The Only Safe Place to Buy a Windows PC is the Microsoft Store

[Decon]

Why not find one without windows preinstalled and get the OS separately... sure it costs a bit more, but you'll be safer that way...

 

or switch over to linux...

 

 

 

 

Some manufacturers put the installer in a partition on the HDD... the installer comes pacakged with all your unwanted software... I had the misfortune of encountering such PCs in my work... and yes they are indeed a pain to work with...

LINUX FTW

[Akolyte]

I build my own PCs or if I buy a PC I always remove all the crap.   According to LifeHacker Windows Defender now detects superfish as malware, so run a scan with it on Windows 8 or if on Windows 7, use Microsoft Security Essentials. 

[Albatross]

 

 

Just build your own, buy the OS, and be happy. Prebuilts are shit.

 

Ahaha, funny enough I was going to post the exact gif and response.

[Guest]

Who has time to learn about computers, doctors spend all their time keeping up with the latest research, teachers spend all their time preparing (good teachers that is), investors are only watching the markets not the insides of a computer.

Diagnosing and treating illnesses, fighting legal battles and analyzing markets is not a key part of everyone's everyday life. Using computers, again, is.

I previously said not being into computers is not equivalent to not being into cars.

Not being into computers is equivalent to not being into food.

'I don't have time to learn all this nutrition gobledygook. I'm a busy guy, I'll just go eat every meal McDonalds. It's a big, very successful company and people are apparently loving it. Surely, I can trust them to take care of my nutritional needs.'

That's what it's like watching people buy unservicable hardware and locked down software that spies on them. It's like watching 99% of the world decide they'll eat at McDonalds for the rest of their lives. And feed their children McDonalds. And make their company employees and government officials dependent on it.

[mr moose]

Diagnosing and treating illnesses, fighting legal battles and analyzing markets is not a key part of everyone's everyday life.

 

It is if you're a doctor, lawyer or marketeer.

 

 

 

 

Not being into computers is equivalent to not being into food.

'I don't have time to learn all this nutrition gobledygook. I'm a busy guy, I'll just go eat every meal McDonalds. It's a big, very successful company and people are apparently loving it. Surely, I can trust them to take care of my nutritional needs.'

 

 

BS, you don't need to understand the internal structure of food to know fresh veg are healthy and mcdonalds is shit.  Just like you don't need to know the difference between AMD and Intel to know how to use office.

 

That's what it's like watching people buy unservicable hardware and locked down software that spies on them. It's like watching 99% of the world decide they'll eat at McDonalds for the rest of their lives. And feed their children McDonalds. And make their company employees and government officials dependent on it.

 

You have a very narrow minded view of reality if this is your understanding of why people buy what they do.

 

There aren't too many different ways to say it, not everyone has the time, skills or aptitude to build their own IT solutions.  They never will.  The mere thought that everyone should is not only beyond human capacity but also a bit naive.

[Bsmith]

ahh yeah, good to know.

they have exactly 0 stores in my country so far i know.

 

GG microsoft

[Guest]

It is if you're a doctor, lawyer or marketeer.

I said "everyone's". A doctor treats, a lawyer sues, a marketeer games markets, but they ALL use computers for administration, professional and personal communication, further education, entertainment and countless other things.

 

BS, you don't need to understand the internal structure of food to know fresh veg are healthy and mcdonalds is shit.

I'm not saying understanding technology is as simple as understanding nutrition. I'm saying it is as important.

You don't need to know the difference between AMD and Intel to use Office, but you do have to understand that spreading the use of Microsoft's proprietary file types enables them to keep a monopoly on office software, which drives up costs of operating businesses.

You do have to understand that- unless you own major ISP stock- you are interested in network neutrality as it keeps the ISPs from abusing their position to make you chose not the online service you like the most, but the one owned by or paying you ISP.

You do have to understand that the reason Google's and Facebook's services and Skype are free is because the information you're handing over is sold to companies that profit from taking advantage of it. Sometimes in a way you don't mind, like recommending you buy something you really like. But as their data storage and analysis capabilities grow, in plenty of other ways you might not like.

[sof006]

Or buy the laptop from wherever you like and install a fresh copy of Windows.

[Machu]

I bought a laptop from my local MS store last August. I bought from their because they have good deals, and sometimes configurations you can't get from the manufacturers website. Since it was back to school time, I got $100 of a purchase of $600 or more, 10% off for students, and a bundle with Office 365.

Also at the MS suite, while I didn't get this laptop, they had the 4K touchscreen Lenovo Y50. Last I checked they don't sell those on their website, just 4K or touchscreen.

[Victorious Secret]

It is if you're a doctor, lawyer or marketeer.

BS, you don't need to understand the internal structure of food to know fresh veg are healthy and mcdonalds is shit.  Just like you don't need to know the difference between AMD and Intel to know how to use office.

 

You have a very narrow minded view of reality if this is your understanding of why people buy what they do.

 

There aren't too many different ways to say it, not everyone has the time, skills or aptitude to build their own IT solutions.  They never will.  The mere thought that everyone should is not only beyond human capacity but also a bit naive.

 

He's just using pie in the sky rationals and its almost as if he's being intentionally thick as to illicit responses from us. Best to walk away with you sanity intact on this one. 

[Michael McAllister]

I don't think Microsoft changes the manufacturer price.

 

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/HP-Stream-11-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.309174400

[Victorious Secret]

I said "everyone's". A doctor treats, a lawyer sues, a marketeer games markets, but they ALL use computers for administration, professional and personal communication, further education, entertainment and countless other things.

 

I'm not saying understanding technology is as simple as understanding nutrition. I'm saying it is as important.

You don't need to know the difference between AMD and Intel to use Office, but you do have to understand that spreading the use of Microsoft's proprietary file types enables them to keep a monopoly on office software, which drives up costs of operating businesses.

You do have to understand that- unless you own major ISP stock- you are interested in network neutrality as it keeps the ISPs from abusing their position to make you chose not the online service you like the most, but the one owned by or paying you ISP.

You do have to understand that the reason Google's and Facebook's services and Skype are free is because the information you're handing over is sold to companies that profit from taking advantage of it. Sometimes in a way you don't mind, like recommending you buy something you really like. But as their data storage and analysis capabilities grow, in plenty of other ways you might not like.

 

The only people that need to understand how that works is IT managers WHOSE JOB is to manage costs for businesses and give them the best mixture of services and hardware at the most sustainable costs. The 9-5 works and everyone else doesn't need to understand that. Net neutrality is the ONLY example you've given that actually affects people, but not because of any fancy reason but rather because it affects their wallets. 

 

Understanding your computer IS NOT as important as understanding nutrition. What the hell are you on about? Only people WHOSE GODDAMN CAREERS are in technology will care about understanding computers and such. EVERYONE needs to understand nutrition for better health. What good is being a computer wizard if you can't even maintain a stable diet on your own, huh? Its nothing, thats what it is. Understanding nutrition and health is more important in this day and age. 

 

I said "everyone's". A doctor treats, a lawyer sues, a marketeer games markets, but they ALL use computers for administration, professional and personal communication, further education, entertainment and countless other things.

 

 

Jesus, you don't get it at all. We aren't saying they don't use computers. But thats all they do. They USE them. They have no obligation, desire or motivation to understand them. They are tools. Nothing more, nothing less. Someone doesn't need to "be a free individual and make their computer work for them" in order to use a stupid Excel spreadsheet or Outlook. 

 

Wow. You're really something else. 

 

[Mr.Jackson]

Someone doesn't need to "be a free individual and make their computer work for them" in order to use a stupid Excel spreadsheet or Outlook.

I can build a PC, but I have no idea how to create a spreadsheet in Excel or Outlook. what does that mean for me?

[Victorious Secret]

I can build a PC, but I have no idea how to create a spreadsheet in Excel or Outlook. what does that mean for me?

 

You're a normal person, because Excel is witchcraft that only the programmers who made it will understand. 

 

I have a....171,000 cell database (excluding the graphs, charts, pivot tables, etc) on one of them. Its true torture. 

[Guest]

Jesus, you don't get it at all. We aren't saying they don't use computers. But thats all they do. They USE them. They have no obligation, desire or motivation to understand them. They are tools. Nothing more, nothing less. Someone doesn't need to "be a free individual and make their computer work for them" in order to use a stupid Excel spreadsheet or Outlook.

 

Yeah, computers are tools people want to just use.

Complex tools with immense potential and many manufacturers are limiting the people to using them only in the ways the manufacturer approves of.

How stupid would it be to support a manufacturer of hammers that would limit its hammers to only working with a proprietary type of nail?

How stupid would it be to support said manufacturer if it sold multiple versions of the same hammer with each version artificially limited to certain tasks. Like a hammer that would support nailing two blocks of wood together, but refuse to straighten a bent nail or crush a walnut with the version that doesn't have those limitations being sold at an obscene premium.

A hammer that can be remotely disabled by a company based in a foreign country, potentially allowing that country to disable all the hammers in your country if they go to war?

Idiocy! Who would go along with such a thing?

People who don't understand how the tool works and how they're being taken advantage of.

This is what a large chunk of the tech industry is like, except you have to imagine that hammers are a tool every individual, company and government uses for crucial tasks on a daily basis.

 

 

Wow. You're really something else.

 

And you're a typical Apple apologist. I hope you're proud of your work.

[Victorious Secret]

And you're a typical Apple apologist. I hope you're proud of your work.

 

Barring all the other tripe you have put out, this is the best you can come up with? 

You know what? I am proud. I get to raise money for kids with cancer, I research cancer itself, I sustain my photography hobby and I play games all on my various devices (Apple among them, as if that actually has anything to do with anything); I am proud. I live a fairly successful life and I get to give back to people who have been disastrously less fortunate than I. 

 

Proud indeed. And I do it all without needing to understand or "make my computers work for me" or "being a free individual" or whatever other flavour of bollocks you have yet to say.

 

You're just the typical armchair idealist who is grasping at straws to come up with points that aren't even relevant or valid in this discussion on any level what so ever. I'd give you a tin foil hat, but you're not even a paranoid thinker. You're just saying such arbitrary and nonsensical things that its more sad than anything. 

 

Feel free to come back to this debate when you actually start saying things that make sense to people other than you. 

[79wjd]

How stupid would it be to support a manufacturer of hammers that would limit its hammers to only working with a proprietary type of nail?

How stupid would it be to support said manufacturer if it sold multiple versions of the same hammer with each version artificially limited to certain tasks. Like a hammer that would support nailing two blocks of wood together, but refuse to straighten a bent nail or crush a walnut with the version that doesn't have those limitations being sold at an obscene premium.

 

 

A hammer that can be remotely disabled by a company based in a foreign country, potentially allowing that country to disable all the hammers in your country if they go to war?

 

 

Idiocy! Who would go along with such a thing?

People who don't understand how the tool works and how they're being taken advantage of.

This is what a large chunk of the tech industry is like, except you have to imagine that hammers are a tool every individual, company and government uses for crucial tasks on a daily basis.

 

 

And you're a typical Apple apologist. I hope you're proud of your work.

Theres nothing wrong with proprietary software/hardware IFF it is beneficial (i.e. the lightning cable is better than micro usb in every single way, therefore I am perfectly okay with that proprietary connector being used on Apple devices -- if it was the EXACT same connector as Micro-USB, but didn't have the tapered corners, and maintained the same integrity of a Micro USB cable, THEN it would be an issue). 

 

Right, because theres no way for a company...like Microsoft.... to push out an update disabling any windows keys...

[mr moose]

I said "everyone's". A doctor treats, a lawyer sues, a marketeer games markets, but they ALL use computers for administration, professional and personal communication, further education, entertainment and countless other things.

 

I'm not saying understanding technology is as simple as understanding nutrition. I'm saying it is as important.

You don't need to know the difference between AMD and Intel to use Office, but you do have to understand that spreading the use of Microsoft's proprietary file types enables them to keep a monopoly on office software, which drives up costs of operating businesses.

You do have to understand that- unless you own major ISP stock- you are interested in network neutrality as it keeps the ISPs from abusing their position to make you chose not the online service you like the most, but the one owned by or paying you ISP.

You do have to understand that the reason Google's and Facebook's services and Skype are free is because the information you're handing over is sold to companies that profit from taking advantage of it. Sometimes in a way you don't mind, like recommending you buy something you really like. But as their data storage and analysis capabilities grow, in plenty of other ways you might not like.

 

Of course they all use computers, well done for working out the obvious.  Everyone uses computers.  but not everyone can build them and not everyone wants to learn how to install windows and setup networks and domains etc. Because that is the only real difference between using a computer and understanding them on any deeper level.

 

You're making a mountain out of a mole hill.  Really.  @Victorious Secret has answered your arguments well enough.  I don't think there is anymore that can be said.