Ask Leo! #601 – Unsupported Software, Removing Malware, Getting Burned by Windows Update, and more…

"In reality, if you can educate yourself, if you can start to feel comfortable about being able to determine what is and what isn't safe to do on the internet, you can probably continue to use Chrome for quite some time, probably until it's time actually replace the machine for other reasons." - I kinda disagree with this. Education and caution provide no protection from things like malvertising/drive-by downloads/installs - which, as we've seen recently, can be propagated via even well-known and reputable websites.

"Seriously, a backup is by far the number one way to protect yourself from just about anything." - I kinda disagree with this too. Much of the malware that's out there today is financially motivated and designed to steal banking passwords/credentials, etc. Sure, a backup may - or may not - enable you to get your computer back to a pre-infection state but, by that time, your passwords and personal information could be long gone.

When it comes to OSes, browsers and browser plug-ins, the only good option is to use products that are supported. Using something that isn't supported could result in you getting an unpleasant surprise when you next check your bank balance.

One thing that often happen when any software become unsuported on a given platform is that, although it continue to get devlopped and probably continue to work, it's no longer been tested on that platform.

This may have no impact on you, but it can also mean that, after any update, that application may no longer work, or work erraticaly.

Here, Chrome is no longer been supported on Vista. So, the peoples working on Chrome no longer have any computer running Vista to test it on. The next update or version may or may not work correctly. Some addons and extentions may also fail to work properly or at all.

Thunderbird is still being supported in that they are fixing any discovered bugs. What they are not doing is adding new features. From all of the complaints I've been reading from people about changes in Windows and other products, this is probably a good thing. No new features means no frustration learning a new interface and fewer bugs cropping up.

"I don't use 'cloud' for much of anything" Actually, you do. All email is a cloud service.