w10 pro recommendations on privacy

[noobbuilder]

HI

 

I am reluctantly making the change to w10 pro from w8.1 on my new rig im building.

 

I know when w10 came out the talk of privacy was a nightmare what with all the settings and tweaks you were supposed to do or use a program that could ultimately break the os .

 

What settings are recommended now that its been out for awhile and or is there any software to lock it down without risk of os issues later on out now in 2018 ?

 

What have you guys done to feel safe and cut down on all the phone home crap ?

 

Thanks

[Guest]

To be honest none of them are going to be great. But then again if you use Facebook or and Google service, that point is moot.

[Danielx64]

Well, I am a big fan of Shutup 10 (https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10/). It has options to disable just about anything from windows updates to all those data sending services.

Some also swear by Spybot Anti-Beacon as well (https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/).

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, Danielx64 said:

Well, I am a big fan of Shutup 10 (https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10/). It has options to disable just about anything from windows updates to all those data sending services.

Some also swear by Spybot Anti-Beacon as well (https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/).

On windows 10 pro you can disable updates without any third party app. On windows 10 home it is a different strory...

[Danielx64]

34 minutes ago, Some Random Member said:

On windows 10 pro you can disable updates without any third party app. On windows 10 home it is a different strory...

While that is true, those apps make it easy to do all those things without needing to dig around looking for everything. Also, Shutup 10 create firewall rules as well to block connections to a set of IP addresses etc.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Danielx64 said:

While that is true, those apps make it easy to do all those things without needing to dig around looking for everything. Also, Shutup 10 create firewall rules as well to block connections to a set of IP addresses etc.

Yeah, those are all useful features too. 

[noobbuilder]

4 hours ago, Danielx64 said:

Well, I am a big fan of Shutup 10 (https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10/). It has options to disable just about anything from windows updates to all those data sending services.

Some also swear by Spybot Anti-Beacon as well (https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/).

Awesome i was hoping that there would be a program that someone has used for awhile without issues. So shutup 10 it is. I will give it a try after the 1st when my mobo and ram arrives. Thanks

 

3 hours ago, Some Random Member said:

On windows 10 pro you can disable updates without any third party app. On windows 10 home it is a different strory...

Yeah thats why i spent the extra for pro was so id have a little more control over windows updates...Thanks

 

4 hours ago, Windspeed36 said:

To be honest none of them are going to be great. But then again if you use Facebook or and Google service, that point is moot.

Agreed i try to use duck duck go as a search engine and IK i'm wierd i dont use facebook .

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, noobbuilder said:

Agreed i try to use duck duck go as a search engine and IK i'm wierd i dont use facebook .

duckduckgo is very cool

[GoodBytes]

Keep in mind that O&O shutup and the rest, are just "theater apps",  They give you the illusion of added privacy, the reality they don't.

They do nothing more that you can looking at Start > Settings (gear icon), Privacy, and disable stuff inside. You can do that yourself, and customize it the way you want. Windows makes it pretty clear what the feature does and its impact if disabled.

 

[noobbuilder]

3 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Keep in mind that O&O shutup and the rest, are just "theater apps",  They give you the illusion of added privacy, the reality they don't.

They do nothing more that you can looking at Start > Settings (gear icon), Privacy, and disable stuff inside. You can do that yourself, and customize it the way you want. Windows makes it pretty clear what the feature does and its impact if disabled.

 

Yeah i have been reading a lot about the last few hours. 

How many of you dont worry about the privacy of w10 and think its just paranoia ?

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, noobbuilder said:

Yeah i have been reading a lot about the last few hours. 

How many of you dont worry about the privacy of w10 and think its just paranoia ?

i dont worry too much, just on the windows 10 home the updates were annoying.

[noobbuilder]

2 minutes ago, Some Random Member said:

i dont worry too much, just on the windows 10 home the updates were annoying.

I have always turned off automatic updates in all previous windows versions.

[GoodBytes]

1 hour ago, noobbuilder said:

I have always turned off automatic updates in all previous windows versions.

You will not be able to disable updates. The short story is  MS was basically tired of all these non updated OSs compromising the internet (by being affected and being part of attacks on sites and such) where the exploits used by the malware were already fixed and Microsoft already delivered an update to remove the malware/virus discovered. But such system can never be updated, as well, they have Windows Update disabled.

 

So what can you do. Microsoft has setup many options to you to avoid having Windows Update interfere with your work/play flow.

• You can set "Active hours". A range of time where you don't want Windows update to kick in.
• You can set p2p Windows update distribution within your network, to reduce downloads from the web. Or have it do over the web with other PCs to accelerate the download speed.
• You can set download/upload limit bandwidth.
• You can set Windows to notify you when an update is ready and you need to restart  your PC
• You can temporarily pause an update (Pro only)
• Auto login after restart by large update to setup your environment back, so that if you are away, you can have it all finish up, when you come back.
• Execute the check for update manually (of course)

So, if you set it all up, it should not interfere with anything, or minimize any impact to you.

[GoodBytes]

6 hours ago, noobbuilder said:

How many of you dont worry about the privacy of w10 and think its just paranoia ?

For me, it is a mixed bag.

It depends on what we are talking about. A lot of  it is telemetry data, and that doesn't concern me. At least not today.

However, if you use the coming up feature "TImeline" well, you are syncing to MS servers past activity to go back to. While great, it includes images, documents, and such. I am not happy about that. You can disable it once the feature is out, and that is what I have done. (I am part of the Windows Insider Skip Ahead Program, so as we speak, I am past this next update that is coming up, and already on the versions of the update that will follow it)

 

Another feature that kinda bugs me, but still use it, is Cortana. When you use the voice search, your voice recorded command is on Microsoft server.

On your privacy control website of your MS account, you can view everything, and delete them, but it is there.

I use Cortana for sending SMS messages while I drive (usually saying that I am driving, or an "ok"). So nothing of privacy concerns... in any case, SMS is not private. Depending on who you message and where you and the other person is, your SMS passes through many hands, and its not encrypted. So privacy is out the door in any case.

 

Personally, so far, I trust Microsoft with my data and personal information than Google, and the rest. In addition, as added security of sorts, my Microsoft linked account is a specially made one for my PCs. And while it is an e-mail address, I don't share it with anyone.. not even family member. I have my own e-mail for this. And of course, my login is backed up with a strong password, and use a PIN to login my PC.

[Danielx64]

20 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

Keep in mind that O&O shutup and the rest, are just "theater apps",  They give you the illusion of added privacy, the reality they don't.

They do nothing more that you can looking at Start > Settings (gear icon), Privacy, and disable stuff inside. You can do that yourself, and customize it the way you want. Windows makes it pretty clear what the feature does and its impact if disabled.

 

While that is a valid point, what about the fact that some of those software create firewall rules that block certain things from accessing the internet?

[GoodBytes]

7 minutes ago, Danielx64 said:

While that is a valid point, what about the fact that some of those software create firewall rules that block certain things from accessing the internet?

Windows by-passes them. This includes HOST file exception that the program also creates. Windows telemetry doesn't follow the HOST file (which is actually important, as it would be too easy to reroute traffic (think of a malware) to a non MS server and start collecting data).

[LAwLz]

On 3/18/2018 at 10:37 AM, Windspeed36 said:

But then again if you use Facebook or and Google service, that point is moot.

Just because one company has access to information you would rather not share does not mean you should be okay with sharing it with everyone.

What you're saying is akin to saying "you allow your gynecologist to see your vagina, so why not allow McDonalds staff to inspect it too?".A less extreme example would be insurance. Just because I share medical records with one insurance company does not mean I want my car insurance company to have access to them too.

Giving certain information to certain companies, but not others is nothing strange. Limiting the number of people and companies that have access to certain information about you is completely natural.

 

I legitimately think this is a bizarre thing that I see get brought up time and time again, and I really don't understand the thought process behind it.