Ask Paul: January 10 (Premium)

Happy Friday! Here’s a nicely diverse range of reader questions to round out this past week.
0Patch and Windows 7
evennotodd asks:

Paul, what are your thoughts on 0Patch as an ESU type system for Windows 7 home or non-business users who can’t upgrade to Windows 10 due to hardware?

I’m not sure what to think of using a third-party to patch an operating system. But looking at it more broadly, it seems to me that the type of person who would need this the most, assuming it could be trusted---that is, normal non-technical people---are the ones who would never even find out about it or be able to use it.

For those unfamiliar, 0Patch says that it will review Microsoft's monthly security advisories and determine which fixes might apply to Windows 7 and are high-enough risk to warrant micro-patching. For those fixes that meet that bar, it will then create a proof-of-concept for the flaw and a fix, and then publish them in the form of micro-patches (which it describes as “miniature patches of code” that don’t require reboots) to be delivered to users’ PCs. This appears to be aimed at both businesses and individuals, and the personal, non-commercial version is free.

You can learn more about the company here if you’re curious.

And … I don’t know. I had never heard of this company or its solutions before this week. It’s certainly interesting.
Dual-screen devices
wright_is asks:

With all the talk on dual screens, did you ever look at the Acer Iconia Windows 7 dual screen laptop, back in the day? It was an interesting concept and, with Windows 8 or Windows 10 might have been viable, but with Windows 7, it was ahead of its time. I never thought it would catch on, because it relied on you typing on the bottom screen with the on-screen keyboard. That is never a satisfying experience and lugging a 15" laptop + external keyboard around would have been impractical.

I’ve used a few “dual screen” devices where the keyboard was replaced by some form of screen (the original Lenovo Yoga is an example, and you could even make the case that the original Surface RT with a Touch Cover was similar, at least in the ballpark). But yeah, that doesn’t really make sense, which is why we’ve seen things like the MacBook Pro Touch Bar, or the CES PCs this year with a screen above the keyboard (or a folding screen that extends past the hinge to the keyboard deck). I don’t get it.

Multiple screens on a desktop make a lot of sense for some workloads, but the sub 10" dual-screen layout seems questionable to me. I certainly wouldn't be without either my 34" ultrawide or dual 24" layouts (home and work respectively). But, even though my last 2 phones have supported split screen, I've never used the phone enough to bother - I've always waited until I can sit in front of a "proper" device that was suited to the task. I don't feel that the Duo or Neo would change that felling.

I think we’re on the same page. When I crit...