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It was the Humphrey Bogart character Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941).

“Yes,” Spade growled. “And when you’re slapped you’ll take it and like it.”

—

About Copilot, I’ll try it out so at least I have a reason to disable it. 🙂

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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Mark

Many countries have Consumer Laws that require goods to be fit-for-purpose and to last a reasonable amount of time, regardless of warranty.

IIRC, these things were released a mere 7 months ago.  Surely, a reasonable expectation would be for its screen to last more than that?

And it can’t be out of warranty so soon unless MS a giving a pitiful 6 month warranty. The warranty period length says a lot about the manufacturer’s confidence in a products quality.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

I’m an Aussie and I would use it.

Privacy isn’t a black and white issue, sometimes it has to be ceded for good reasons, and helping to stop this nasty bug is IMO an especially good one.

If people were truly serious about privacy, they wouldn’t use the internet, phones, bank accounts, credit/debit cards,… But they do, because they perceive the benefits to outweigh the risks.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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Matador, woody

[Karlston]

According to the Bleeping Computer article, the cause is the scanning of files with two periods in the name, eg start..exe, bones..ttf etc. Probably, multiple periods (more than one) is the cause.

So, those folks not having problems may simply not have any files with the double/multiple period in the name?

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Karlston.

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woody

FWIW, MSPoweruser has an article about it…

https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-update-breaks-antivirus-scans-windows-10/

 

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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Elly, jhvance, CADesertRat

@Woody Sorry, there’s a typo in your CW article.

There’s an entry “1” in the first dotted list. MS patching integers now? 😉

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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woody

“We have phones and tablets for games.  People use computers for work.”

It’s not quite that black and white.

I do some serious work on my iPad as well as play (simple) games, and I have a desktop with large monitor for both playing serious games (Skyrim, Witcher 3, Dying Light.,..) and serious work.

Which device is used for what is determined by display size and user interface (touch vs keyboard/mouse.) It’s about usability and convenience.

That said, much of the rubbish including Candy Crush, gets unceremoniously clobbered after installs.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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radosuaf

Just wanted to clarify that 8.1, unlike 8, detects the UI (mouse/keyboard or tablet/touch) and boots into the correct one every time.

In maths terms, 8.1 <> 8 and 8.1 >> 8. 🙂

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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Noel Carboni

Just wanted to gently remind that Extended support of Windows 8.1 ends in January 2023, three years after Windows 7 does.

IMO, if you’re using 8.1 and don’t want 10, just stay with 8.1.

If you’re using 7 and don’t want to move to 10, then either stay with 7 if you accept the support limitations, or if you have or can get a legitimate 8.1 product key, move to 8.1 and avoid 10 for another three years.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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Microfix

No worries Woody, can happen to the best of us. 🙂

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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Microfix

The fix’s “33PXH-7Y6KF-2VJC9-XBBR8-HVTHH” looks suspiciously like a Windows 7 activation code.

If so, shouldn’t anyone else trying that fix should be using their own activation code?

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

I hope one of the changes is to allow registered members to specify their timezone (or UTC offset) so that displayed posting dates and times become accurate for ALL members, not just for those who happen to live in whatever US timezone the server lives in.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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PerthMike, bbearren, BobbyB

8.1 evangelist here 🙂

IMO, 8.1 would have been installed more if it hadn’t been so (unfairly) tarnished by 8 and its two main reasons to avoid it…

1. Booted up in tile-infested tablet mode on all devices, even mouse/keyboard driven ones. One of those what-was-Microsoft-thinking moments.

2. No Start Menu.

Both of these were fixed in 8.1, though the Start Menu Microsoft added was tile-infested.

Third-party products can change the rock-solid stable 8.1 into a nearly-7-UI for a handful of dollars. Stardock’s Object Desktop for the discounted $US19.95 per year is a bargain for Start8, WindowBlinds 8, Fences 3, and much more. Each module can be installed on up to 5 devices.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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Microfix, abbodi86

Personally, I’d backup the 7 install as an image that can be file/folder accessed (Macrium Reflecty Free is my go-to for this), do an 8.1 clean install, then install all software and restore data. I’m ultra-careful, so I’d do the 8.1 install to a new SSD, keeping the 7 drive as a second backup.

Yep, 8/8.1 are pretty old now, but newer than 7. And 8.1 gives you 3 more years of support over 7.

IMO, still the preferable option over moving to 10.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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HiFlyer

Eeek… just got up, half-asleep and read ” the most-distant object we’ve ever seen should hit earth”. That certainly got me awake! 🙂

But seriously, will follow the story with great interest.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

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Cybertooth