Windows 10, by default, has permission to report a huge amount of data back to Microsoft. By clicking through “Express Settings” during installation, you allow Windows 10 to gather up your contacts, calendar details, text and touch input, location data, and a whole lot more. The OS then sends it all back to Microsoft so that it can be used for personalisation and targeted ads.
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That isn’t to say you should be happy about this state of affairs, however. If you’d like to retain most of your privacy and keep your personal data on your PC, Windows 10 can be configured in that way. Just be warned that there are quite a few toggles that need to be turned off, and you’ll lose some functionality as well (Cortana won’t work, for example).
Or, you know, don’t use Windows.
This is a big part of the problem, many of these features WOULD work just fine without given MS access. It could even work better using P2P or federated topologies, without having to trust a single company with all your data. But there’s the rub, MS has a selfish business interest in getting access, and so it explicitly designs the OS features in such a way that we have to give them access to our data to use them.
Edited 2015-08-04 21:10 UTC
I noticed this when installing Windows 10.
You can set local account from the beginning. You can use ‘customize settings’ to turn off all the privacy raping features, and you can completely use the computer as a ‘local’ user. Granted this doesn’t 100% sure make it so that MS isn’t still listening (for a weird example, I had my newly upgraded laptop sitting open near us, and we were talking about going to Chilis, then I opened a video on youtube, and hadn’t installed adblock yet, so it put on an ad… for Chilis.
Cortana has since asked me if I was sure I wanted to disable it, even though it already was.. so that’s fun.
Now the interesting part is, when installing Windows 8.1 (new laptop came with it and I had to set it up then upgrade to Windows 10, which by the way was a pain, because Windows 10 on a USB key is formatted as UDF, which apparently Windows 8.1 doesn’t support?) of course it never allowed me to create a local account until I was already signed in with my hotmail account. I then went and created a local user and made it have the right user, then removed my hotmail account. I actually did this after upgrading to 10.
10 is a lot better than 8.1, it doesn’t make me want to punch babies as much.
Normally I would put that down to confirmation bias, if not for the fact that I’ve seen similar things in the recent past. For example, my wife used to stay logged in to Facebook on her phone, and after we’d discussed a fairly niche topic with her phone sitting there, said topic would end up as an ad when she went on Facebook on her computer later in the day. It’s happened enough times that she now logs out of Facebook on her phone until she’s ready to use it, and I finally convinced her to let me install an ad blocker on Firefox on her computer.
After you do a clean install of win10 you will need to change a few more things like access to microphone, webcam, calendar, contacts, etc.
Even the text input improvement phone home feature can still be enabled if you have disabled it during install, all you need to do is perform changes in the locale configuration. Either that or it never got disabled.
Telemetry reporting is also active even if you turned everything off during install.
Never before has a windows version gave me such a bad feeling as win10, there is something in the back of my mind telling me not to trust win10 and stay away, even though the OS looks nice and polished without too much nonsense. I know previous windows versions can also be tainted (and they have been) by updates, but win10 is very bad with regard to privacy from the get go.
Why, other than to make your camera/microphone unusable?
As not an answer, but a side note: they are still useable in regular, old-style desktop apps, just as they have always been before. All those settings only pertain to the new-style apps. Since there are no new-style apps worth using you may just as well turn those settings off.
Or, if there aren’t any apps, you might as well leave those settings on?
They would apply to Windows Phone 8.1 apps, of which there are several that are really good that would use these features.
I’m fairly excited about the Universal App thing, which are truly Universal
read the Windows 10 EULA, pretty much anything a MSFT service can use they claim the right to mine data from unless you specifically go in and disable it (and even then I really want to see somebody run a Wireshark on Win 10 and see what all is being sent home on a “disabled” system), its all in the EULA.
I have to agree with others, I REALLY do not trust windows 10, its got so much spying by default I don’t honestly believe there is any way to make it 100% private. When I first heard they were giving it away “for free” my spidey sense started tingling but I figured it’d just be another ham handed tie in attempt, maybe a bunch of “Did you know this OS can do this if you only had a Windows Phone?” kinda stuff but now that the RTM has come out I’d argue its much worse than any windows that came before it, because in this case your data is the product and Windows 10 is just the carrot to give you to get you to give it up, like some adware that comes with some “free” windows program.
I had high hopes for 10 but when you have articles like TFA? If that doesn’t make people want to stay far away I don’t know what does, in fact I’m gonna revert the Wife’s laptop back to 8.1, at least with Classic Start I can make it behave like 7 without having to worry about the constant phoning home.
Just be careful which OS updates you install.
LOL. Unless you were serious and think you have a choice with Windows 10. Or the incredibly vague update descriptions are helpful.
Every new Windows debacle adds some more Linux users.
There mustn’t have been many Windows debacles then.
Yep, that’s pretty funny. Even now Windows XP has a higher user base than all Linux distros and Apple OSX versions combined.
And I’ll be sticking with XP and 7 for a while longer too, based on privacy and advertising concerns with Windows 10.
Semi humorously, this used to happen every other time. I.e. XP was very usable, Vista was a disaster, Windows 7 was usable too, Windows 8 was a fiasco and so on. Each of the unusable versions caused some exoduses to Linux (I’ve heard that from those who switched at those points). Strangely, Windows 10 didn’t follow suit, and proved to be a debacle to many. I guess the version should hint to it, since they skipped Windows 9
But seriously, of course all that has no significant impact on the market share, since it’s controlled by MS with pre-installation lock-in. And the crowds of complaining users will eat all the trash MS will feed them, because that’s what they usually do.
Edited 2015-08-05 01:28 UTC
Oh, come off the high horse. Someone using Windows does in no way or form imply that the person will just take anything Microsoft wants them to take or that they even use any other Microsoft – product in the first place.
I didn’t say everyone takes it. I mean many would do it, because despite complaints, they feel less comfortable to actually switch than to stay with the annoying Windows. Of course some are fed up enough to dare switching. But as I said above, it doesn’t have a significant impact on the actual market share.
Edited 2015-08-05 02:05 UTC
You are still implying that people can’t actually have legitimate reasons to use Windows or that they can’t legitimately view Windows as the better OS.
I was talking about those who are annoyed and would rather prefer something better. Some of those switch, but majority probably not. Of course there also those who don’t see any problems in it.
Edited 2015-08-05 02:16 UTC
Come on now, don’t feed it. You’ll just make it beg for more.
You like Windows koolaid?
Sigh…can we put that lie to bed already? It is NOT “controlled by MS with pre-installation lock-in”, to rip a line off from a US POTUS election, say it with me now…ITS THE PROGRAMS STUPID!
people don’t buy Windows because of an OEM, or because redmond gives them a fuzzy feeling, in fact since Windows 8 Windows has been the subject of endless hatred, but even the most hated versions of the last 10 years run the programs people want and Linux DON’T, end of story.
Now I believe there are several reasons for this, 1.- companies aren’t gonna develop for an OS whose underpinnings are about as stable as the shifting sand, not when they can write a program for Windows Vista and it run perfectly fine on Windows 10 without so much as a rewrite, 2.- When it comes to hardware, especially graphics and wireless, Linux is more than a bit of a mess so any company writing a program that depends on either would probably just avoid it, and finally 3.- The hatred by the GNU faction for anything proprietary probably scares off a lot of companies who would actually like to get paid for their software.
But whatever the reason Linux was below 2% when Windows ME came out, when Vista came out, when Windows 8 came out, and will stay at below 2% now because the majority of users do not care about the philosophy of their OS, they just want to come home and run the programs they like and Windows has those programs and Linux does not, its really just that simple. If you had ReactOS come out tomorrow with perfect Win 7 compatibility and the option to look like 7 or XP? MSFT would be dead by 2020. But as long as the only way you have to run Windows programs is complicated messes like Wine “bottles” that only support a handful of programs and of those plenty are “kinda sorta but not really”? You are just never gonna see Linux gain squat on the desktop.
Sure, as soon as you’ll see manufacturers giving an option to buy computers without Windows, you will be able to say that this problem is fixed. Until then, MS controls it with pre-installation lock-in, and no amount of demagoguery will change that fact.
Edited 2015-08-05 14:38 UTC
Uhhh where have YOU been? Did you just forget the netbook craze? Or how Walmart had their own line of Linux computers?
I hate to break the news to ya but the overwhelming majority were returned because they didn’t run the programs users wanted!
Linux advocates need to get off this insanity that just because they can run a browser and a couple of (frankly feature poor and incompatible) ersatz rip off programs like Gimp and LO that suddenly makes you a competitor…it don’t. I build and fix computers for a living and I have YET to see a single user, even one, that was happy with just a browser and LO, instead they always have at LEAST a half a dozen if not more programs they want their PCs to run, if it don’t run them? Then that PC might as well make a paperweight.
And guess what, not a single one of those programs, from the software that came with their camera and their printer, nor their little calendar maker or their video games, the audio editor that they have a ton of $$$ tied up in plugins or graphics software, pretty much none of it runs on Linux….none of that will change.
Unless you are literally arguing you should FORCE the OEMS and users to take Linux whether they want it or not? Sadly I hope that isn’t true but wouldn’t be surprised if that is the case, as I have found many FOSS advocates equate “freedom” to “free to do as I want you to”.
Did Lenovo ever sell computers without OS or with Linux / FreeDOS? Or Dell? I mean all their desktop / laptop models, not just a few. No? Then come back when they’ll start doing it and tell me that MS stopped their pre-installation lock-in, I’ll agree then.
Edited 2015-08-07 07:12 UTC
Again where have you been? Dell sells Ubuntu systems RIGHT NOW. Google is your friend..
http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-linux/pd
So keep beating that well worn drum that has been proven over and over to be FALSE with a capital F. Remember how all the first netbooks had Linux? What happened? They were RETURNED so the OEMs put Windows on it and guess what? It ran the programs people wanted so they sold like hotcakes..
http://blog.laptopmag.com/ubuntu-confirms-linux-netbook-returns-hig…
We aren’t talking just a few returns here, we are talking about a 400% increase in returns…you think ANY OEM can afford that level of returns? Or again are you arguing that OEMs should be forced to sell Linux to support your political viewpoint?
You mean for every model? I doubt it. A few selected options is not freedom of choice. All your blabbering about returns ignores the elephant in the room, i.e. MS.
Edited 2015-08-09 01:59 UTC
My paranoid alter ego sometimes wonders if this is on purpose, just to make the next Windows appear that much better!
I don’t know, the FSF’s recent round of pearl clutching almost made me want to wipe Slackware off my workstation. (Okay not really, but it was bad…really bad.)
What I don’t get is why no one is talking about how the Windows 10 default settings are virtually identical to Windows 8; no one made a huge deal out of it when that version was released. Were they too distracted by how terrible that version was to bother complaining about the very same data collection opt-ins? Is Windows 10 so good that they have to be hyper-vigilant about the one really crappy thing about the release? I agree they should have reverted to opt-out on all the snooping, but at least the switches are there in plain sight.
Turn off the switches, use a local account (the option for which is much more prominent than it was when installing Windows 8) and enjoy the same amount of data collection that was going on in Windows 7.
Just ignore FSF and you’ll be a happier Linux user.
Seems to me that ignoring fsf, and their gpl that comes with them, makes a happier user of any os all around.
I have to say I honestly think the only reason ‘Windows 10 isn’t that bad!’ and the same reason ‘every other release is good!’ is due to the bait and switch tactics of MS.
It’s like if you were eating a shit flavored ice cream, and thought “Man, this tastes like shit!” and then someone offered you a piss flavored ice cream, you’d think “This tastes like piss! But at least it doesn’t taste like shit! It’s way better. Give me some of that piss ice cream!” and so on.
I think mostly OS X profits from this
It depends. Linux is doing very well where commercial entities got involved: server (Red Hat) and mobile (Google). Nothing like that happened for the classical desktop which is inherently unfriendly for commercial software. There are several distributions with different release philosophies, policies, different packaging systems etc. Even graphic system has got fragmented (X, Wayland, Mir). It makes deploying a closed-source application a nightmare. Moreover, there is little care for “backwards-compatibility” in GNU/Linux world. A 20-years old Windows executable is likely to run on Windows 10. A similar Linux app would not run because your system has no longer an ancient version of glibc. Hence, there are not many commercial apps for Linux, and those that exist are catered for server user or software developer, not a typical consumer who wants to run some games, MS Office or accounting software. That makes Linux desktop a niche.
Edited 2015-08-05 23:33 UTC
This is very far from truth. Old Windows applications are more likely to work in Wine on Linux, than on latest Windows. Otherwise GOG wouldn’t have to spend a lot of time patching old games to work there.
Linux fragmentation myth is also overblown. See https://icculus.org/SteamDevDays/SteamDevDays2014-LinuxPorting.pdf
Edited 2015-08-05 23:49 UTC
This is simply incorrect, with very few exceptions, I’ve been able to get everything working just fine when it’s an old Linux binary on newer systems.
In fact recently someone on gamingonlinux.com had complained that the Linux Game Publishing games weren’t working anymore (specifically X2: The Threat) so I put in the disk installed, and yeah it didn’t work. Then I found a mirror of the patches, installed those and it worked fine.
In contrast, I bought Interstate ’76 on GOG, and under Windows 7 the colors would be all sorts of jacked up if I tried to use the 3d acceleration in it, which uses an old version of directx or 3dfx if I recall. Worked fine under Linux/Wine though.
Best advice ever!
Even after switching all those toggles to OFF, can you be *sure* Windows is not spying on you any more?
Probably not, but at least in the EU Microsoft would run afoul of quite a few laws if they offered all those toggles and then ignored them and proceeded to still collect the information — all it would take would be for someone to prove that Microsoft is still collecting the data and shit would hit the fan. Microsoft has been losing ground already, so I doubt they’d be willing to risk that now; they need to strengthen their position, not dig an even deeper hole.
Alas, I’m just making an educated guess of things, so take whatever you will.
It will spy anyway.
If you disable online search in start menu, the searchui.exe still connects to “a-0001.a-msedge.net”. The only way is to disable that in firewall. Now the question is: can you trust Windows Firewall for that and block connections on both “Search” rules, or will some random update override your choice?
Or is that MS deems is ‘required’ to turn them on again in an update that you can’t stop or block.
I’ve seen some reports that MS will turn things on again if the have been off for a certain period.
Has MS gotten this desparate for Ad revenue?
To be honest, IMHO, MS should be paying you to run W10.
Then they can blast all the Ad’s they want at you.
all I know is that at the present time W10 is going nowhere outside a VM in my environment.
Yeah, that’s what I don’t trust. I’ve already seen them turn on the get windows 10 update in Windows 7, even when it was explicitly hidden. Uncheck it, hide it… and a few days later it’s back and installed anyway. So, even in Windows 7 they’re beginning to ignore user choice. Some people see this as progress, but personally, I view it as controlling and creepy.
Exactly. IIRC one of the development versions of Windows 10 still sent data to Microsoft despite the user turning the feature off. Microsoft said it was a bug. Yeah.
DoNotSpy10
http://pxc-coding.com/portfolio/donotspy10/
Don’t know if this Xp-antispy type privacy settings program is legit, but I just installed it on my Win 10 insider preview (build 10122–the highest you can get without a Microsoft acct)and with the exception that you must use the advanced install to avoid the usual freeware attached crapware, it installs clean and seems to work.
Worth checking if this or other like programs to come will truly clean up Windows privacy settings as advertised because it will help a lot of non technically oriented Microsoft subjects avoid the drudgery/uncertainty involved in reclaiming their privacy, before it gets out of hand. Give them the tools to enable them to tell Microsoft to E.S.A.D!
Am not going to get into who sucks the least, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook etc.. but we all have a stake in restoring everyone’s privacy, otherwise, as we’re seeing in the Cellphone realm, the swarm effect will drag everyone’s privacy into the crapper through lack of other, practical, viable choices.
Ad supported business models do not absolutely require tracking people, making them your pets, like you own them, unless of course you’re getting your money from the NSA, CIA, etc..
Knowledge is power.
Knowledge gathered specific to you,
is power over you.
Wait, let me get this right: to fix assumed spying you advocate software that isn’t even assumed to do that, but you actually know that includes malware with it?
EDIT: I’m gonna add this here: I do NOT touching that shit. Even a quick Google-search does, indeed, reveal that it includes OpenCandy-droppers and stuff, and checking the “company’s” website gives literally no information whatsoever on who is behind this thing. You’d be a moron to deliberately install this and actually believe that it does anything useful, it’s pretty clearly just a vehicle to get crapware installed on your PCs.
Edited 2015-08-05 21:07 UTC
Great drama with that acerbic hyperbole of yours.
I’m just making folks at a tech site aware of this new software and conveying my brief experience with it.
Further, as stated in the body of the post, I’m advocating a confirmed clean program like this for an easy to use program for non technical users.
As said, I don’t know if it’s legit! I only used it on a non essential test rig.
Move on… grind your axe somewhere else…
1. obvious and intentional exaggeration. — http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hyperbole
There is nothing hyperbolic about what I said, the software does, quite literally, drop malware:
https://www.herdprotect.com/donotspy10-1.0.0.0-setup.exe-721f5b8c998…
https://malwr.com/analysis/ZWM2ZjIzOWM3NGQ1NDA1MWIzNmRiYWMyYjdlYTZhM…
Even OpenDNS blocks their website because of phishing.
Update:
This installer’s first license mentions Open Candy and alternative flash player auto-updater, but doesn’t even try to install either.
A second license is for DoNotSpy10 alone as freeware and the read me. Which includes the author’s
Name: Jonas Zimmerman
Homepage: http://pXc-coding.com
email: [email protected]
The express install would indeed install a program called SaferPass
https://www.saferpass.net/
Further, as DoNotSpy10 disabled Windows defender on first reboot, I installed a fresh and fully updated version of AVG free. Scanned the whole computer and the original downloaded executable on a USB thumb-drive. AVG found nothing.
As said above I don’t know if this program is truly legit, this post is informational only, but it might be worth checking into by coders above my level of expertise.
Here’s my question about this program… is the installer downloaded from someone like CNet, who is notorious for putting crap in installers? Or is it from the author’s website, and he’s purposefully being a jerk?
Personally I wouldn’t use a tool like this unless it was open sourced and vetted by a lot of people.
I guess you could always set up an encrypted vpn account for whenever you’re going to use Windows, and then it bounces from IP to IP so even if it gathers information it won’t know who it’s gathering it from. Not sure how ‘safe’ that is though.
I also don’t put any actual personal information into Windows anyhow, it’s pretty much a glorified Steam launcher to me, and I use it less and less as more games become available for Linux.
“is the installer downloaded from someone like CNet, who is notorious for putting crap in installers? Or is it from the author’s website, and he’s purposefully being a jerk?”
This program is downloaded directly from the author’s website.
Just checked–the installer now has a point .1 update–
the license has been reconfigured to remove “flash player auto-updater”, but Open Candy remains, leaving little doubt of an oversight which was (then) possible due to the earlier version having redundant licenses within the installer.
Further, SaferPass
https://www.saferpass.net/ has been removed, replaced with
AdAware Companion, and
Setting search powered by Bing as your default search and homepage.(no joke). So this guy seems to be helping protect people’s privacy from MS’s spying on them, then bending them over once again for a right royal rogering by MS through the means of a Bing search/Homepage default.
“Personally I wouldn’t use a tool like this unless it was open sourced and vetted by a lot of people.”
As I’ve been hoping for as well. Hopefully someone will step up and do this right.
I might say that there are a number of well established news sites (fox.com even)that are steering people to this program.
As it stands, that’s troubling, due to the fact that probably many folks trust Fox to have pre-vetted this program for them.
Are you saying that *THIS* is the year of the linux desktop?
Isn’t it always?
Really? Because it seems like everything syncs everything to the cloud today, yesterday, last year, etc. Basically it started for me with Chrome-settings and I am loving it. Why is everyone assuming that companies are doing it for the benefit of their company? Isn’t it the users that benefit from all of this most? I know blow away installations on Windows like anyone would do on a ChromeBook if something breaks and a few minutes (not hours like in the past) most things are automatically (not manually) back the way they were.
Google has a new feature that improves voicemail-to-text? Everyone is using it the next day. The reason people love apps is because they are improved often and automatically. Nobody is using apps from 10 years ago anymore but lots of people and business run ancient software and hate it.
Of course there is a huge downside to all of this: You have to trust developers not to do bad things. We all have learned that there will be some situation where that trust will be violated. Chrome, Windows 10, Office 365, DropBox, ChromeBooks and none of my apps have violated that trust and I am happy to enjoy them.
(I did turn off add-ID and Wifi-Sense)
Instead of trying to catch all the privacy loopholes with Windows 10, I suggest installing a firewall allowing only the apps you use outbound connection. May be a hassle to set it up, but then it just works and you’re safe. Well, unless the firewall vendor is in cahoots with Microsoft