is because everyone was having a shitfit that the patches would come willy nilly! With Patch Tuesday it makes it MUCH easier to plan for updates in a corporate environment, and since Windows rules the business world by a HUGE margin you can't expect them to fuck over such a large client base just because Mcgrew wants updates quicker.

That said if you show even tiniest bit of common sense .then your risk of infection is practically zip which my customers that have been running 8 years on the same XP install and simply having me come over to do an occasional memory upgrade can attest, so whether patches come out on Tuesday or the week after tomorrow really shouldn't matter! Watch how easy it is to have a nice clean running Windows from first install..

1.-Install Wndows. 2.- Run WSUS Offline from a flash, which if you've checked the little checkbox will have all the SPs, .NET, and all the patches in one nice easy to run place. 3.- Install Comodo Dragon from the same flash, so they'll have a nice browser that uses low rights mode and sandboxing and so you won't have to worry about IE, after installing go ahead and add ABP for Chrome which kills ad based malware dead. While you are at it you can install any third party software that doesn't need constant updating, I install LibreOffice, Win 7 Codec pack (which is great as it lets you burn just about any format in WinDVD maker, which folks just love) and Media Player Classic Home Cinema 4.- Go to Ninite to install the third party software that needs to be fresh, depending on the user. I usually install Flash, Foxit PDF Reader, any messenger program they use, along with Irfanview, Picasa, Avast Free, Malwarebytes, along with CCleaner and Defraggler. For burning I carry Ashampoo on the flash as folks like its layout better than CDBurnerXP. As this finishes up I usually add WinUtilities, which automates registry cleaning and the dumping of temp files along with tossing broken shortcuts. For the finale add Filehippo Update checker which only takes up 300Kb and will let them know when there are third party updates like flash, so they aren't using an old vulnerable solution.

And that's it! Notice how nothing there is more complex than going "clicky clicky" and doesn't cost you a dime? And a machine you've followed these simple steps with will be fine for anything short of user stupidity, which NO OS can keep the stupid from doing dumb shit, like running "Iz_Not_Viruz_Porn_Codecs!" trying to see teh tittiez. But a machine done this way, while sensibly having Automatic Updates set to Automatic (duh!) will give you years of trouble free service, while having all the third party software updated without the user having to constantly check for patches and with both Comodo dragon AND Avast doing sandboxing, as well as dragon running low rights mode, means web bugs really aren't going anywhere. With just a tiny bit of preparation and common sense (don't run email attachments, if they want free porn tell them to go to myfreepaysite.com which has like 5000 DVDs of porn for free, if they insist on having P2P Gnucleus or Emule with P2P shield running in Avast, no making kids accounts admin) your Windows machine will run trouble free for years, just as my customers after I'm through only need to come to me for hardware upgrades.

While we're on the topic of being vulnerable installing from original CDs, it is a really good idea to install security fixes from an offline patch collection first. I use WSUS Offline Update (http://www.wsusoffline.net/), which will download the patches from Microsoft for you and prepare an ISO for burning (or a directory for USB stick if you prefer). There may be other, similar tools but WSUS is working fine for me.
The workflow is as follows:
1) Use WSUS Offline Update on a clean computer to prepare the patch collection. Include Service Packs. Burn to DVD or copy to USB stick.
2) DISCONNECT computer where XP is to be installed from the internet.
3) Install from CD, whatever XP version you have handy.
4) Run WSUS Offline Update from DVD or USB stick. This will handle the upgrade to the latest SP and essential post-SP patches. Don't forget to reboot afterwards.
5) Now your machine is reasonably safe to go online.
As a final touch, you may want to use Windows auto-update now to get the very latest patches and the less critical ones, as the maintainer of WSUS Offline Update does limit his selection to the important stuff.
Personally, I don't run Windows auto-update anymore since Microsoft started to install unwanted Firefox add-ons that way. Instead, I rely exclusively on WSUS Offline Update, so far with good results.

Let this old PC repairman enlighten you as to why those numbers as so low on XP. It is because the data is collected using the Malicious Software Removal Tool, which any repair guy that has had one of the bazillion "Razr1911 WinXP Pro Corp SP2" boxes cross their desks know that they all have Windows Updates turned off (to keep from getting WGA'd) and are infected with more viruses than a Bangkok Whore.

I'd love to see the numbers of XP infections pre WGA and after, along with how many pirate versions are out there. Because while I can understand MSFT wanting to stop piracy (but IMNSHO they royally fucked up by getting rid of the Win 7 HP $50 upgrade, as that thing turned more pirates into legit users than I'd ever seen) but anyone who has worked repair for any length of time knows there are a shitload of pirate Windows out there and nearly all have updates off.

It isn't just the "Crazy Dave's house of whitebox" BTW, it is all those that decided they didn't want to pay for an upgrade that got their "smart PC friend" who has every Razr1911 version on a spindle, and there are even plenty out there that have legit keys that aren't being used because the guy they took it to has a Razr1911 automated install and simply never bothered to change the keys, or the box had XP Home and all they had was the Razr XP Pro. Finally you have all those pre Vista Cheapo Best Buy and other retail joints that have autoupdates turned OFF for some damned reason, probably to cut down on those "OMG my PC has a yellow thing in the right corner OMG!" support calls.

In the end I can tell you I probably get 3 minimum cross my desk a week that haven't ever seen an update, and most are infected all to hell. I see so damned many PCs missing tons of updates that I keep WSUS Offline on my network fully loaded with every update for every OS from Win2K Pro to Win 7 X64, just so I don't have to waste time and bandwidth on updating all these damned machines. MSRT might give you a tiny taste of what is going on, but since WGA I'd say its data really isn't worth much.

So let me get this straight, you are bitching because MSFT doesn't support a long EOLed configuration that is trivial to fix? You DO know that Sp2 has been EOL for a couple of years now, yes? It is a dead duck, same as Win2K. Might I suggest next time you either simply update your disc (which is not only trivial to do with free tools such as XP ISO Builder or NLite, but actually will lower your install time) and if you really want to cut down on your time use WSUS Offline which will let you keep ALL the updates (including service packs if you like) all on a single DVD or thumbstick, thus making updates as easy as "clickly clicky reboot"?

So the problem is you are trying to run WGA on an unsupported platform...well that's the breaks. SP2 was released nearly 7 years ago, and there have been a LOT of changes since then, some of which affect WGA. As for Win 7 actually I've found that the switch to Win 7 has been easy peasy with my customers. You simply show them how WinSearch works and where WMC is and they are happy little campers. The key to switching users is the carrot not the stick. I've found simply showing them all the free Internet channels in WMC makes it an easy sale, and then they are soon figuring out all the extra goodies easily since Win 7 is more intuitive than XP.

Either way there is simply so much tech that can't be bolted into an 11 year OS that at some point you have to set a minimum. Having a minimum of SP3 (which was released in 08 so it is still 3 years old) seems to be a pretty reasonable thing, especially since service packs are free and trivial to download/install. That said you can't bolt DX 10, NCQ for SATA drives, Superfetch and Readyboost, etc, so there comes a time when one does need to be looking at a migration plan. After all XP is 3 generations behind already, and most likely will be 4 generations behind before being EOLed.

So I'd say you can't really blame them for not supporting an 8 year old configuration anymore. After all both OSX and Linux don't support anywhere near that age of configuration, and MSFT IS giving XP until 2014 which will be 13 years of support so updating your image occasionally really isn't so much to ask. It isn't like your average Joe installs OSes anyway, they take it to a relative or someone like me that does it for a living and know how to slipstream a service pack. Frankly that you have the ability to install but haven't heard of slipstreaming I find puzzling, as usually knowledge of one includes the other.

Question: Why is it taking 3+ hours to do a simple wipe and reinstall? You just wipe the machine, put in a pre built OS install CD/DVD with all the patches already done, put in the key on first boot, install the apps from the local server or via flash drive, done. Maybe an hour and a half tops.

Using a combination of WSUS Offline (which you can tell to include MS Office updates along with MS Essentials AV) and Ninite I can whip off a dozen boxes or more a day easy and spend less time per box than I do trying to figure where I sat my Coke down. Just a little preparation goes a long way friend.

As for TFA, welcome to the game Android users! Anything that becomes popular WILL become a target for malware as long as they can use social engineering, because it is just so damned easy to do as in TFA. I mean 50k infections and they didn't even have to write the app, just attach their malware to an existing app and upload? How easy can you get!

So welcome to the game Android users, where you have to watch out and worry about malware just like us Windows users. The donuts are over in the back, right next to the Apple users who are currently sulking after finding out shiny plastic and aluminum doesn't stop bugs. Look on the bright side, it just means you're popular now! Hell the Linux guys would kill to be that popular on the desktop! So enjoy the coffee it's fresh, meetings are on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Um, you leave us Apple users out of this. This was ANDROID. A-N-D-R-O-I-D, not APPLE, A-P-P-L-E.

Oh, and note that, just like that OTHER malware-infested platform (Windows), the ONLY way forward seems to be either to throw perfectly good hardware away (think of the planet!); OR to "Wipe and Reload" (It so SIMPLE! It's Easy! It's FUN!).

And, just like with Windows, the Androids will be out in force, blaming the USERS for taking advantage of the ONLY "advantage" to Android: The ability to download any dodgy app you want.

But notice, the apps weren't on some dark, dank dark alley of the internet; they were on GOOGLE's OWN APP STORE! The MOTHERSHIP.

No, this is more like we'll be seeing Google announcing their new "Curated" App Store in 3... 2... 1...

Question: Why is it taking 3+ hours to do a simple wipe and reinstall? You just wipe the machine, put in a pre built OS install CD/DVD with all the patches already done, put in the key on first boot, install the apps from the local server or via flash drive, done. Maybe an hour and a half tops.

Using a combination of WSUS Offline (which you can tell to include MS Office updates along with MS Essentials AV) and Ninite I can whip off a dozen boxes or more a day easy and spend less time per box than I do trying to figure where I sat my Coke down. Just a little preparation goes a long way friend.

As for TFA, welcome to the game Android users! Anything that becomes popular WILL become a target for malware as long as they can use social engineering, because it is just so damned easy to do as in TFA. I mean 50k infections and they didn't even have to write the app, just attach their malware to an existing app and upload? How easy can you get!

So welcome to the game Android users, where you have to watch out and worry about malware just like us Windows users. The donuts are over in the back, right next to the Apple users who are currently sulking after finding out shiny plastic and aluminum doesn't stop bugs. Look on the bright side, it just means you're popular now! Hell the Linux guys would kill to be that popular on the desktop! So enjoy the coffee it's fresh, meetings are on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

That sort of silent plugin installation was my reason to switch off auto-update and get the most important patches via http://www.wsusoffline.net/ instead.

Microsoft patching the OS is necessary and welcome, but Firefox is an application and I'm managing the applications on my machine. Microsoft interfering with those is NOT welcome.

Then you are doing it wrong I'm afraid. Use the combo of XP ISO Builder and RyanVM and you are looking at maaaybe 20-30 minutes, and that is if you want the full customized unattended install with everything from the desktop to services preconfigured.

For XP X64, Vista, and Windows 7 I've found having WSUS Offline makes it trivial to bring a machine from fresh install to fully patched. It will even integrate service packs if you so choose, but I prefer to simply have a disc with the latest service pack slipstreamed so WSUS Offline can fit all the X86 on a single DVD and all the x64 on a second single DVD. That way I just require 2 DVD to update ANY Windows OS from Win2K- Windows 7 X64. Just burn a new Driverpack disc every couple of months and that will cover a good 90% of the hardware out there, more if you go to the forums and pick up the third party packs like TV cards and funky drivers for things like Bluetooth.

Finally for software your old friend Ninte has that covered, with more than 90 of the most common apps in x86 and x64 with NO toolbars or other crap to worry about, and you can even suggest your favorite apps and they will check them out and often add them. I personally like Klite Codec pack because of its hardware acceleration, so I suggested it and voila! There it is. And the apps are constantly being updated to the latest version, all unattended and ready to go. Finish it off with Filehippo Update Checker so the user doesn't have to worry about keeping up when the latest version of an app has been released. And all is gravy. Time? Maybe an hour and a half on a slower P4, less than an hour on most modern systems.

So now instead of all the BS I simply run WSUS offline once a month after Patch Tuesday, burn the two DVDs (x86 and x64) it automatically produces for me which also has all the Office patches included, and check driverpacks Base app once every month or so to make sure I have the latest X86 and X64 drivers. my actual time for doing so is maybe 5 minutes, since I can simply launch the apps and let them do the work. So if it is really taking you a half a day then you are simply taking the long way about it. So please enjoy these free tools and not have to deal with the long wait again!

Wow, nice to know there are still some real greybeards here! I started with Windows 2.0, my dad bought one of the early Compaq IBM clones for his business and the software bundle it came with had Windows 2.0 While it was fun to play with, and of course my dad liked the games to kill time when he was waiting on someone at the office, for actual work it was just easier to run DOS.

Back then ALL the programs were DOS and the machines were pretty sad horsepower wise compared to now so having Windows sucking precious resources was a problem then. Funny that I type that from my "old" nettop box which is an 1800MHz Sempron with 1.5GB of RAM, as back then we'd never dream of anything THAT powerful, much less the quad with 8GB I use for gaming.

For those that would like a little trip down memory lane (and if you aren't old enough to remember at least most of these please see the "Get off my lawn!" meme) click here for a nice little "History of Windows" slideshow. One omission pisses me off though: no WinNT 4. How they could leave that one off I'll never know, as good old NT 4 was THE business OS for ages, even longer in the embedded market. It really was a solid business OS and along with good old Win2K (which if you use it this month you can get all the updates for Win2K in a single package using WSUS Offline which lets you grab ALL the x86 AND x64 updates for 2K-W7 and burn them to DVD or install on a flash) will be the Windows OSes I'll miss the most.

Well here is a nice tool that you may like..WSUS Offline Update. Don't let the name fool ya, you do NOT need a WSUS server to enjoy this puppy. It makes Autopatcher look lame by comparison. It lets you download ALL the Windows Updates for ALL the current OSes, both x86 and x64, PLUS all the Office updates, PLUS the Service Packs PLUS MSE definitions, hell if you get it this month it'll even give you the full Win2K updates for those that have old machine they want to add the final updates for.

And the best part is after it is done you can have it either burn a DVD with ALL the x86 updates, along with another for x64, or have it burn separate discs for each OS version, OR have it load itself onto a thumbstick. Basically it is like having a full WSUS server in your pocket. Great for fixing PCs. Just clean, update, and use Ninite to automate the install of the common apps like Firefox, Chrome, Flash, Java, etc. Ninite also has MSE ready to go along with Malwarebytes. All automated, just pick the apps and go. easy peasy!

As for TFA anything that will cut down on infected PCs I'm all for it. I may make my living fixing and selling them, but my Internet gets slowed down by bots and I have to deal with spam like everyone else. If this helps insure that so many boxes aren't sitting there with a horribly out of date POS Norton Trial-ware sucking space than I say great! Frankly it is the AV companies own fault if they lose share, the past few years they have all seemed to jump on the "kitchen sink" approach with a ton of apps most never need, and the bloat is just insane. MSE is fast, it doesn't suck up the RAM and bog out the machine even with the older P4s, I have NO problems with it.