I have just bought FH. A friend wants to replace his old program, but has been told that some programs have an inbuilt (intentional) bug that lets others, presumably ancestry info sellers, access your data when you are online. Is this true, and if it is, can I assure him that FH is safe in this respect? Peter.
ID:1282
* Others 'stealing' my data
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nsw
Others 'stealing' my data
Yes Family Historian is safe in this respect. The inbuilt 'bug' doesn't sound like something you would find in a reputable piece of software though some may have features that allow you to upload your data to a central website (similar to Genes Reunited) but this wouldn't be forced on you.
Family Historian doesn't have these features yet and if it ever does I'm sure it would be entirely optional.
Family Historian doesn't have these features yet and if it ever does I'm sure it would be entirely optional.
Others 'stealing' my data
And in any case, what is really important is to make your computer secure: firewall, antivirus, keep your virus data and patches up-to-date, don't run operating systems that are not being maintained (which means if it's Windows for choice stick to Windows 2000 or, preferably, XP). From June 30 2006 Microsoft will no longer support Windows 98 and Windows ME, and security patches will not be issued. If you are currently running Windows 98, upgrade to XP: it costs just the same as upgrading to W2000. And if you are still running Windows 97 (and many are), it ran out of support a considerable time ago!
Not to do this is much more of a risk than that produced by the likelihood of some program having this kind of bug.
David
Not to do this is much more of a risk than that produced by the likelihood of some program having this kind of bug.
David