Posted on 12/13/2018 1:42:01 PM PST by dayglored
Windows and Office telemetry still does. Load up Wireshark, which allows network packet sniffing, and watch the data fly.
There are ways to turn that off in Group Policy in Windows Pro that go beyond the settings in Windows and Office.
Any backdoor “feature” that allows windows to pump out your data can be hijacked by criminals.
If that computer is running Windows 10, it isn’t your computer. It belongs to MS and they’ll do what ever they please with it.
Like not allowing you to log on until they are satisfied it is “updated”.
Absolutely true. I run the "Pro" versions of 7 and 10 exclusively. Well, actually one of my 7 installs is "Ultimate", but since I don't use any of the extra features it's really acting as "Pro".
Your good and sane advice in these comments is much appreciated! Do I guess correctly you're a Windows Admin somewhere?
Even though I don't use MS Office, MS seems intent on re-enabling the telemetry for its latest offering quite often.
I hate it when that happens.
My Win10 VM at work periodically disappears from my RDP connection (disconnects me, logs me out, loads updates, and reboots) without my approval. Very annoying, since I sometimes have a fair amount of context on the desktop from day to day.
I've had to stop using Win10 for anything that might have to run overnight. Luckily the things I have to run overnight will also run on my Win7 VM. Other than the Win10 compatibility tests...
Most of what I do that's important, I now do on Linux. Windows is relegated to transient tasks that, if they die when I'm not looking, I don't lose significant context.
It's really a shame -- only 5 years ago I was using Windows as my primary desktop environment at work (had done so for the prior 8 years) and it was fine. That's just a fond but dimmer-every-year memory.
You notice over the years, the "My Computer" icon got renamed "Computer", and then "This PC". That's a hint. Even Microsoft admits, it's not your computer. It's just this PC that you're sitting in front of. Most of the time, you might as well be downtown at the Library in front of a terminal.
What he said. ^^
Indeed. Storage is cheap, but not free, and analytics sure as heck isn't free.
I've been thinking the same thing for almost 20 years.
Exactly right!
My first secure computer was a Pied Piper running CP/M on 5 1/4” disks. No need for an air gap. Long before the Internet.
It seems the only way to avoid the slurping would be to disconnect, hard wire the peripherals and return to snail mail. Barring that who slurps less? Apple? Linux Mint?
Asking for a friend.
I think Linux is probably the least snoopy. Apple does a great job of encrypting anything it sends or stores, using individual keys that only you have. But if I had to guess, Linux sends less overall, and it’s trivial to make sure it doesn’t even send the minimal stuff like crash reports.
I found some cpm diskettes from a Wang system at work and out them into a pc running DOS. I was able to read everything, just couldn’t run the executables.
This.
But having nearly everything in an OS encrypted does hog some resources a little, although not as much as M$. So use a fairly fast machine.
During Windows 10 setup, you will be asked a lot of questions. The one word to remember is "no."
Last I checked, setting up a Microsoft account was not absolutely required, though Microsoft certainly tries to convince you to set one up.
I think it ends up being more convenient to just set up the damn account. If necessary you can create a new email account at Microsoft's Outlook.com
All the Features That Require a Microsoft Account in Windows 10:
https://www.howtogeek.com/121975/htg-explains-microsoft-accounts-vs.-local-accounts-in-windows-8/
bump
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