Windows 10

[Lovecats]

Well my husband just got fed up and uninstalled 10. I have only had a couple of problems so I'm keeping it for the time being.

[Chromatix]

Fun stuff: apparently, if you haven't already uninstalled the "privacy invasion" series of patches in previous versions of Windows, it now also downloads the install files for Windows 10 without asking first. For your "convenience".

So if any of you are on an Internet connection with a low data cap, and you're wondering why you've accidentally blown through it...

[dbuzman]

....downloads the install files for Windows 10 without asking first.

Microsoft seems really intent on ticking people off.

[lordlundar]

A clarification, it's not if you don't have those particular files, it's if you have your update system set to auto download and install patches. Any other setting stops this from happening.

[Chromatix]

Given that Windows 7 has recently started *installing* patches automatically - on two completely separate machines, so I know it's not just a glitch - when I've always had it set to "download but ask me before installing"... I'm not at all confident that it will respect my settings in any other regard.

It's already been making System Restore Points on every update, despite my having specifically turned that feature off. (It consumes a lot of disk space, which on one of my machines is at a severe premium, and it also interferes with my custom defragmentation layout since the backup files can't be moved.) Again, on multiple computers. I have to delve into the Control Panel every time I notice it's done it, and delete the checkpoints manually.

To combat the first problem, I've now set my computers to ask me before even downloading updates.

[EvilEmpryss]

So, my company's hired HIPAA computer security expert got back to me about HIPAA compliance with Win 10. I swear he's getting kickbacks from Microsoft. After first trying to just tell me that it's "no more or less compliant than Win 7 or 8" and basically not to worry my little head over it, I insisted that he had to address the specific points in the privacy policy I listed out for him. His response?

"Windows 10 is the best ‘business’ OS for usage, bar none, as long as all compatibility is in place. (*Please note, at no point has he told me what these compatibility issues are or how to ensure that they're "in place".) It does have privacy policy issues. It does have privacy configuration issues. The privacy settings, and there are a lot of them, (13 or so) don’t take long to configure and are easy to accomplish. (**Contrary to everything I've read on the web and experienced with the sister business that chose to upgrade despite my warnings.) I am pretty sure in an Enterprise/Network these can be handled with a simple Global Policy like everything else, but I haven’t verified that yet. (***We don't have an Enterprise/Network.)

There is a reason HIPAA requires a ‘Risk Assessment’. You need to determine your Risk and assign Reasonable procedures. If you believe that Windows 10 is an unacceptable risk and that there is no reasonable reason to use it, then by all means choose Windows 8 or 7 until you feel comfortable. ... Windows 10 is the future and if it has mistaken or glaring issues they will be fixed before long. I think with proper configuration it poses a ‘reasonable risk’ all things considered." (****Again, no explanation as to what a "proper configuration" is, short of us paying him $1,000 a month to run our computer security for us.)

He thinks that the privacy statement and procedure issue "is due to incompetence or laziness or both. Public notice and pressure will get this fixed or addressed."

Yeah. Right.

People aren't paying any attention, and won't until there's a major violation where some big business gets slammed for half a mil in fines. Only a big corporate hospital will be able to take on Micro$oft and get them to change anything.

And that's why this little business won't be upgrading to Win 10.

[BeeMused]

HIPAA computer security expert

Apparently his qualification does not include the listening skill set.

With sensitive data like HIPAA data it's very wise to wait before migrating to another OS version.

This guy sounds like he's full of buzzwords and not that much knowledge, and by obfuscating things he wants to create job security for himself.

[EricKei]

Aye -- My experience dealing with HIPAA is only tangential (getting accounting software to work within it for clients back in the day), but even that was...interesting Moving to an entirely new OS without 110% confirmation that there won't be any issue? Absolutely NFW. Not worth the risk.

[EvilEmpryss]

The thing is that he runs a company that takes care of some big companies (nothing stock-worthy, but not small, by any means). The biggest problem we've had with him is that he seems to have it stuck in his head that this 9-person office (two of whom are admin-types and two others are part-timers) needs the same computer infrastructure as a 500-person major medical group. We can't afford what he's trying to sell us, and I was able to put together a package with more services for $800 less per month than what he's offering. I wasn't going to insult him by asking him to come down in price, especially since I knew he couldn't offer one of the major things we needed, which was mobile syncing and remote wiping of lost cellphones.

*shakes head* I don't like being told that since it's not some cloak and dagger conspiracy to gain access to our files that I shouldn't worry about it. Some of the biggest fines being levied against medical service providers are for stupid mistakes, not conspiracies. I'm not going to let this be the stupid mistake that bankrupts my boss.

[EricKei]

Wise choice ^__^

Yeah, this gent doesn't seem to understand that, no matter the business size, HIPAA is no laughing matter.

[Lovecats]

Well, husband has gone back to windows 7. He had a lot of problems with 10. I still have 10 with minimal problems so far. Just realized that I had already posted this. Oh, well, maybe it bears repeating.

[notalwaysright]

I've been using 10 at school. We have cartridge hard drives which fit in all the classrooms we use, and 10 comes with powershell, so I figured why not? It's mostly fine. I have one program which refuses to run for me, but it runs totally fine for another person with 10. The somewhat troubling thing must be with the graphics drivers... The screen will flicker to black for just a second or two, like it's installing drivers. I will stick with what I have at home until I see less twitching.

[cindybubbles]

I've had Windows 10 for about a month, and it works fine for me. I've even downloaded some apps to help me pass the time if my Internet connection breaks or is too slow.

[wolfie]

So, my company's hired HIPAA computer security expert got back to me about HIPAA compliance with Win 10. I swear he's getting kickbacks from Microsoft.

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

His non-answers could simply be that he talks a good game, knowing all the appropriate buzzwords, but doesn't know a damn thing about what actually works. His "one size fits all" approach points in this direction.

I'd be tempted to send him a followup letter asking detailed questions, with liberal use of TLAs - some of which have NO relation to computer security. For example, asking about the impact Windows 10's DPF implementation has on HIPAA compliance. Then, forward his response to your boss, along with a "cheat sheet" of what the "foreign" TLAs actually mean.

If the "expert" is a buzzword-spewing phony, he won't want to admit ignorance, and will probably try to give a BS answer. If your boss sees how, rather than flag nonsense in your query, the guy tries to gloss over Windows 10's (D)iesel (P)articulate (F)ilter implementation, it would be a clear sign that the consultant needs replacement.

And that's why this little business won't be upgradingdowngrading to Win 10.

Fixed that for you.

[Chromatix]

Some fun acronyms to throw in:

TPWS - Train Protection & Warning System, a "positive train control" system used on British railways.

PZB - Punktförmige Zugbeeinflussung, a "positive train control" system used on German, Austrian and several other railway systems.

HGV - Heavy Goods Vehicle, ie. an articulated lorry.

CVR - Cockpit Voice Recorder, one of the two "black boxes" fitted to commercial aircraft.

JCL - Job Control Language, from the IBM mainframe era.

TOG - The Old Gang, a group of British First World War tank designers who tried to continue their work in WW2, unsuccessfully; their best-known design, the TOG II, weighed more than twice as much as any other British tank, and was slower *and* had less effective armour than the already-proven Matilda II. The latter wasn't exactly quick in the first place.