• Which patches to patch?

    Posted on August 19, 2016 at 04:58 CDT by • Comment in the Forums

    Good question from GT:

    You’ve written that even when on Defcon-2, we should still download the malicious software removal tool; however, it won’t download to my Win7 system..

    Also, I’ve previously downloaded the 52MB security update to IE 11 but I nevertheless see it again, checked.

    I’m ready to abandon IE in favor of Firefox; but Norton Identity Safe doesn’t work with FF despite showing it as an enabled add-on. I’m reluctant to use Chrome for privacy reasons.

    Please advise if ever you have a spare moment.

    Yep, we’re at MS-DEFCON 2, which means I don’t think there’s any reason to install the current round of patches.

    The neat thing about the MSRT and Windows Defender updates is that you don’t need to run them. Don’t even need to think about them. They take care of themselves.

    Not sure why IE 11 is showing you the update again, but it probably didn’t get installed the last time. Stop using IE, and don’t worry about it. You need to update it sooner or later, but there’s no sense even thinking about it right now.

    Move to Firefox. Dump Norton. I understand why you don’t want to use Chrome – it’s a valid concern. Firefox is great. If Norton doesn’t work with Firefox, give Norton the heave-ho. It’s an expensive, problem-prone package that has very few benefits. You may have problems uninstalling it. If you do, drop back here.

    I recommend the free (absolutely free) Microsoft Security Essentials, and I’ve recommended it for many years. Antivirus has become less and less relevant. MSE might not be the highest scoring package, but it works fine for just about everybody. If you’re carrying nuclear detonation codes, it’s another story, but for most people, MSE does the job, does it well, and doesn’t beg you for money.

    Windows Patches/Security
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