As the guy you're replying to said, "you know that every step from boot to login, is intended to protect your interests." If you're concerned about someone rebooting the system and running some malware, you should make use of the various features designed to mitigate against that. All PCs these days let you password-protect the BIOS settings, so if you've configured it to only boot from the HD, it's not as simple as an attacker putting in a CD or plugging in a USB flash drive with their keylogger. And for even more protection, you can get a computer with more "enterprisey" features, such as a physical case lock and a chassis intrusion detection switch. If the attacker thinks they'll just open the box up and do a quick hard drive swap or something like that, that's not gonna work. And these days, there's also UEFI Secure Boot. Sure, there are ways to attack all of this, but a BIOS password plus case lock is sufficient for the vast majority of people. If you need more than that, you should probably focus on keeping intruders from getting access to your computer in the first place.

As far as I can tell, that's just a utility that changes the options that are already available in Windows--they're normally controlled via Group Policy. It's not actually running any new code, it's just changing behavior in a way that MS has already allowed. It actually is possible to write your own code that runs when the user presses Ctrl+Alt+Del though; it's called a custom GINA DLL. Of course, if an intruder already has Admin access to install their GINA DLL, it's already too late... The point of Ctrl+Alt+Del is to thwart malware running as an unprivileged user.

That key combo was selected because no application uses it. Other than that, there's no relation to its use in DOS. Bill Gates has said that he (or Microsoft in general) had wanted a dedicated key for it, but IBM (which was a major keyboard manufacturer at the time) didn't want to add a key for MS. I guess MS eventually had enough clout to get everyone to add the Windows and Context Menu keys, but it wasn't worth changing Ctrl+Alt+Del to use the new keys.

Uh, what? It most certainly did happen. Multiple feet of snow. In the US northeast. Where did you hear that it didn't happen?

I don't what distinction you're trying to make between a Windows program and a Java program. Windows is an OS, Java is a programming language. Java programs can run on Windows. And sure, it's a problem with the code, but Java programs are popular in big "enterprise" apps, so MS is especially interested in keeping those apps running. The last thing they want is for some company to not upgrade thousands of copies of Windows because a program that company needs won't run on the new version. "DOS ain't done until Lotus won't run" is a myth; MS jumps through a lot of hoops to make sure that almost all programs that run on an older version of Windows will continue running on the new version, even when the coder did something stupid.

Lots of programs that were written when Win9x was still popular are still around... an example given in the last /. story about MS skipping Windows 9 is jEdit. As of right now, the current revision of that file (r23738), last modified about a year ago, still detects the OS as Windows 9x if the OS name supplied by Java contains either "Windows 9" or "Windows M".

No, an electrical load is something that uses electricity, not electricity itself. E.g., "that circuit can handle a 20 amp load." And "load shedding" is shutting off electricity to certain users so that there are fewer loads on the system. See this definition, for example.

The person you replied to didn't say it was difficult; he said it wasn't convenient: "it ... is simply not convenient to use compared to swiping a credit card." And it's not. You have to wake up your phone, unlock it, and then enter the Google Wallet PIN. With Apple Pay, you just have to hold the phone with your thumb at the correct location; the phone display doesn't need to be turned on first, and the fingerprint reader takes the place of the unlock and PIN entry.

I've tried Google Wallet a few times for the novelty value, but using a regular credit card takes fewer steps, and hence is faster.

When did the cases in the US skyrocket? The number has always been extremely low. It's currently at 1, and the 21-day monitoring period for those in contact with the Dallas nurses ends tomorrow. Face it, your perverse wish for an Ebola outbreak in the US didn't come true. While I know you're disappointed, the rest of us are glad to see Ebola on the decline.