Let's Talk About... UEFI -> 10 things you should know

LET'S TALK ABOUT... UEFI -> 10 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

1: UEFI IS THE REPLACEMENT FOR BIOS
The BIOS (basic input/output system) has been at the heart of the PC design for well over 30 years now. It is the piece of firmware that provides the operating system with a standard interface to the functionality of the computer. Unfortunately, its design is quite outdated, carrying a number of limitations that are not acceptable in the current age of computing. UEFI is the replacement for BIOS, and it brings with it a host of modern functionality to carry PCs through the next few decades.

2: IT ENABLES BETTER DISK SUPPORT
UEFI finally breaks free of the old DOS-style master boot record (MBR) disks, taking us into the GUID partition table (GPT) future. While not all operating systems support booting from GPT disks (notably, 32-bit versions of Windows), GPT support at the firmware layer will allow disks of enormous size to be used, even for booting the operating system.

3: APPLE ALREADY USES IT
Haven't heard of UEFI much? That's because while it is already in use, the most mainstream system out there using it is Apple, which isn't terribly friendly to tinkerers. It has also been used in Itanium systems for some time, as well as many embedded systems.

4: IT CAN BE EMULATED
Already, a number of virtualization platforms can emulate UEFI firmware, which allows you to load UEFI-dependent operating systems within them. Some examples are VirtualBox and Qemu. And yes, this means that it is technically possible to run OS X in a virtual machine under those environments.

5: BOOT LOADERS ARE NO LONGER NEEDED
UEFI takes the place of the traditional operating system boot loader, which relegates any boot loading tasks to be done within the operating system itself (like asking to boot in a Safe Mode). As a result, you have one fewer thing to break or make decisions about.

6: IT DOES NOT HAVE TO REPLACE BIOS...
UEFI can sit on top of the traditional BIOS and act as an interface between it and the operating system. Like BIOS, it presents a standardized view of the hardware to the operating system, allowing operating system makers to build on top of it and have their OSes work on a variety of motherboards.

7: ...BUT IT CAN USE BIOS ALTERNATIVES
At the same time, UEFI acts as an abstraction layer between the firmware that acts as a BIOS and the operating system. This means that an equipment maker can use whatever it wants to in the role that the BIOS fills and put UEFI on top of it and an operating system that uses UEFI will work just fine. Indeed, makers are free to build UEFI implementations that are complete top-to-bottom and do not need any firmware below them in the stack.

8: THERE IS WIDESPREAD INDUSTRY SUPPORT
The UEFI standard enjoys a large amount of support within the industry already. The UEFI standards organization has companies like Intel, AMD, Apple, Microsoft, and a number of BIOS and motherboard makers on it. As a result, UEFI will be the way forward, not just some dead standard left in the industry's wake like so many other initiatives. Modern operating systems are all compatible with UEFI as well.

9: YOUR JOB WON'T CHANGE MUCH
Unless you are working as an embedded systems engineer or write low-level code for an operating system, UEFI probably won't affect your daily tasks. Sure, there are some IT roles that involve digging into the BIOS, but for the work they typically do, the differences between BIOS and UEFI will not make an impact on their work life. The big thing for IT staff to learn will be how to work with GPT disks in more recent operating systems.

10: UEFI CAN BE A DEVICE DRIVER TARGET
One advantage of UEFI is that device drivers can target it instead of the specific hardware. This means that instead of needing to write drivers for different platforms, they can just write it once. Well, you are a PC person, what do you care, right? This will be huge for Windows 8, which will run on both x64 and ARM architecture. As a result, Windows 8 on ARM could very well come out of the gate with better driver support than Windows Vista.

Let's talk about HOW TO RID A NEW PC OF CRAPWARE

HOW TO RID A NEW PC OF CRAPWARE

A brand-new Windows computer should be pristine out of the box. They'll gum it up for you with "free" software you don't want. It goes by names like crapware, bloatware, or shovelware because computer makers shovel bloated digital crap by the barrelful onto new PCs. Retail PCs it's a whole other world of crap. 

With many of the uninstall routines, the dialog boxes had giant buttons that would say "Uninstall and Get PC XXXXXX" or something similar. If we just wildly clicked where the button was, the uninstall might work-but something else got installed in its place. We had to carefully look for the fine print on the dialog boxes that read "Delete Only" or similar. Tricks and traps abounded.

The problem is, even though these utilities may point out some bloatware, they may not automate removal. You may still have to go through the regular uninstall process, which-as we noted above-may be filled with tricks and traps to keep your new PC full of crap. So you may still be on your own to an extent, but there are ways around it.

CRAP-WARE = POTENTIALLY UNWANTED SOFTWARE
In other words, we can say crap as junk and ware from software. Actual malware in the guise of "potentially unwanted programs," or PUPs.

The programs don't call themselves that; it's a term used by anti-malware companies, like MalwareBytes. It describes programs you probably didn't install on purpose, don't want, and probably find unusable-but they have to say "potentially" because, sure, it's possible you wanted to install a toolbar for your browser called "Search Protect" from a company named Conduit, or a search engine for your browser called Binkiland.

In reality, it's about as likely as wanting to be set on fire. Both of those "programs," among others. They existed only to take over his browsing experience; each appears on a list of browser hijackers on Wikipedia.

Others you may see and should eradicate immediately: Taplika, SwiftBrowse, BetterSurrf, CrossRider, WeDownload, OpenCandy, OptimizerPro, and DoSearches. The list can and will go on and on, as the hijackers make new threats. It's telling that searching for "Search Protect" or "Binkiland" brings up absolutely no link for people to get those programs-only to remove the damnable hijackers' files.

Recommended tools to clean the hijacking PUPs:

1. MalwareBytes: The free version comes with a trial of the Premium version, so it's worth running on every fresh installation of Windows. Plus, the scans take a lot less time on a new Windows install. After 14 days, you lose things like real-time protection and anti-ransomware features, but it's worth running up front. Remember after that two weeks, get some real-time anti-malware protection.
2. Steven Gould's Cleanup!: Donationware that does the trick for Windows XP on up.
3. CCleaner: This Windows clean-up tool will do something unique: it'll uninstall apps built into Windows. I'm not talking shovelware crap, but actual apps that Microsoft created to work with Windows-so consider it OS-sanctioned crapware. Click on Tools, then uninstall, and you'll get a list of possibilities to delete. (This suggestion might be controversial: now owned by Avast, CCleaner got hit with data-collecting malware in 2017.)

ANOTHER OPTION TO CLEAN THE MESS
Start with a full reset of the OS using the Windows 10 Refresh Tool. It's the first thing anyone buying a new PC at retail should do after they take it out of the box. It sets the PC back to a pristine state-without crapware (except for the Microsoft-supplied stuff you may not want, like the Edge browser). If you actually want a piece of that shovelware, you're going to have to get it separately, but that's not difficult.

Expanded explanation from Microsoft Windows 10 Refresh Tool
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10startfresh

Microsoft, naturally, has a clean version of Windows on its Surface devices-again, clean as defined by what Microsoft thinks is best. Microsoft Stores also sell "Signature Edition PCs" from makers like HP, Razer, Sony, Toshiba, Dell, MSI, Asus, Acer, and Lenovo. Custom-build manufacturers that promise you a crapware-free installation of Windows include Maingear, Falcon Northwest, and Velocity Micro. Another option: go with a local reseller.

If you want to save money, install Linux on your old PC and you may have a tons of tons of free apps and games.

If you're wedded to using an older version of Windows, the only sure-fire way to get the same result is re-install Windows completely, with a totally fresh, clean configuration. That's not possible with most retail PCs that had Window 7, 8, or 8.1. Whether the operating system installer is an image on a partition of the hard drive or a DVD disc, it's going to most likely install Windows with all the crapware, fresh as an outhouse, as well. If you can't keep a retail copy of Windows 7 or 8 around for reinstalls, it makes the update to Windows 10 seem even more advantageous. You can even do the refresh and not lose your data files on well-used PCs.

There's the option to download ISO files of Windows 7 and 8 and even 10 at the Microsoft Software Recovery site. You'll need to verify a 25-character product key from a retail version of Windows to download and fully activate the operating system. Keys from computer makers-called OEMs, or original equipment manufacturers-won't work.

WHY?
You might be wondering, why exactly are big-name PC makers and software developers allowing all this crapware with extra "internet wrappers" PUPs to happen? Money, of course. As PC sales dwindle-they were on a five-year slump through 2017, but had a slight uptick over the holidays-so do software purchases, and everyone is scrambling to make up for any losses.

For proof, look to this article by How-To Geek. They examined programs from every single major download site, including CNET's Downloads.com, Tucows, FileHippo, Softpedia, Snapfiles, and more. Every single one had crapware bundled right into the software. That's not even taking into account that some of those sites have multiple download "buttons" (actually ads) on every page, to obfuscate and confuse users into downloading the wrong thing.

Always download software from the original developer's site (if you can find it). Unfortunately, even Google search results tend to default to download sites like those listed above.

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