Windows 10's Privacy Policy: the New Normal? 515
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."
Now that's just evil (Score:2)
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.
Re:Now that's just evil (Score:5, Funny)
They already know that.
Re:Now that's just evil (Score:5, Interesting)
Except it's not about making the software better. It's about making more money by selling the information you get from this 'feedback'.
This is happening everywhere you have software running connected to the internet. Vehicles, IoT, mobile apps, desktop software, web apps.
It's the idea that you didn't pay them enough up front, that they deserve an ongoing revenue stream at long as that license is being used and there are no limits as to what they can do to get that money.
Re: (Score:3)
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."
Bullshit. There had better be a way to turn ALL of it OFF, permanently. I don't give a fuck if you have to hack the shit out of the Registry to do it, either.
Re:Now that's just evil (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't give a fuck if you have to hack the shit out of the Registry to do it, either.
That's a constant battle too. Automatic updates will be mandatory for Windows 10 users, except in Enterprise environments with Windows Enterprise edition and WSUS, etc. You used to be able to disable Google Chrome browser auto-updating with a registry tweak, then Google came back and started changing Chrome so Group Policy settings in the registry will not be honored unless your computer is actually joined to a domain, and even then the policy must be configured through a GPO that the group policy clients knows about, otherwise it will be ignored..
Same with other settings such as app-autoinstalls. Also, If you want to re-enable Java, it seems as if they intentionally made it difficult to automate such things.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
Easy to accomplish with a network router that is not completely dumb. A bit more complicated when travelling, but hey a wifi-wifi repeater/router will probably do the trick.
Just turn it off ... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re: (Score:3)
Maybe for you at home. At work the IT department made several new firewall policies that completely neuters all of windows 10 information gathering and sharing.
I am all for it as it s finally forcing people and companies to pay attention to security and that information leaks can be built into your OS.
Re: Now that's just evil (Score:5, Insightful)
It's funny how /. folks still don't get it. Consumers/users don't know anything about their PCs or devices, and they don't care.
It's up to us tech folks to save the day....oh, shit, that's right, everyone here works for a company that profits from collecting data from end users.
Never mind, we're all fucked.
Re: Now that's just evil (Score:5, Insightful)
Constant abuse tires people. (Score:4, Informative)
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. [thurrott.com]
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 [slashdot.org].
More about Microsoft releasing buggy software: The Slashdot story, Windows 10 Launches [slashdot.org], 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 [autopatcher.net], 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) [searchengineland.com] 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
Re:Constant abuse tires people. (Score:4, Insightful)
The only way to win with Windows 10 (or any MS product) is to NOT PLAY.... Funny thing.. Linux has its faults (systemd f'instance), but other than a few VERY minor (and easily turned off) privacy gotchas (looking at YOU, Ubuntu), if you use Linux, you don't have to worry about ALL of your business becoming a large company's business.....
Bad documentation KILLS Linux programs. (Score:4, Insightful)
Not many people want to spend a week trying to discover how some Linux program works. For example, XBMC, now Kodi, [kodi.tv] media center.
Re: (Score:3)
You're pushing several falsehoods here...
First is the idea that Microsoft is any good at UIs.
The next is that they have decent documentation (and Linux does not).
The next is that XBMC is a "Linux program".
It used to be that you losers whined about stuff that might actually be considered hard versus just poking around a GUI.
Re: Now that's just evil (Score:5, Interesting)
It's funny how /. folks still don't get it. Consumers/users don't know anything about their PCs or devices, and they don't care.
They care when it starts displaying a slideshow of their pr0n stash in the Start Menu.
The real problem is that operating systems pretty much reached the 'all done' point ten years ago, when they did everything that anyone could reasonably want them to do. Everything since has just been trying to find new things they could add to justify pushing a new version. Writing 'The Cloud' services is much more exciting for hipsters than fixing bugs.
Re: Now that's just evil (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
While that makes sense for a Chromebook, Windows is still too complicated for users who don't understand anything about it... Users are still expected to install software themselves, know what they're installing and perform maintenance etc. It's simply not suitable for users with no understanding of the system, as those users just become infected with malware and thus a nuisance to everyone else.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Linux has some problems though. Windows software does not run on it, well, som things work with Wine, others don't. A lot of games do not run on Linux too. Valve is starting to push Linux for games, but mainstream Linux support in games is still not here.
Also, Linux has problems with specialized hardware, like the kind you would find on a laptop. I do not know why the manufacturers build hardware that requires uber special drivers, but this is how it is. Also, at least some time ago, Linux on a laptop drain
Re:Now that's just evil (Score:5, Informative)
Windows software does not run on it
Legacy non-cloud applications do not run on it.
New web-based applications run on Linux just fine.
Every legacy application is slowly getting replaced with an "App" anyways, as Tablets more and more replace PCs for end users.
Re: (Score:2)
1. Don't want to use Windows because of spying
2. Install Linux
3. Some Windows application does not work on Linux
4. Find an online service version of said application (an "App").
5. Get spied on by the "App".
6. ???
7. Profit
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
So buy hardware which is known to be compatible with linux... That's all windows users are doing, buying hardware that's known to be compatible... They don't buy an ARM based laptop and then complain that windows doesn't work on it.
As for battery life, that varies... On some some laptops linux has much better battery life, on others its much worse - again, pick your hardware appropriately.
Re:Now that's just evil (Score:5, Informative)
Not your home PC that came with Windows already on it. Cyberspace. The servers, search engines, websites, name it.
I am a Linux server admin by trade :). And yes, Linux is great for servers. With one exception - I have not seen a proper alternative to MS Exchange server. Exchange is great for when users have tons of rules and many gigabytes of emails. Also, the way Exchange handles sharing mailboxes between users is better than the standard IMAP setup.
If more games were compiled already to run on Linux, Microsoft would already be archive.org.
Yes, is most new games ran on Linux, Microsoft would have harder time selling Windows.
However, as it currently is, most new PCs come with Windows, so for a user, Windows is kinda-free - I mean he already paid for it and probably did not have the option of buying the same exact PC without Windows for $100 less. Also, stuff like compiling the kernel is way above the head of an average user, even installing drivers on Windows is above his head.
What you don't to is to say oh, since Microsoft had us in a proprietary headlock for decades that now we just have to buy proprietary headlock edition PC's.
A lot of times the choice is limited. I wanted a small UMPC that could fit in my pocket and yet have a relatively normal keyboard and x86 CPU (essentially a Psion Series 5 with modern hardware). There were two options at the time - Viliv N5 and Umid BZ. They both most likely have some hardware that is difficult to make work in Linux. Similar is buying a bigger laptop.
If this is ever a case for anybody, simply install it into a Virtual Machine.
Wouldn't installing Linux inside a VM inside Windows defeat the point of not having Windows? Also, good luck playing games or even HD video from inside the VM.
Windows has no sell points other than forced updates, get spied on, share your WiFi password with outlook contacts, then decide who hacked your shit.
Now, yes. However, old versions were good - XP and now 7, this is why people still use the old versions. XP because the hardware they have may not be fast enough for anything newer and 7 because the later versions are crap. After Windows 7 MS found out that it essentially was "good enough", could not find anything to improve and started to muck around with the interface and later spying.
Re: (Score:3)
One of our clients has dovecot now. They use Outlook on the client side and have multiple mailboxes shared between multiple users (user A may use mailboxes I,J,K, user B may use mailboxes K,L,M etc).. Most of those maiboxes contain gigabytes of emails. Outlook downloads the mailbox contents to the server (they use Terminal services - all users are on the same server). Which means that now there are multiple copies of the same mailbox on the server really wasting space (200-300GB or so) not to mention the co
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
If people don't bite the 'free OS" apple, then they don't need to worry. Slow adoption of Windows 10, even though free, will force MS to offer more configuration and privacy options. I see only downsides to changing from Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate currently. Maybe that will change in the future, but considering the new "free OS" business model, MS is going to be trying to get money out of everyone by other means.
Re:"software that can do more things..." (Score:5, Insightful)
will force MS to offer more configuration and privacy options.
HAHAHA no, another 1Billion euro EU fine will tho
Re:"software that can do more things..." (Score:5, Insightful)
MUCH better task manager, and resource manager. You can see what each app is doing, from network bandwidth, what ports it is using, what files it is accessing. You can see what drives are getting hit. See what apps at start up are causing a slow boot, and disable them if you want.
I'll give you that. I've wanted Linux to have something like this for years... I'm still not aware of a distro that has a decent task manager.
Multiple desktops.
Don't give a damn. I'm never liked them and Linux WMs have had them for ages anyway.
Powershell.
Who cares? And wasn't that available ages ago anyway?
Web server that supports HTTP/2.
In a consumer OS, who needs that? For developers, you can just install such a server.
Built-in support for USB 3/3.1.
Installing drivers isn't hard.
Storage Spaces (More advanced RAID).
Don't know what that is/means.
DirectX 12.
So Microsoft arbitrarily decide to prevent their latest gaming framework from working on earlier versions of Windows, to try and force people to switch. This just means MS are assholes, not that Windows 10 is fundamentally better.
Smaller memory footprint, smaller disk footprint, faster boots and sleeps.
Big deal. Win7 is quick enough for me already.
Cortana.
While this kind of thing might be useful on a mobile device, it's not that useful on a desktop OS with a proper keyboard. In fact it seems to be there as part of the whole "unified interface" approach, across PCs, tablets, and mobile devices. Which brings me to...
Universal Apps. Cleaner taskbar. Modern apps in windows.
This shit is awful. It has no place on a desktop OS and is only there because they are shoehorning mobile crap onto their desktop OS. It's a bug, not a feature... just like the awful "line art" theme that Windows 10 has. Whoever decided that doing away with full colour icons in favour of monochrome crap should be shot. Oh yeah, and calling the ability to change background colour "theming" is dumb too.
Screen casting.
You could do that before in various ways.
Forced updates. Distributed updates.
And less user control is a *good* thing?
Edge browser.
Don't care. I haven't used MS browsers for anything other than necessary testing for a long time now.
Re: (Score:3)
And it only took them 20 years to figure that out. Impressive.
"software that can do more things better" (Score:2)
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 opa
Cortana Cannot Be Disabled (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:Cortana Cannot Be Disabled (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Cortana Cannot Be Disabled (Score:5, Informative)
I installed Windows 10 in a VM, turned all the privacy settings on during the install process, and then checked that Cortana was disabled. It was, and as proof, here is a list of running tasks:
http://imgur.com/Tzy6e6Z [imgur.com]
http://imgur.com/Tfr8pRx [imgur.com]
Search via the start menu works fine. Wireshark shows that data is not being leaked when I search (web search was turned off) and I don't see anything else flowing back to Microsoft, except for periodic Windows Update checks.
Try searching for "cortana" via the start menu, and then flip the first option in the list. That disables the Cortana process for me.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It doesn't have anything to do with that. It has to do with the fact it clearly is persisting like malware no matter what length you go to remove it and disabling it permanently has the same impact as malware: legitimate stuff stops working properly.
Re:Cortana Cannot Be Disabled (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
It matters to people who need lean, consistent setups such as real time applications...and to people who just want them because they make the machine a lot more pleasant to use.
Find it hysterical (Score:2, Insightful)
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
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
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.
You don't need laws. You just need to eliminate software copyright, so there's actually a free market in software.
If anyone could hack the spyware out of Windows and sell their own version, this wouldn't be happening.
Re: (Score:2)
I think what I meant was should government get involved forcing companies to stop it. Realistically how many people would do this? Shoot 96% do not know what a root is on a phone.
Yes it would mean Android and 10 won't be free anymore but where do we stop?
Windows is not the darn enemy thanks to Google and I am sure Apple does the same thing. How do you know Chrome doesn't do the same even if you do not open the browser but have Google Update service on?
No Windows Here (Score:3)
One more reason not to have windows in your home or business...
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Unless of course you're a gamer, in which case using a Windows OS is pretty much in the bag still. Most people don't want to screw around with nix to get up and running, and while SteamOS fixes some of it, long way to go.
To summarize... (Score:2)
+5, Flamebait (Score:3, Insightful)
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 [digikey.com] 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.
Re: (Score:2)
I never advocated exchanging liberty for - not even safety, just convenience. I just pointed out that a large number of people either do not agree with Franklin, or do not see it that way.
Benjamin Franklin was a very intelligent man, but that doesn't make everything he said immediate, objective truth. Simply quoting him doesn't really add all that much to the discussion.
Most people don't know the trade they're actually making, if the reaction to the NSA spying program going public is any indicator, and I'd actually be somewhat okay with trading privacy for a service if and only if I am able to do proper informed consent: let people knowingly decide what privacy they're fine with giving up for what services. I suspect a significant number of people on /. certainly would be fine with trading some privacy for a service as long as the transparency and consent were properly
How to document for Windows 10 privacy? (Score:2)
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.)
Re:How to document for Windows 10 privacy? (Score:5, Informative)
For a start, block these in your router, or hosts file:
http://pastebin.com/ULJjVM7w [pastebin.com]
vortex.data.microsoft.com
vortex-win.data.microsoft.com
telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com
telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
oca.telemetry.microsoft.com
oca.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com
sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
watson.telemetry.microsoft.com
watson.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
redir.metaservices.microsoft.com
choice.microsoft.com
choice.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
df.telemetry.microsoft.com
reports.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
services.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
sqm.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
telemetry.microsoft.com
watson.ppe.telemetry.microsoft.com
telemetry.appex.bing.net
telemetry.urs.microsoft.com
telemetry.appex.bing.net:443
settings-sandbox.data.microsoft.com
vortex-sandbox.data.microsoft.com
survey.watson.microsoft.com
watson.live.com
watson.microsoft.com
statsfe2.ws.microsoft.com
corpext.msitadfs.glbdns2.microsoft.com
compatexchange.cloudapp.net
cs1.wpc.v0cdn.net
a-0001.a-msedge.net
statsfe2.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net
sls.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net
fe2.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net
diagnostics.support.microsoft.com
corp.sts.microsoft.com
statsfe1.ws.microsoft.com
pre.footprintpredict.com
i1.services.social.microsoft.com
i1.services.social.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
feedback.windows.com
feedback.microsoft-hohm.com
feedback.search.microsoft.com
rad.msn.com
preview.msn.com
ad.doubleclick.net
ads.msn.com
ads1.msads.net
ads1.msn.com
a.ads1.msn.com
a.ads2.msn.com
adnexus.net
adnxs.com
az361816.vo.msecnd.net
az512334.vo.msecnd.net
Re: (Score:2)
So what about the teeming thousands that are buying new computers as we speak to get ready for the new school year to start?
List of domains to block (Score:5, Informative)
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 [init.sh]
Re:List of domains to block (Score:5, Informative)
Bad form to reply to my own post, I know.
FYI, these were the domains Windows 10 was trying to connect to with all of the privacy settings turned ON and live tiles turned OFF.
Re: (Score:3)
Will windows update still work?
Slashdotters still bashing Google over privacy? (Score:3)
Apple, and Microsoft, have always been just as bad.
Windows 10 Sharing Ur Wi-Fi Password with Facebook (Score:2)
> 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
Re:Windows 10 Sharing Ur Wi-Fi Password with Faceb (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Windows 10 is spying on almost everything you do (Score:2)
> 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/
Air Gap or use some Router-Fu (Score:3)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
This is exactly what I do on my MacBook Pro with Windows7 currently running on Boot Camp.
I installed and updated Windows7 once 4 years ago, turned off networking and have never run email or internet or the network again. Win7 has continued to run just fine without "Microsoft Updates."
Just (Score:5, Insightful)
Stick with 7
More things? (Score:4, Informative)
I think I speak for all of us (Score:2)
I'll stick with WIn 7 until my PC dies, and then I'll probably move to some popular Linux distro.
PCI compliance issues (Score:3)
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.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd love to run Linux, but it can't...
*Deal with a Cintiq for shit.
*Run Photoshop in any meaningful way. GIMP remains after all this time a deeply inferior piece of software.
*Offer a decent layout package... -This may have changed; I haven't checked recently to see if there is anything workable today. I would imagine there must be, since print agencies all take PDF files and any OS incapable of producing a PDF book layout is a joke...
But honestly, it comes down to this: if I can't run a pressure
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
I also work with Photoshop a lot (with an Intuos though, no Cintiq), as well as InDesign, Illustrator, a bit of Lightroom. Every other company I deal with does the same and uses the same file formats. Linux is pointless for me as well.
But then again, we're an electronics manufacturer and for the most part Linux is useless to us as a desktop OS:
-Our 3D design is done with SolidWorks which doesn't run on Linux
-Our electronic design is done with Altium Designer which doesn't run on Linux
-Most of our existing e
Re:It's 2015! Almost 2016! Wtf! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It's 2015! Almost 2016! Wtf! (Score:5, Informative)
I want my OS to do the work
That's why I run Linux. For years and years it's enabled me to be productive.
I've heard the "LibreOffice is lacking x,y,z" and "I can't live without feature x,y,z in Photoshop" many, many times now. If you truly can't live without x,y,z then go ahead and use Windows. Even if it's a simple matter of you like Windows better, go ahead and use it. I don't care. But don't tell me Linux is inferior because it doesn't have some obscure feature not used by 99% of users.
I know Linux on the desktop will forever remain a small percentage of market share. It's simply never going to catch up with the big boys. I'm okay with that, too. The reason, though, is not inferiority. It's entrenchment and market muscle.
If Microsoft started pushing Linux as Windows 12, even if they made zero changes to it, it would take off quickly.
This is not about quality and merit. Not at all.
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... and I just read there are 2 out of 100 and probably 4 million+ Vista users. Still more market share in 2015 than Linux
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And new x86_64 computers sold in 2015 without an optical drive that do boot via USB?
Re:Bullcrap (Score:5, Insightful)
More people will just move to Linux.
I wish. I've tried to switch to Linux on many occasions (at least 6 that come to mind). Every single time something breaks in a manner that requires a complete re-install of the entire thing, spending hours searching forums for possible causes/solutions, etc. The last attempt was thwarted by Microsoft and UEFI. One thing Microsoft does well is it makes sure that once something important breaks it has tools to recover, at least partially, so the user can continue. With Linux it's luck into a terminal fix or re-install and start over from scratch.
Re:Bullcrap (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: Bullcrap (Score:2)
When windows breaks the fix is still typically GUI based. And despite what people say windows is in my experience pretty damn resilient to breaking. The days of win95 blue-screens and reinstalls every few months are long gone.
When linux breaks you often find yourself thrown back into command line purgatory. There's frickin' huge log files to read (when/if you can find them - they seem to move from one install to the next), obscure technical terms to learn, and google will usually throw up dozens of outda
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Bullcrap (Score:5, Insightful)
Then you're doing it wrong. With linux, all you have to do is stick the install cd into the drive and reboot, you'll get a brand new system. The beauty of Linux is that the system is designed to cleanly separate your files from the system files, and the system partitions can be completely overwritten with a brand new system to make it work again.
You're missing the point, I don't want to waste my time re-installing my OS/reconfigure my preferences every couple weeks. When I was a kid and computers were new that was fun but I've got way too much on my plate to bother with re-installs now days. If something breaks, I want the OS to recognize it, fix it, and let me get on with my day without trashing my preferences.
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Ubuntu 14 was the last one I tried. Upon re-installing, after only a week of use, everything was reset to defaults (I did not attempt to do a clean install). I haven't had to do a re-install Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 (8.0 was a mess). Programs that save settings/need re-installing it's all in the User\%username%\AppData folder (though can be installed anywhere I suppose). Restoring/resetting settings like that is just drag and drop in and out of that folder.
Re: (Score:2)
I've had to do several reinstalls of Windows 7 on a computer that got caught by a bad update and had its boot sequence repeatedly hosed until I was able to ensure that the update didn't get installed yet again. (I haven't checked to see if MS ever did get around to actually removing the update, given that they ended up basically advising people to remove it because it was a ticking time bomb.) It's not just a drag and drop in and out of that folder--I ended up having to back up several to come close to ha
Re: (Score:2)
Don't get me wrong, Windows is not perfect, not by a long shot. Forced patching is one reason I don't install Win10 - I always wait 6 months before patching to avoid those issues. Linux just needs to do a better job of auto-recovery is all I'm saying.
Re: (Score:3)
I was thinking more along the lines of pablum. You can feed balogna to a beginning toddler, whereas feeding him steak might be a waste of time. When the little guy's teeth are fully grown in, then you can give him real meat.
Re:Bullcrap (Score:4, Insightful)
He's not doing it wrong. Not even 6 months ago I installed Linux Mint on my HP envy laptop, and it took me 2 days to get it fully working. Why? Partially UEFI, partially bugs in the installer, and mainly no network driver (had to compile my own with a manual patch). This doesn't even include having to install new drivers to ensure it doesn't overheat, nor the fact that "suspend" still doesn't work.
You can read about my experience here http://forums.linuxmint.com/vi... [linuxmint.com], but quite frankly nobody cares (no replies....). Until it really is "insert CD and go" for ALL computers (is an HP laptop so weird??) then Linux will never be mainstream. Sorry.
Re:Bullcrap (Score:5, Informative)
Until it really is "insert CD and go" for ALL computers (is an HP laptop so weird??) then Linux will never be mainstream. Sorry.
A lot of laptops aren't "insert CD and go" for Windows. If you don't have the official disc which re-images your system, you can't even install them without slipstreaming drivers into the Windows CD. Sorry.
Re: Bullcrap (Score:2)
I move desktop, my documents, and a few other folders to the D: drive on Windows and get most of the same functionality.
If you are seriously saying home directories is the saving grace of Linux, you just don't understand.
I've been carrying along my home directory and my .fwvm2rc file, along with the critical bits of /etc on my NetBSD systems for years, now, btw. It's MUCH easier to do that on a stable and mature freenix than on a dogs breakfast userland,that runs on top of a Linux kernel.
Re: (Score:2)
I move desktop, my documents, and a few other folders to the D: drive on Windows and get most of the same functionality.
Aside from having to reinstall all your apps after you reinstall the OS, because they stuffed all the important config information in the registry, which you just wiped.
And that's assuming you already know the magic install commands to actually get all your user files onto d: instead of c:.
Re: (Score:2)
Even better is to put /home on a RAID device of some sort - mounted via network from a NAS w/ raid, hardware raid on the local machine, or software raid on the local machine
Re:Bullcrap (Score:5, Informative)
In Linux, I can usually trace problems to something that I did. In Windows, I can usually trace problems to something that the OS did. Each system has it's own philosophy of repair. For Windows: Use the Microsoft-supplied tools, and hope that you can get things working well enough. For Linux: Hope that your knowledge or search engine skills are enough to fix the problem. I like the second approach, because it feels like it relies on my own cleverness than it does the engineers that wrote the software.
Re: (Score:2)
I like the second approach, because it feels like it relies on my own cleverness than it does the engineers that wrote the software.
Also takes WAY too much time and you're screwed if no solution presents itself.
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Absolutely. I've borked my share of Windows installs over the years. I have run into problems that didn't have solutions. In all my attempts I never made it 30 days on a Linux system without having to re-install.
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Then you are doing it wrong. That's not a problem with Linux instead it's PEBCAK.
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Linux and FreeBSD both support secure Boot.
FYI it is not an MS standard but an Intel one which is a good thing to prevent rootkits. Anyone can sign a bootloader. FYI I left Linux for good for the desktop back in 2011 with Gnome 3 and the introduction of WIndows 7. Linux to me is a good VM.
Re: (Score:3)
So, approach the thing more intelligently. I've broken Linux. Many of us have broken Linux. Yeah, it can be a pain in the ass to repair it - many of us have just given up and reinstalled. Reinstall only takes a half hour, or less, but repairing the damage that I've caused out of stupidity can take days to repair.
Two routes to solve most of the problems, include:
1. put your home folder on a different hard drive than the OS. Many times, I've simply reinstalled, and pointed the installer to my separate dr
Re: (Score:2)
you sound like a dumb fuck that can't tell the difference between your ass and a hole in the ground
You're so eloquent. This "dumb fuck" tests in the 97-98th percentile in WAIS-IV PIQ testing, how about you?
Re:Bullcrap (Score:4, Interesting)
More people will just move to Linux.
Windows 10 just surpassed Linux in Steam installations. That ship has sailed, and it is long since over the horizon.
I have a Linux box and a Windows box, but I don't expect to be anything but the minority there.
Windows is still where it's at for PC gaming, I'm not hearing any bullshit about the Steam Linux library when it's just one slice of the PC gaming pie. And it still comes with PCs. So if you persist in believing that Linux is going to overtake Windows any time soon, you're gonna have a bad time.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Bullcrap (Score:5, Insightful)
More people will just move to Linux.
That's what they said in 2001 when Windows XP came out. 14 years later, it still hasn't happened.
Re:Bullcrap (Score:5, Interesting)
Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
I've migrated myself back in 98. I've migrated other people. It's been getting easier to migrate people since Ubuntu Dapper which came out 9 years ago.
I'm going to migrate my wife to it, probably this week. She's fed up with 7, hates 8.x and read about the privacy stuff for 10. As a social activist, she wants no part of the "give everything to the cloud" stupidity.
Speaking of which, after analyzing what passes for a privacy policy for 10, it is completely HIPAA non-compliant. It basically says "we don't guarantee that your data won't leak from our servers, so enjoy your $50K fines and lawsuits." HIPAA covers not only hospitals and doctors, but other health care workers as well, including private contractors that do hospice and elderly care at the huge wage of $15-$17/hr, who simply /cannot afford/ to hire someone to harden their Windows laptops. 10 is a fucking nightmare for HIPAA - unsafe at any speed. Windows is the Corvair of OSes.
--
BMO
Re: (Score:2)
+1. I don't know about systemd, but this is the exact reason I'm not using Linux. Too many times it's simply failed on me with no path to recovery other than a complete re-install. For me I'd recommend it as a replacement for Win95 but I'd not recommend it to someone running Win98se.
Re:Microsoft did it the only way possible (Score:5, Interesting)
If You're Not Paying, You're The Product.
Except they will charge for it later, and you will still be the product buying another product.
Re: (Score:3)
Problem is, the hipsters are trying to push all this crap into Linux, too.
Pretty soon, I'm sure systemd will be sending all your logs to 'the cloud' because it lets them do some hipster shit that no user actually cares about.
Re:Move to FreeBSD (Score:2)
Best refuge for now.
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