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Having finally got Windows 7 to my liking, I decided to look into any telemetry that the OS has installed. From what I read it's not as bad as Windows 10 and 11. I found this article discussing '11 Free Tools' to use. 11 Free Tools To Disable and Stop Windows from Spying and Tracking You https://www.geckoandfly.com/25083/free-tools-disable-stop-windows-spying-tracking-you/ Number 2 on the list is a tool called Blackbird ... Blackbird v6 (64bit). It works on Windows 7 as well as higher, they do also list Vista. Nice write-up about it here and other places. It will make a backup before removing anything. I also have my own backup on a flash drive before using it. It seemed to work really good and appears to be safe to use and run. MajorGeeks has it listed to work on Windows 11|10|8|7 but I can't be sure how accurate that information is. Just wondering about any thoughts on Blackbird? It seems to be really safe to use. I used it almost two weeks ago before I posted about it here and have not noticed any problems. It does remove a lot of items and all the items changed or removed are posted. Information from the link above does not list it working on Windows 11 as MajorGeeks does. I put their information below: Blocks Telemetry Completely – Block Windows spyware, on both the application and network level, without editing the HOSTS file or firewall settings and remove all Windows telemetry updates. Supports Wireless and Ethernet connections, IPv4/IPv6. Removes Windows Ads – Remove all Windows built-in advertising and any pre-installed app you want. Stop your PC from downloading and installing sponsored software in the background. Restores Privacy – Prevent diagnostic data, passwords, contacts, URL, SMS, handwriting, location, and P2P-update sharing. Remove all unique ID tracking tokens. Disable 60+ data collection tasks and consequently speed up your PC. Portable, Restorable, Flexible – No installation, with a focus on leaving the smallest possible footprint, Blackbird is a single, portable exe with granular switches available. Want to restore everything back? They got you covered. Works on Windows Vista, 7, 8/8.1, 10 (Home/Pro/Ent/Edu) How Blackbird Works Without going into too much detail, Blackbird employs some known and less-known techniques to fully disarm Windows while leaving the smallest possible footprint. For instance, Blackbird does not edit the HOSTS file in any way, nor does it mess with your firewall settings. It does not run in the background, instead relying on persistent routes and resolving hostnames to IP addresses each time Blackbird is applied by the user. After usage no new files are left behind on your computer and you can safely delete blackbird.exe. Blackbird has succeded when you forget it was ever there. Everything our software does can be restored using the software itself or manually by hand. *Dev.notice: Please don't do this manually, it will take forever and is confusing. There are other tools that claim to block Windows spying but they are cumbersome to use and not as powerful or are limited in scope. So we took Windows apart, piece by piece, analyzed web traffic, system calls, file changes, etc, compared different configurations, designed and built a stand-alone tool and spent hundreds of hours on beta testing so anyone can use it and it gets the job done right. What Blackbird Does > Disables OneDrive > Disables Cortana > Disables Bing-integration > Disables all AutoLoggers > Disables Wi-Fi Sense > Disables system-wide telemetry (on all editions of Windows 10 and older) > Disables all OS advertising (tips, pop-ups, suggested apps, etc.) > Disables all Xbox Live services > Disables web content evaluation ("SmartScreen") and prevents URL check-in > Disables Windows Media online DRM > Disables Windows P2P Update sharing > Disables hidden Windows metric startup tasks > Disables all diagnostic tracking services > Disables all application metric-data collection agents > Prevents system read access to already collected diagnostic data > Prevents any location/contacts/messages/handwritting/password sharing > Prevents cross-device synchronization (ie; Windows Phone auto-syncing with PC account data) > Removes GWX and Windows 10 upgrade pop-ups > Removes Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) > Removes your unique ad-tracking ID token > Removes a bunch of Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 telemetry updates (View full list here) > Removes Superfish, eDellRoot, HP Touchpoint Analytics, VisualDiscovery and other security risks > Removes all pre-install Windows 10 Upgrade files/folders on Windows 7, 8, 8.1 > Blocks 500+ different tracking/telemetry/ad servers (View full list here) > Patches various data leaks (IE/Edge, Explorer, Defender, MRT, SMB) > Applies various network tweaks (enables RSS,ctcp,tcp-offload,ECN) INCLUDES: > Blackbird App Manager (Windows 10 only) : Block any system application the easy & user-friendly way. > Blackbird STD : Force removal of stubborn spy tasks. > Backup & Restore : Save current system settings to an external file restorable at any time. Try Blackbird Windows Privacy and Security ... Blackbird is THE BEST! *** I also found a 'ready to use' script at this link discussion. Remove ALL telemetry updates from Windows 7 & 8 and 8.1 https://windowsforum.com/threads/remove-all-telemetry-updates-from-windows-7-8-and-8-1.228360/ ... there is a list of items removed and at the bottom is a link to get the script ready to download and use. I also ran this script after running Blackbird and so far everything seems to be OK on my computer. I'm many years late getting involved with Windows 7 but with Windows XP ... which I still like, the web pages are really becoming a problem with daily use. It can be OK with Javascript disabled but I'm sure it will only get worse and not better with XP. So maybe there are others here that can use these tools and script on Windows 7. I'm sure it's not 100% but it has to be better than what I had before after running Blackbird and the script download. ...

Feature Request: Could you please add a Classic (Win 2K, 9x style) Start Menu theme, like Open Shell has. Or can anyone link to a 3rd party Classic Start Menu theme for SAB?

Hi nicolaasjan, I tried to download this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGPeK8gO0Eo on Win XP SP2 with your yt-dlp Python 3.11 build from https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/fi/2ajuzjxmmbwqk888dj9hg/test_Py3.11_XP_yt-dlp.zip?rlkey=ro7rfvve4ueuavheq30ddvhu6 And I can confirm the same error you got: "Unable to download API page, Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 0] Error"

这个我以前也注意到了，不过这个问题实际是Windows简体中文翻译或本地化的问题，因为sab实际引用的是系统日期时间控制面板的资源（timedate.cpl），具体为'@timedate.cpl,-1189'。 这个Second（应为“秒”）翻译成 第二个 的翻译错误应该是自Windows7以来就有了，估计可能是界面上没有吧，所以一直没人发现 。 同时上面的Day好像也应该翻译成周（week）而不是日（天），这个也是引用的（'@shell32.dll,-34830'）——或引用的不对。 那么怎么解决呢，要么作者调整下引用或修改添加到字符翻译里，要么自己修改系统的资源文件或sab资源。 我不知道其他语言（翻译）情况，看起来没人反馈吧，估计可能就是简体中文有这个问题。

Yes, I'm sure there might still be some things hanging around. However, I had never gone after any Windows 7 telemetry in my setup. I was looking for an easy way to get rid of whatever I could since I did not want to spend a lot of time hunting each item down from a list. So the 'script removal' tool and Blackbird looked OK to me to start with. I ran Blackbird without removing anything and was amazed at what was found ... so I ran it again letting it remove everything and also ran the script download in case it found anything additional. Hopefully I have a better system now but as you mentioned there are probably some items still there. With Windows 7 no longer getting updates I guess in one way is good since no new telemetry will be installed. Not sure about Windows 10 and 11. Probably Blackbird and other telemetry tools will have to be run again with any downloads from M$. ...

AFAIK some updates baked telemetry into kernel these cannot be removed, reason why i didn't use any update after 2015 they're are full of junk on system level

Hi I have no problem with www.rt.com on xp sp2 and the latest version of New Moon from 07/26/25, everything works perfectly here and I do not use NoScript.

can't reproduce here

New build of Serpent/UXP for XP! Test binary: Win32 https://o.rthost.win/basilisk/basilisk52-g4.8.win32-git-20250726-3219d2d-uxp-7e0ddfef73-xpmod.7z Win64 https://o.rthost.win/basilisk/basilisk52-g4.8.win64-git-20250726-3219d2d-uxp-7e0ddfef73-xpmod.7z source code that is comparable to my current working tree is available here: https://github.com/roytam1/UXP/commits/custom IA32 Win32 https://o.rthost.win/basilisk/basilisk52-g4.8.win32-git-20250726-3219d2d-uxp-7e0ddfef73-xpmod-ia32.7z source code that is comparable to my current working tree is available here: https://github.com/roytam1/UXP/commits/ia32 NM28XP build: Win32 https://o.rthost.win/palemoon/palemoon-28.10.7a1.win32-git-20250726-d849524bd-uxp-7e0ddfef73-xpmod.7z Win32 IA32 https://o.rthost.win/palemoon/palemoon-28.10.7a1.win32-git-20250726-d849524bd-uxp-7e0ddfef73-xpmod-ia32.7z Win32 SSE https://o.rthost.win/palemoon/palemoon-28.10.7a1.win32-git-20250726-d849524bd-uxp-7e0ddfef73-xpmod-sse.7z Win64 https://o.rthost.win/palemoon/palemoon-28.10.7a1.win64-git-20250726-d849524bd-uxp-7e0ddfef73-xpmod.7z Win7+ x64 AVX2 https://o.rthost.win/palemoon/palemoon-28.10.7a1.win64-git-20250726-d849524bd-uxp-7e0ddfef73-w7plus-avx2.7z Official UXP changes picked since my last build: - Issue #2691 - Follow-up: Add manual tests (5869164e31) - Issue #2826 - Set up fontconfig on XRE startup (GTK only) (b992da05eb) - No issue - Adjust CSP URI reporting more closely with the spec. (0a8f50fafa) - [gfx] Hold a stronger reference to gfxFontEntry. (40f96b82ad) - [js] Align br_table limits with V8/Gecko. (3f297457d8) - [network] Stop accepting nameless cookies. (cdc8127cd1) - [DOM] Make object loading use an explicit scheme whitelist. (f902d2ad0e) - Issue #2828 - Part 1: Build and store the array of layer name tokens in the layer at-rules (53e6317bfb) - Issue #2828 - Part 2: Collect and hold rule cascade data per cascade layer (7b51aa7ca1) - Issue #2828 - Part 3: Refactor selector matching and rule cascade data into separate files/classes (03f29e75ec) - Issue #2828 - Part 4: Move cache key storage to ResolvedRuleCascades (aab9cdf9bd) - Issue #2828 - Part 5: Implement child rule processors (e05d4d8306) - Issue #2828 - Part 6: Assert rules were added to the rule cascade data (d3b305b819) - Issue #2828 - Part 7: Walk child rule processors separately and ensure inverted cascade layer order is enforced for important rules (ec57be653a) - Issue #2828 - Part 8: Extract RuleProcessorGroup (formerly ResolvedRuleCascades) into separate file (3605630f4e) - Issue #2828 - Part 9: Rename CascadeEnumData to CascadeLayer (1655a5a4a9) - Issue #2828 – Part 10: Clean up cascade layer constructor (a922ec0823) - Issue #2828 - Part 11: Detach weighted rule data from cascade layer (cbb019a862) - Issue #2828 - Part 12: Implement cascade layer SizeOfIncludingThis (e3476d33ed) - Issue #2828 - Part 13: Exclude strong layers-related code from release builds (318031c74b) No official Pale-Moon changes picked since my last build. No official Basilisk changes picked since my last build. My changes picked since my last build: - layout: partly revert rev 5e8e120 for keeping -moz-hidden-unscrollable to work (44e5bd7711) - [Basilisk] css: replace -moz-hidden-unscrollable with clip (c466a1385f) - [Pale-Moon] css: replace -moz-hidden-unscrollable with clip (9e02324b0b) Update Notice: - You may delete file named icudt*.dat inside program folder when updating from old releases. * Notice: From now on, UXP rev will point to `custom` branch of my UXP repo instead of MCP UXP repo, while "official UXP changes" shows only `tracking` branch changes.

Had a good laugh at the guy that claims to be from Southern Europe, writes Yandex is known for aggressive fingerprinting, yet tries to access it with such a zeal. Here's that extensive guinea pig test for either of you. Thank you and kudos to the tester. "Disabling all privacy-related extensions, including uBO" just to try to get to the favourite Yandex - wow! https://github.com/win32ss/supermium/issues/910#issuecomment-2362536383

It's your loss, actually! Now it's un-yandexed, which is a huge, enormous plus for us, who actually reside in GB and Europe. https://github.com/win32ss/supermium/issues/910 Waiting for the full un-googled version.

And let me ask, what features SP2 and SP3 brought? Right, except the new "security enhancements", they only removed them. Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3 also removed features from Windows XP, including support for TCP half-open connections[52] and the address bar on the taskbar.[53] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP

Got the same.

I already modified the 360Loader.ini. I changed the name of both files to ThoriumLoader.exe and ThoriumLoader.ini and replaced the Icon Group of the ThoriumLoader.exe by the one from the thorium.exe. This modified loader works well to call up Thorium. And due to its separate ini file, the command line flags set by the user can be easily changed at any time. Here is a screenshot taken from my current "Open with" context menu in Windows XP: Everything I have written so far proves that Thorium can successfully take up and load a link via a command line call, initiated from the registry, when using a loader such as ThoriumLoader. Cheers, AstroSkipper

[Setup] AppName=Thorium [FileToRun] PathToExe=.\Chrome\Application\$AppName$.exe Parameters=--user-data-dir="$Profile$" --no-proxy-server /high-dpi-support=1 /force-device-scale-factor=1 --disable-component-update --use-angle=d3d9 --ignore-gpu-blocklist --single-argument [Environment] Profile=".\Chrome\User Data" This is what I actually meant. PS: Think of the Space Bug! Can you still remember?

Do not remove the [Environment] section! Simply set there your current profile path and replace the path D:\Program Files\Thorium\Chrome\User Data under the [FileToRun] section by your enviroment variable $Profile$.

That's very simple. Perform a right-click on a link to be opened, click on the item "Select a programme" from the "Open with" context menu and point to your 360Loader! When done, an entry is automatically created and stored in the registry under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\360Loader.exe key. From now on, you have an entry in the "Open with" context menu for taking up links by the 360Loader.