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Posted on 07/23/2026 7:40:27 AM PDT by dayglored
Microsoft has confirmed that Windows has a previously unknown Global Device ID (GDID), a permanent, unique digital identifier assigned to Windows devices that can tie a user's actions to their device. This came to light when an alleged member of a notorious hacking group was caught at an airport after Microsoft handed over his GDID to the authorities.
Microsoft describes the GDID in a published complaint (via Windows Latest) as "a persistent, device-level identifier designed to uniquely identify an installation of a Windows operating system on a device, either a physical device (e.g., a mobile phone or laptop) or virtual machine, across certain Microsoft services and scenarios."
So when you first set up Windows, or register a new Windows device, Microsoft ties that installation's GDID to you. Anything that happens on that system can then be traced back to you, the individual. Privacy and security settings in Windows 11. Privacy and security settings in Windows 11.
You can't adjust this in Windows settings.Credit: Jon Martindale
Windows Latest discovered that this is generated at the server side, but is also stored locally. It can be found in the Windows registry under: "HKCU\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\IdentityCRL\\ExtendedProperties."
Although this number remains when you update Windows, it is updated if you reinstall Windows, assigning you a new GDID—though the original one may remain recorded as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at tech.yahoo.com ...
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Meta and GOOG are advertising companies. Worldwide duopolies. They are basically selling space on billboards. They treat the whole Internet as their own billboard.
They have already destroyed the internet. Like a frog in increasingly heated water nobody has really noticed.
Oh on top of that neither produces anything of real value. Yet they are rich beyond normal comprehension.
Capitalism and the internet didn’t work out too well. It is time to re-think this.
Maybe start by bombing their data centers and exiling their owners to India.
Reinstall Windows and Use a Local Account
Never sign into a Microsoft Account (MSA).
Disable wlidsvc and DiagTrack
Turn Off Advertising ID
Block Microsoft Servers via Hosts File or DNSPrevent
//microsoft.com://microsoft.com://live.com
Too many company and governments require using Microspy to apply,pay,or as part of your job.Teams and Skype and online training. Add Authenicator and nothing on your device is private.
It is becoming nigh impossible to NOT be tracked .
Apparently, it’s little microdots in the printed paper.
So the Secret Service can look at it, say “Ah, this was Epson 1234A, sold at Best Buy to Mr. Buttons on 1/1/21.”
It’s allegedly to stop counterfeiting.
This little tid bit of knowledge should hasten everyone’s exit to Linux.
Another thing I never get around to.
When are they going to stop illegals from expropriating billions of tax dollars?
Guess I need a Somalian version of Windows, they have been enjoying heaps of privacy.
I suspect it’s been added to easily available copies of Linux, too.
Reinstall Windows and Use a Local Account
~~~
I setup my gaming computer with a local account and that was a realy chore because they nerfed the OOBE trick on some of the latest win11 installs but there are still work arounds.
However, in the latest patch (last week I think), after rebooting, microsoft used a trick that Apple loves to use on their devices after updates, and that is to lock you into an intro “Hello” screen and make you answer their prompts before proceeding back into windows. It was trying to force me into adding or creating a microsoft account.
I was pissed, but pulling the internet and hitting the back button allowed me to back out. Whatever the button said... something like “I cannot connect to the internet right now”.
Eventually they will stop giving us ways to opt out of Microsoft logins, because villains gonna villain
Unfortunately true, I expect within a year the only way to use their product is with a Microsoft Account.
Then the question becomes: How much functionality do you lose if you create a fake/burner account? It would be nice if they let you get away with creating a (not-you) login identity and Microsoft Account just for installation/activation/updates, and then another (real-you) login identity without an account to do your actual work. But I expect they'll make it impossible to do anything useful with Windows without a Microsoft Account.
They're pushing Windows users away more and more every week with this crap.
The intent of Amelioration was to remove ALL of Micro$loth's spyware and the Global Device ID apparently was one of the victims:
This is a Win10 install and there is NO ExtendedProperties SUBKEY below IdentityCRL in the registry. Which I offer as proof that M$'s underhandedness can be thwarted.
Now that its existence is known, I am confident there will be any number of installation images showing up online with the GDID deleted (as it already is in Win10AME).
I wonder if Windows 11 also uses the Endorsement Key (EK) burned into the TPM chip; Win11 requires TPM.
As explained in “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module“:
“Computer programs can use a TPM for the authentication of hardware devices, since each TPM chip has a unique and secret Endorsement Key (EK) burned in as it is produced.”
It sounds like the EK is read-only, and thus would require changing the hardware — perhaps the entire CPU — to change it.
What happens if I delete the registry key?
Could have fooled me. I don't have an M$ account, yet I have two functioning copies of Win10.
> Could have fooled me. I don't have an M$ account, yet I have two functioning copies of Win10.
"for your Windows computer" was an imprecise/incomplete statement. Doesn't apply to all Windows computers. Just Win11, and even so, only recent releases of Win11 have become truly obnoxious about it. I fully expect that within a year or so, Win11 will refuse to operate without an account. See my comment #50 for thoughts on that aspect.
Win10 never did, and never will, require an account.
A fog-enshrouded portal will open up in front of you, and you will be forced to pass through it into a hellscape called "RegEdit BooBoo". Abandon all hope. Do not turn off or reboot your computer. Run away, run away!
Seriously though, you'll probably break something important, and you might not be able to fix what you broke. Deleting system-critical registry keys is a great way to refresh your memory of how to re-install Windows from scratch.
Windows 10/11 GDID: Spyware / Telemetry / Tracking
Google tracks the typical user 10x more than Microsoft Windows 11. Goog tracks via the Chrome browser in Android phones and in Windows. Goog also tracks you with Gmail and YouTube if you sign into you tube. Dittos for other GooG apps.
LINUX TOO. You install Linux Mint and use Chrome the same way you do with Windows 11. You will be tracked the same amount.
Well, of course. Having Linux as your operating system doesn't prevent you from installing and using a tracking application like Chrome.
Linux itself does not track anything unless you ask it too, for example sending crash reports to the vendor for debug analysis.
Thanks for the ping.
Every piece of paper you have has a code embedded that if you were to write a letter that the police could find out what store it came from and with todays security camera may identify you buying so use some random paper you find and use it with pencil....
I do not know if there is an equivalent for the GDID ID as there is for the MAC address.
Reddit website forums use your MAC address to identify you.
When one of their rabid liberal free speech “moderators” bans someone and you try to log in again with a different email account and username you find you are still banned.
The answer is to use the free TMAC v6 Mac address app that can change the MAC address.
Now you can log in with a new email account and username.
Technitium MAC Address Changer
https://technitium.com
Click on the Random MAC Address button and then the Change Now! button.
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