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Ask Slashdot: Can You Disable Windows 10's Privacy-Invading Features?
An anonymous reader writes: I really want to upgrade to Windows 10, but have begun seeing stories come out about the new Terms and how they affect your privacy. It looks like the default Windows 10 system puts copies of your data out on the "cloud", gives your passwords out, and targets advertising to you. The main reason I am looking to upgrade is that Bitlocker is not available on Windows 7 Pro, but is on Windows 10 Pro, and Microsoft no longer offers Anytime Upgrades to Windows 7 Ultimate. However, I don't want to give away my privacy for security. The other option is to wait until October to see what the Windows 10 Enterprise version offers, but it may not be available through retail. Are the privacy minded Slashdot readers not going with Windows 10?
For reference, I am referring to these articles. (Not to mention claims that it steals your bandwidth.) Have a question for Slashdot's readers? Take a look at other recent questions first to see if someone else has had a similar question. And if not, ask away! The more details and context you include, the more likely your question will be selected.
For reference, I am referring to these articles. (Not to mention claims that it steals your bandwidth.) Have a question for Slashdot's readers? Take a look at other recent questions first to see if someone else has had a similar question. And if not, ask away! The more details and context you include, the more likely your question will be selected.
Did you even read the articles that you've linked to? They talk about privacy issues with default settings (that is, "Express" install). If you're a regular member of the Slashdot audience, you will certainly pick "Customize" during installation anyway, and you'll get individual switches for all these things combined on the very first screen that you'll see after that, from advertising ID to Cortana. Just disable it all, and you're good to go. For bonus points, use a local user account rather than Microsoft ID.
I remember when /. was against FUD. Now they are fully for it.
Something happened.
You are all cows. Cows say moo. MOOOOOOOOOO! MOOOOOOOOOO! Moo cows MOOOOOOO! Moo say the cows. YOU WINDOWS 10 COWS!!
1. You don't set up a live account. That shuts down most of it.
2. Change the host file to redirect most of the bad domains to localhost.
3. There are going to be endless registry hacks to turn things off or change the way they work.
4. programs are going to be released that change things or replace features with something else that does the same thing but is open source etc.
Basically yes.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Really, how would anyone in his/her right mind use an OS that does such things? Why isn't there more consumer push-back? Here we are, paying money for an OS since we need to do OS things, like run applications, and they do this to us, also?
I'm still pissed about dos 6.0 - I've got to pay for your fix?!?!?!! Asinine company. I wish there was yelp back in the day, I would have dialed in and left a scathing review. And fuck people who use package managers - learn how dependencies work assholes.
You can disable all this stuff easily.
1. When installing you are asked if you want the default settings. Select custom settings and turn everything off. Things like Cortana that rely on having data about you won't work, of course.
2. Open the Windows Update settings and go into the options. Disable downloading updates from other machines on the internet. You might want to leave the option to get updates from other machines on your LAN enabled though, to save bandwidth.
If anyone is any doubt that you can disable all the "spying" stuff, consider that enterprise users would demand it or simply refuse to use Windows 10.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Simple solutions...
1) Buy a Mac
OR
2) Install Linux
Apple seems to be doing a pretty great job of respecting privacy, and you can inspect Linux's source and check it's not invading your privacy.
Windows 10 is fast becoming the worst OS MS has produced, Adware built in, telemetry (new USA word for spyware) sucks in your private data to vortex.data.microsoft.net (not a typo) , its clear Microsoft didnt listen to a damm thing customers were saying and have gone from gatekeepers to poachers, advertising is a disease amongst USA tech companies with a shit business model
things i dont want:
Adverts
Spyware
TIFKAM (metro, aka MediaCenter with a new skin)
activeX gadgets^^H "modern apps"
Bing (shit search engine)
Cortana (that spying bitch)
any kind of "store"
Xbox anything
Forced WindowsUpdates
things i do want:
A proper start menu
Anti-trust investigations
Removal of all phone home code
Removal of Metro
Removal of the "app store"
Ability to stop updates
i certainly wont be recommending it to anyone, let alone pay them a penny for Solitaire, corporate certainly wont stand for this spying bullshit so small companies who dont buy into the licensing game are S.O.L
Nadella needs to realise if he wants to know where we live, now we need to know where he lives, what porn does he like ?, what stock mergers have they coming up ?, what car he drives ?, dont make us tell everybody.
Just to watch the pure freakout.
What if you just don't connect it to any network, ever?
1. You don't set up a live account. That shuts down most of it. 2. Change the host file to redirect most of the bad domains to localhost. 3. There are going to be endless registry hacks to turn things off or change the way they work. 4. programs are going to be released that change things or replace features with something else that does the same thing but is open source etc.
Basically yes.
Insert at the top of your list, renumber if desired:
0. When the installer gives you the opportunity to customize your setting do so, disable whatever you care too.
Have you considered using something other than BitLocker? https://alternativeto.net/software/windows-bitlocker/?license=opensource&platform=windows
And I'm gonna say it - why not use disk-encrypted Linux and put Windows in a VM for those one or two programs that are Windows-only? This way you have full control of your system, the whole disk is encrypted, and you can stick to Windows 7...
-- "Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability." --Dijkstra
Why does it seem like manufacturers feel that they automatically have a right to your usage data after you buy their product?
Car manufacturers are already making big plans on creating new revenue streams with all the usage data they are collecting on our vehicles. Now, MS is taking the same approach (at least Windows 10 is free). What's to stop other vendors from doing the same? How about that new electric razor you bought; do you really want all your usage information to be sent back to the manufacturer, when you shaved, how you shaved, where you shaved? As more and more products are shipped with internet capability, manufacturers feel that they have a right to collect usage information weather you like it or not.
I'm not liking where this is going...
I just did 2 new Windows 8.1 images and ran WIndows update. It keeps forcing 10 shitware on me! I tried creating and cancelling a reservation and it still tries to open WIndows update automatically to install.
No matter what everytime I reboot WIndows update keeps popping up trying to install Windows 10 automatically.
I guess if you imaged a PC before July 24th you were fine. UGH.
http://saveie6.com/
Running it on the machine I'm using to post. Our group got the enterprise iso's and cdkey on the 29th. I did a custom install and said no to all of the bullshit options. So far I'm not seeing any ads.
Lawyers, MBA's, RIAA? A jedi fears not these things!
Err, one of those articles linked to was straight FUD from a Googler. Now we have a link to the old article by "An anonymous reader", just in case we didn't read it the frist time? If it isn't the PR machine of the most powerful Internet company in the world, it sure smells fanboy on Slashdot right now.
"Can You Disable Windows 10's Privacy-Invading Features?"
Just install Linux.
"He took a duck in the face at 250 knots." -- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
Perform a custom setup and turn everything off.
I'd like to rant about MS on this topic but unfortunately this is the direction the industry is going. I give them kudos for at least giving us the capability to disable these settings. Having owned both an iOS and Andriod device I know these types of settings are the default on those platforms also and I was walking through the setup screens with a friend who is a Mac user who pointed out all of these settings are on by default on that platform and you need to actually turn them off after the install instead of during.
Instead of worrying about whether you managed to find every little thing you needed to find to avoid the OS harvesting all your data behind your back, why not just install Debian or Mint and use dm-crypt and/or ecryptfs in place of bitlocker?
SO much simpler and more worry free, and you get to be free of that nagging feeling that you missed one of the privacy settings they buried under that "beware of the leopard" sign...
I have been going through and cataloging everything that Windows 10 does, and looking to end the communication with Microsoft component-by-component. It'll take removing packages with dism, setting group policies and making secure policies into the "default user", blocking employees being able to lock out admin simply because they want to log in to the store etc., turning off the update services, etc. It's a long road to lock down win10. You still can't keep the OS from doing anything it wants though, basically Microsoft has decided that they get to rootkit and keylog your box while background capturing your location and data files.
The first thing that admins should be doing is looking at how MS has invaded windows 7 with it's GMX and telemetry updates for the older OSs. Besides the tray ad, a whole new package of privacy invading phone-home and send your data was included in the "critical updates". There are about eight different tasks added to windows 7 scheduled tasks that even admin can't remove, they have to be manually pruned from the registry.
It takes a good amount of powershell, registry editing, and dism to script-remove this malware from windows 7, and if you were letting windows update since April, the damage is already done.
The 'privacy minded slashdot readers' certainly won't be using windows. It's a stupid question. Any product of US origin, is dubious.
http://tech.slashdot.org/comme...
Mentions a HOSTS file editor, a reply to that will show you how you can block what bothers you.
Microsoft is tricky to block, a lot of the times you end up blocking a certification site.
http://www.nirsoft.net/ has two programs I use HTTPNetworkSniffer and smartsniff (both require Wincap) as well as reading ToS's is how I determine what's needed to be blocked. https://www.robtex.com/ is what I use to make sure I'm not blocking something I shouldn't.
I've no reason to upgrade, Win7 is a fairly decent OS.
8.1 (spare laptop) got a lot easier after learning the Win key takes one to a normal screen and putting a shutdown shortcut on the desktop: Shutdown.exe /s /f /t 10 -But it's just a container for music/movies and not connected to the Internet, no reason at all to screw with it.
Here's the short version. On the starting screens I turned off all but one of the "features" after hitting custom. It still is nagging me constantly about the cloud and smart screen.
In order to use Siri on the iPhone, or Google Home on Android, you have to give up the same information that Microsoft is now requesting with Windows 10.
You can turn off most if not all of the settings, but you loose some of the functionality. It's up to each user to find the "right spot" in this balance.
We all knew that Microsoft has been wanting to switch Windows to a subscription model for a while now. The only question was how to do it without inciting a mass exodus. It looks like they have found the first step. Windows 10 users are now the product instead of the customer. I guess it should have been obvious where this was going...
That assumes that what I need customized is offered in the customization options which I do not assume. As of Windows Vista/7, I had to start heavily modifying the OS to de-crapify it. I'm taking that as the new normal at this point.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Even if you're insane enough to click next next next express install next next next during the setup process and you end up with Microsoft watching you sleep and monitoring your bank accounts they don't exactly go out of their way to hide the settings for these features.
Each feature can be controlled individually by clicking Start > Settings > Privacy.
For all the flak they copped for making the "custom install" text smallish if you're in tablet mode click Settings means the "Privacy" submenu will take up a cool 1/5th of your screen. You really can't miss it.
Don't buy into the FUD.
-1: When even gpedit.msc (group policy editor)'s documented behavior for turning off the submission of potentially information-leaking reports to Microsoft is "0 (send no data): Equivalent to '1' (basic) on non-Enterprise systems", you cannot disable everything you want to.
-2: When users suggest removing the files associated with Diagnostic/Tracking/Telemetry servies, note that...
-3: ...on non-Enterprise systems, you cannot disable the forced updates. You can delay them on Pro, but not forever. So eventually, those files are going to find their way back on your system eventually...
-4: ...if they don't get put back immediately because Windows Defender (which also cannot be disabled except temporarily, and then it automatically turns itself back on) could trivially be programmed to categorize user attempts to delete the offending services as "malware" and restore them by itself.
If you consider error reporting noninvasive and automatic upgrade checks non-leaky and of acceptable risk to system stability, you can turn off the offensive stuff in Win10 Pro.
If your requirement is to eliminate error reporting and an at-all-times active antivirus product, then no, it is not possible to turn off the privacy-invading features of Windows 10.
FWIW I will not be upgrading. Even the most basic error reporting like "POWERPOINT.EXE crashed while editing GOOGLE-HOSTILE-TAKEOVER-MICROSOFT.PPT" is unacceptable in financial circles, and the HIPAA laws are even more draconian. Windows 10 is no longer a general purpose computing platform.
Are the privacy minded Slashdot readers not going with Windows 10?
What kind of question is this anyway? Privacy minded people don't use Windows.
I think a lot of us here can figure out our own ways to limit the "privacy leakage", but think of someone that doesn't know much, or even that it's occurring.
You pay a premium for the OS so it should be opt in not the other way around, or "no choice" at all for updates (again you can shut that off but MS suggest there may be penalties for that).
I wonder what may be going on that we don't know about, and why MS has gone as far as it has with this behaviour.
I would love to see a TCP dump decrypted from a Win10 machine.
I also suspect in a few years we will see a subscription based Windows format for the OS as well as Office, etc..
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
That assumes that what I need customized is offered in the customization options which I do not assume. As of Windows Vista/7, I had to start heavily modifying the OS to de-crapify it. I'm taking that as the new normal at this point.
Then your experience is as relevant as Vista/7. As far as 10 goes the list of issues mentioned by the summary are addressed by the built-in installer options, much if not all of them.
Plus I said insert the built-in options at the top of the list, I didn't say discard the rest of the list. Dink around with host files and registry entries to your delight. But don't suggest others need to go there when installer options, and not entering an MS account as you note, will most likely address their concerns.
Yup so far, in windows 10. There are 2 folowup settings that I've felt the the need to after turning everything off in the customize privacy screen.
1) Turn off messages about smart screen. (You can turn off smart screen during install, windows evidently thinks this is a security risk, so it's an alert in action center. So you effectively turn off smart screen, and then follow up by turning off messages about smart screen being off. Not a huge deal... since smart screen *is* a legitimate A/V feature. And some non-tech people probably should have it on; despite the privacy implication. Its a standard feature of all modern A/V software. So its not omgz ms is evil.
2) Turn off forwarding windows search to bing. Again, another easy to access setting, but an extra step.
I prefer windows updates on for my personal desktops so I don't worry about that. The risk of a bad update screwing me over has proven to be less than the risk of not having them. In my opinion.
There is some rumbling about some telemetry features that can only be turned off with enterprise. I'd like to know more about that.
sure you can disable some privacy stuff using customize when installing, but windows update stills shares your bandwidth to upload updates with everyone else. you need to configure it in its advanced sharing to stop sharing updates.
Although its "share on lan only" feature seems intriguing, a cheap ass WSUS replacement for companies
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
but instead we dismiss linux and its advocates and such with slurs like "freetard" or "SJW" or "fedora" or "PC".
I thought Red Hat chose the name "Fedora" for its community distro and IBM chose the name "PC" for the model 5150.
No, shit for brains. I just got done telling you that I expect any subsequent OS to require tweaking to correct bullshit in it.
I did not say that I could verbatim use the exact same tweaks in 7 forever.
Don't even respond. Just sit down and feel shame.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
That's really annoying if I'm shutting down to go away for a while
That's what suspend is for.
or because of storm activity
That's what your computer's battery is for. Put it in suspend and disconnect the charger from the mains.
Just put a RED WARNING security patch update icon on the task bar or something.
I've seen people ignore six-month-old red warning icons.
Guess I'll pirate Windows 7 for 64bit related reasons, but could anyone recommend any good Linux distros for someone who just wants to watch anime and IRC?
Basically something that'll work right out of the box.
wipe windows-10 off your computer and install FreeBSD-10 instead
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
things i do want:
[...]
Removal of all phone home code
For that, you're probably going to have to switch to GNU/Linux. Phone home code was introduced in Windows XP.
Removal of the "app store"
Do package repositories on GNU/Linux distributions count as an "app store" to you?
"The main reason is Bitlocker"....are you kidding me? Who in their right mind would choose Bitlocker's joke of a backdoor over TrueCrypt or VeraCrypt. After all you said about Microsoft do you really expect their "encryption" to be even remotely secure? If so, email me, I have some volcano insurance to sell you...you never know...
I guess it should have been obvious where this was going...
Yeah it should have been obvious where it was going.
We wanted location aware search results, but don't want to send our location to 3rd parties.
We fast accurate learning speech recognition that is context aware, but we don't want to share our speech.
We easy access to share information but we don't want share buttons.
We want handwriting recognition that understands we have polish friends we don't want to autocorrect their funny names, but we refuse to allow it access to the contact list.
We want it all, we want it now, and we don't want to give anything in return.
Windows 10 users are now the product instead of the customer.
A meme repeated ad infinitum by people who don't understand that some people trade things other than money for tangible benefits.
Yep, I did exactly that even when installing the preview some time ago. Using a local account is configured exactly the same way as on Windows 8.1, you just say create new account and then pick local instead of MS account. All the other settings were pretty straightforward, very easy to see and opt out of, and no alarmist anti-MS fear-mongering was necessary to "warn" me about it. I also noticed the update delivery thing right off the bat and turned it off. Even if I had all of that stuff turned on though, I'm not sure it would make a hell of a lot of difference to my individual privacy and bandwidth. They'd have an MS account, which could be named "anonymous coward" and they might have some data on what sites are visited from a computer that uses that account, a couple of nearby computers might download an update through me (hopefully they implemented that securely though, because that seems ripe for hacking otherwise), I might use an MS browser more often, which would actually save a lot of RAM over that mega resource hog known as Chrome (though I still like Chrome in general), and I don't really give a rip about advertising IDs and such anyway. I still turned it all off out of habit, but there are far more intrusive "features" on most mobile devices already, and none of the Windows settings were mis-described or forced. Several of the defaults were even set to not share data and it was very clear about it on the ones that do.
I think what we have here is mostly just some know-it-alls spreading FUD. No, I do not work for MS, and yes I frequently use Linux too. My work PC runs Ubuntu with Windows in a VM for the remaining Windows-only applications I'm required to use. My laptop runs Mint. My servers are Debian and some Red Hat where required for support purposes.
https://www.linux.com/
Just sayin'.
-Styopa
Most people want cloud services for convenience. Or they expect software crashes to magically resolve over time, which involves sending analytics to the developer. There is of course nothing wrong with having a different opinion. Just accept that Windows is not written with you in mind.
You may have better luck with MacOSX. Tim Cook made privacy/not sending things to cloud a big deal lately, partially because Apple cloud services are not very good and this spins their primitive nature as a feature. You still need to avoid adding cloud/store accounts, disable Bing search in spotlight/Safari, turn off diagnostics and probably do a few other steps I missed. But at least it's a much more tractable and documented process than with Windows.
There are Linux/Android distributions where privacy/security are primary features. Feel free to try them and discover usability tradeoffs for yourself. With POP3, e-mail used to be deleted from the server as soon as client had chance to download it. Yet most people choose IMAP, where years of your correspondence is stockpiled "in the cloud". Microsoft just goes where the money of most users is.
is why it is still acceptable to make windows-only software. Just about every programming language is cross-platform. Cross-platform GUI toolkits are the norm.
That's the main thing that holds Linux back. If the software you need doesn't run, Linux isn't a choice. (Wine can only be used by some power users. I'm a power user, and I've had limited success with it)
Microsoft is copying your recipe for "success."
If you read the TOS they explicitly say that *some parts* (undefined) of what you're calling "privacy invading" (and that's being nice) features cannot be turned off.
You can assume that MS will know and record more or less everything you do on your machine and on the internet.
My adivice: stock up on 7 before you can't get it anymore or see if Linux will serve your needs.
You have to remove the non-free bits before you'll be even to start a conversation on privacy and security. Otherwise your at the mercy of parties which don't have your interests in mind.
Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.
+0 Meh
http://hardforum.com/showthrea...
Lots of good tips for chopping out the crap.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
A desktop computer in suspend will draw very little juice, allowing the UPS it's on to be unplugged from the wall. Even if your computer is not on a UPS, does availability of updates block hibernation?
"I really want to upgrade to Windows 10"
Why do you really want to upgrade to Windows 10? Can Win10 do anything useful, that other Windows OS's can't do? Can any Windows OS's do anything useful that other OS's cannot?
It's good that you reject the invasive nature of Win10 - but apparently you accept everything else that Win10 represents. The exorbitant fees for using the operating system(s). The Microsoft tax. The monoculture that has led to almost ubiquitous exploits. The Microsoft lobby/extortion taking place in the world's capitals.
When people begin migrating away from Microsoft en masse, the world will become a somewhat better place.
Bill Gates is a damned smart man. He effectively promoted the piracy of his OS's in past decades, because he KNEW that once hooked on Windows, few would make the effort to learn another way of doing things. Today's marketing scheme for Win10 meshes well with Bill's attitude toward pirates.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
From the article in summery http://betanews.com/2015/07/31...
"If you're a Windows Insider who has been working with the various review builds for some months, this may well not be news"
I created an Insiders account, my hotmail address wasn't accessible so created a new one, which once in references the hotmail account and my real name (I'm a handle person).
I read the ToS which you agree to allow microsoft access to your system, it's microphone, web cam, whatever's connected to it at anytime. I went as far as downloading Win10 in January, but just couldn't agree to the ToS so never installed it and not sure where the file is now (just that it's not where it's suppose to be).
Just the fact I always place electrical tape over a webcam as I never use them, I'd of been violating the ToS (whatever that would mean).
After reading the article, it would be to ones benefit to know the .cpl files for the security options, if you run Win10 you can just call the .cpl files instead of digging around; I'd be looking for those.
The article also answered my question of installing Win10 or not, so just a matter of what the gaming industry does. I prefer playing on a PC but will go to the PS4 if need be.
"3: ...on non-Enterprise systems, you cannot disable the forced updates. You can delay them on Pro, but not forever. So eventually, those files are going to find their way back on your system eventually... "
Not really true.
In the Home version, if you set your WIFI connection to be metered in network settings (so they don't download when they want), then use the KB3073930 to hide updates you don't want (also good for stopping some drivers to update), then basically you can delay the updates.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
for you technologically superior folk..
"Can I completely gut Windows 10 so that it basically just functions like Windows 7 with DX12?"
I own one Windows box. with Windows 7 Professional 64 bit running on it. It is used for exactly 3 things.. Playing Minecraft, and playing various Steam games. Also occasionally downloading mods for those various games from one or two very specific trusted websites.
I have an older box running Arch for everything *else* I want to do, because I'm not stupid enough to trust Microsoft with anything that might potentially have importance.
In the past, before I took the leap into Linux, Whenever I would set up a Windows box, I'd always pop into services.msc and disable a crapload of services.. usually using Blackviper's service guides.. And IE would only get used once to download a real browser, which I would then kit out with adblock and noscript plugins before doing anything else.
And this generally seemed to work pretty well. Even with no always-on antivirus, no security updates (I'd disable Windows Update completely), shut down windows managed firewalls and not replace them... all the things you're generally "not supposed to do".. I'd very rarely run into any kind of problem. (The exceptions being when I'd do something deliberately stupid and risky, fully knowing I shouldn't.. just because my brain went dead for a brief time.)
I found once you gut most of Windows, the security risks drop dramatically. More than enough for me to find tolerable for a dedicated game machine, anyway..
With Windows 10 being the obvious transition to "Software as a Service so we can just keep billing you for renting our product".. (which is where I forsee this going, ultimately..) is it still "old Windows" enough that it can be properly gutted?
I have no use for a sexualized version of Clippy... I have no use for "Edge". I have no use for really any "feature" of Windows 10 besides DX12. And I have a lot of reluctance about some of the features, even when it's only on a machine I use to play some games. So, to free up system resources.. I'd like to rip all that stuff out.. or at least permanently disable it.
Anybody tried playing around with that sort of approach to see if it is still doable? Like disabling Windows Update entirely?
About how much money corporations spend to cause fragmentation and put people into positions to make shit decisions (Gnome). Yup, I'm sure some of that is simply paranoia. That said, watching some of the shit that gets made on projects like Gnome.. I have no other way to explain what they do.
Paranoia out of the way, I have converted countless people to Linux. They know they are running Linux and don't care. They have KDE so a very nice Desktop, Web Browser, a stack of basic games, GIMP for photo editing, and of course Email. My Kid uses that with Libre Office for College, his professors don't know he does not write things in MS Word.
FUD stops conversions much more than fragmentation. Like GPs claim that there is no Desktop. That claim is complete bullshit, but look at how he's rated up for spinning shit like that.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Ubuntu, which most people use nowadays, has privacy-invading features too in default install. See those Amazon links when you search for something on your machine? That means your query was sent to Amazon.
The other annoyance is that Microsoft will continually reset your firewall settings to permit malicious incoming connections to your computer.
No matter how much you turn them off, Microsoft will keep on lowering the firewall settings.
If you value security, you will check them at least daily.
Windows 10 is no longer a general purpose computing platform.
This is it in a nutshell.
Ever since Win3.1, Windows was the General Purpose OS for the masses. Win10 had the opportunity to reclaim this after they lost a lot of ground with Vista and Win8. But it appears they just can't help themselves. All this behaviour from technology companies is turning me off the industry altogether. If I didn't have a mortgage I've give this career away.
Windows Defender (which also cannot be disabled except temporarily, and then it automatically turns itself back on)
Just FYI: it can be disabled in Group Policy.
(I'm not apologizing for W10, I think it sucks. Just letting people know.)
Hello Mark, this is the chance you were not waiting for. Give up on Apple as a model; realize that one single interface for phones and PCs is an absurdity; accept that Windows is universal; move Ubuntu in that direction and get a sizeable chunk of the desktop market.
For last 9 years I've been using combination of Mac and Linux (Ubuntu Gnome). When I see people discussing these interesting features of their brand new versions of Windows ... 7 then 8 and now 10, I sometimes wonder if I left Windows behind or is this really the case that Windows has left me behind.
1. Microsoft can always made modifications to the ones sold overseas.
2. About the author of the summary... why doesn't he or she just buy one of those anytime upgrades on Amazon? It's just a key, right? And it's Amazon, so if a third party is lying (used the key already), I'm sure Amazon can reverse the transaction through their A-to-z Guarantee Protection.
So it's like systemd for windows, right?
Don't worry, your Win 7 will cease to be functional soon, and you will be assimilated. The coming shit-storm of security "upgrades" and bug "fixes", as with previous releases of Windows, will ensure that your system will slow to an unacceptable crawl and reliability will drop rapidly.
I haven't seen anything about Win 10 that makes me want to "upgrade". If anything, my years of experience with Windows have defined upgrade to mean leaving windows behind as soon as possible. Unfortunately, there are still just a couple programs that keep me stuck with Windows. I am always on the lookout for ways to replace those programs and when I find them it will be goodbye MS forever.
I refer specifically to CAD (Onshape looks like a possible replacement that I can run in a browser under Linux), and the software for my 3D scanner (Fuel3D). I'm not real big on the whole cloud thing, but I'll accept the risks involved if it lets dump Windows. I can do everything else I need to do under Linux.
OK, astroturfers, come and get it...
The editions for which "Free" upgrade options have been provided, Microsoft makes money by seling your data, and ensuring you don't run away to Linux. If you want all these controls and fancy stuff, you must pay about $800 for a copy., and get Enterprise edition.
Malware has given a very bad name to Microsoft. This is because of the immense, needless complexity in the so-called OS which contains linkages to non-essential things for an OS. Like the browser, Office, Email client, device drivers, etc. Even Enterprise users are afraid to apply latest patches due to stability issues.
But Enterprise users usually have firewalls in place, so atleast for them, MS provides complicated round-about methods to bypass snooping. To fix the malware problem permanently, Microsoft will have to reveal source code and truly give full vontrol to the users of their software. Neither of these will happen. So the control is with hardware vendors who have to write device drivers, and malware writers who have figured out the chinks anyway.
Thus MS is now in a race of continuously patching their shoddy OS, at your expense, your bandwaidth and your privacy. Live with it. Or go to another OS that runs on PC hardware, aka Linux. Or get a Mac for twice the price and half the funstionality and features. Or shut up and put up with Microsoft.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
In general, Microsoft's hubris is quite amazing. I know this is slightly off-topic but I am completely Microsoft-free and am able to function quite nicely. Say what you want about LibreOffice 4.4 but its come a long way and is effectively a drop-in replacement for MSO. I use a Macbook Pro and NONE of the software I actually use (save for the operating system and its components) are proprietary. LibreOffice for Productivity and Thunderbird for Email/Calendaring work just fine and don't even cost a wooden nickel. Am I one of the few out there that HATES the ribbon interface?
Everyone is worried about Windows 10 privacy, while they use Chrome and google services everyday. HAHA
It is so simple. many of the people on Slashdot have the real answers. Get rid of all Windows products and never think about them again. Take Linux. Take BSD. Either way you have just taken the cure. Yes, things will change a bit but in the end you will have a stable, secure system that does not require throwing hundreds of dollars at it every year or so. And for most users you won't even need the latest and greatest hardware either as many non Windows OSs do pretty darned well on older gear.
Microsoft can take its Cortana, Bing, App Store, Onedrive etc and shove it up SadNad's bottom.
From what I have seen thus far, the two most pesky settings are Wifi Sense and Advertising ID. Disable them, preferably before going online.
I'm not sure if you can disable automatic updates, do you at least need the Professional edition of Windows 10? Tinker with registry settings or Group Policy etc?
And for goodness sake, have some self respect and stop downloading the ad-infested freemium Solitaire game from the Microsoft App Store (which doesn't happen if you used a local account instead of a Microsoft account.
Show your displeasure by weaning yourself off Microsoft's ecosystem. Skype? Tell your friends to migrate to another chat/video call client on the PC. Xbox? Play games on a PC or get a PS4. Edge? Use another browser.
Let Microsoft's ecosystem rot in hell.
What if you just don't connect it to any network, ever?
How do you stop it from connecting? These days most laptops, at least, have WiFi, Bluetooth, BLE (really distinct from classic buetooth), and maybe other radio-networking capabilities (GSM, LTE, ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, 6LoWPAN-over-Bluettoth-4.2) built-in. Also infrared and ultrasonic-capable audio interfaces with microphones and speakers. Even with the ones that DO have a switch to turn the radios off the switch normally just tells the software not to talk on the radio - which the software is free to ignore.
(Not to mention that the remote-administration hardware/firmware built into the chips by the major manufacturers can, and does, listen on the radios these days for remote-administration commands, comes in UNDER the OS, and can't be disabled.)
Then there's the question of what good the computer is to you if it's NOT connected to a network?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
It's rare that a company comes out and tells you what they think of you. Look at the recent windows 10 ads. That kid in the window is you, as far as Microsoft is concerned.
And you wonder that they want to track you? That kid worries me, too!
Wow, someone's got their panties in a bunch. Did you miss the fact that you were not told to discard your list, just that your list was missing the simplest and most relevant action to take. If anyone should feel shame it is you.
You noob, Winows 7 Pro has bitlocker... you idiot...
I did the free upgrade on our guest lobby computer. After seeing the fallout, including guest account disappearing and other issues, I think I'll just use the restore utility (this was an el-cheap HP Black Friday special from a few years ago running an AMD E-300...yes, it's VERY slooowwww...) to put win-7 back on it.
... here is the link : http://www.linuxmint.com/ ;)
Really? Let me write down the KB-number.
So to control your privacy in Windows10 you must be an IT expert, not a advanced user, not even a common IT professional, but an expert Microsoft updates, checks, directives, network, etc etc.
Are we seriously telling that there is a feasible way to run Win10 without compromising your privacy?
True, but it's not just MSFT but also Apple who reset your privacy features to "send us all your data so we can sell it".
Always check all of your app and OS settings after any upgrade.
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You lie.
Pretty sure I'm using an iPhone.
Pretty sure I had to reset privacy setting after iOS upgrades a few times.
Maybe, in your magical world, Apple can do no wrong and none of the apps every do that?
Are there unicorns there, too?
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I found the following instructions:
https://fix10.isleaked.com/#12
It looks like it gets everything that is currently known about, but no idea how much spyware is hidden in Windows 10 that isn't known about yet.
The link above actually contains 0 trackers according to Privacy Badger, one of the few Web sites where that has been the case.
There is a tool that was mentioned on Fox News (I don't watch, but I heard about it), DoNotSpy10 by pxc-coding, that is supposed to make it easy. Of course DoNotSpy10's installer itself contains spyware (OpenCandy), so using a tool to remove spyware that installs spyware is just lame.
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