Windows 10 as released in June 2015 wasn't complete. They were probably trying to rush it out for back to school or some other milestone date because their original launch period was fall. They're adding missing features and fixing broken features that shipped with RTM code. Windows is never "done" - they always refine shipped features, add security updates, and add new features as the tech market develops over time, but 10 didn't even meet the "done" of past releases. MS would figure out what features to add to the OS and work on it until all those features were in; maybe not perfect but, all there. Win 10 didn't even match that, where the missing features are being released at the end of the year in a "Threshold 2" update. And those TH2 features will probably be half-baked too, requiring more stability updates. But that, along with the "you take all the updates because we said so and no, we won't give you patch notes," is part of Windows as a Service. Like modern video games, you get a mostly functional product on disc that requires a lot of patching on day 1 and maybe a multi-player mode to be added later.

I was looking at this recently; this should turn off and block much of it:

Turn off CEIP, Uninstall updates, and then hide telemetry updates to prevent re-install:
http://www.pcworld.com/article...
Note: my "CEIP" setting was opted-out, but I still received two of those updates. So the "you don't get these updates if you're not in CEIP" assertions are incorrect, at least in my case.

Turn off CEIP reporting services:
https://pubs.vmware.com/view-5...

I kept having that "Update Windows 10" (GWXUX) service crash, so I turned it off using the registry update at the end of this article, leaving myself the opportunity to reverse the process and upgrade later if desired:
http://www.howtogeek.com/21885...

If you want to block windows 10 telemetry using a quick and dirty private DNS server, along with ad and malware blocking, install dnsmasq on a computer (maybe a raspberry pi if you're going for cheap, I'm using a VM on a test bed computer in bridged mode for this experiment):
https://www.linux.com/learn/tu... ...and block using an amalgamation of HOSTS files from here:
https://github.com/StevenBlack...

It's a python script that gets a few HOSTS files on the net and de-duplicates them into a mega crap-blocker list. The resulting list includes tens of thousands of DNS lookups that will be blocked at the perimeter of your network, so it could cause some web pages or software to break they depend on sites blocked by these lists. You can prepare you own windows 10 specific HOSTS file using entries from http://someonewhocares.org/hos... and those listed in articles about this issue if you feel paranoid. Windows can side-step your hosts file, but not your DNS server!

Stating the obvious: you'll want to leave the quick and dirty DNS behind your firewall/router, not expose it to the Internet.

I play a few marquee titles per year - all single player. I have a handful of titles I really love and love to play on console. Coincidentally, my 360 finally started failing after 7 or so years of faithful service a few months ago as I was running through all of the Dragon Age games again in prep for Dragon Age 3. If they can get my favorite games working well with the DLC and such, I'd probably buy one a One - I can replace my 360 and another major console in the current gen in one system. Attractive proposition, particularly if I get a deal on one this holiday season.

I suspect the publishers won't enable backward compatibility for titles they've "remastered" or think they may remaster in the future. Or it could be mostly titles that lean on DirectX and XNA calls for everything, rather than coding against the metal, because that's easier to port. But if it doesn't turn out to be a joke, this could be a good thing.

Release a statement to all prominent french news outlets:

Citizens of France

Due to unreasonable demands of your governing bodies detailed at www.google.com/FrenchWithdrawl, Google will be withdrawing from the French market in 30 days. This includes all Google services - GMail, Google search, Youtube, Zagat, maps, flight information, Android, and others listed at www.google.com/FrenchWithdrawl. We feel we must protect the rights of the other 97% of our customers that live outside of France.

You have 30 days to download all of your data using the "Download" button at www.google.com/FrenchWithdrawl. On the 31st day, no service will be provided to anyone within France for a minimum for 6 months. Also, no services regarding France will be provided for people based out of France - no maps, no search, no Youtube, none of the services listed at www.google.com/FrenchWithdrawl.

One final note from outside the PR department: Don't bother with VPN, proxy, Tor, or any other half-baked obfuscation schemes because we'll know. Why? Because we're Google.

Love,
Google.

Threaten to grind their social and work lives to a halt in 30 days and effectively wipe them off the face of the internet for everyone but China (use Baidu) and Russia (use Yandex) and they'll think twice before pulling shit like this.

* Intel Core i3 2120
* Intel mobo, H67 with onboard third-party USB 3.0 controller
* AMD HD 6670 - 1GB GDDR5
* 500W Antec PSU - Recycled from 2 computers ago
* 4 GB DDR3 1066 MHz - Recycled from 1 computer ago
* Corsair M500 240 GB - System
* WD Blue 1TB - Data
* WD Green 1TB - Video encoding
* Pioneer BDR-209D Blu Ray burner
* Onboard Realtek audio
* Onboard Intel gigabit LAN
* Brother L2380DW PSC mono laser
* 20" Dell monitor from about 2007
* $16 no-name case

At the time I built it, the system also had a recycled 640 GB WD Blue and optical drive. I wanted to upgrade my AMD X2 240 HP system with integrated graphics to do some moderate gaming and get the latest IO standards - USB 3 and SATA 3.

The Intel 2120 was a commonly recommended processor at the time (Mid 2012) and the mobo was the best reviewed board with all my desired features for under $100. The 2nd gen Intel stuff was also starting to come down in price a bit as the 3rd gen parts started trickling out.

The graphics card came recommended from Tom's Hardware; it was a toss up between the horsepower of the AMD card with GDDR3 and an NVIDIA card with less horsepower but faster GDDR5; I found the AMD card with GDDR5 on sale.

The rig ended up playing vanilla Skyrim on high fairly well and Mass Effect 3 on high quite well at the time. PC gaming was easy in the last half of previous gen gaming with everything being ports from ancient consoles. Not so much nowadays. CPU benchmarks were something like twice as high and GPU was hugely faster for a something like $350. It hasn't felt inadequate for the last 3 years or so until the requirements for next gen games I wanted to play started coming out and I started transcoding Blu Rays in Handbrake. Usually queue up jobs to run before I go to work and bed now.

Adsense and Doubleclick must not use flash ads...or they will make an exception for their ad platforms.

I've heard there is security advantage to this from the TWiT.tv show Security Now. Sites with user-supplied content can host user-supplied content on separate domains to prevent some types of attacks. More specifically, I believe it limits certain types of attacks from malicious scripts using "Same-origin" policy - the browser limits what content from foreign domains can accomplish with content on the domain listed in the address bar

The DOE already passed "Gainful Employment" rules once. The first time around, a group representing the for-profit colleges sued the DOE and got the teeth ripped out of the rules. The judge decided the metrics that lead to punishments didn't have enough factual basis to back them up, so they were thrown out. These rules appear to the the second attempt, likely prepared with more thought to defending themselves against the schools with deep pockets.

Googling "gainful employment rules" or "gainful employment rules stuck down" will likely provide more information.

Perhaps the handcuff is extreme, but don't leave it or its contents unattended. Use one hand at the urinal (if applicable), saving the other to hold the briefcase. Use stalls with walls on two or more adjacent sides, keep briefcase on side of toilet with wall. Don't leave it on the convenient little shelf by the door in the bathroom (think I've seen a lot of dumb stuff in the bathroom?) Don't leave the stuff on the table as you walk across a huge room get more food/coffee.

Also, insurance for hardware, encryption for data. IOS has full disk encryption and Android might; truecrypt is cheap and easy to use and each major OS has its own native encryption solution.

I've been spoiled with linux on modern machines, so I don't have much experience running it in resource-strapped environments. Do you think I could run this machine as a file server if I put a text-mode linux distro on it?

I agree. I've not been able to get multi-monitor working properly on my radeon 3000 integrated video since Ubuntu 10.04. 11.04 had an issue with windows having no borders and not responding to mouse and keyboard focus changes on the second screen. In 11.10, the proprietary driver just doesn't work beyond mirroring screens. The default driver spawns everything in the exact center of the 3360x1050 desktop after having to manually exit xconf to avoid the 1680x1680 max res problem. Tried PCBSD (unix, I know), couldn't get anything other than the default driver to work. Tried Debian - same problems as 11.04 and no sound. Tried Linux Mint and Kubuntu 11.04, same problems as ubuntu 11.04. All I want is full screen sound, full screen flash on a monitor that isn't stretched out, and for programs to launch on the screen I requested it on.

Also, driver support is still half-assed amongst hardware makers. My brother (2070N) printer's Debian driver is a automatic conversion of a Redhat driver that tries to copy a file to a directory that doesn't exist on Ubuntu by default, so I have to create the directory first before installing if I don't want guaranteed failure. They didn't even try it once before releasing it or they would have caught it.

I'm thinking about trying a redhat distro this weekend, but I don't have great confidence.

Doesn't all the traffic in the US go through a relatively small number of backbone providers at some point? Set up a deal with all of them so you can pull the plug with a phone call. Chances are all the major consumer ISPs use the major backbone providers, so you can quell disruptive thoughts there. Protecting your local power stations depends on if their ISPs use those backbones, too.