The good news is, if you want to avoid this, you can. You just have to either remove the updates, or avoid them in the first place.
Posted on 09/01/2015 9:49:09 PM PDT by dayglored
We recently mused, half seriously, whether the entire point of the Windows 10 upgrade was to harvest your personal information. With Microsoft suffering from a serious case of Google envy, perhaps it felt it had some catching up to do.
Now Microsoft is revamping the user-tracking tools in Windows 7 and 8 to harvest more data, via some new patches.
All the updates can be removed post-installation – but all ensure the OS reports data to Microsoft even when asked not to, bypassing the hosts file and (hence) third-party privacy tools. This data can include how long you use apps, and which features you use the most, snapshots of memory to investigate crashes, and so on.
The updates are KB3068708 ("Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry" and mandatory) KB3075249 ("Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7") and KB3080149 (also an "Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry", both optional).
The notes explain that diagnostic telemetry data is sent to settings-win.data.microsoft.com (64.4.54.253) over SSL. Privacy advocates note that the OS is hardwired to use that hostname, so trying to override the IP address it resolves to using your PC's hosts file won't work.
The tools relate to Microsoft's CEIP ('customer experience improvement program')...
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
http://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/28/microsoft-intensifies-data-collection-on-windows-7-and-8-systems/The Command Prompt instructions are of this form:
wusa /uninstall /kb:NNNNNNN /norestartwhere "NNNNNNN" is the KB number of the Windows Update.
The good news is, if you want to avoid this, you can. You just have to either remove the updates, or avoid them in the first place.
Been rejecting updated for 7 many months now, piss be on them.
If you're doing classified work, or you don't want your private data sent around the world to Microsoft's storage bins, you might want to check this out.
Those of us who laughed and thought we were safely avoiding this by not upgrading from Win7 or Win8.1 to Win10 have another think coming.
Of course, if you don't mind Microsoft sending data about your "user experience" and other system "telemetry" around, then no big deal. Right?
They’ll be back...
So will this make win/8.1 the data hog that win/10 appears to be? We on limited data do not approve.
Actually, the fact that they’ve hardwired it to an IP that is now know makes it possible to block this outbound at thr router
Yeah, I would trust a hardware firewall rule to block it.
Using the Windows software firewall, not so much -- they can change that at will and have done so in the past, so I wouldn't put it past them to sense for blocking and open it up, silently.
Honestly, I dunno. We'll have to see. I'd say, be cautious, and try to monitor your usage.
Sadly, I suspect you're right.
to nuke all of this crap on W7:
from an admin account, select Programs and Features from control panel, select View Installed Updates from the left, wait until that finishes finding all the updaets (could be a few minutes), then use the search box to search for each of:
KB3035583
KB3022345
KB3068708
KB3075249
KB3080149
find one at a time, and if found (not all will necessarily be there), right click and uninstall each one in turn.
check Change Settings on the left in Windows Update selected from Control Panel and make sure Install Updates Automatically IS NOT selected.
when all are uninstalled, reboot, which btw way can take hours sometimes after these are uninstalled (i have no idea what that BS is about; retribution by MS?).
after the reboot, go back to control panel, select Windows Update, then Check for Updates. Find all the ones you just deleted, uncheck them, right click and select Hide Update.
Also, check to see if C:\$Windows.~BT exists, which is the Windows 10 installer. If so, it can be wasting up to 12GB, so nuke it with cleanmgr started from a cmd window. once cleanmgr finishes its initial (very lengthy) scan, you should select Clean up system files, which will do another very lengthy scan, then check the box for that folder and select OK to nuke it.
This update introduces the Diagnostics and Telemetry tracking service to in-market devices. By applying this service, you can add benefits from the latest version of Windows to systems that have not yet been upgraded...
Oh, now I see...
It's not spyware, it's a "service".
It's not spyware, it's a "benefit".
Oh, and this is for your systems "that have NOT YET been upgraded" -- because we WILL see to it that your systems get upgraded...
Geez, Louise, all I wanted was a damned operating system so I could get some work done and surf the internet a little...
So I like Windows.
But why does Microsoft think I'm going to like it any more, when I have to jump through hoops just to use it without feeling like the Goons of Redmond are combing through my underwear?
No, I don't keep my underwear on top of the computer. You know what I mean... :-)
Bkmk
Too much work. zeugma’s recommendation to just block the ip address is a simpler solution.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
My bootleg Win 7 copy — which I rarely boot anyway — seems to be immune to these non-critical updates, fortunately.
Microsoft could and should make it clear that these are Windows 10-related updates in the descriptions that appear when Windows Update runs. Instead, they make the user work to get that information, knowing that most people don't have the time or the skill or the will.
Creepy.
I'm starting to think that "free" Win 10 might be overpriced.
Back in the (we're talking late 60's into early 70's here), computers were HARDWARE, and the software that came with them -- things like OS360 and FORTRAN and COBOL -- were seen as enhancements to the hardware. Almost accessories -- necessary, but not the real computer.
As time went on, we all realized that computers were, in fact, SYSTEMS of hardware plus software.
Bill Gates whined about us hobbyists with early personal computer hardware using his software without paying for it. His software was useless without hardware. Microsoft never really GOT that the important thing about a computer was it should be a SYSTEM. Not just software.
Google went one step further and didn't even produce software -- they only collected and sold INFORMATION. Well, surprise, the company (Google) that exists for INFORMATION wants to gather your information and sell it.
And... SURPRISE!! the company (Microsoft) that exists for SOFTWARE wants to gather your information and sell it. Because they don't make and sell SYSTEMS.
Apple makes and sells SYSTEMS. And... SO FAR... they have been on the better side of not gathering their users' information and selling it. They control their SYSTEMS ecosystem with an iron fist, and they maintain their walled garden, and they are at times arrogant and all that... but they aren't gathering our information and selling it. SO FAR... they aren't a threat. Let us hope that Apple maintains their focus on doing SYSTEMS.
Meanwhile, the Linux folks don't seem to gather anything, or sell it to anybody. And they're often nearly broke. They aren't a threat, either.
Here's the disillusionment. It disappoints me greatly that Microsoft has apparently decided it is more important to gather their users' information, secretly, and lie about it, than it is to provide a worthwhile product that simply does what the user needs.
That's why I posted this thread from the Register article about Win7 and Win8.1 going the same route as Win10. I hate to see a great company I have trusted and relied on for many years for my professional tools, acting so untrustworthy and unreliably. I hope they come to their senses.
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