That's not to say it wouldn't be a major headache though. One problem I've found with ransomware viruses is that they can chew through such huge numbers of files it makes selective restoration very difficult.

No, a virus will not "immediately re-activate on restoration". For a virus to "activate", some form of execution is required. Restore your data files only, or don't run infected executables from your backup.

Yes, there have been viruses that infect data files, such as PDF documents, Word documents, or graphics files, but even so, these would not "immediately re-activate on restoration".

If I have a backup of my data taken before a virus "activates", how is that backup invalidated?

Having tried the preventive approach on computer security for years, I came to the reluctant conclusion that it's a losing game. In every business scenario I've dealt with, it is simply impossible to protect against every threat and every zero-day exploit that comes down the pipe. Software patching, firewalls, antivirus, specialized appliances, you name it - they all have their limitations. You can protect against any number of possible exploits, but if only one gets through, you lose. So businesses must weight the costs spending more and more on preventive security solutions versus the cost of a security breach.

Obviously the implications of a breach are more severe for some businesses than others, but in many cases I deal with it makes more sense to focus on a good recovery solution rather than focussing mainly on prevention.

Still not terrible.

I take it this is a first-world definition of "terrible"?

I had to turn up my speakers to even hear the video.

"AV" software is practically useless.

How about an Internet that refuses to route packets with a forged source address?

Not true unless Netcraft confirms it!

If one EU country lures foreign investment by offering illegal tax breaks, they undermine the ability of other countries to attract investment. The benefit to the EU of enforcing the rules is that EU members get a level playing field.

The problem with Tic Tac Toe is that it's too deterministic. It will always end in a draw unless one player does something stupid.

That's why I made up a variant I call "Pic Tac Toe". On each player's move, they can choose to write either an X or an O. The first person to get any three in a row wins.

I don't know if anyone else has come up with this, or if it can also be proven to be deterministic. I suspect that it might be, but at least it adds a bit more variety to the game.

Dad, is that you?

It's not often that I literally LOL. Thank you for the endorphins :)

I just switched to the Long-Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) version of Windows 10 and so far I like it. No App Store, no Cortana, no force-installed new features.

Wait till you see Exchange Server 2016. It's still chock full of gotchas, but with a completely new (web-based ) management interface. the PowerShell-based management shell is still there, however, and remains the best way to manage things.

Management issues aside, Exchange is a useful product. Synchronization of e-mail, contacts, and calendars with iOS and Android smartphones is supported out of the box, and Outlook Web Access is the best webmail implementation I've seen.

My main issue with it is that Jet databases are fragile. Had they implemented SQL Server as the back-end, it would be far more resilient.

UAC isn't intended to be some kind of inviolable security mechanism. It's more of a simple alert that some process is trying to make changes to your system - a nice thing to know if you weren't expecting it. The fact that you can bypass the UAC prompt when already on the computer with administrative rights is pretty non-consequential.