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How To Keep Microsoft's Nose Out of Your Personal Data In Windows 10
MojoKid writes: Amid the privacy concerns and arguably invasive nature of Microsoft's Windows 10 regarding user information, it's no surprise that details on how to minimize leaks as much as possible are often requested by users who have recently made the jump to the new operating system. If you are using Windows 10, or plan to upgrade soon, it's worth bearing in mind a number of privacy-related options that are available, even during the installation/upgrade. If you are already running the OS and forgot to turn them off during installation (or didn't even see them), they can be accessed via the Settings menu on the start menu, and then selecting Privacy from the pop-up menu. Among these menus are a plethora of options regarding what data can be gathered about you. It's worth noting, however, that changing any of these options may disable various OS related services, namely Cortana, as Microsoft's digital assistant has it tendrils buried deep.
If the default is "on" , what if a bug in the code resets the setting or ignores the setting. Are there any indicators that this information is going out? Can there be any indicators? What is the amount of encrypted traffic going out from the system to microsoft? Any way to look at what is being sent at any point in time? Does it ever log what was sent? Can it?
I've been with windows for close to two decades.
But I'm probably going to either use an older windows box or just bite the bullet and go to linux for my "real" machine. I might use windows for a gaming machine.
I've used openoffice then libre office for years now and no longer even occasionally dip back into Word.
I've disliked the tighter microsoft email/social account integration for a while now.
I really dislike what I'm hearing about the new o/s. I stopped using facebook because of similar actions.
it's like being fabulously wealthy isn't enough. If windows 10 goes forward as is, I probably won't go with it.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Linux with systemd? No fucking chance. Systemd the death of Linux.
back to FeeeBSD for me.
Was when I was looking at the app store, but it said I had to log in to my microsoft account to use any of the apps. OK, logged in with my hotmail account which has a long complex password, which was copy/pasted with my password manager. I turn my PC off for the night, next day it won't take my usual password because it's now not a local machine logon, but is my microsoft logon, which I can't fill in because I can't open my password manager. Luckily I backup the keepass data to a USB flashdrive, so I fire up my other real OS which is linux so I can write down the frigging password to get the windows pile of shit logged back in. Screw MS... wiping the drive and installing linux.
Just a day or two ago /. does the responsible thing and posts an article that actually discusses what is going on and shows that it's really not that big a deal. The very next day they're bad to spreading fud. Make up your mind, and stop trying to have it both ways.
So basically install the next piece of global spyware shit that Windows is, then spend a few days reading how to disable all the spyware shit. Then hope that it was all of it because you can never know. It is closed source for a reason.
Here have this true post that got modded -1 for literally being factual. It also was beneath an "account holder" that got modded 0. Facts.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=7860731&cid=50336091
And have this one, same true links, also modded -1. http://tech.slashdot.org/comme...
Everybody should begin their posts with those links, see if you can even see Slashdot at all without moving the sliders to see -1 and 0 modded posts. ,,|,,
And if you even say haha derp Windows rules... you are looking at Insightful +5. Facebook and Twitter buttons... and lies, go figure.
Couple of days of reading?, like you could just click the damn "Privacy options" link at install time and uncheck the 4 or 5 options. I get it, you're used to Linux, where you need 743 command line commands to do anything, but, c'mon
From all the articles I've read about Windows 10, it looks like there are quite a number of settings that must be made to stop all that "phone home" behavior.
The number of changes is large enough so that I don't trust myself to do them all by clicking various GUI screens. I'll inevitably miss one or get it wrong -- which is unacceptable when privacy and security are at stake.
Does anyone know of any software yet that fixes Windows 10's abuses using a single-step installer?
That data is very valuable which is why Microsoft is going through so much trouble to get it. It's worth way more than the $100-200 asking price for a retail copy of Windows. In an equitable universe, Microsoft would be paying people to use Windows 10.
+0 Meh
My wife has a small photography business, and Photoshop and Lightroom are huge aspects of her photo editing workflow. She's invested untold hours building up skills in them, and that proficiency really pays off in terms of the quality and speed of her editing work.
Right now she edits on our Windows 7 box. I'm almost dead set against us using Windows 10 because of this privacy crap (and now I apparently have to try undoing the telemetry those assholes snuck into Windows 7.)
I feel caught between a rock and a hard place, because switching to a Mac would be an unwelcome expense for us. Also an business risk, since I can cheaply repair or upgrade a PC, but I have not expectation of being able to do that on a Mac. So if a Mac craps out near one of her deadlines, I'm not confident that I can get it (or a replacement) online as fast as we really want.
I'm just amazed at how hard Microsoft is working to drive us away. They've gone from being a reasonable partner for our kind of business (Windows 7), to being one of our largest sources of medium- and long-term risk. They're now making our decision to use Windows for her business, into a strategic mistake.
I really hope Adobe comes up with some decent solution to people in our shoes. If they have a Linux port of Creative Suite in their back pocket, this would be a dandy time to start selling it.
Ubuntu or Mint works well enough. You can keep Windows in a VirtualBox. Chrome will allow you to watch Netflix. Games via Steam. As Steam's own platform runs Linux, more and more games are being ported all the time, especially the newest ones.
For games you have Steam. You might want to install proprietary video drivers for best performance and compatibility.
Honestly, Linux today provide superior out-of-the-box hardware compatibility, sustained support, easier and more flexible installation procedure and even the UIs makes more sense.
People installing Windows 10 won't get any support from me, or pity.
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