Updates listed?
Is anyone maintaining a list of updates for Wins 7 and 8? I have several updates for Win 7 indicated but not installed until I know exactly what they do. Trust has GONE.
“Anonymity is like virginity. You don't get it back once you've lost it,” writes one Register reader on Microsoft’s latest raid on your privacy. Microsoft pulled a major update for Windows after it blew away the user's privacy settings, allowing app developers and advertisers to glean the user’s identity. But that’s only part …
There's a surprisingly large number that have been back-ported to Windows 7. I find an open source utility DWS Lite (Destroy Windows Spying) is very good at removing them all and blocking all the associated URLs/IPs. Its source code is available so you can see what it does, and which KBs it removes.
DWS Lite repo on GitHub:
https://github.com/Nummer/Destroy-Windows-10-Spying/
Looks like it has a back door though, so best to get someone to vet/cleanse it before using: :(
https://github.com/zeffy/Destroy-Windows-10-Spying/commit/72f8ffe446a60211285ef51d1beae5d5844cb10a
There's a surprisingly large number that have been back-ported to Windows 7. I find an open source utility DWS Lite (Destroy Windows Spying) is very good at removing them all and blocking all the associated URLs/IPs. Its source code is available so you can see what it does, and which KBs it removes.
That sounds like a useful little tool, perhaps someone here could review it?
It's still possible to use Windows for specialty apps that aren't available on other OS's. I primarily use a Mac, but still need to use Windows on a real Windows computer for some engineering apps. Just don't connect the Windows machine to the internet and feed it data through the CD drive or from your LAN after you have vetted it. This has worked for me for years.
I assume the Win7, Win8 updates you are worried about are the Nag/Auto update to Win10 patches. The list I have so far is; KB3022345, KB2952664, KB3021917, KB3035583, KB3068708, KB3075249, KB3080149, KB3102429,KB971033 - This is the list I use for my machines, so it includes MSFT's "telemetry" patches as well as the Win10 update patches.
I also have KB3102810 on the same sheet - I would need to double check why I have this included in the list. I tend to look for these and hide them. There is also a registry entry "AllowOSUpgrade" that should be 0. Key location is "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\OSUpgrade\"
Examples of data we collect include your name, email address, preferences and interests; browsing, search and file history; phone call and SMS data; device configuration and sensor data; and application usage.
Examples of data we do not collect include... errr... uhm. Can we get back to you on that one?
I know I'll probably get loads of downvotes for even asking this but has anyone actually checked whether any of this information actually does get sent anywhere if you don't sign up to the 'Let us see everything you're doing programme' or as Microsoft call it the 'Customer Experience Improvement Program' ?
More like could you show us the way to track down and opt out of what is in all likelihood an opt-in from the time if install, and then assume that the local machine will then respect that decision till the next time I'm forced to re-install the OS again?
That's the problem, (Well One of them anyway!), with Windows 10. Is that it can, has, and will disregard your opinions at the request of the Mothership at the drop of a pin. I can't say that I'm overly fond of such practice's.
Microsoft employee 1 writes:
"I know I'll probably get loads of downvotes for even asking this but has anyone actually checked whether any of this information actually does get sent anywhere if you don't sign up to the 'Let us see everything you're doing programme' or as Microsoft call it the 'Customer Experience Improvement Program' ?"
And Microsoft employee 2 immediately replies (a coincidence, perhaps?):
"Whilst I'm not defending them for collecting it, I think it's pretty refreshing to see that a company can be open about what they do collect. So many hide it, or try to."
Dear MSE 1 - perhaps Microsoft will check for you and discover "Lo, none of it gets sent anywhere"
Dear MSE 2 - "refreshing" is a lovely word to describe data piracy, perhaps you should ask FAST to investigate on your behalf.
I'm personally not "anti-MS". I use Windows as my OS of choice and am generally happy with it. However, MS's attitude and behaviour here stinks to high heaven and I am amazed that there are people out there in any way sticking up for it. Maybe these people aren't MS employees, but with that level of devotion to the company, they certainly should consider applying.
It's not a "sign up" for most users.
If you go with the "express" settings during your first run of your machine, all (or at least most) of the slurping stuff is turned on.
Which, BTW, is almost certainly illegal under New Zealand Law. The user is not being given the ability to make an informed consent. And no, expecting the user (generally computer illiterate people who buy a machine at the nearest big box) to know that they need to research this stuff and learn what to turn off does not count.
It has to be "opt in", and to "opt in" requires truly informed consent, not a lack of understanding of what the default settings mean.
MS need to be gone. Badvok, there is nothing to be gained by defending this behaviour. How can someone who has the intelligence to turn a computer on see this as something even close to being OK?
"Maybe this is also illegal in the UK"
It is. It is unlawful under several computer misuse acts, and, because it breaches section three, the data protection act. However, MS have more lawyers than me so taking them to task over it would be idiotic. Even *mentioning* it is probably grounds for a libel and slander case brought by them.
If they care enough, Which they most likely do not.
I'm too small to worry them.
"What is ICO doing about it?"
Apart from fuck all? Fuck all.
Aluminium foil suit time: Microsoft collect all of this data. *They* don't use it but they can sell it to those who do. Those who do are the NSA in USAlia and the lovely guys at GCHQ in UKland, as well as any other mass surveillance group.
Probably also Goo---- (mustn't mention them. Lawyers could be listening.)
Why? Did you think a *Government* agent was set up and empowered to protect *us*?
Really?
Anyway, has anyone of us ever taken MS to the ICO? Or to court for breach of the data protection acts? Has anyone even tried?
Doesn't matter, and of course you can't see it, they HIDE that stuff. Sickening Win10 fanboys use that HIDING as an excuse to claim no such data is collected, but hey, it's BY CONTRACT that they can collect whatever they want, whenever they want.
The actual contract terms are in several places, so I had to create a thread about it in a new forum I created (new since August, due to Win10), here: http://brainout.net/frankforum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=59
Forum now has a lot of topics. No tracking, don't want your real name or social or id or birthdate or even email to join (board doesn't email, no ads, no mods, no tracking, I need anonymity so everyone else gets it too).
"so far each and every loving patch they do try to slip through has had a full description attached detailing what it's collecting in the online kb entry."
Identically labelling every update as "This update resolves issues in Windows" is not what I would call "candour." I don't have time to go online and individually check the entries for 3 dozen updates every week, nor should I have to. They should, at a minimum, state right in the update description: "This update remedies a security vulnerability" or "This update collects [x] data and transmits it to Microsoft for [y] reasons."
That I would consider candour, because then I can decide if I want the update on the spot without having to click around on the internet. But of course MS will NEVER do that because then everyone would reject all the "telemetry" updates!
Most companies are upfront about the data they collect and what they plan to do with it if one just slogs through the "privacy" policy and EULA.
The "Dollar Shave Club" scam in the US states very clearly that they intend to sell your information to anybody that will give them a buck. The lure is cheap razors delivered by mail every month. No thanks, I buy name brands from the big box stores in bulk about once every two years when they are on deep discount.
Yes, it seems suprising that even Microsoft can be this blatant. I know that it has a justified reputation for monopolistic behaviour spanning decades, total indifference to what the user actually wants, price gouging... oh perhaps it doesn't seem so surprising after all.
Perhaps they looked at what Google could get away with and thought that they wanted a slice of that pie
No, not fallen for it as a characterisation of MS as such. But as a characterisation of Windows (at the time). Not so any more though. And, as someone mentioned, can we now even trust that Windows 7 won't be ruined just so it won't matter any more if we move on to 10 or not? I'm not so sure.
Perhaps XP will get a final maintenance release as well, just so it too can be a telemetry device?