Slashdot Mirror
Windows 10's Privacy Policy: the New Normal?
An anonymous reader writes: The launch of Windows 10 brought a lot of users kicking and screaming to the "connected desktop." Its benefits come with tradeoffs: "the online service providers can track which devices are making which requests, which devices are near which Wi-Fi networks, and feasibly might be able to track how devices move around. The service providers will all claim that the data is anonymized, and that no persistent tracking is performed... but it almost certainly could be." There are non-trivial privacy concerns, particularly for default settings.
According to Peter Bright, for better or worse this is the new normal for mainstream operating systems. We're going to have to either get used to it, or get used to fighting with settings to turn it all off. "The days of mainstream operating systems that don't integrate cloud services, that don't exploit machine learning and big data, that don't let developers know which features are used and what problems occur, are behind us, and they're not coming back. This may cost us some amount of privacy, but we'll tend to get something in return: software that can do more things and that works better."
According to Peter Bright, for better or worse this is the new normal for mainstream operating systems. We're going to have to either get used to it, or get used to fighting with settings to turn it all off. "The days of mainstream operating systems that don't integrate cloud services, that don't exploit machine learning and big data, that don't let developers know which features are used and what problems occur, are behind us, and they're not coming back. This may cost us some amount of privacy, but we'll tend to get something in return: software that can do more things and that works better."
We're going to have to either get used to it, or get used to fighting with settings to turn it all off. "The days of mainstream operating systems that don't integrate cloud services, that don't exploit machine learning and big data, that don't let developers know which features are used and what problems occur, are behind us, and they're not coming back.
I, for one, welcome my new overlords.
"...software that can do more things and that works better..."
That's the funniest goddam thing I've read this week.
More people will just move to Linux.
Vote Starlight Glimmer for President in 2016! As the equalist candidate, Starlight invites all of America to experience true friendship for the very first time. Starlight believes in an America where people don't flaunt their special talents because they have no special talents to flaunt.
In Starlight's America, you don't have to wait to find out that your destiny is just to emulate.
Linux! It's called Linux you fucking morons. And I don't mean Ubuntu "not smart enough to configure Debian" Linux. You abject retards act like Windows 10 is your only option for an OS. All you have to do to liberate yourselves from your oppressors is to download an ISO and burn a DVD (or flash drive). Last I checked, most Linux distros don't do any of these practices. And, as a side effect, you won't have to worry about 99.999999% of the malware or exploits that are used to attack PCs.
When I was growing up, my OS didn't spy on me. It still doesn't, because I run openSUSE.
By offering it for free. The moment it isn't free... back I go.
Mr Bright is a Microsoft shill. That's all we need to know.
Reading his articles always end up like this : this new (Microsoft) thing is shit and you get shafted 3 ways and then some more. But you'll like it, oh yes you'll like it.
The experience soured me so much that I installed Linux on my laptop (my first time running "on the desktop" in about 4 years) and haven't looked back. Set up for dual boot but I haven't had to go into Windows yet.
It's amazing that although there's less coverage about Linux on the desktop than ever before, the experience is better than it ever has been. The same apps I use in Windows (Firefox, keepass, Eclipse, Libreoffice mostly) work just fine in Linux (Debian/XFCE) and I found an equivalent mp3 player (audacious instead of foobar2k). Sleep and hibernate work out of the box now. It seems very snappy compared to Windows (7 or 10) and it's nice to not have to reboot for security updates.
I'd say if you haven't tried Linux on your desktop in a while, now is a great time.
There hopefully will be bunch of third party software vendors that offer add on programs that manage connections and setting in order to keep user data private and safe. These would be an add-on purchase, similar to the way anti-virus products used to be. Kind of ironic - the OS is free, but for privacy you must pay.
Citation needed.
Is, in principle this possible - sure.
I would suggest based on past history that you should expect this extra data you have opted to share to leak in ways big and small, from the individual leak, to wholesale compromise of companies databases.
You should expect inadequately tested rolled out drivers to brick certain device configurations until someone skilled can fix it.
You should expect the 'automated' things to be increasingly harder to fix if that automatic service goes wrong.
Increased opaqueness to the general user - random changes in user interface to hide or eliminate features which 'most' users are not using.
And all other sorts of things.
Microsoft et al do not care about the 10% of users that this may make things awkward for - they care about the nebulous users that it may win, or retain by simplifying and making their lives easier.
The few for which life is made hard or impossible - well - maybe for a few months you'll be able to find ways to revert to the old behaviour.
Trends like these make me weep for what were my favorite open source projects, Debian and Firefox.
Both of them were on the right side of things for so long. They weren't there to take my information for some corporation to consume for profit. They were there to offer software that just worked, and it worked really well.
Firefox was the first to fall. Starting with Firefox 4, it became a total disaster. The performance remained so poor. The UI was progressively molested until it has become unusable. Now they're adding unwanted "features" like Pocket integration that nobody really wants. Just a few days ago we found out that their built-in PDF reader (which should never have been built-in in the first place) had a serious security flaw that allowed attackers to steal our files! Needless to say, I no longer use Firefox, and now use Vivaldi instead.
Debian fell most recently, with the addition of systemd. Before then, I knew I could count on it. I've used Debian for many years, and it has worked flawlessly for me. Then I decided to upgrade my system to Debian 8. What a mistake! My system no longer booted like it should. It would just hang. I'm just an average Linux user. I'm not an expert. So I was totally lost about how to fix whatever this problem was. I searched the mailing lists, and I saw a lot of emails from a lot of other people experiencing similar problems with systemd. I may not be an expert Linux user, but I saw the writing on the wall. After witnessing the decline of Firefox, I knew that the same thing was happening to Debian. So I did what any sensible person did: I found another distro. Well, I didn't exactly find another Linux distro, because I have moved to PC-BSD instead. It reminds me of what Debian was before Debian 8 and systemd: fast, stable, secure, and trustworthy.
It pains me greatly to see what has happened to them. Both Debian and Firefox were so great to me and so many others, for so very long. They protected our privacy, rather than misusing and abusing us. They treated us like we were kings and queens. But times changed, and so did those projects. Their decline has been swift and painful, and I'm so sad to see them go. As a long time user of both, moving to alternatives was painful, but a very necessary thing. I cannot put myself in the position where I am the victim of severe browser flaws or the victim of an operating system that does not reliably boot.
Cortana cannot be disabled without breaking Windows. Yes, you can turn all of the settings off, but the process still runs in the background and auto restarts when killed. I even went into the windows group policy settings and forbade Cortana, and it still ran as a process in the background. So, I tried to use powershell to remove it since it was installed as a "modern app". I removed every trace of modern app, including the Windows store, rebooted, Cortana was still there, running the background, consuming 0%-0.1% cpu and using ~35MB of RAM. So, I found out where Cortana was on the file system, killed the process, and renamed the folder, so that it would not be found. And that did work, Cortana never restarted. The only problem was Windows Update stopped working! Yes, not being able to start Cortana prevents Windows 10 from installing updates. I had to run sfc (which fixed Cortana) to install updates, and now the Cortana process is back. Also, when I renamed the Cortana install folder, the search feature of the start menu stopped working completely (no type to search). Magically started working once Cortana was back. I can't believe how deep this thing has its tentacles into the OS, it really is disturbing.
but we'll tend to get something in return: software that can do more things and that works better
No, we won't. Since my data is so valuable I want direct financial control over it. I don't want corporate colonialism. Don't offer me this weak trade of the software equivalent of glass beads. Show me the money. Show me the scope and agency to control my own data and how it is put to use.
"Yeah... let me go ahead and shove these 4 fingers up your ass... Yeah, of course it's for a good reason. Your computer will be faster and all that shit. Yeah why not."
"Now relax and spread'em"
I can't wait for 3D Studio MAX, Photoshop, Zbrush, Unity, the Oculus devkit and everything I use on my work to become available for Linux. Unless all this bullshit is cracked out, I'll never install W10.
My fiancee just installed the new windows 10 and I couldn't help but snick when she was turning off this or that privacy thing. I am not sure why people buy this crap.
NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER GIVE UP! "No limitations, no boundaries, there is no reason for them."
"Bend over."
I miss the days in which writers actually had backbones.
I've never been a Linux expert, but I've used it for a long time because it was stable, it worked, and I knew I could trust it more than I could trust the alternatives. I would even recommend it to family, friends and colleagues. At various times I've set up at least 10 of them with PCs or laptops running Ubuntu, and the feedback was generally positive.
But the situation has changed so dramatically over the past maybe two or three years. During this period of time we've watched as systemd has made its way into every distro, including important ones like Debian (my preferred distro) and soon Ubuntu (the distro I'd use for other people) from what I've heard. I've had some really bad experiences with systemd, where it rendered by system unbootable. While trying to solve these problems of mine I've come to learn that a lot of other people have had similar problems with systemd. I keep reading about how great it is, but it has caused me nothing but problems. I've also read about how awful the earlier systems were, but they never caused me any problem at all! I can't recommend Linux to people I know if it won't reliably boot!
It isn't just systemd that has caused me problems. I was a big fan of the GNOME desktop, back in the 1 and 2 days. But GNOME 3 crushed my enthusiasm. I've actually tried it for over a week at a time to give it a fair shake, but after the week is up I am desperate to get back to some other desktop environment. Everything about GNOME 3 is just awful. It isn't usable, it looks really bad, and it makes me extremely unproductive. Things aren't any better on Ubuntu. I haven't used it much, but I've found their desktop environment to be just as bad as GNOME 3, and maybe even worse. I've been using KDE lately, but it's not very good, either. I can't recommend Linux to people I know if it doesn't offer a usable desktop environment!
Even Firefox, the main Linux web browser, has taken a turn for the worse. The UI is really awful, in many of the same ways that GNOME 3 is awful. I still find Firefox feels really slow, while Chrome feels so much faster all of the time. But I don't want to use Chrome because of its association with Google. For a long time each upgrade of Firefox would break a bunch of my extensions, too. I can't recommend Linux to people I know if it doesn't offer a quality web browser!
I want to promote the use of Linux and open source software. I really do! But it's just something I can't do any longer, because the quality of so many critical components of a typical Linux desktop installation have gone straight to the pits of hell so badly. I'm not going to ruin my reputation by recommending software that will just cause my friends, family and colleagues trouble!
Those that blast Windows 10 as the anti christ and how they are never going to use ... all from the comfort of their Google Chrome browser on their Google Android phones..
This is not a Android bash but just pointing out the obvious. The real question is the answer to this. As much as many here who are libertarian do you think it is time for laws to prohibit this? The free market appearently is too small to care about this.
Let's say Putin or the next Hitler comes and wants to spy on political opponents? Well it is known all these companies and phone and operating system makers have this data. Use NSA or governmental force and their oprivate keys and now you haqve what you need. Any opposition will be monitored. Kind of scary but I do not think it is too out of the realm of possibilities.
http://saveie6.com/
One more reason not to have windows in your home or business...
Debian doesn't do any of this shit, I haven't ran windows in the last 15 years, and I earn more money than you ass wipes in a "corporate environment"
that's the year of Linux on the desktop.
Achille Talon
Hop!
Haha, this is the biggest "Linux!!!!" flamebait article... Anyway, yeah, it seems fairly obvious. The trend for years has been a move back to server-side processing and services that are very heavy on collected user data.
The thing is, it's not just Evul Micro$oft spying on you with a telescope - the spying comes wrapped in services that people actually want. For many people it's a tradeoff - they know they're giving their data away, but they're willing to give up a bit of privacy for the convenience that comes with the service. I find that the average person doesn't usually have the same reverence for privacy as the average Slashdotter.
It's already been said, and it'll be said a hundred more times before we let this article go, but yes, Linux and FOSS in general are the answer. We've been going back and forth about the Year of the Linux Desktop, but really, this is where FOSS shines: as a relatively minority choice for enthusiasts. Let people make their privacy tradeoff choice in peace, it's a perfectly valid choice to make if one most of us (myself included) find highly distasteful, and the rest of us can work on and use FOSS to our heart's content.
Coming from the hardware side too, as more of an EE guy than a programmer: OSHW is getting more and more possible. Powerful hardware that is amenable to use in open designs is becoming more available every year. I can jump over to DigiKey and buy an ARM chip that is capable of running Linux and has more computing power than some of my first desktop computers for $20. The chip designs themselves tend not to be open, but they do tend to be quite well documented - the high end is almost always closed and subject to NDA, but there is little pressure to move that line backwards, and as the high end moves forward, the devices available to the OSHW developer get better and better.
I don't think this is the end of computing privacy, I think this is just the logical conclusion of computers (read: the computers in your pocket!) becoming popular, and starting to work the way Average Joe expects them to. Enthusiasts will always be here, and I think this is the start of a new era for them.
I think Win 8.1 will be my last Microsoft based system. I can understand the business drivers for this merging of desktop and cloud, but I'm increasingly observing a migration away from Microsoft technologies in the market place. Companies are just sick of the licensing, subscriptions, itemised billing of services, etc. Its a death of million micro-payments and the management overhead is astronomical.
So, whilst this may be the picture in the short-term, I don't see it being the future norm. I see a return to a more fragmented eco-system as businesses push for best of breed solutions, rather than a single one-size-fits-all provider.
Microsoft is all but dead in mobile tech, Node.js is cutting into the traditional .NET space on web development and options abound for back-end business solutions. The connecting of the cloud to the desktop is a gimmick, that attempts to enhance vendor lock-in by leveraging online solutions like email, office, etc. It is not really practical in most enterprises given security requirements and, in a domestic environment, well it is just too damn expensive.
Take Azure for example, with BizSpark you get $90 per month free on Azure. But that's not enough to run a single VM continously for that period. At that level of expense, the cloud just seems very unappealing.
For the average user, what advantages does the cloud bring the table? The real answer is, not much.
Has anyone created a list of all the things one needs to do to change Windows 10 settings towards privacy?
(I know about the Reddit thread, which is full of fail because it tells you to use group policy editor, which does not exist in Home, leaves out items that are mentioned later in the comments, and doesn't describe exactly what each step does.)
When was this golden age exactly?
I was born in the 70s, so maybe I'm too young to remember.
Blocking these domains will make your version of Windows 10 "Unconnected". To Microsoft at least.
dns.msftncsi.com
ipv6.msftncsi.com
win10.ipv6.microsoft.com
ipv6.msftncsi.com.edgesuite.net
a978.i6g1.akamai.net
win10.ipv6.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
en-us.appex-rf.msn.com
v10.vortex-win.data.microsoft.com
client.wns.windows.com
wildcard.appex-rf.msn.com.edgesuite.net
v10.vortex-win.data.metron.life.com.nsatc.net
wns.notify.windows.com.akadns.net
americas2.notify.windows.com.akadns.net
travel.tile.appex.bing.com
www.bing.com
any.edge.bing.com
fe3.delivery.mp.microsoft.com
fe3.delivery.dsp.mp.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
ssw.live.com
ssw.live.com.nsatc.net
login.live.com
login.live.com.nsatc.net
directory.services.live.com
directory.services.live.com.akadns.net
bl3302.storage.live.com
skyapi.live.net
bl3302geo.storage.dkyprod.akadns.net
skyapi.skyprod.akadns.net
skydrive.wns.windows.com
register.mesh.com
BN1WNS2011508.wns.windows.com
settings-win.data.microsoft.com
settings.data.glbdns2.microsoft.com
OneSettings-bn2.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
watson.telemetry.microsoft.com
watson.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
http://init.sh/?p=236
"Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
I moved to Linux over 5 years ago. Never regretted it. There's a flavor for everything you want from quick, easy, and pretty to rock solid.
Microsoft makes my stomach sick. It makes me shake and feel like I want to vomit.
Apple, and Microsoft, have always been just as bad.
> If you're taking up Microsoft on its offer of a free upgrade to Windows 10, you should know that the new operating system has a feature, called Wi-Fi Sense, that automatically shares your Wi-Fi passwords with others.
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/windows-10-may-share-wi-164057617.html
Neither does Fedora, and by extension, CentOS and RedHat.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
But that isn't a security problem because it only shares your passwords with your friends...says John Thompson, the guy now running Microsoft.
Fucking hell... Come on, 99.999999% of what every fucking person on this "connected" planet does is web browse (I'm including the tons of video/snap/seemyunderwear-chat, whatever bullshit), view/take pictures, and email. This work is OS antagonistic. Stop giving in to your spylords. Instead live in the land of freedom! Windows is completely unnecessary unless you are a niche "native" game player (lol, steam dork alert).
Linux on the desktop is available, but there are still one big issue with it:
Backups. I can image a Mac and a Windows system (via wbadmin.) I cannot bare metal recover a Linux box unless I boot to a Clonezilla DVD. At best, I can make a home directory backup, as well as a list of install files to pull from the repository, so I can rebuild the system by booting OS media, installing the filesets in use, then doing an upgrade.
Yes, there is bacula and amanda, but bacula requires an entire MySQL installation and cannot preen itself, so it winds up filling used space, then silently failing. amanda, similar. rsync is another tool, but that creates copies, not backups [1].
What I wound up doing was "upgrading" from Windows to OS X 10.10.x, and using VMWare Fusion if I need Windows 10. Not cheap, but Apple sure as heck is a lot less after your privacy than Microsoft.
[1]: Big difference. A backup program needs to be able to restore files from different points in time.
> It’s your own fault if you don’t know that Windows 10 is spying on you. That’s what people always say when users fail to read through a company’s terms of service document, right?
http://bgr.com/2015/07/31/windows-10-upgrade-spying-how-to-opt-out/
If you must use Windows 10, ( believe it or not there is some software that is still Windows only, or would cost a fortune to purchase new licences for another OS, if it's even an option ) just air gap the damn thing.
Load it, patch it to current, get all your software running on it, then deny it internet access completely. You can air gap it, but then you'll need to manually transfer your data over to another non Win 10 system. Use it as a workstation, not an all in one solution.
Or ( what I would do ) is simply put a route map or ACL on the router that explicitly denies access for that machine off the local network or Vlan. Hell, put it in its own VLAN and block the whole damn thing if you have to. Personally, I would disallow any talking between it and any other device on the local network outside of a network connected NAS drive so you can still transfer files. If you gotta get your game on I suppose you could allow very specific connections to very specific addresses, but block everything else.
Use a Windows box for specialized applications, use anything but to connect to the internet.
Best refuge for now.
> If you're taking up Microsoft on its offer of a free upgrade to Windows 10, you should know that the new operating system has a feature, called Wi-Fi Sense, that automatically shares your Wi-Fi passwords with others.
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/windows-10-may-share-wi-164057617.html
From your link: "When Wi-Fi Sense is enabled, anyone you have in your Skype, Outlook or Hotmail contacts lists — and any of your Facebook friends — can be granted access to your Wi-Fi network as long as they're within range. " (emphasis mine)
According to Wankapedia: "A typical wireless router in an indoor point-to-multipoint arrangement using 802.11b or 802.11g and a stock antenna might have a range of 32 metres (105 ft)."
So unless someone in your contact list is within 100 feet of you, there is no problem. And if you are using Hotmail or Facebook you deserve to be hacked, screwed and buttfucked as much as possible.
This may cost us some amount of privacy, but we'll tend to get something in return: software that can do more things and that works better.
Making it the new normal are we? With self fulfilling prophecies? And always some Madison Ave to give our 'new normal' a little push..
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
"People are happy idiots."
Actually, people are unhappy "idiots". When abusers succeed, that causes others to choose to be abusive. When there are a huge number of people doing many kinds of abuses, people begin feeling that they can't protect themselves, and try to ignore the abuses.
The U.S. government in general, U.S. banks, and the many secret agencies of the U.S. government engage in many kinds of abuses. For example, a side-effect of NSA activities also has the initials NSA: No Sales for America. Companies don't want to buy complicated products from the U.S. because agencies of the U.S. government can go to any U.S. corporation and tell executives that they must accept the insertion of spy products, and keep that secret, or go to prison. Since any complicated U.S. product could have methods of control or spying or worse, it is better for foreign customers to avoid buying anything touched by U.S. companies.
One effect of "upgrading" to Windows 10: Windows Media Center will be deleted.
Another loss in Windows 10: Windows Updates will be forced, in at least one version. Will there be other lost features, now or later? Will Microsoft extend its control over Windows in other hidden or complicated ways? The issue is not whether technically-knowledgeable users will be able to stop forced updates; the issue is that most people won't know how to regain control over their systems. That control is important because often Microsoft has given poorly designed updates that have caused problems on user's systems. See this Slashdot story, for example, Windows 10's Automatic Updates For NVidia Drivers Causing Trouble.
More about Microsoft releasing buggy software: The Slashdot story, Windows 10 Launches, says Windows 10 is "buggier than Windows 8.1, 8, 7, or Vista were on their respective launch days" and "During my testing on a variety of hardware, I've run into a lot of bugs and issues -- even with the version that will be released to consumers on launch day".
(At present, the best way to update Windows 7 is to use Autopatcher, because Microsoft's anti-customer "updates" are avoided.)
Online comments say that Microsoft will try to move Windows to a model that requires monthly payments.
Firefox: Embraced, "Extended", soon to be Extinguished? Mozilla Foundation now gets most of its money from Microsoft. Microsoft pays Yahoo. Yahoo pays Mozilla Foundation to make "Yahoo search" (actually Microsoft Bing search) the default search engine in Firefox. Most people don't have the technical knowledge to know how they've been manipulated, or how to restore the default search engine to Google search.
Thunderbird and SeaMonkey Composer GUIs: Damaged, apparently deliberately. Every time you do a file save, 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 Embrace, Extend, Extinguish? People who feel forced away from Thunderbird may choose Microsoft software to replace it. Is that what Microsoft is trying to accomplish?
One effect of abuse is that the abusers become VERY unhappy. For years, people called Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer "Monkey Boy". That reflected the results of Ballmer's constant involvement in Microsoft's abuse of its customers.
Microsoft is amazingly badly managed. The
... in a future release. Choice is overrated.
For many laptops, all the hardware is basically from Intel. Intel writes amazing open source drivers. There are exceptions I'm sure. My first working WiFi adapter that didn't require external configuration was the on-board Intel one.
Backups? Really? When I update to a new version (fresh install method) I just copy my home directory to a flashdrive, install the new version, copy my home directory back over, then install the apps I usually use. Everything is there... settings, documents, music, etc. Takes about an hour, try that with windows and you'll be lucky to get it done in a day.
Stick with 7
The fundamentals of Security have always been trade offs between functionality vs security, or in this case.. privacy. The problem with windows 10 is the transparency is we're living in an age where implication is modern day law. When you show up at day care, and the caregiver says "I'll take your jacket, and do you mind if I take " That doesn't mean the day care just got given a new jacket and you've waved your parental rights. or atleast shouldn't. This bullshit grey area where before was conspiracy theorist crap, along with area 51 alien ufos unfortunately with 'leaks' has become a reality. This is alarming. I don't find it alarming that NSA/DOJ/CIA/FBI/Local PD can get into your stuff (provided a judge signed a warrant for something specific) the problem is they're not. And it's no secret that Microsoft (along with google facebook and a couple others) willingly throw over personal information on pretty much anything enforcement wants, without a warrant. So where the language used with Cortana etc shouldn't be scary, in the current landscape/wasteland that is known as American Digital security/privacy this is ridiculous. I'm not saying Microsoft should burden this alone, but it's certainly not innocent. If you set a network in Win10 from Public to Private, it warns you, educates you about the difference, privacy implications of classifying a network as 'private'. However the EULA for Cortana and 'other various apps and services' pretty much says we collect everything.. it's anonymous (they think) and it's going to pretty much everywhere.. by default.
No one reads EULA's. Putting all your personal (remember when the pc's were actually personal computers?) information up for grabs for any agency or company (or app) is ridiculous.
In some/most cases like disabling windows defender for example, if I don't want microsoft scanning my files. It will periodically RE-enable it, without any notification on the end-users part.
Having end users just wanting to accept 'the cloud' and swallow the pill. I don't use 'the cloud' the closest I come is occasionally using facebook/pintrest, I have no use for the cloud, or anything of the sort.
Private VPN's are just as convenient for me, and I don't have to rely on a third party service (omitting my ISP) to have access to my files, anywhere.
The current landscape is just garbage, and I really expect a community backlash, If I want something private anymore I have about 5 Tails usb keys, stick to linux (easier said than done) and carry a usb key around with you if you don't need to use win10 don't. My suggestion, stay with a previous version of windows (win7) until there is some actual benefit for this crap tradeoff (directx for example)
My thoughts;
Not yours.
So this opens up a vast app opportunity for making apps that kill the MS-NSA "features".
"cp --archive --link --verbose /MAKE_SNAPSHOT{,_date '+%Y-%m-%d'}/" and "rsync -avz --link-dest=../OLD_BACKUP_DIR SOURCE_DIR NEW_BACKUP_DIR"
or
https://www.howtoforge.com/bac...
or
http://www.opbyte.it/grsync/
Take a look at duplicity -- it's what I use for backups. It's built on top of rsync, but with a lot more intelligence layered on top. It supports full and differential backups (with a sane default strategy), and can place backups in many places (another directory, another machine via ssh, another machine via rsync, ftp, Amazon S3, etc.).
Which "more things" can Windows 10 do that say Windows 8 or Windows 7 can't? Apart from spy on you I mean.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I think I speak for all of us when I say, "Fuck this shit".
I'll stick with WIn 7 until my PC dies, and then I'll probably move to some popular Linux distro.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Thanks, Microsoft
CAPTCHA: Suspect
If you're not doing anything video intensive (ie. 3D GPU stuff), you could always use the base Linux install as just a hypervisor (KVM or XEN) and then install your "real" desktop as a VM on top of this. Then for backups, you just copy the virtual disk file somewhere.
As an IT professional, the only way I could use this would be if Microsoft provided me with appropriate documentation on their PCI compliance status regarding all this information they're collecting, which they will never do, since those documents would be legally binding.
Anybody who accept credit cards is walking in to a mindfield with Windows 10.
Do more things for whom? Works better for what purpose?
Is this finally the year of the Linux Desktop?
I mean, just how far do companies like Microsoft have to push before people really start refusing, en masse, to participate?
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
VMWare and VirtualBox host support on FreeBSD is lacking.
Otherwise, I'd already be there.
It is perfectly reasonable to refuse Windows users access to your wi-fi. Do so, and let them know why.
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
... MS does this every so often. Its why even numbered OS's are shitty. Just wait for windows 11.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
The best solution is to refrain Windows from connecting to the Internet.
Do your online-related activities in Linux environment (VM host).
I think, at least, most applications that *absolutely* require the Internet connection (e.g. browsers) can be run inside Linux machine without any serious problems.
You can use Windows guest air-gapped machine to run a few software that demand no Internet connection, though subscription based ones (e.g. Photoshop CC) may need other solutions.
Although I've not practiced above yet, I will do this before the end of support life of Windows 7, 8.1.
Before Windows 10 release, I was considering to upgrade to Win 10.
Circumstances have seriously changed.
...why the fuck can't we run decent audio production software on it? Even getting low latency audio STABLE is still impossible AFAIK. and don't tell me that ardour plus the 5 or so native Linux VSTs constitute a decent audio production system.
If I could just use linux, I probably would, but there are some very serious applications (think pro audio/video) that are never going to run in linux. Some of them run on macs though...
What really irritates me about this is that when I decide to get a new computer, I'll have no choice but to install windows 10. Reading about Cortana always running in the background... I do stuff with low-latency audio, making music, and sometimes I need all of my CPU cycles. On top of how much I dislike the later Windows UI (after 7).
If Apple could somehow release their OS without the hardware... I would think they could make some serious inroads into Windows users' territory. I have no interest in buying overpriced apple hardware, all neatly packaged into a box that I can't open. But hell, if I could just install the Mac OS... I could even see myself buying the OS and "illegally" installing it on a PC after suitable hacks.
I know that one reason why Windows is so dominant is that it supports so much hardware and software at this point, whereas Apple does not... but this makes me wish for some kind of independent OS, even built on top of linux, shit, but something that makes a serious play at supporting all kinds of games, pro audio/video software, etc. Maybe the fact that Steam is pushing game support on linux is a good sign.
Pretty much. Its about applications and for "IT pro's" its probably about what they have to support in the workplace as well. I love linux on the server, (LTS releases ONLY), but on the desktop? Last time i tried it was all about lack of software, and length of configuration time for something I am less familiar with.
With linux there is 1 program that one guy maintains that does what you want in one way. If you want variety, hey just program that shit up! On windows, there are tens to hundreds of programmes that do what you want, no coding required. Some pay, some free, the best ones are open source of course.
So I guess I am not sure what desktop linux users complain about. Android is the most popular phone OS, and OSX is UNIX... So pretty much everywhere is *NIX already in 2015. I can name a dozen popular open source tools that I use every day, so even the linux philosophy has thoroughly permeated many windows users. (windirstat, thunderbird, putty, filezilla, dban, rufus, firefox, notepad++, vnc, media player classic, vlc, xibo... and many more)
The only reason that there are not more desktop linux installs is that MS and office are considered business standard. Business people (including most IT people I have met) like that most of the technology works out of the box and is point and click, thus saving time and headaches. Office workers want the os that they are familiar with from work, at home. You would need to retrain the entire world for that to change, and no ones going to pay for that.
-
Where I work, we now just have a VM for each project, with whatever OS it runs on, and use X-forwarding to run the apps on the local desktop, whatever it may be.
Oh, except I forgot, the hipsters are going to kill X-forwarding, too.
OS X, Windows 10, Google X, XKEYSCORE... it's not just an operating system. It's an operation policy.
It's like Blue being the current green (Blue Efficiency, BlueMotion...).
LINUX developers have spent too much time on screwball user interface garbage, obscure stuff no average user would care about, squabbling about systemd, etc while avoiding all the stuff that needs fixing and that average people NEED (like a usable printing system (CUPS is NOT for normal people), the ability to do basic things (like play MP3 files), the ability to have acceptable video performance out-of-the-box (nouveau reeks - an average user needs a 1-button ATI or Nvidia proprietary driver load)) that they are missing an opportunity.
Even now, as Apple and Microsoft are trying to co-opt the google/facebook model of making gigantic mountains of cash by spying on their own customers and selling their privacy, there are probably some amoral Linux people trying to figure out a way to hop onto THAT bandwagon too as "the next big thing" instead of seeing this as the opportunity take over the desktop with a simple motto like: "it works without spying on you". Linux STILL needs fixes to some very basic things, which are apparently just uncool enough that developers are not interested in fixing them (or are too insular to realize are still too screwed-up to be usable for average users). If it were ready for prime-time, Linux would be in a great position to make big gains now.
The average member of the public does not know what all that gobble-de-gook in the Apple and Microsoft EULAs actually means to them and how it affects them - they do not understand that this crap is a large part of what enables them to be victimized. Most also do not even know there are alternatives like Linux and BSD - the difference between a computer and its operating system is something most people do not understand, and it's not in the interests of the big two computer mega-corps to tell them. Key logging? They have no clue about what it is, how it could affect them, etc. Tracking their mouse moves and clicks? Nobody has ever pointed out to them that these are hazardous. Recording and analyzing their speech? tracking what they look at? Ditto. Most people will never see that all that stuff Apple and Microsoft (and Google and Facebook) are doing, and getting consent for in some fine-print somewhere they have never actually read, is in any way harmful...... and they won't see it until some tech-savvy person explains it to them (which Apple, Microsoft, Google and Facebook never will). Anybody who understands all this technology and how it is being (and can be) used (and abused) and who has friends and family (particularly children growing up with all this) has a moral obligation to explain it to them.
You found one thing you don't like, and avoided thinking about everything else?
Who cares? Windows is dead.
"Windows software does not run on it"
That's not a Linux problem, that's a Windows problem.
WINE and a few other projects are trying to bend over backwards to support PROPRIETARY Windows applications.
Please take your complaint to where it belongs, Microsoft.
how overrun is /. with M$ sockpuppets?
"This may cost us some amount of privacy, but we'll tend to get something in return: software that can do more things and that works better.
Well, crazy a** stupid. First, one should prove that what they expect us to give up is less than what we can expect to gain. We are _very_ far from that, oh, so very far it's not even funny. Also, I call bollocks on the quoted line of reasoning - what history has taught us repeatedly, so many times over, is that giving up our freedom and privacy for that "something in return" is not worth it.
And well, let's be honest, is Win10 really worth giving up anything? At all? Bleh.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
A lot of laptops aren't "insert CD and go" for Windows.
That's true. In reality, most laptops are just "go" for Windows, because it comes preinstalled and Just Works(TM).
And that is why Microsoft win, and why despite the valid concerns about Windows 10 most people are still going to use it eventually unless (a) a massive campaign of average-user education takes places, and (b) average users then care enough about things like not controlling their system or having their privacy eroded to make an other choice, and (c) another viable choice exists.
For better or worse, there is little evidence that any of those three things is going to happen any time soon, never mind all of them.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
When I eventually get Windows 10, I plan to send a letter to Microsoft USA, letting them know how much I despise their Windows product, yet having to use it for gaming. Nothing that would get me arrested ofc, but at least it should be clear that I hate M$. Best to not have it get too complicated.
That way, in theory, they can't really argue that I want any of this.
Instead of saying that people should use linux, how about everyone send M$ a personal, sober, but clear message that you think M$ and Windows is crap, but that you someone feel forced to use it, because of how M$ and Windows simply has a monopoly of sorts.
Or have it turned off for you.
Seriously. The fact that this *can* be turned off in the enterprise version shows that there is nothing in Windows' archictecture that requires it.
As long as each and every MS Windows installation makes one administrator when one installs it, one can turn all those things off (or de-install them).
When I say "one", I don't mean the "average user" of course. It would take 'em (myself included) months of intense study to figure out how to do that (and they won't have the time, the interest, the aptitude, or the stamina for that). The good news is that they probably won't have to.
For computer-literate people there will probably be utilities / batch files to take care of Microsoft's pre-installed "tattleware" for you.
For complete end-users I also foresee a market for something like an "add-on control panel" that shows every (known) piece of "tattleware" on MS Windows and allows you to switch it off (or even de-install it). A seperate piece of software that works as a Windows "service" can ensure that this user "policy" is enforced every time Windows boots plus, say, at 2-hr intervals.
Fuck you
I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you
I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you
I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you
I won't do what you tell me
Translation: I do *not* intend to just "get used to it", and Peter Bright can kiss my shiny white gluteus.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
I wonder if some anti virus packages don't get "suspicious by heuristics" with some of the Win10 components, given the fact it does pretty much act like a infected windows machine, by displaying unwanted ADs and logging user data without his knowledge or consent.
There is a serious problem. What is one of your contacts has a seriously malicious intent? They can park a car with tinted windows across street, and then access your LAN, which is a huge privacy AND security issue. At once, this feature of Windows 10 not only compromised privacy, but also the security of your entire home LAN. There will be a million interesting ways to exploit it. In fact, you don't even need to be a friend with the target. You simply need to be friend of his friend, and all will be good as long as the friend of the target has once visited targets home and cached his wifi network password. The possibilities are limitless. Would you like to snoop around on your boss or do you want to stalk your ex? Want to snoop around on their LAN? Find unsecured PC, SMB shares, or media servers? Well now you can, thanks to Microsoft.
I think MS will be eventually sued for that.
But this is PRECISELY the problem with systemd. It may not be as bad yet. The problem is we really can only justify it with the word "yet".
The simplicity at which computers connect and work is now treading on privacy? Really? Yet we see nothing wrong with sharing on a social site? That's like saying I never answer my door but get dressed with the windows wide open. Many of the tools we use in computing directly benefit the user by sharing how they are using it.
From search results, to ease of connectivity to syncing all that information and productivity between devices, people, and the web. Yes, of course it means losing some privacy and we should not be surprised by this. We also should not be surprised when some people don't like it. Microsoft in my opinion took some chances in defaulting some features in Windows 10 to what can be called loose privacy.
I'm not a computer programmer or a software professional. Still I have not touched or used a windows system or installed windows on my personal / work computers for last 9 years. I was using Ubuntu for about 6 years and Ubuntu Gnome for another 3 years. I have no problem making excellent presentations, writing reports, documents (libreoffice), editing basic images (gimp), editing music (audacity), making basic 3d animations (blender), video editing (openshot/cinerella), making brochures (scibus) or even setting up my own server (apache). Everything is damn easy (software center /apt-get). I enjoy gaming sometimes (gbrainy/majongg/wesnoth/supertuxcart etc).
I don't install flash and youtube works. Over the time other video websites have automatically started working without flash.
Life continues and without privacy issues, security issues and hassle of maintaining an up-to-date antivirus, life is much better.
I use duplicity for backups. It sounds like you want snapshotting more than backups. For that i use zfs. I actually have a much easier time backing up Linux since all the files created by me are in one place and not scattered all over the drive.
"The days of mainstream operating systems that don't integrate cloud services, that don't exploit machine learning and big data, that don't let developers know which features are used and what problems occur, are behind us, and they're not coming back. This may cost us some amount of privacy, but we'll tend to get something in return: software that can do more things and that works better."
.. and MICROS~1 SPYWAR~1 is not getting on this mainstream operating systems ..
Said Peter Bright, a longtime Microsoft booster ref
The new normal is for suckers.
I use Win7 at work, no plans to update the business version, it does the task. My personal laptop is dual-boot, I use Ubuntu almost exclusively, except when I need to connect to work ... and use Win7 on a small partition. I could even update it to Win10, and it would not track my Ubuntu activity. If it's too much of a nuisance, I'll drop Windows completely and let my company buy a separate laptop for me if they want my remote support. My stuff can still be separate from Microsoft's greedy, clutching grasp.
I haven't ran windows in the last 15 years, and I earn more money than you ass wipes in a "corporate environment"
Yeah, right. You sound exactly like someone who does. And I say that who lives entirely in a Linux world (2 desktops, 1 laptop, 1 media server).
Calling people names is really the best way to making them accept your point of view.
... it failed to honor my selection of postpone install and just went right ahead and did it on the next reboot of my dell venue 11 pro 7140 series. Fortunately it worked, but probably because it's newish, has few extras installed and an intel igpu 5300 hd.
my guinea pig WAS going to be my old msi gt725 which i just resurrected and am in the process of upgrading.
win10 is meh to me, as on my win8.1 machines i was already using startisback. seemed a better solution and less klunky than classic shell. metro is still utter shit, but at least more of the control panel, i.e. settings are now in a more coherent ui rather than the halfassed mishmash of win8/win8.1, but then i juat used the good old control panel.
I was born in the 50s, and I don't remember it either.
--fyngyrz
(anon due to brain-dead slashdot enforcement of the idea that it is somehow useful that a moderator can't post using their slashdot ID.)
I agree about Linux being fundamentally far better for the entire world. However, it seems that everything in Linux is poorly documented. Microsoft's documentation is very poor, but Linux documentation is considerably worse. That creates a HUGE barrier to using Linux.
Not many people want to spend a week trying to discover how some Linux program works. For example, XBMC, now Kodi, media center.
I don't want to turn all Windows10 privacy settings off. I want an app that sends different randomly generated phoney information every hour instead. Although I suppose it's pointless since most people enter the Internet from a small block of IP addresses.
"you losers"
This is what Linux has become. Linus Torvalds does it himself! You give the worst possible interpretation to what people say, and then pretend they are "losers".
Microsoft: Windows Media Center came with Windows 7. It has many areas in which it seems unfinished, but it is easy to use, even for children.
Linux: What Media Center to you recommend? It must have TV schedules and allow recording of over-the-air TV.
Microsoft: Notepad++ is extremely valuable. There are lots of plugins. But it runs only on Windows.
Linux: What editor is as good as Notepad++?
New web-based applications run on Linux just fine.
Not on a laptop whose Wi-Fi radio can reach no access points other than WPA2 protected ones whose administrator is unwilling to disclose the pre-shared key to the laptop's user. And not on a laptop being used by the passenger of a vehicle moving too quickly to complete association and captive portal authentication before the vehicle goes out of range. Or have "cloud" applications overwhelmingly adopted "offline first" design already?
So buy hardware which is known to be compatible with linux
If you're the kind of person who likes to look at the screen and touch the keyboard of a laptop or detachable tablet before you buy it, good luck getting assurance from the sales associate that the hardware is compatible with Linux. The last time I checked, System76 and other PC makers that specialize in GNU/Linux were mail-order-only and did not carry detachable tablets.
Never buy a PC that doesn't have full hardware Linux ever support again.
I'm interested. What brand of 10" laptop is good for running Xfce now that netbooks have been replaced with detachables? Or should people expect to use an Android tablet with GNURoot and XSDL if they want Linux on a 10" laptop?
blu ray is a great reason to include a modern optical drive.
Are there any licensed BD video player apps for X11/Linux yet? I say "licensed" because comments to an answer recommending VLC mention the "Host certificate revoked" error message.
Anyone remember LINLOAD?
No, but I do remember Loadlin, which is what they had before LILO (and Stitch), which is what they had before GRUB.
If i can use all my Windows programs without having to use some convoluted whatever so i can run them sure i will switch.
I run Xubuntu on my laptop. Installing the package "Wine" in Ubuntu Software Center was enough to let me run the few Windows desktop applications that I do use semi-regularly (FamiTracker, ModPlug, FCEUX debugging version, and NO$SNS debugging version).
Gold?silver?Bronze? lol
What's this supposed to mean? Are these AppDB compatibility labels, with the implication that your particular business-critical applications do not work for you in Wine?
Okay, I have this crazy notion. If Microsoft believes that software that is integrated with the cloud is the future, why don't they publish an API where anyone who wants can provide that service. If I understand correctly, Elon Musk has published information about how to make a charging station compatible with his Tesla cars and anyone with the resources is encouraged to do so. Likewise, why doesn't Microsoft allow us to create our own "cloud" that serves our purposes. (It's a rhetorical question; we know the answer.)
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
Are you seriously suggesting that Joe Clueless could install and setup Windows? From a Windows retail disk?
Don't need to; that's done for you when you buy a mass-market PC or when you hire a local shop to repair it. True, this difference is ultimately due to a non-technical advantage of Windows related to its overlapping compatibility with the DOS included with most IBM PC 5150 computers and to Microsoft's marketing muscle, but non-technical advantages are still advantages.
Finding all the drivers he needs to update and installing them?
The difference is that for mass-market PCs, Windows drivers are virtually guaranteed to exist. They can be found with enough effort. Some components and peripherals have no acceptable GNU/Linux driver. Vanilla GNU/Linux on a random PC might be limited to VESA (software) graphics, no networking, no Bluetooth, high power use, and/or no suspend.
Programs that save settings/need re-installing it's all in the User\%username%\AppData folder
Provided they're not in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
Anyone can sign a bootloader.
But who can install the signing certificate into a PC? And who can explain to a non-technical home PC owner how to do so?
Any of them.
Notepad++ is only notable because it fills a niche that isn't otherwise available on Windows: a decent text editor that isn't also an IDE or whatever. Such things are a given in the *NIX world, just like a decent CLI.
Notepad++ isn't anything special in the *NIX world. Nobody will port it because it's basically the same as any of the other programmers editors.
For years people have made the claim, with a good deal of justification, that people did not have the patience to learn new software in order to switch to a new platform. More recently, though, people have been eased into the idea through their smartphones. People regularly try out multiple apps to access all manner of functionality, and don't think twice about it. I suspect that this attitude could be harnessed by the Linux community, particularly by using the ubiquity of Linux on smartphones to encourage people to install apps they are already familiar with onto a desktop running a free, secure OS that doesn't spy on them. It's not a movement at present, but it's much more doable than in years past. The environment and infrastructure for showing people that linux apps can be just as easy to use as Windows apps is finally in place.
Except that it's complete FUD bullshit and Windows 10 asks YOU if you want to share password for every network you connect.
Try that with a Linux box that is not connected to the internet, or even one connected with a slow dial-up connection.
The doofus-part of the Linux developers community are so steeped in bubble-land that they are completely oblivious to the idea that there are people who, for a variety of reasons including lack of physical location and security concerns, do not have fast (or even any) internet connection to their system. Most of the distros I have seen in the past few years have cut back and no longer have everything on the CD/DVD - they just assume you have a fast net connection and also full trust in all the package managers and installers so that they can go onto the net and grab hundreds (thousands?) of packages to resolve all the insanely-stupid dependencies that make Linux such a mess these days. It seems like every recent application on Linux is built using a dozen libraries, each of which has a dependency on a dozen more and so-son and many of those dependencies stupidly requiring specific versions, so none of the distros contain all that garbage and getting and resolving them all requires a good net connection (plus a whole heaping pile of blind faith that none of the automated fetching, patching, installing and linking is or can be corrupted...)
I guess you are too young to have experienced this lie before.
The phrase "New Age" is most-often used to fool a younger generation into thinking that dredged-up garbage their ancestors tossed-out and turned away from is something "new"; it's a marketing tactic for bad ideas.
All the "new age" religious stuff that washed through western societies in the 70's and 80's was nothing more than a happy face slapped onto various ancient pagan beliefs and practices.
Nearly all "new age" economics are just re-treaded socialism, which is nothing more than the sort of communal economic system which has arisen many times in history (including among some of the Pilgrims who tried it when they arrived in America - and who were nearly destroyed by it)
"New Age" politics are always a form of totalitarianism or fascism - as though no society has previously imagined it could do things "better" by either top-down assertion of government force, or the uniting of government power and corporate power.
Your "new age" of surveillance is nothing more than a shiny-baubles version of what the National Socialists or the East German Stazi (both of whom merged government spying with spying by and on businesses)
Go tell your pet rock that your new age arguments have failed to persuade; they only work on people with too few brain cells and not enough experience in the real world.
At least in the german privacy terms for win10, they reserve the right to access your private stuff and give it to others. Of course there follows some "if we believe, that ..." terms, but with weasel words like "to prevent damage to microsoft and/or its partners or loss of profit" and such things.
it IS after all a CRIME to share someone's password. even if windows does it for you
Thanks for the pointer to the /r/PCMasterRace wiki. But in the interest of completeness, let me go through other arguments that peasants repeat:
You mean consoles on the other hand only allow you do certain things. You may also not be allowed to upgrade, mod, change the hardware, software, use unauthorized peripherals as well.
Nor are your opponents, which is the advantage that peasants claim.
And moving from one generation to the next on consoles, the chances of your guaranteed compatibility goes right out the window.
The Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Wii, Nintendo DS, and Wii U run the vast majority of the previous generation's games perfectly. The PS2 and PS3 both run PS1 games, and early PS3 consoles (the ones marked SACD) can also run PS2 games. And consoles have classic games from previous consoles in Nintendo eShop and PlayStation Store. Good luck running Windows 9x games on your Windows 10 PC, when 10 is just one more than 9.*
Nothing stops you from using a PC in the living room
Then what stops these people? Or what changed since then?
* That was a joke.
I'm not running Win 10 yet. Does anyone know if you can circumvent signing into Microsoft's Cloud World by signing in as a local administrator in Win 10 home? You can do this in Win 8.1.
I understand there are a lot of privacy and security settings in Win 10 that can be changed to disable data snooping and other intrusive features. Fortunately for me, I can switch to Ubuntu or other distros if I'm too unhappy with 10.
Though ominously the work's computer I'm having my lunch break on is telling me of a compulsory re-boot, which is may mean the decision has been taken out of my hands.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Notepad++ is pretty nice, but it does not hold a candle to several of the Linux based text editors.
For instance:
kate http://kate-editor.org/
gedit https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Ge...
vim http://www.vim.org/
emacs https://www.gnu.org/software/e...
Like I said, Notepad++ is a good editor, and I use it myself when forced to use Windows, but it does not compare to what is offered in Linux. Also, most things in Linux are well documented. Sadly there are some things that are not, but practically nothing I have ever needed documentation for in Windows has had decent documentation.
I have some small technical details about how Windows 10 is spying on users. I posted it on Reddit but it's already being downvoted by paid Microsoft employees I think. I'll just copy and paste here:
I had something strange happen when I downgraded to Windows 7 in an unsupported way. After trying Windows 10 with a clean install and deciding that it wasn't for me, I undeleted my Windows 7 boot partition and simply deleted the Windows 10 files and copied over my files from Windows.old.
All of my file permissions for my User folder had been changed to allow access for 'unknown user'. After some digging in the settings I found that this matched an account named S-1-15-2-1.
Some quick Googling told me that this was a well known account for the Windows Store: http://answers.microsoft.com/e...
"dax1792 replied on March 14, 2013 S-1-15-2-1 appears to be a new Well-Known SID which is used by Windows 8 with Windows Store Applications. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-u...
Windows 7 doesn't know anything about this, so it's being shown as unknown. This may be an oversight by Microsoft in the way they have deployed Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7."
So they really aren't kidding about what's spelled out in the user agreement about sharing your personal files! I'm sure that that went directly to the NSA.
We just learned that AT&T has been working hand in hand with the NSA. That they've been working with and manipulating these big corporations. I'm sure that that's how AT&T was fast-tracked for this recent DirectTV acquisition.
Our government has been completely taken over by criminals at this point and Microsoft is surely working with them.