Your View on Chromebook Security

[Scott7217]

So, Lenovo is having a scandal over the installation of Superfish on some of its Windows computers:

The Next Web -- Lenovo’s bundled adware also comes with a worrying security hole (article link)

Superfish is supposed to help serve ads to consumers, but it left a potential security hole via root certificates. In other words, someone could exploit Superfish to compromise secure connections.

So now Lenovo is doing a lot of PR damage control, and people are trying to remove Superfish from their computers. There has been a breach in trust because if Lenovo is willing to install things like Superfish, who knows what else could be happening behind the scenes? Perhaps other PC manufacturers are doing something similar?

Some things people are doing in response include:

- Wiping their computers and reinstalling a fresh copy of Windows acquired directly from Microsoft

- Buying computers that do not come with bloatware installed e.g. Microsoft Signature Edition PCs

- Trying alternative operating systems, like Linux, Mac OS, and Chrome OS

What do you think of the situation? I'm thinking of going to Chrome OS as much as possible.

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm there already. I use my Chromebooks about 95% of the time, and only use my Windows 8.1 desktop when absolutely needed (like remote access to my hospital's electronic medical record). The freedom from malware on Chromebooks is so liberating--and even if something starts to go funny, it's a simple step to power off and power back on again within about 10 seconds. Even if I had to do a Powerwash, I could be back up and running with my Google account quickly. On a Windows machine, if I had to completely reinstall the OS, then I'd have to spend the next hour or two reinstalling every single patch since the beginning of time (or at least, since the date of the Windows build).

 

[Scott7217]

I'm there already. I use my Chromebooks about 95% of the time, and only use my Windows 8.1 desktop when absolutely needed (like remote access to my hospital's electronic medical record).

The thing that I often hear from Chromebook users is that they need a "real" OS (usually Windows) to do work.

Would it make sense to have a PC that can dual-boot Windows and Chrome OS? People can then just use whatever OS works best for their needs.