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Securing the in-laws' PC

Comments (2) · 8 May 2005 · permalink

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Categories: Computing,

The in-laws have a PC used mainly for digital photos and email. I’m sure if you are somewhat computer literate, that you have relatives that rely on you as their computer technician. Microsoft, if they are really interested in security, need to think a bit out-of-the-box to help users make it easier to manage their computer.

So, back to the in-laws’ PC… occassionally I will think to check the PC for required updates, and install them. They’re on dial-up, so downloading all the updates can take a very long time. My preference is to take the computer home, and download the updates via my broadband connection.

My suggestion to Microsoft. Provide the ability to set a “computer manager” who will be emailed when the computer requires updates to be installed. So in this case, the in-laws’ PC would email me a list of required updates (maybe even a link to a packaged file of these updates). I could download them, burn them to CD/USB drive and take them with me the next time I visit. It simple is not practical to maintain all the updates for a Windows machine over a dial-up connection.

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Simon ·
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Monday 16 May, 2005 at 06:02 AM

Ah… but will Microsoft do it well? Doubt it. “Security Centre” is quite not Microsoft’s best work.

 
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Neil ·
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Monday 16 May, 2005 at 08:47 AM

Totally agree that the management of machines in this way is a royal pain.

While it doesn’t address the main issue of your post, this could be useful if done well:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/onecare/default.mspx

 
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