|
Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don't do it. |
Here’s a paranoia item for you… what happens if…or rather when… the Internet goes down for enough time that you have to make a plan B? Note thi
[See the full post at: Patch Lady – 31 days of Paranoia – Day 20]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
At first I took this subject as not seriously. But living in the “Land Down Under” there would be serious problems. The government is still working on providing broadband to a lot of this huge country. There are still places on dial-up, ADSL, Satellite and the whole network is a shambles. I have gone through most of these stages and now have have broadband running at 12MBS/1MBS. My age is now 78 and I depend on the Internet for paying all my bills etc. I have a credit card and would have to fall back on that. But it would be useless as the country internet would be down so no access to funds. All companies used to have paper backups but that has all gone. I spent part of my working life with IBM from 1966 till I was forced to take a redundancy in 1995 with all company benefits. I have not have to work since and reached my goal which was to retire at age 55. I am familiar and used all versions of DOS and Windows except for Windows 10. Now running Windows 7 Home Premium 64x.
So if we ever have a huge Internet outage find a slate/pad and pencil. My 2 cents worth (5 cents – inflation !!!).
If post is not suitable just delete it.
Pierre77 from “Land Down Under” wrote:
My age is now 78 and I depend on the Internet for paying all my bills etc. I have a credit card and would have to fall back on that. But it would be useless as the country internet would be down so no access to funds. All companies used to have paper backups but that has all gone.
I have resisted the pressure from companies to go paperless for just this reason. While I use the internet for bill pay and funds access, I insist on “paper backups” which are still available in many cases here in the US.
I live in a rural area that’s unfortunately prone to power outages, we lose power here for some reason or another for various lengths of time depending on the cause of the outage.
Many years ago I invested in a good sized portable generator and hired a licensed electrician to run a line from my garage where the generator is to the main circuit panel in the basement so when the power goes out I can have power restored to my entire house in under 10 minutes. The generator and the cost to properly connect it to the circuit box was absolutely the BEST investment I’ve ever made!
However, being in a rural area my cable provided internet service requires power from the power lines to function, so even though my generator provides power to the whole house I still don’t have internet until the main power comes back on. In fact, regularly checking the status of the “Online” light on my cable modem during power outages is how I know the main power is back on and I can shut the generator down.
I am in small town and rural area, where due to storms, high winds, flooding, or other disasters, electricity is intermittent. Prior to large storms, computers are turned off and unplugged. Computers have battery and surge protectors. If there are brown-outs, computers, if they are on, do not turn off abruptly. Sometimes, an especially strong surge will overpower the surge protector.
A land-line phone is maintained and trust is largely reserved for things mechanical, not computer or electrical.
We have three seasons here: winter, summer, and monsoon.
Here in New England, we have both warm season storms and winter Nor’Easters. Sometimes the power goes down for days, even a week or more inland. People around here have adapted with generators, cell modems, good old Ham Radios, and food and water kits. Luckily for me, in the two years I’ve been here, nothing major has disrupted the electric power.
But the gas service infrastructure has deteriorated, and one very large gas company chose this time to lock out its Union workers.
Folks all over the country have heard what happened when an absentee-owner utility company literally blew up houses in the Merrimack Valley, north of Boston. It’s getting cold around here, and the gas lines there have not yet been rebuilt. (This is not the same Company who locked out their Union workers.)
Then the Big Company’s Replacement Workers overpressurized a gas line near Boston, and now all infrastructure maintenance and upgrade work for most Massachusetts gas customers except emergency repairs is halted, per State orders. Quite a mess, the gas distribution network in New England! And an example of what’s in store in the future for water supply systems, roads, sewers and storm drains, and bridges.
So, electric utility outages and Internet Services outages are not the only disasters we should be prepared to face.
-- rc primak
Donations from Plus members keep this site going. You can identify the people who support AskWoody by the Plus badge on their avatars.
AskWoody Plus members not only get access to all of the contents of this site -- including Susan Bradley's frequently updated Patch Watch listing -- they also receive weekly AskWoody Plus Newsletters (formerly Windows Secrets Newsletter) and AskWoody Plus Alerts, emails when there are important breaking developments.
