I beseech the SF brain-trust to advise me here. Thanks in advance, any opinions are appreciated.

I am putting win7 on my wife's home computer right now. She never uses IE, is there any reason not to get rid of it (as much as it will allow) before the updates begin?

All she uses is Firefox and Chrome. Chrome because she needs it for work and Firefox because she likes it and likes to keep work completely separate as much as possible.

Also, I'd like to submit for opinions on free disk imaging software. She'll have a 120gb SSD as a C: drive and a 300gb conventional disk as mass storage (which historically she barely dents. I was wanting to create a partition on the 300gb drive for a back up image. Are there any out there that will automatically maintain/update an image on a regular basis that might be recommended?

My guess is it won't be trivial to remove it. Just leave it alone and don't use it.

I use Macrium Refelct free with very good results.

I have no opinion on the IE vs. Chrome. I have, in the past, found that some websites work better with IE than with Chrome, and vice-versa (usually municipal and government websites running Silverlight), so I see the utility of keeping it around even if I don't use it much.

With regards to disc imaging: disc imaging, in my opinion, should be a 2nd or 3rd layer defense against data lost, not the first. The benefit of disc imaging is a rapid recovery against *disc failure*. If a disc dies, you simply replace it with the image, and all of your hardware and software settings and preferences are undisturbed.

HOWEVER, disc imaging is NOT the primary defense against data loss. The primary defense against data loss is a file-level backup. You backup your individual files that you want preserved, not the entire drive with the operating system and etc. The reason for this is that if there is an error in the operating system, or you get a virus, or your disc gets encrypted maliciously, these errors will be imaged onto a disc image. You will have two copies of fucked up data. Not cool.

Instead, I recommend a file backup software like Crash Plan that will keep copies of just the files you want to keep (documents, photos, music, video, etc). A good software will keep versioned copies of each file as they change, so that if a malicious virus comes in and encrypts your files, only the latest version gets damaged in your file backup. You can then revert to an earlier version.

At this point, many Sigforumites will step in and point out that they just backup their files onto a USB drive or portable hard drive, and then bring the the drive to work or store it in the safe, and they do this daily/weekly.monthly without fail. I can't recommend this at all, as any real good backup solution should be automatic, frequent (continuous, if possible), incremental (copying just the new files created, so you don't disturb originals or recopy corrupted data), and differential (to save space so you can have more versions). I do agree that a file level backup should be stored off site, so I do recommend a cloud based service that you can store your files to--Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, CrashPlan Plus, etc.

AFTER you've established a file level backup such as above, AND created solution that moves those files off-site, THEN you can consider doing a disc image. Windows 7 has one built in, but each image takes up a fair bit of disc space. So you'll only be able to make a couple of disc images before you run out of space--generally people just make an image of the OS as it exists in a perfect, freshly-installed, state and use that for recovery. Software exists out there that will do a full disc image, and then update that image with a periodic image that only captures the changes since the last image (differential backup), but I can't make any recommendations from personal experience.

IF you actually require a disc image to protect against a disc failure, and your computer is "mission critical" in that it can't be down for several hours to rebuild from an image or to reinstall an OS from scratch, then you really want a two identical discs running in a parallel setup where both discs write identical images at the same time (RAID 1). I would consider this a third or fourth level type backup, after setting up a file backup, getting it stored off site, and then a system image somewhere.

quote:

Originally posted by xantom:
My guess is it won't be trivial to remove it. Just leave it alone and don't use it.

I use Macrium Refelct free with very good results.

You don't remove it so much as turn it off in add/remove windows features. It's has so many tentacles into explorer that you don't get to remove it. I wanted to do that so it doesn't have to get updated.

Upgrade to version 11 first then set as default your browser of choice.

Internet Explorer is the number one internet browser used for downloading a better internet browser.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Upgrade to version 11 first then set as default your browser of choice.

Interesting. Not that I doubt you, I decided to keep it and that download is already in progress. But what does setting it to default (first, assumedly before setting Firefox as default) do exactly?

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Upgrade to version 11 first then set as default your browser of choice.

Interesting. Not that I doubt you, I decided to keep it and that download is already in progress. But what does setting it to default (first, assumedly before setting Firefox as default) do exactly?

Better security and features should you need an alternative browser.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...467846(v=vs.85).aspx

I can't recall the last time I voluntarily used IE.

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Upgrade to version 11 first then set as default your browser of choice.

Interesting. Not that I doubt you, I decided to keep it and that download is already in progress. But what does setting it to default (first, assumedly before setting Firefox as default) do exactly?

Perhaps he doesn't mean set IE as default. Simply update it, then set Firefox, or whatever, as your default.

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Upgrade to version 11 first then set as default your browser of choice.

Interesting. Not that I doubt you, I decided to keep it and that download is already in progress. But what does setting it to default (first, assumedly before setting Firefox as default) do exactly?

I think you misread that. Download 11, for better security and features should you need an alternative.

However, set "the browser of your choice" (that is, NOT internet explorer) as your default.

I have Chrome set as my default.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Upgrade to version 11 first then set as default your browser of choice.

Interesting. Not that I doubt you, I decided to keep it and that download is already in progress. But what does setting it to default (first, assumedly before setting Firefox as default) do exactly?

Better security and features should you need an alternative browser.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...467846(v=vs.85).aspx

We still won't be using IE regardless, unless forced to for the good reason listed above by Aeteocles. Like Para, I cannot remember the last time I used it voluntarily.

11 is downloading...

I last used IE circa 2000, when XP and Win97 were the prevalent OS.

I've had less trouble with firefox in all that time since, total altogether, less than one week end of IE.

I use Chrome, but at times am forced to use IE with certain sites that are not compatible. This shows up when the webpage fails to load properly and will not allow imput of data.

AFAIK IE is built in and will NOT go away quierly.
You may choose not to update the default ver.8 to current ver.11 but that is all

Ignore it and use a better browser, almost any will do a better job.

0-0

I installed and updated the pig already.

But as I said, it's not so much removed as hidden from use, as in this screen:

Another consideration: do you use Microsloth Office? IE and Office have an incestuous relationship so on Win 7 I keep IE11 installed and updated but never actually use it.

I use Firefox as my default browser and Outlook for email. My trust level in Microsoft browsers is zip, on Win 7 it's too intertwined in the OS. I've been using Firefox since it's predecessor Netscape days.

Office365 (the web version) pretty much requires IE so I use that at home when I need to dial into the company email system. Otherwise I use mostly Chrome and sometimes Firefox. At the office it's exclusively Chrome and Firefox.

I'm a FireFox user, but every once and a while I get a website that just won't load with FF. Open up IE and it is usually fine. So for Emergencies Only.

I keep it for emergencies as well. Firefox is my default.

I am contemplating getting rid of Chrome since it seems to bloat.