Slashdot Mirror
Windows 10 Privacy Changes Appease Watchdogs, But Still No Data 'Off-Switch' (zdnet.com)
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced several privacy changes in Windows 10, but it didn't give users an option to completely opt-out of data-collection feature. The announcement came at a time to coincide with a statement by the Swiss data protection and privacy regulator, the FDPIC, which last week said it would drop its threats of a lawsuit after the company "agreed to implement" a string of recommendations it made last year. The news closed the books on an investigation that began in 2015, shortly after Windows 10 was released. Though the Swiss appear satisfied, other critics are waiting for more. The French data protection watchdog, the CNIL, was equally unimpressed by Microsoft's actions, and it served the company with a notice in July to demand that it clean up its privacy settings. In an email, the CNIL said that the changes "seem to comply" with its complaint, but it's "now analyzing more in [sic] details Microsoft answers in order to know whether all the failures underlined in the formal notice do now comply with the law." ZDNet adds: Microsoft still hasn't said exactly what gets collected as part of the basic level of collection, except that the data is used to improve its software and services down the line; a reasonable ask -- but one that nonetheless lacks specifics. Microsoft said it wants users to "trust" it. And while the likelihood that the company is doing anything nefarious with users' information is frankly unlikely, the running risk is that the data could somehow be turned over to a government agency or even stolen by hackers is inescapable. That risk alone is enough for many to want to keep what's on their computer in their homes. While changing the privacy controls is a move in the right direction, it's still short of what many have called for. By ignoring the biggest privacy complaint from its consumer users -- the ability to switch off data collection altogether -- Microsoft has favored the "just enough" approach to appease the regulators. Without a way to truly opt-out, Microsoft's repeated pledge (eight times in the blog post, no less) to give its users "control" of their data comes off as a hollow soundbite.
Seriously. Why bother with Windows 10 if it's going to spy on your activity?
Why bother with Windows 10?
Why bother with Windows X?
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Windows 10 doesn't uninstall things, you nitwit. It will flag incompatible executables (from a graylisting database maintained by Microsoft and updated by their lab techs after testing things flagged by telemetry reports). Then it will refuse to run those executables.
As someone who uses ConnectWise every damned day (it's seriously torture), and on a laptop running Win10Pro, I can state unequivocally that you're full of shit. Also, as someone whose paycheck relies on QuickBooks, also running with Win10Pro, I can double-down on my "you're full of shit" statement. So that leaves Sage and Wintac. Sage is an old-ass and well-established accounting software company with multiple available packages ranging from shitty Peachtree/Sage50 up to their Get-Real-Shit-Done levels (MAS90/Sage100). I doubt Sage has current software that doesn't work with Windows 10, which means you need to Keep Your Shit Up-To-Date(tm). I had to search for Wintac, but it just looks like CW all over again. And again, you were probably running an ancient version of it that got flagged for having an ancient version of some third-party library it uses (CW is notorious for updating cef.zip all the damned time, and it's a huge file).
Do your job and quit bitching about it when the world leaves you behind. Catch up, learn new things, and do your job!