As we mentioned previously, there are some serious privacy concerns with Windows 10, in addition to the lack of control of updates and software changes. We still don’t recommend updating to Windows 10 at this time, and do recommend that you  evaluate its EULA, privacy policy, and suitability for your use before upgrading. It’s always a good idea to understand what information may be collected by your software, operating systems and apps and for what purpose it’s collected. As recent news has shown again and again (Ashley Madison to name a recent event), anything stored online will eventually become public. Many companies just don’t do a good job of securing either their network (Target credit card hack) or the information they collect. Microsoft is a big target, and one never knows when their cloud services might be hacked.

There are some recent Windows updates that Microsoft has released to older operating systems — Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 — which raise similar privacy concerns as Windows 10. However, because these are only updates, you can uninstall them, or choose never to install them. Search on the KB number in your updates list, and check against it before installing updates in the future.

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You’ve all heard of solid state drives, or SSDs, the new performance-enhancing addition to modern computers. They’re “supercharged” versions of traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) which are built on spinning disk technology. Compared to HDDs, SSDs run faster, use less power, generate less heat, and have no moving parts. That’s great for laptops, or anyone who wants 4x faster “hard drive” access for super fast boot times. SSDs aren’t without their faults, though. They cost more than hard drives and usually have less storage space. They also put your data at risk in ways very different from the hard drives we all have come to know over the last thirty years.

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