But if the user is a local Admin then they can easily disable this. (And I'm pretty sure even non-admin users can install/remove/disable FF extensions.)

If you need real protection for this sort of issue, use DNS-based blocking with a service like Open DNS. If they aren't a local admin then they can't change the network settings.

Yes, I know there are ways to install proxies to get around this, but it will keep most users from viewing sites you don't want them too.

Just another reason why you need a good set of backups.

OK, yes you do need to make the partition active. But you can do that from the built in diskpart tool.

diskpart > create partition primary > active

Both tools are completely unnecessary. Just open or mount the ISO file and copy all the files to the USB drive. That's it. It's just a straight file copy, there's really nothing special that needs to be done.

If the machine is offline, it's probably not going to be getting infected.

I'll install every patch automatically until it messes up my system. Which has happened to me exactly once in about the last 10 years. And that was a bad patch. Uninstalled it, waited for a new fix, reinstalled, everything was fine.

MS does a MUCH better job of testing patches than they have in the past. People who are afraid of patches messing up their systems are the same people who wait for Service Pack 1 to install a new OS. That's a Win NT mindset. It's just not like that any more.

Same here. I did an in-place upgrade from Vista and have been very happy with it. I might wipe and reinstall later depending on how it runs, but my Vista install was only a year old so it wasn't too mucked up.

The product keys are based on the version you purchased. Like it warns you if you don't input the product key during the install, if you don't install the version that matches your product key, you are looking at a wipe and reinstall.

In theory you could "upgrade" in-place. Suppose you installed Home and had a key for Professional, you could do an in-place upgrade to Pro and use that key. You can't downgrade in-place.

Nice work. You reposted the instructions for rebooting your device that have been available from Apple for years. That's some good reporting.

I can't think of a single movie worth buying. Who wants to watch the same thing over and over again?
I get all my Blu-Ray discs from Netflix.