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my laptop, which still remains comfortably on Windows 7

Microsoft has been quietly rolling invasive Windows 10 features (like Telemetry/Tracking) into recent Windows 7/8 updates. So remaining comfortably on Windows 7 requires some vigilance blocking/uninstalling key updates. See list here and more info here.

Good question: How does Mozilla Foundation spend $300,000,000 each year?

I understand that Mozilla Foundation now gets most of its money from Microsoft: Microsoft pays Yahoo. Yahoo pays Mozilla Foundation to make "Yahoo search" (actually mostly Microsoft Bing search) the default search engine in Firefox. That means Microsoft gets more money from advertisers when Firefox users do a search.

Firefox is now, apparently, mostly controlled by Microsoft, who is apparently trying to destroy it. In the past, Google paid Mozilla Foundation $300 million each year to make Google search the default search engine in Firefox. Google apparently didn't cause problems in the design of Firefox, even though it paid a shocking amount.

The Thunderbird and SeaMonkey Composer GUIs have been damaged, apparently deliberately. File saves in the newer versions of both ask for a new file name, and don't suggest the last one chosen. The damage was reported several months ago, but has not been fixed. Is that another example of Microsoft's Embrace, Extend, Extinguish? People who feel forced away from Thunderbird may choose Microsoft software to replace it. Is that something Microsoft is trying to accomplish?

In my opinion, dishonest people should not be employed in management. In my opinion, the managers and members of the board of directors of both Microsoft and Mozilla Foundation who approved the dishonesty of sneakily re-configuring Mozilla Foundation products should be immediately fired, and not allowed to have management positions in the future.

The browser situation is very, very ugly.

Google is becoming more and more abusive, and more and more incompetent. Want to download the Google Chrome Browser? The download file name does not give the version number. Even the badly managed Mozilla Foundation puts the Firefox version number into the file name. (But the file names for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Firefox are the same.)

An earlier version of the Google Chrome browser installs 3 system services. Google has more control over computers than limited rights users. Is Google paid by the U.S. government to include software to control computers?

I would like Slashdot stories about:

1) The fact that most people aren't technically involved enough to know that their Firefox browser search was hijacked by Microsoft, or how to change back to Google search.

2) Bad and sneaky management. One of the many examples: Microsoft will make more money if it arranges that people are discouraged from using the Firefox browser. Another example: Why was this pastebin script removed?

3) Counteracting abuse. We need stories about web sites like this:

Remove spyware in Windows 10.

Disabling Windows 10 Tracking.

Destroy Windows Spying - Windows spying removal tool.

4) How do download a Windows 10 ISO file: Windows 10 Tech Bench Upgrade Program.

Microsoft retrofitted much of its Win 10 spyware into Windows 7 updates a while back.

How can I check to see if I was infected with this Windows Malware in my Win 7 system?\

And second, if it did do that, is there any way to throw the genie out of the bottle? (Get rid of the spyware?)

Yes, there is.

Informative? Really mods? you DO know they didn't start shoving that telemetry shit until AFTER Windows 10 flatlined, yes? And that its dead simple to remove the telemetry from Win 7/8/8.1 and can be done with a simple batch file, yes? And that with Windows 10 its impossible to get it to stop leaking data, that even the pirates have failed to be able to strip enough from that Bonzi Buddy of an OS to get it to STFU, you DO know this...yes?

As for the other poster who called this koolaid drinker I'm responding to a shill? Look at the posting history before throwing around shill, as this one is obviously just a raging fanboy, no different than that Appletard I ran into here that still swears that "Apples don't get viruses" because his definition of a virus is so fucking narrow that no malware written past 1992 would pass, or the FOSSie that swears Linux is growing on the desktop and then when you provide the latest desktop stats starts talking about routers....he has guzzled the koolaid, can't admit he's been buttfucked by spyware, so will furiously wave his little winflag until his wrists break.

The difference between a shill and a fanboy is a BIG fucking difference and why shill shouldn't be thrown around lightly, shills are professionals sent to signaljam communication channels with propaganda, fanboys are just flag wavers for certain products. if you have trouble spotting the difference? Go look up the articles from this site that were tearing into the Metro UI when Win 8 was first shat out and you'll find plenty of actual shill posts. For those that are too lazy shills 1.- Either have new accounts or old accounts that are ONLY used when a company they are shilling for has an article and the rest of the time are dormant, 2.- They stay on message in every post, no talk of anything other than the positives of brand X or the negatives of brand Y, 3.- They almost always tend to slip into "buzzword bingo" because middle management likes them to push the latest company horseshit so you see words and phrases nobody uses outside the boardroom like "vertical integration", "product synergy", and "positive user experience" so it ends up reading like a PPT.

Citation?

And did they add this 'spyware' after the releases of later operating systems?

We don't need to cite that data harvesting makes a company money. It's literally the business plan of several dot-coms.
As far as them adding the telemetry to earlier versions of Windows, it's common knowledge now.
http://techne.alaya.net/?p=124...

I have personally deselected and hidden these updates only to see them get un-hidden and added automatically as Recommended updates to download and install at a later date. I'd also like to note this had happened more than once with some of these individual updates, and it often happens when I get a large (15-30 updates) list at once from Microsoft. These large groups of updates are not "backed up" updates I have missed since last time. I have Windows Update run as a startup item when I log in to my computer, so I'm manually checking for updates every day on my PC. And every day I get an update for the Windows Defender definitions. But once in awhile I get a dozen or so "important" updates for Windows itself, and it's quite coincidental that one of the updates I had previously hidden is added into that list.

Seems like a orchestrated attempt to get me to install it. Stick it in a large list, and I'm more likely to just say "install all" than actually read the KBs for each or compare them to a list of known problem ones.

Tell me, if these updates are so harmless, why is Microsoft so vehement I install them after I tell them once I don't want them?

Well lucky for me and my customers I didn't see that one thanks to GWX Control Panel which I HIGHLY recommend, it allows you to set customers updates back to automatic without worry about getting "Win 10'd" as it kills Windows upgrades dead WITHOUT touching the critical security patches that aren't backdoor attempts at "Win 10'ing" the system.

BTW for those that need a very easy and simple way to remove all that backported telemetry shit (funny they can't backport DX12 but they can all the Win 10 spyware) here is a handy .BAT file that wiull scan for any of the telemetry or Win 10 shit and remove it. Its updated every month to keep up with the MSFT bullshit parade so just grab a new copy about a week after patch Tuesday and you're golden.

Its fucking sad that they took what COULD have been a good OS and filled it so damned full of malware that we have to treat Windows Update as a malware vector and I really hope they get sued for this shit. I can't believe I'm saying this but....can we have Ballmer back? At least all he was doing was trying to (poorly) ape Apple and with something like Classic Shell it was easy enough to just remove the candyfloss, but I have yet to see anybody be able to show with a traffic analysis a way to 100% kill the spyware in Windows 10. Its so nasty I'm having to...gag, wretch...recommend Windows 8 as at least you can get it cheap, upgrade to 8.1, then get the GUI back with Classic Shell and use the .BAT to kill the spying, with Windows 10 its so baked in I seriously doubt anybody is gonna be able to wrench it out and leave a functional OS.

Don't worry, your old pal Hairy has got the fix for that bullshit...Bam! Kills the Win 10 spyware dead without making you constantly try to find the "gotcha!" in Windows Update. And for those that may have gotten infected with the backported to Windows 7/8 "telemetry" aka "all ur data" patches? Bam! There is a handy .Bat file in the middle of the page, just run it and it uninstalls the patches and kills any phone home shite, its even updated every month in case MSFT adds more nasties...oh and you're welcome ;-)

Got a .bat that fixes all that shit, they even update it every month in case MSFT tries more backdoor BS. Here it is if anybody needs it.

As for the Coward that posted a link to Debian? Sorry but I don't support an OS that goes against its own charter to force shit down its users throats, if I wanted that shit I'd take Windows 10.

http://techne.alaya.net/?p=124...

Read it and also click on and read other related pages listed there such as https://senk9.wordpress.com/ch...

There are many more http://techne.alaya.net/?p=124...

http://techne.alaya.net/?p=124...

This is kind of old news and there are more updates that are recommended to uninstall, as well as scheduled tasks and services.

Rooting a Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is incredibly trivial and consists of doing a special boot sequence to be able to install one very tiny app on the system called "Superuser" which consists of one tiny file. There are no major flashes to the system, alterations of the boot loader, nor changes to the kernel or any other core components of the system. As far as I know installing this tiny app does not void the warranty, and even if it did it would be trivial to simply remove the app.

See the instructions at:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1202320
and:
http://alaya.net/blog/?p=5807