...you know, to further the cause...
Posted on 09/14/2015 1:05:28 PM PDT by CedarDave
Conspiracy theories are gaining steam as accusations about Microsoft "spy patches" heat up. But a much larger part of the story may sound familiar to any experienced Windows or Office user.
The tinfoil ball started rolling on Aug. 24, when Sergey Tkachenko at Winaero.com published an incendiary discovery: Four recent Windows 7 and 8.1 patches -- KB 3022345, 3068708, 3075249, and 3080149 -- were sending a potful of data to Microsoft's servers. In at least one case, the spying patches transmit data through hard-coded servers, bypassing the Hosts file and making it even harder to block their activity. On Aug. 28, Martin Brinkmann at ghacks.net posted a follow-up that confirmed several details.
[ See InfoWorld's "Windows 10 review: Hold off if you use Windows 7." | Stay up on key Microsoft technologies with the Windows newsletter. ]
What Tkachenko and Brinkmann revealed is, quite literally, true -- though many on the Windows beat have dismissed their claims as overblown or bordering on irrational. Others, including several widely read mainstream publications, have pointed to their statements and claimed or implied that the Windows 10 privacy-busting "disease" has been thrust onto Win7 and Win8.1 customers.
It's so bad that I'm deluged with emails and phone calls from readers, friends, neighbors, and family members, all asking if they should apply updates to Windows 7 and 8.1 because of the "spy programs." They're genuinely concerned -- and they should be.
Has Microsoft started running spy sorties on Windows 7 and 8.1 systems? Judging from the headlines, it seems a foregone conclusion, but the facts are a little less clickbait worthy.
(Excerpt) Read more at infoworld.com ...
*I understand the patches are no longer "opt-in" but now have been labeled "important."
See this thread (Like It Or Not, Microsoft Silently Downloads Windows 10, Grabbing Valuable Disk Space) and post #96 for additional discussion.
Thanks!!! Goof info! I have to check but I don’t think I have installed those updates yet.
For your Ping lists.
Hat tip to TChad
...you know, to further the cause...
I'm guessin because Billy Bob Gates and Obummer share the same view on Commie Core and climate change and he's one of his major donors he's decided to slip a little somethin in these patches for his good ole Commie buddy...
...you know, to further the cause...
Interesting, I’m still running Win7 and do not allow automatic updates but following the article’s info I just checked and the CEIP was turned on. Since I didn’t add it and didn’t authorize it, there may actually be something to this. Of course, I’m in the 60+, electronics challenged generation so it could just be me!
I have a new laptop (last November) that runs Win 8.1. As far as I know, I have not “opted in”. I checked the settings for CEIP & guess what? I was checked as ‘participating’. As of 5 minutes ago, that setting has been changed. Thanks for the article.
Whats opt-in anymore? I set for manual updates only to have MS change it back to automatic and push the updates at the most inopportune time.
ping for later.
My CEIP is still turned off in Win7.
Choice and control
Update Services are turned on if you choose one of the following settings: (a) install updates automatically; (b) download updates but let me choose whether to install them; or (c) check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them. The Windows Update service is turned on and set to "Install updates automatically" when you choose the express settings during Windows setup.
If you turn on the Update Services, regardless of which setting you have chosen, required updates to some components of the service will be downloaded and installed automatically without further notice to you. If you would prefer not to receive required updates, turn off the Update Services.
You can also choose whether to check for or automatically install Important and Recommended updates for your computer or Important updates only. Optional updates are never installed automatically.
Grrr...
it just counts the number of times you close the “Get Windows 10” pop-up
BFL
Umm, if the “North American Union” includes Central & South America, wouldn’t they just call it the “American Union”???
Bkmk
After all of these years, they’re still going after the soft targets: their customers. I’ve used Unix variants since the mid-’90s and only ran Windows in virtual machines on a few occasions. There’s been no need for Windows for some time. Some of the Linux distributions are far easier and faster to download, install and use with far less wasted time.
Thanks to CedarDave for the ping!!
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