CharlotteTheHarlot

As Rudy says above, that registry is large. First thing to do is back them up. I used to save them with names like System.dat_(2011-05-03_xxxx) using date and time in that format so they can co-exist in a folder and remain sorted. I also would export them and save ASCII text versions similarly named. But at least save the DATs because later on you can at least re-open them up with RegDat to reference stuff or export them. At the size you show there of 15 MB in binary format it will export to well over 20 MB in ASCII. In my own experience I noticed odd problems somewhere around 25 MB export. Note, there is no way to perfectly correlate absolute size to actual problems because of so many other variables ( key and data complexity, RAM, disk defragmentation, CPU speed maybe ), but you certainly have reason to worry IMHO. I was able to trim out quite a few MB through purging all the MSI installer stuff. Another method was warehousing seldom used programs ( programs that inserted massive amounts of private registry info that only it used, I offloaded to a REG which I re-inserted manually only when I intended to use the programs, and then I purged it again later with a custom deleter ). Whether you have the patience for this level of micromanagement only you can decide!

FF, I got two more contenders for the crown. EXAMPLE-1 ...In this corner a heavyweight NeoKid adding his two cents to the thread entitled: "5 Reasons To Get Over The Hype And Start Loving Windows 8.1" ( or perhaps: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb sorry, way too easy! ). Anyway, his extraordinary logic? Here it is in a discussion of touch versus keyboard/mouse ... So, the role of victim is being played and amazingly he is using the race card no less. I have to admit that I didn't see this one coming. So, in their mind the "touchies" have been kept down by years of institutionalized "input discrimination" and if we continue pursuing the rollback of Microsoft Tiles then we are effectively creating Jim Crow laws. God, I can't decide whether to be angry or stunned in amazement. EXAMPLE-2 ... On the undercard we have this contender earlier in the same thread. What he is doing is attempting to counter an earlier post where a commenter used this famous graphic ... That's one of the now legendary "AOL 1996 vs Windows 8 2012" images that drive MicroZealots and MetroTards certifiably crazy. So our friendly neighborhood NeoKid responds by posting this one ... Stagnation isn't a great thing either. Does he or the author have any clue at all that they are making the case against Windows 8! The quote in both images is "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" is enlightening here because its use in the 2nd one comparing Windows 95 and Windows 7 exposes that they believe Windows 95 was a mistake! Yes, that slam dunk victory which cemented Microsoft's position in the center of the x86 universe, in the home, office and everywhere else is considered a mistake to our special friends. The wildly successful launch and reception is something that should NOT be repeated! What's next, pictures of classic Mustangs and Camaros as something that those companies should avoid repeating? Honorable Mention ...Finally, from a real old thread not at NeoWin but referenced by top post I saw this little comment at Motley Fool, posted a year ago, buried in an avalanche of astroturfing comments. It's short, and not much, but I found it illuminating ... I just love that! "Gimme those social icons so I don't need to do nuthin to sign in, and BTW I use Win8 and I am very satisfied!". That folks, is the target demographic in a nutshell. Forget all the FOSS hype about freebie-seekers, this is all about fat and lazy monkey button pushers. The entitlement society has clearly shifted from freebies to lazy. The collective IQ of society is falling in a fiery re-entry. The good news is that in the future young non-Tard computer techies will have easy pickings, even easier than we had. All the world's your oyster. I had expected the computer age to bring up the general IQ and knowledge base and indeed it did for a while ( in the 2000's I was often surprised by how some average computer users had picked up genuinely useful skills compared to the 1990's and 1980's ), but that turned around sharply in 2010 when the iPad came along and Microsoft lost their mind and dived head first into the idi0t pool trying to out-Tard them. Going forward it seems that Microsoft will maintain a core philosophy catering to chimpanzees even if they still make the rare step backwards to normalcy. Once they killed the Start Menu and Aero and individuality and put Microsoft Tiles on Server editions and produced hipster dance commercials and contracted street graffiti artists there was no more proof needed. Security pros should have it easy also. Read that comment again and notice he doesn't want to maintain separate accounts at different sites, that's just too much trouble. Whatever security inroads have been made are in the process of being erased now, you know this type of sheeple logs into his bank, and CC companies, shopping carts, private servers, forums, ( ... the list is endless ) all from his Tard Tablet. So what happens when it is stolen or borrowed? Oh man.

More clarification is needed about what you mean by 1) Dial-Up.I have no idea what this means in this context. Please explain details like wiring, ISP, software. I understand 2), it means you have a cell plan but apparently no broadband into the home. I assume 3) means it is only operational away from home. The two most likely things here is permissions or authentication, or a combination of both. Windows 7 will be a tough customer in both cases. You didn't mention whether you are using standard or an admin account in Win7, and this could be the singular problem. One quick test to make sure that Win7 and the network components are all sound is to go somewhere ( a friend? ) and plug an Ethernet cable straight in, boot into safe mode with networking and test Windows Update as described above. Don't try anything fancy yet like USB tethering, just the basics. If the network connection is fine and you get Windows Updates then move on to debugging the authentication or permissions issue while running in normal mode. I don't know why Win7 would drop the connection after a period of time, but this might be narrowed down by checking out the event viewer ( you might want to first archive and then clear all the existing event logs to make it easier to sift through the eleventy thousand other events though ). Note, this step I would try in both a standard and then admin account and look for differences in events. When the connection drops, you will want to jump in and see the event logs ASAP.

Just suggesting that he and all other site owners verify that all their contact information with their registrar are for currently active email addresses and to eyeball them for this "periodic" spot check that they are apparently sending out. P.S. yes, you are correct that Steven aka NeoBond is their Admin, ( owner actually ).

Oh, by Dial-Up he meant Ethernet? Okay, I didn't understand that. Another idea is to boot in safe mode with networking with Ethernet cable into router, then try something simple like Windows Update from Start > All Programs. He mentioned ISP, so he may have an unnecessary extra layer of confusion ( ISP's do this, making a lot of people think they need to login before their is "an Internet" available ). Please describe the topology here. Is it Cable/FIOS/DSL modem to Wi-Fi Router to laptop?

So the service is auto-starting? I thought you meant something in HKLM\...\Run Can you set the service to manual? IIRC, it does place a SYS file in the System32 folder tree no matter what you do ( on Windows XP in previous versions of MBAM I was able to physically delete it and place it in the local MBAM folder, but haven't tried it lately ). Can you remember what happened when you installed? Did the free trial ( checked by default ) get installed? I'll bet that this is their way to quantify the 30-day ( or whatever ) period before it stops working. I'm thinking that maybe you can uninstall, then re-install and clear all the checkboxes. Gosh I would hate if they too went down this road with autostart processes and services.

And it appears that NeoWin ( also an IPB user ) was the first victim. From their Facebook page ... Just a heads up for Xper and other site owners to be aware of this. ( At this writing NeoWin has an offsite mirror at http://neow.in. )

AT&T Files Patent to Limit File-Sharing Bandwidth ( Maximum PC 2014-01-30 ) Oh this is gonna go over well. Microsoft granted U.S. patent for the Windows 8 Start screen ( NeoWin 2014-01-31 ) Lots of funny comments. Favorites so far: "I'm all for it -- it will put everyone else off trying to emulate it...." Twitter purchases 900 patents, signs cross-licensing agreement with IBM ( TechSpot 2014-01-31 ) Twitter Buys 900 IBM Patents, Inks Licensing Agreement to End Infringement Dispute ( Maximum PC 2014-01-31 ) In other news it will soon be determined that Chuck Berry single-handedly invented rock and roll guitar 60 years ago and is owed over $10 trillion in back royalties and damages by every musician since. ( yeah right, they'll wait for him to pass away and then take his rights and assert them ) "Maybellene" sold over a million copies, reaching No. 1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart and No. 5 on the September 10, 1955 Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.(Wikipedia)

Trojan-laden FileZilla clone slurps data, sends it to the UNKNOWN. Sneaky dupe looks & works just like the real thing ( UK Register 2014-01-29 ) Be aware, false copies of FileZilla are in circulation, and they are password collectors. Not so long ago everyone would have suggested this is some group of blackhats. Now? Could be anyone, including our own friendly neighborhood government spooks. Angry anti-NSA hackers pwn Angry Birds site after GCHQ data slurp. Developers Rovio blame third-party ad networks for leak ( UK Register 2014-01-29 ) Click the spoiler. That is priceless! Well done. : Snowden documents say Canadian intelligence agency uses airport WiFi to track passengers ( TechSpot 2014-01-31 ) Another part of the global vacuum cleaner, in Canada ( and of course that means everywhere else ) they are gobbling up metadata from Wi-Fi for laptops, cellphones, iPads, etc. It's bigger than just "tracking passengers", and it sure ain't just Wi-Fi, it is recording snapshots of metadata of all communication. Archiving this for later recall allows simple plotting of movement of devices and therefore their presumed owners. This is probably the only legal part of the whole thing, that is if it really is only metadata. Still this is Orwellian, our government protectors have set about and successfully accomplished recording metadata of all communication that travels through wires and the air, the world over. I expect the bad guys by now have given up on stock cellphones and iPads and moved on to custom PCB's and SIMs throwing out random pings just to drive the spooks crazy. They end up with a database full of innocent non-terrorists and a few intentionally fake signals. Quite an expensive exercise. But hell, they ain't paying for it, we are. Yesterday: ISP block on The Pirate Bay ruled unlawful in The Netherlands ( NeoWin 2014-01-28 ) Court rules Pirate Bay blocks ineffective allowing Dutch ISPs to lift bans ( TechSpot 2014-01-28 ) Cool : The instigators are held accountable! Look out Hollywood. EDIT: clarity

Microsoft, Apple helping Obama administration with high-speed broadband initiative for schools ( NeoWin 2014-01-29 ) Oh that's just great, it's already time to repave the Information Superhighway, and guess who foots the bill again. Screw this. These companies are already raping us at the K-12 level, all of them, have been for decades. Nobody can explain why there should be a single computer sitting in K-12 for students ( taxpayer funded ). And if you think this makes any kind of sense whatsoever, you have to explain to me that in the 900 hours that makes up a school year exactly what was sacrificed to make room for every minute spent behind a computer. Total time is a constant, they do not add to the school year to accommodate brilliant new ideas like computers, therefore lots of other things are now gone. I would argue that our already short school time ( compared to say China or Japan ) pre-computer age was already just marginally acceptable as educating the population to core things, reading writing arithmetic. Then came the computer-age and have effectively sliced that total probably in half, and the fruits of that experiment pretty much shows up as an even more sheeple-ized society of dumb@ss narcissists who can do little except operate a remote control and perhaps manage a keyboard and mouse behind an Apple or Windows computer. Just talking about wasted time is bad enough, but the costs are enormous. Operational simultaneous broadband for hundreds or thousands of seats? That's not broadband, that's ENORMOUS! That would be the equivalent of several T3 lines per classroom, site-wide the I/O would be industrial grade. Even if they could afford it ( they can't because they don't pay anything, we do ) the management including support would skyrocket the plan. Then you need to upgrade all the end-user stations ( again ) with the latest and greatest hardware, and for what? To watch YouTube videos? Furthermore, these scoundrels have just found a way to make the student carrying cost even higher than before when some folks complained about overpriced textbooks supplied by a monopolized market. Thanks to these brilliant ideas those $100 textbooks now look cheap because they will just say they'll use a paperless classroom, until the kids need to go home and study. Then we get to buy the books anyway, or massively overpriced tablets in their place. This is a no-win situation for the taxpayer, and these rotten Big Tech computer corporates are here for one simple reason, to fleece taxpayers for money for equipment and software we taxpayers can never even use. Eff all'yall. Nursingjobs.us would rather give clients a new PC than support IE7 ( NeoWin 2014-01-29 ) Seriously? They are clearly using NuMicrosoft approved NuMath. File this under 'Humanity is doomed'. Why are we almost considered as fanboys ? ( The Verge 2014-01-24 ) Here's another fanboy introspection thread, where the Verge Tribers face their demons in group therapy. Lots of entertainment, some truth, much more denial, and plenty of rationalization ensues.

Yesterday: Microsoft not the only one using 'OneDrive' name ( ZDNet 2014-01-28 ) Microsoft faces new brand dispute over OneDrive name ( NeoWin 2014-01-29 ) The first of many I bet It is almost unfathomable that in the past 6 months they didn't bother to do any due diligence, either research into the name or negotiations to obtain clear title and ward off bad publicity! How is it possible that Microsoft keeps getting burned on legal matters when the firm itself was founded by a lawyers son whose father was an early stockholder? Considering the countless legal episodes they have experienced how is it possible that they ever get caught flatfooted again? Microsoft offers $100 off Xbox One for trading in PlayStation 3 ( NeoWin 2014-01-31 ) ~head-scratching~ For the life of me I can't understand how this makes sense for Microsoft? Do they really think they are removing competition by buying old Sony consoles? Really? Furthermore, isn't it ironic that the console must be in working order! With the massive amount of Xbox 360 failures and replacements they are probably going to end up spending more on this than they have to. If someone has a broken 360 paying $100 to remove it has to be cheaper than the repair/replace procedure. Not to mention they'll probably receive a whole lot of stolen consoles from crooks that need a quick $100. I just don't get this business model at all. It's not done anywhere which is proof it is not sensible. There is simply no logic to it. January AdDuplex: Low end drives growth, Nokia still king, new devices uncovered ( NeoWin 2014-01-29 ) Well, only if "King" means King of the Windows Phone universe. And yes, that is exactly what they mean. So this is a story that tells us more about NeoWin than anything else because the headline of the article only pertains to Windows Phone and assumes everybody everywhere co-inhabits this little market. Microsoft removes blog post on 'BootyBay' sideloading project ( NeoWin 2014-01-29 ) Wow, that idea almost sounds logical! Naturally it was pulled. Of course such a mechanism completely destroys the walled-garden lock-in that is the real purpose of Windows 8, Metro and the Microsoft Store. Pulling on the threads in the fabric of this design will cause it to unravel quickly because it would become as ubiquitous as Start Menu replacements. I wonder how they plan to keep this particular cat in the bag. It won't be easy since people have seen it and probably copied the demo. They have also gotten a glimpse at the architecture.

NOTE: If anyone is wondering ( or cares ), NeoWin is off the air ( see here for explanation ). At this writing they have an offsite mirror at http://neow.in. None of the links below will work at the moment unless you swap out the URLs. Microsoft may name new CEO by next week, spotlight on insider Satya Nadella ( TechSpot 2014-01-30 ) Microsoft rumored to select new CEO next week; Satya Nadella still the frontrunner ( NeoWin 2014-01-30 ) Ericsson Chief Hans Vestberg Wants to Stay Put as Microsoft Continues CEO Search ( Maximum PC 2014-01-30 ) Microsoft Could be Headed for the Cloud Under New Leadership ( Tom's Hardware 2014-01-31 ) Report: Microsoft board discussing replacing Bill Gates as chairman ( NeoWin 2014-01-31 ) Satya Nadella reportedly asks Bill Gates to help with 'product problems' at Microsoft ( NeoWin 2014-01-31 ) Well that's what I call a cleaned house. The original Microsoft brain-trust not just out of the office, but also the boardroom. And to make things really squirrelly, move the cloud guy into the big chair? Man, the transition to IBM couldn't be quicker! I don't see a bright side, sorry. I see another sleazy services company existing behind the scenes bleeding other companies dry. The news can even get worse too, because at the end of the day with the Snowden leaks the whole cloud might just evaporate, at least for those of American companies. Sounds like they are really making ONE Microsoft, if by "ONE" you mean placing most of their eggs is in ONE basket. UPDATE: the most recent articles are now suggesting Gates will stick around actively, but not on the board. Sound like someone is worrying about what Wall Street will think about a stagnate arrogant company cleaning out the few remaining people with any experience. Report: Windows 8.1 Update 1 defaults to desktop on startup ( NeoWin 2014-01-30 ) Rumor: Windows 8.1 Update 1 to boot to desktop by default ( TechSpot 2014-01-30 ) Microsoft's Update to Windows 8.1 May Boot Directly to Desktop by Default ( TechSpot 2014-01-31 ) Windows 8.1 Update 1 Could Boot Directly to Desktop ( Tom's Hardware 2014-01-31 ) Report: Microsoft might not make Windows 8.1 Update 1 boot to desktop by default ( NeoWin 2014-01-31 ) Big whoop. Little baby steps along the way to what we suggested from the beginning: ... Windows 7 with back-end improvements, an icon on the front-end just like Media Center but this time for Metro Center. It was so frickin simple. Meanwhile the NeoKids are having metal breakdowns. UPDATE: The last article there dials back the story a bit, with MJF calming the kids: "Foley states, "While there's no reason Microsoft couldn't opt to make boot-to-desktop a universal default -- or even just the default on non-touch devices/machines -- my contacts don't believe this is currently the plan."" The kids sigh in relief. Dot MetroTard asks: " Is there a reason Mouse users cannot (or should not) see the start screen? Why is such an atrocity for mouse users?" Why yes Dottie. It's called choice. Wow, such a 'Tard. He/sh is a MacTard without even knowing it. It's sheeple like him/her that almost require that Microsoft develop two completely different products, one for normal people, and one for retards. UK government once again threatens to ditch Microsoft Office ( The Verge 2014-01-29 ) UK Government plans to ditch Microsoft Office, move to open-source solutions ( NeoWin 2014-01-29 ) What a great point. Big Data is a "tiny oligopoly" of companies, monopolizing the market, even the governments, not to mention acting as the gateway for spooks. If only more bureaucrats began thinking outside the box like this one appears to be doing. At least it's a start. EDIT: formatting

You should be able to disable that. Make sure you are in an admin account before modifying AutoRuns stuff. Also, inside MBAM, go to thhe preferences and disable the realtime component or else it will always re-insert itself. MBAM can definitely be restrained to on-demand status unless something changed in the past couple weeks.

Try it hardwired to the Wi-Fi router with an Ethernet cable. If this works okay it means the onboard NIC has good drivers and the Network protocols are okay, and maybe only the Wi-Fi adapter in the laptop is hosed. If it doesn't work it might be the Networking protocols are tangled, but I doubt it, I'll bet the hardwire will work. Another possibility is permissions. Are you using an administrator account or standard? Also, sometimes the Wi-Fi is easily turned off from the keyboard, try toggling the key combination ( F-keys or FN+F keys ) and look for Wi-Fi on and off notification. Lots of possibilities, you just need to sort through them. EDIT: typo

Very nice. :

I get the point, but I promise it is not "hate". IMHO the "fanboy" topic is really about enablers, there is nothing wrong with being a superfan of anything. Heck look at my picture thingie to the left, I'm a fanboy of many things myself, mostly music related but the principle is the same. So in all honesty, I have no reason to hate a fanboy of anything. I'm a fanboy of System Internals, and ERD/DaRT, old Norton and DISKEDIT, NirSoft, ASM and C, and so many others. But I won't become blind to a mistake, or in the case of Microsoft many mistakes. In fact you will find that the true Windows veterans ( considered Windows fanboys by Apple or Linux aficionados ) are the ones most angry about current events. It's similar to the way a parent comes down much harder on their own kids than anyone else due to higher expectations. So no, it's about enablers really, in the obvious recent case of MetroTards ( not here at MSFN but elsewhere ) who cheerlead and enable every bad idea that has come down from Redmond, including destroying Windows itself so they can have their own little Playskool Toy OS ( which BTW is exactly how they themselves view Mac and Android, as toys ). It is important to note that they are not cheering for their own separate product from Microsoft designed especially for them that the market would decide its fate, they know that destroying Windows and assimilating its wide user base is the only chance their Toy OS ever had. I am totally honest in saying that I wish there really was a separate Microsoft Tiles, and then I would have no reason to constantly smack them around. However the reality is that converting PC Windows into Microsoft Tiles and the curated Store, and the deprecation of Win32 not only means the end of "Windows", but the PC itself. PC is Personal Computer. A personal computer is not one which they can milk for cash as the owner installs apps, it is the exact opposite and that is why they want it gone. Anyway, this thing has been going on now for 4 full years since the iPad arrived and Microsoft lost its mind. The pushback and criticism of Microsoft has been relentless for 3 years since the first CES previews of Microsoft Tiles and the later BUILD announcements. It is far too late to criticize criticism of fanboys as a negative because they have in fact fulfilled all of the predictions we made about them. Old timers are most astonished since this crop of zealots have managed to surpass all the legendary and mostly apocryphal cases of Apple and Linux fans. I'm not trying to change your opinion on this, just explaining what myself and a lot of people feel about them. We're a product of our age, experiences and environment, so YMMV. My own feeling is that stupid must be identified, and also punished. Not doing so lets the devolution continue. Perhaps we'll still lose in the end, the PC will die and Windows will become a pushbutton terminal for chimps. But I'm going down swinging and the enablers are going to be embarrassed at every opportunity. Back on-topic, note that there is a similar kind of enabler that drums up the Windows XP FUD ( or whatever is currently designated "legacy" ), especially the sky will fall when WU stops. The problem there IMHO ties to something Dencorso hinted at, false sense of security. The enabling algorithm: IF you enable WU AND the OS is constantly getting security updates THEN you are secure. This is an epic fail and is disproved every day. In this case the enablers are falling back on the easy path, parroting the politically correct party line without nuance. And this attitude is practically criminal if you ask me. All they really accomplish by getting people to run to a new Windows version is the feeling of being safe, while also coincidentally stuffing more cash into the OS maker's pockets. Actually I would add that they also successfully move more people into a more penetrated spy platform. But more secure? That would only be true if Windows Update was now pushing out something that makes the sheeple smarter. I don't see such an app. And to be clear, I am not suggesting everyone go and disable WU or similar. The point is that WU and Microsoft do not protect our computers. They cannot even protect the much more simplified Internet. Perhaps they mean well but that is not the same as doing well. And I wouldn't even be opening my mouth about this except for the constant FUD about Windows XP ( or any other ). For their FUD to ever be true would require the fact that WU is actively protecting Windows XP computers presently up until the day the switch is thrown and chaos ensues. But I know that is NOT true from experience. They are not protecting this computer in any way and truth be told it is likely far more stable from NOT having files changed all the time. Others can prove my hypothesis correct if they experiment as well. EDIT: typo

Some more details about the Apple earnings report. Contrary to the lukewarm reception on Wall Street, Apple sold quite a lot of stuff last quarter. And unlike Microsoft they reported real numbers again. Here is what we know ... Tablets Apple iPads ......... 26 million Microsoft Surface ... won't tell Phones Apple iPhones ....... 51 million Nokia and other WP .. won't tell Calendar Q4 2013 Apple ............... $57.6 billion ( net $13.1 billion ) Microsoft ........... $24.5 billion ( net $ 6.5 billion ) Apple also says it sold 4.8 million Macs but I can't find a better breakdown yet for MacBooks, Mac Pros, iMacs and whatever else. Regardless, their reporting is substantially more detailed than Microsoft's, I wonder why? In the NeoWin comment thread there are lots of stunned MicroZealots, trying to find something to cheer about, but they can't because Microsoft didn't give them a single number they can use, just a lot of disconnected factoids, so they fall back on MicroZealot craziness. If they really want to know what this means though, it means that Apple sells more iPhones in a single quarter than Microsoft WP sells in about two years ( and this is *without* their new China market being counted yet ). Near as I can tell, the iPads are selling more in a single quarter than Surface sells in at least one year. But both are just guesstimates because Microsoft hides the numbers. The MicroZealots have continually mis-compared Microsoft to Apple and Windows to Mac OS as if they were ever competitors. But that was a huge lie. However, now they have two markets where they are in fact actual competitors. And as I predicted, they are NOT going to like the result. ... From Paul Thurrott ... Apple Falls Short of Expectations in Record Quarter. Heady success doesn't cut it anymore, apparently. ( Thurrott 2014-01-28 ) Crazy title and negative spin aside, Paul does add some interesting flavor, none of which will please the fanboys ... Indeed! That is an amazing statistic. Everything that Microsoft has done is surpassed by the sales of a moderately impressive telephone. But wait, there's more ... That is stunning because they are obviously selling more of the "dead" iPod than Microsoft is selling their hipster Surface tablets. In fact that number may even be very close to all Windows Phones! Pity the MicroZealot fanboys, because all their worst nightmares are coming true.

Or perhaps manual foot brakes? Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the MetroMobile ...

MBAM free is fine. I believe the main difference is that the realtime component is what they want you to pay for. In fact, when you install MBAM free, be aware that the default checkboxes in the setup in fact enable the realtime component as free trial. Speaking for myself I avoid realtime protectors because I don't like them spending CPU and other things for dubious purposes. There is also the possibility that the realtime component will either be passive or passive-aggressive, the former means that it simply spots potential problems and prompts you, the latter will revert suspicious changes and may or may not let you decide. So when I install MBAM, I disable the free trial, and use it entirely on-demand. And indeed, it is very good. I love it how it takes maybe 5 seconds to update the signatures while Windows Update takes some minutes to update MSSE signatures. Added: I don't know what MBAM realtime actually does ( aggressive or not ), perhaps someone else can comment. I do know that MBAM focuses heavily on scanning the registry for suspicious entries, so it may very well lock down and protect keys, or it may not.

Hey, nice find. : Never even heard about it ( was approx 1 year ago too ). Petition = 2,854 supporters

I would estimate in the high 80% range. The Windows API has remained almost completely backwards compatible with itself for 20+ years. An application written in 1990 strictly to documented APIs would very likely work on any later (32 bit) version of the OS. I would not recommend using any of the 9x series Windows operating systems in a networked environment. Even if a piece of malware was unable to run, it would try to run which in the pre-protected-memory versions of Windows will 90% of the time crash the whole system. I echo Romeo29's suggest about using Linux instead. There are a number of modern and light weight Linux distributions available (such as Puppy Linux or Xubuntu; Linux Mint would be the best for novice users, but it's system requirements are fairly steep for a computer of this vintage.) I'm not sure about how accurate his estimate is but I have found that you can get viruses today. ( I use avast and have gotten modern viruses on my computer ) I didn't let the viruses stay long so I don't want to know if their payload would of worked but I would be careful. ( if I recall I got it from adobes website when I downloaded flash 11 for 98) *Note* dont ask what the viruses were as soon as I found them (daily check ups) I deleted them. (should of saved them in the vault) EDIT: could be a rare occurrence since I haven't had an issue in over six months. It is way more nuanced than that. 80% is a WAG. Just for example, if the malware file ( or any one of its files ) is compiled to Unicode then almost any Win9x system is immune to that particular example. If the malware is ANSI but imports functions from NT core files it will be immune. Sure the bad guy could get real backward compatible and dutifully compile without dependencies and check all the boxes for max compatibility, but that's about as likely as Microsoft programmers doing the same thing. New malware will be a product of the time it was created, most likely using the most popular tools ( or most bootlegged ) of the era. The biggest problem in the discussion is the acceptance that Microsoft is "supporting" Windows in the first place, and that all the endless critical security fixes are more than a placebo. Yes, some are probably helpful, but many are not. To answer Jorge's question, there is a large cottage industry of "security professionals" that poke and prod at all parts of Windows, flooding this and overloading that, essentially discovering what everyone knew all along and that is that function arguments and parameters that were written by humans, using programming languages created by humans, to generate code for computer hardware designed by humans, and most importantly owned and operated by humans sheeple - are fallible and imperfect. Their work product is an endless stream of theoretical exploits that under some set of circumstances, can be exploited. What Microsoft releases are fixes to the ones they tested and reproduced under certain circumstances. Put the computer behind a router/hardware firewall, do NOT use MSIE unless absolutely necessary, and change all registry hooks away from MSIE to the alternate browser. Disable uPnP. Then knock off all the autostart vulnerabilities and weaknesses ( Google/Yahoo/Bing/Java updaters, Messenger, etc ). These will advance the computer from the 50% secure status to the 99th percentile. Note, I said the "computer". The biggest failing is the operator who can singlehandedly drag that security level right back down to the sewer. I see it every day, Vista and 7 are the new XP RTM. It doesn't matter if they have Windows Update running ( they all do, but on XP I don't ). They are all running standard accounts ( but on XP I use admin ). They all use the Windows default MSIE all patched up from WU ( I do not ). They plug in wherever the Internet is available, wide-open router or even directly into the ISP modem. They click wildly on whatever meets their fancy ( this supports what Dencorso said about false sense of security ), type their name whenever prompted, click on ads, fall for phishing attacks. The point is, Microsoft cannot cure stupid, and no amount of fixes pushed out in WU will ever change this. People have allowed far too much credit to be given to Microsoft, especially this stuff about them supporting Windows. Windows is supported by the community. They even get credit for things they have nothing to do with. My two favorite examples were: - Windows XP SP2 allegedly fixed the malware problem of the RTM era. No, that one was from bad timing and corrected by hardware. When broadband came along it preceded affordable routers with hardware NAT firewalls. People plugged straight into the ISP modem, got their static IP address, used MSIE 6 and then scratched their heads when they got blasted in 24 hours flat. The cure? The hardware came along gradually when routers became in demand because of Wi-Fi and suddenly people were buying real hardware firewalls without even realizing it (few were buying them before they got laptops, their ISP's like AOL or Cable or DSL never even suggested it ). So, by now plugging their desktops in there also ( and they had no choice because modems usually have but one Ethernet jack ) they locked down their "network" accidentally. Fanboys would have us believe it was the software firewall in SP2 that saved the world ( give me a break, it is trivial to alter in XP's registry, it is done easily from a batch command ). XP's timing was simply unfortunate because Internet access was exploding at the same time it was. And the hardware sucked too. - Vista SP1 allegedly cured all its problems. Not even close. Vista was a victim of the hardware of its RTM era. Actually it was a victim of Microsoft who released an OS more suited for future hardware approximately 3 years into the future. Few people had Core2 Duals and Quads at RTM, most on single-threaded machines and especially underpowered laptops. Fast forward a couple years and Vista would be snappy and nice, whether it was RTM or SP1, on the ever-expanding ( and quite excellent ) Core2 systems. Anything installed on these systems or newer runs excellent. Microsoft had nothing to do with it, except for the initial mistake of allowing a major release to be unsuitable for the average user's hardware. ( and this was exactly the same case at Windows XP RTM too, the hardware sucked in 2001, and was much better by SP2 ). While a bit off-topic perhaps, this is only to demonstrate how propaganda and/or FUD takes root and becomes part of the history. And I don't mean to slam Microsoft here, just to scold them ( or their fanboys ) for taking credit where none is merited. Unfortunately the security issues are rife with this. People seem to get washed over with relief when they see screens full of vulnerability patches in WU. I feel that is much more placebo then medicine. As so many are about theoretical exploits, edge cases where some buffer is overflowed leading to some hypothetical attack I can't believe the hype. Just for starters, the original, unpatched, allegedly vulnerable files still exist after the Windows updates ( mostly ). They are preserved in well-known folders hanging off the Windows directory. If these things were show-stoppers they would be destroyed, not saved for a rollback. A smart bad-guy would just write his malware attacker to import functions from these files ( rather than the new "safe" versions ) since he knows full well the locations. Or he would do even more bad things than that. None of this is to say it is a bad idea to patch Windows files - but it is not the real way to secure the computer. It is more akin to hiding your jewelry and money within your house. The real security starts at the front door ( and back, and side ). Doing the stuff in the house might help or might not depending on the burglar that walks in the front door and how thorough he is. I say lock the door and hide the door and remove the mailbox and telephone. This is done by getting the computer behind a router, and some other stuff. Anecdotally, my own little experiment is alive and well. This XP computer I am on was inherited by me exactly three years ago. At that point I placed it on a network behind a router, no Windows Updates since ( actually since even before then ), only using an administrator account, not using MSIE, not using AV. None of that has changed. I've done my own security tweaks like killing uPnP on the computer and router and changed the registry so that MSIE can only run if I make it run. And obviously took a fine toothed comb to tasks and services and other avenues ( no stupid applications are phoning home and updating ). To be sure, I take this computer into very dangerous websites intentionally ( places where frightened fanboys would poop their pants ) and no drive-by attacks or phishing trips have arisen. NB: this computer was that of a friend of mine who passed away. In the several years he had it he managed to get blasted several times, and interestingly the first one was through FIOS when the tech hooked him straight into their wide-open router and within 24 hours his Windows XP SP2 was infected, and there were several other occasions later. I decided to keep it as a tribute to him, cleaned it up, added SP3 and my own tweaks. I didn't even wipe out the HDD! So I am using a OS that has been compromised but manually repaired. The point is that security is a multi-faceted subject. The hardware, the software and the user. Focusing on one third of it, the software ( actually less than a third since the OS is a subset of that ) is not enough. This is an easy experiment to replicate too. Anyone can set up another Windows XP ( or whatever ) system behind a router and try it with no AV and no WU. Just be smart and have an escape plan ( back it up, have a spare cloned HDD ). What have you got to lose? Nothing. Life is too short to live in fear and way too short to wait for AV processes and endless WU. I probably don't require an administrator account most of the time, but that's just part of the experiment. At least I have the ability to run any software without issue anytime I feel like it, any utility, any experiment. Running as admin, with no AV and no WU, that should mean three strikes for Windows XP. Right? Wrong.

Yesterday: NSA and GCHQ target 'leaky' phone apps like Angry Birds to scoop user data ( UK Guardian 2014-01-27 ) New NSA document leak shows agency could collect info from mobile apps ( NeoWin 2014-01-27 ) Angry Birds Maker Denies Knowingly Sending User Data to Spy Agencies ( Maximum PC 2014-01-28 ) Blaming the 3rd parties that they solicit and allow intricate access to their game and reap huge dollars from. The buck doesn't stop here, the buck never got here! Yesterday: Gov't, Internet companies reach deal on disclosure ( AP 2014-01-27 ) DOJ, tech giants come to terms on data request sharing ( ZDNet 2014-01-27 ) US govt, tech firms settle: Round 1 to the govt ( ZDNet 2014-01-27 ) ZDNet author hints that the agreement might be window dressing. Well of course it is! It's the pea under the walnut shell sleight of hand. Just read the example from Apple he gave! What a joke. Transparency? As transparent as a mirror. No NSA backdoor into Australian Parliament: Microsoft ( ZDNet 2014-01-28 ) ( also see PDF summary ) A frustrating set of responses as usual, answering "this" part of one question and "that" part of another, the same method they use for quarterly reporting. At no point is there really anything that can be said to be a certainty without wiggle room. No products or versions clearly identified. Having said that, this is a very VERY interesting situation, where the Oz IT bureaucrat is answering official questions under oath about Australian national security being possibly compromised by the use of Microsoft products. Now all they need to do is to subpoena and place Microsoft employees under oath and ask really specific questions! And to be fair, they can likewise bring in Google, Apple, Samsung, Oracle, IBM etc. Rinse and repeat this process in each nation on the planet and we will get to the bottom of this spying in no time flat! :

Yesterday: Samsung and Google team up for new worldwide patent license agreement ( NeoWin 2014-01-26 ) Samsung inks cross-licensing deals with Google, Ericsson as it calls for more industry cooperation ( TechSpot 2014-01-27 ) Samsung, Google Sign Global Patent License Agreement ( Tom's Hardware 2014-01-28 ) Not just Apple but also the Apple/Microsoft Rockstar consortium, and all other intellectual property mafia. If it were up to those guys then EVERYTHING would be locked-up IP for rent, available at an offer you couldn't refuse. ISP block on The Pirate Bay ruled unlawful in The Netherlands ( NeoWin 2014-01-28 ) Now give them a big taste of their own medicine and sue those groups and their backers for losses plus punitive damages. FBI has a complete copy of a Tor Mail server, is using it to catch hackers ( TechSpot 2014-01-28 ) Aside from the fact that this means that our government protectors likely are operating a server containing at least some references to child porn ( they "cloned" it, but hey, it's to protect the kids you know! ), and additionally they have "copied" ( or to use the Hollywood and Music industry term: "stolen" ) data from computers they do not own, it also means that no-one can really be sure who is operating that remote server your packets are routed through. How wonderful. It's a Brave New World!

Watch Bill Gates play an exhibition chess match against the best player in the world ( TechSpot 2014-01-27 ) See video at link. I'm not going to rag on billg for losing to the world champion ( IMHO he gets real courage points just for stepping up ). My surprise from that article is that last part: "Carlsen taught Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg how to play the game". That says a lot to me about Zuck, a talentless and lucky slob who during his entire lifetime couldn't find the time and intelligence and humility to learn a game for the ages. It never occurred to me until now but wouldn't chess be a perfect screening step in the hiring process? Patience, planning, strategy, logic, all traits that are in short supply in 'Tard recent generations. Microsoft buys 'Gears of War' franchise from Epic Games ( TechSpot 2014-01-27 ) Microsoft Plucks Gears of War Franchise from Epic Games ( Maximum PC 2014-01-27 ) Microsoft Buys Gears of War Franchise ( Tom's Hardware 2014-01-27 ) Microsoft buys rights to Gears of War franchise, says new game in development ( NeoWin 2014-01-27 ) All hail Microsoft, who are truly committed to PC gaming and would never put the screws to hundreds of millions of customers in favor of a few million Console'Tards. Rumor: PS4 to run PS1 and PS2 games via local software emulation ( NeoWin 2014-01-28 ) Now that's quite a switch for gaming in general, and Sony in particular. Legacy embracement rather than Legacy breaking. Naturally the MicroZealot fanboys have nothing good to say about it. Steam In-Home Streaming beta first impressions ( PC Gamer 2014-01-28 ) Hands-on account of distributed gaming on a local network using off-the-shelf Windows computer as the server and client PC's under SteamOS which allows all to access any game from the user's Steam game account.

Apple: 51 million iPhones, 26 million iPads sold in Q1 2014 ( NeoWin 2014-01-27 ) Apple sells record number of iPhones, iPads and Macs during holiday quarter ( TechSpot 2014-01-28 ) Contrary to the lukewarm reception on Wall Street, Apple sold quite a lot of stuff last quarter. And unlike Microsoft they reported real numbers again. Here is what we know ... Tablets Apple iPads ......... 26 million Microsoft Surface ... won't tell Phones Apple iPhones ....... 51 million Nokia and other WP .. won't tell Calendar Q4 2013 Apple ............... $57.6 billion ( net $13.1 billion ) Microsoft ........... $24.5 billion ( net $ 6.5 billion ) Apple also says it sold 4.8 million Macs but I can't find a better breakdown yet for MacBooks, Mac Pros, iMacs and whatever else. Regardless, their reporting is substantially more detailed than Microsoft's, I wonder why? In the NeoWin comment thread there are lots of stunned MicroZealots, trying to find something to cheer about, but they can't because Microsoft didn't give them a single number they can use, just a lot of disconnected factoids, so they fall back on MicroZealot craziness. If they really want to know what this means though, it means that Apple sells more iPhones in a single quarter than Microsoft WP sells in about two years ( and this is *without* their new China market being counted yet ). Near as I can tell, the iPads are selling more in a single quarter than Surface sells in at least one year. But both are just guesstimates because Microsoft hides the numbers. The MicroZealots have continually mis-compared Microsoft to Apple and Windows to Mac OS as if they were ever competitors. But that was a huge lie. However, now they have two markets where they are in fact actual competitors. And as I predicted, they are NOT going to like the result. Microsoft extends life of Malicious Software Removal Tool on XP ( ZDNet 2014-01-27 ) Not big news really, although it should cause a few more heart attacks at NeoWin once they catch wind of it. Yesterday: SkyDrive Becomes OneDrive. OneDrive to rule them all, OneDrive to find them... ( Thurrott 2014-01-27 ) Microsoft not the only one using 'OneDrive' name ( ZDNet 2014-01-28 ) ZDNet has located a few more examples out there and at least two of them are going to be too close for comfort.