Windows 10 proven to spy on users, regardless of settings or system tweaks.

[iwasaperson]

I have redone the post to provide a more reliable source:

 

Source: http://arstechnica.co.uk/information-technology/2015/08/even-when-told-not-to-windows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-microsoft/

 

 

Windows 10 uses the Internet a lot to support many of its features. The operating system also sports numerous knobs to twiddle that are supposed to disable most of these features and the potentially privacy-compromising connections that go with them.

Unfortunately for privacy advocates, these controls don't appear to be sufficient to completely prevent the operating system from going online and communicating with Microsoft's servers.

For example, even with Cortana and searching the Web from the Start menu disabled, opening Start and typing will send a request to www.bing.com to request a file called threshold.appcache which appears to contain some Cortana information, even though Cortana is disabled. The request for this file appears to contain a random machine ID that persists across reboots.

 

For many users, perhaps even the majority, these trade-offs will be worthwhile; services such as Cortana (Siri, Google Now), cloud syncing of files, passwords, and settings, and many other modern operating system features are all valuable, and many will feel that the loss of privacy is an acceptable price to pay. But the flip side of this is that disabling these services for those who don't want to use them should really disable them. And it's not at all clear that Windows 10 is doing that right now.

 

 

Turns out I'm not too paranoid for switching to a fully free Linux distro (Parabola GNU/Linux-libre in my case) and stop using Google products, along with blocking any trackers and non-free Javascript, unless needed. I encourage anyone who cares about their privacy to at least switch to a GNU/Linux or *BSD (not including Mac OS X) distro.

 

I recommend Ubuntu (recommended for those who want something different), Linux Mint (recommended for Windows refugees), or elementaryOS (recommended for Mac OS X refugees) for ease of use,

Debian for stability,

Trisquel, Debian (don't enable contrib or non-free),  or Parabola for fully free distros (rated in order for ease of use),

and Arch (or Parabola) or Gentoo for advanced users.

 

Ubuntu is the best supported by far, and both elementaryOS and Linux Mint are based on Ubuntu and are compatible with those applications.

 

Note that Ubuntu has some past spying history with Amazon, so take caution with that.

[LightCode Gaming]

*snip*

Honestly, this doesn't shock me...

[Speedyv]

But DX12!....

I miss you Windows 7 <3

[Guest]

Reposting to comply with the rules as the other thread was closed for not doing so.

Source: http://localghost.org/posts/a-traffic-analysis-of-windows-10

Turns out Windows 10 doesn't care if you change your privacy settings, edit your registry, block Microsoft domains in your hosts file, edit Group Policy settings, etc. Microsoft will spy on you anyway, and the spying is baked into OS-wide DLLs and applications.

Turns out I'm not too paranoid for switching to a fully free Linux distro (Parabola GNU/Linux-libre in my case) and stop using Google products, along with blocking any trackers and non-free Javascript, unless needed. I encourage anyone who cares about their privacy to at least switch to a GNU/Linux or *BSD (not including Mac OS X) distro.

I recommend Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or elementaryOS for ease of use,

Debian for stability,

Trisquel, Debian (don't enable contrib or non-free), Parabola for fully free distros,

and Arch (or Parabola) or Gentoo for advanced users.

Ubuntu is the best supported by far, and both elementaryOS and Linux Mint are based on Ubuntu and are compatible with those applications.

Woot Linux!

You could use TAILS... Just don't go on the Dark Net.

[TheKDub]

Fuck windows 10, I'll go back to windows 7 where I'm not being spied on.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Fuck windows 10, I'll go back to windows 7 where I'm not being spied on.

or so you think...

[JeffreyEagan]

DX12 is not worth it anymore after this stunt that they're pulling. The NSA just wants companies to do this sort of thing for them so they stop looking bad.

[sqzit]

At this point, I have just given up, and simply accepted that there is no such thing as privacy now. I just make sure I have nothing to hide from anyone, so it doesn't matter who has my data. 

[BallisticPeanut]

I'm going to wait for a more reputable source, but this is pretty disturbing...

[deadher0]

I know I am one of the few, but I honestly don't care.  Maybe I'm part of the problem.  *shrugs*

[iamdarkyoshi]

Then please provide the link instead of just saying a repost mate

sorry, its not a repost. Its a repost of a repost http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/428727-windows-10-is-a-keylogger/

[iwasaperson]

Woot Linux!

You could use TAILS... Just don't go on the Dark Net.

Tails is a Live CD meant for getting something you need done, and then rebooting. Don't get me wrong, Tails is great at what it does, but if you want to be more private with general web browsing, Tor isn't for you. Get a VPN instead, as many people use the same IP to do everything, so your data will be confused with others. Just make sure you prevent web browser fingerprinting.

[iwasaperson]

sorry, its not a repost. Its a repost of a repost http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/428727-windows-10-is-a-keylogger/

And that thread was closed.

[abdul94]

At this point, I have just given up, and simply accepted that there is no such thing as privacy now. I just make sure I have nothing to hide from anyone, so it doesn't matter who has my data. 

Thank you! I totally agree with that 100%

[Mooshi]

Git gud.

 

 

"Switch to Linux!" Linux doesn't always have the program your need and "alternative" doesn't always translate to usable. I'm fine with my Win10 and have Linux Mint if I need it.

 

Edit: I should have noted the Hosts thing was more tongue in cheek. For every day users, you really are acting super paranoid as if the company has a 1 on 1 personal relationship with you and blackmailing to tell your closest friends and families dark secrets or something. I'm not agreeing with all the stuff enabled by default, but at the same time it's honestly whatever for the average person. If you're doing something illegal anyway, you wouldn't be using /any/ Microsoft OS.

[daniellearmouth]

I really don't care, to be honest. I'm not doing anything even remotely suspect on any computers I own, and I use them all the time for gaming and work. I don't really have much to panic about, frankly.

 

Woot Linux!
You could use TAILS... Just don't go on the Dark Net.

 

That's literally THE point of TAILS, though...

[iamdarkyoshi]

And that thread was closed.

theoretically because that thread was also a repost...?

[iwasaperson]

theoretically because that thread was also a repost...?

No. It's because (s)he didn't provide any commentary, and just copypasta'd the article.

[daniellearmouth]

"Switch to Linux!" Linux doesn't always have the program your need and "alternative" doesn't always translate to usable. I'm fine with my Win10 and have Linux Mint if I need it.

 

The exact reason I don't use Linux for anything - I have greater use for Windows than I do Linux, and I don't see that changing in the next five years.

[iwasaperson]

Git gud.

 

 

"Switch to Linux!" Linux doesn't always have the program your need and "alternative" doesn't always translate to usable. I'm fine with my Win10 and have Linux Mint if I need it.

Read the post. Windows will just ignore your hosts file, pop up errors, and still track you (last quote).

[iamdarkyoshi]

No. It's because (s)he didn't provide any commentary, and just copypasta'd the article.

oh. Okay. I did a bad. Oops. I blame school, its wrecking my brain.

[Mooshi]

Read the post. Windows will just ignore your hosts file, pop up errors, and still track you (last quote).

 

Read my prior post again, it addresses that.

[iwasaperson]

The exact reason I don't use Linux for anything - I have greater use for Windows than I do Linux, and I don't see that changing in the next five years.

I almost guarantee there is an alternative for your program, but even if there isn't, just dual boot. I triple boot Parabola, Arch, and Win7. Win7 for games, Arch for games that work on GNU/Linux, and Parabola for everything else.

[iwasaperson]

Read my prior post again, it addresses that.

No it doesn't. It just says that you don't want to switch to GNU/Linux because of the lack of applications. Nothing about the hosts file blocking things.

 

Why don't you just dual boot?

[daniellearmouth]

I almost guarantee there is an alternative for your program, but even if there isn't, just dual boot. I triple boot Parabola, Arch, and Win7. Win7 for games, Arch for games that work on GNU/Linux, and Parabola for everything else.

 

*ahem* Creative Cloud *cough* Unity *splutter*