JorgeA

This is reminiscent of the way the Zone Alarm firewall used to work way back in Win98 days. After installing it, for a while it would be pretty annoying as each new program got caught in its trap and had to receive permission to access the Internet; but then things would quiet down and you could be sure that nothing you didn't want was getting on the 'Net. I wonder if there are any firewalls like that around anymore. It was annoying at first but easy to use, no mind-bending rules with convoluted language to try to interpret as with (say) the Norton firewall. Maybe this Sphinx appplication fits the bill? --JorgeA

That could be effective, sure, but... Be aware that taking on IP address management is not to be taken lightly. Just to give you an idea of the addresses I've found that must be whitelisted to succeed in doing a Windows Update (on a Windows 10 system): 8.253.0.x 23.1.117.231 23.103.189.125 23.14.84.x 23.202.63.116 23.72.225.x 23.78.148.95 23.78.155.33 65.52.108.90 65.55.138.111 65.55.44.54 66.119.144.158 93.184.215.200 96.16.98.x 104.73.38.54 134.170.115.62 134.170.58.190 137.116.64.35 157.55.133.204 157.56.77.138 157.56.77.139 157.56.96.123 157.56.96.54 184.51.150.x And these DO change as Microsoft moves servers around, makes new partnerships with Content Delivery Networks, etc. Every single time I do a Windows Update on my Win 10 test system I have to augment/adjust the above list. I list these to illustrate that taking on IP address management in order to keep a step ahead of Windows is not a trivial task, and it does require ongoing effort. Most importantly, it requires you to be able to monitor the process directly. Using a list from someone else isn't going to work. A problem with using routing to sink particular addresses is that you won't be seeing reports of what application or service tried to access what addresses. Stuff will just fail. Then you'll be faced with the question "what do I do to make this work again?" Unless you're incredibly meticulous in taking notes and do regression testing after every change, the only viable answer may end up being "start over". Not really a viable plan. At least the approach using a "deny-by-default" firewall, assuming you pick a program that gives you good feedback in the form of a log, tells you about the successes and failures, and allows you to manage the configuration. I've set up a "deny-by-default" firewall strategy on all of my systems now (Win 7, 8.1, and 10). It turns out that once the (fairly significant) effort of initially setting everything up is done, it doesn't take that much effort to maintain it. Here's what I suggest, if you want to make sure you're keeping your private data private: Configure all the settings you can find to the most private choices.If on Win 10, run O & O Shut Up 10 to close down most privacy settings.Go through the Task Scheduler and disable the things that you don't want automatically running.Set Windows Update via gpedit.msc to manual mode.Disable the Windows Update service if you REALLY don't want it online without you. -Noel Certainly it's a massive job to try to keep up with all the shifting IP addresses. Kind of ironic that it's gotten so hard to do that, considering that computers were developed precisely to automate such tedious, labor-intensive work. Still, from a technical standpoint it was neat to learn that there's yet another way (in addition to firewalls and hosts files) to attack the problem of shutting down unwanted traffic into the information superhighway. Excellent list of tips BTW. --JorgeA

^^ That's a more honest name, which is welcome; but do you think that the name change may also serve to trip up people who, wishing to disable the service, might visually scan for "Diagnostics Tracking" nder Services and not find it? It could be a sneaky obstacle to enhancing one's privacy on Windows 10. --JorgeA

Here's an intriguing technique that maybe could be used to block connections to Microsoft telemetry servers. I was not aware of these "route add" and "route print" commands. What do you think? --JorgeA

October's Patch Tuesday didn't seem to bring any Windows Updates that were obviously related to Windows 10 or telemetry, or that rang alarm bells in that respect. What do you think? --JorgeA

Forget about 'spyware disabling', once you've allowed your comp to be posessed by such evil nothing short of this will save you: It would be very interesting to see a comparable animation for Windows 7, Vista, or XP. Or even for 8, for that matter. --JorgeA

From the trenches, two tales of Windows 10 woes: First one -- Betanews blogger helps his father, over the phone, to install Windows 10. Father hates it, wants to go back (to Win8.1 ). Then... Second one -- TWIT.TV host Robert Ballecer, S.J., sets up his mother with a Win10 laptop. Then (starting at 15:14)... --JorgeA

I tried Zorin about three years ago when Windows 8 first came out. While I liked their Start Menu, the graphical quality of the OS left a lot to be desired -- "grainy" or "gritty" is the best adjective I can come up with to describe the look of the taskbar, window borders, backgrounds, etc. Think of the way the background looks in the Windows 10 Settings app or the title bar, like dingy or (again) gritty. More recently, thanks to @dencorso I tried a Linux distro (Netrunner) that uses KDE, and it looks much sharper in every sense of the word. It even comes with built-in themes that make the windows look reasonably like Windows 7, including some transparency. If I ever switch to Netrunner full-time, I'll search for a way to make a 3D taskbar (think Vista ) and if possible a launcher closer in design to the traditional Windows Start Menu. --JorgeA

In your view, does the Surface Book (also) offer no competition for Apple? --JorgeA I think the Surface Book is intended to be competitive towards Apple notebooks. Whether it ends up being successful is another story. That's pretty much what I think, too. Barring a successful direct competition with Apple, Microsoft's fallback position could be that the hardware they put out is meant merely to "showcase the technology" and "inspire" other manufacturers to follow suit. --JorgeA

The most encouraging aspect of the graph is the rebound experienced by Windows 7. --JorgeA

It wouldn't surprise me if, sooner or later, printer manufacturers added a "Terms of Service" that expressly forbade the use of third-party inks, much like Microsoft apparently forbids disabling the spying functions in Windows 10. "Why, you're tampering with our product!!!!" Far-fetched? Check this out. --JorgeA

Their own player is annoying, in that (apparently) you can't slide the thingie directly to the place where you want to start listening. Rather, you have to wait the whole 34:47 to get to the desired place. Try this instead: --JorgeA

In your view, does the Surface Book (also) offer no competition for Apple? --JorgeA

Speaking of bad ideas... Go to 34:47 and start listening from there. --JorgeA

This may not remain a point of contention for very long: Microsoft's Windows 10 hardware event disappoints A lot of good quotable lines between the introduction and the conclusion. My favorite one: --JorgeA

That would be a very sensible strategy. Like NoelC, I'd gladly pay a premium to be able to use the latest OS but without the ads and spying. Not sure how much of a premium, though -- double the retail price of the Home edition sounds acceptable. --JorgeA

Great to hear from you again! Funny I should have posted something about the Linux developer community (such as it is), and only THEN seen your post saying that Linux is now your primary OS. Regarding your questions about Windows 10, my reply is that you don't need to decide between them. The answer to both is Yes. --JorgeA P.S. Looks like my (our) choices are limited to selecting from among various groups of jerks. Well, at least the Linux jerks don't try to spy on my activities. I'll be moving towards them over the next few years if Microsoft doesn't mend its ways.

Apropos of this: Linux kernel development suffering from the "internet of hate" --JorgeA

More contempt for previous Microsoft OSes: check out the discussion in this thread, starting with post #6825 and continuing on the next page. The participants feel their way through the issue, until they determine that the culprit is the suspicious KB2999226 that we've talked about (see here and here). Turns out that MSFT sent out a Win10-related file to a Vista system, using an encryption algorithm that Vista isn't equipped to handle. One thread participant observes that --JorgeA

Isn't that a violation of MSFT's own terms? After all, they state that Windows 8.1 will be fully supported into 2018. Some years ago, I had a problem with an XP machine and a MSFT tech sent me a hotfix and worked with me until the issue got resolved. That was around 2011, or some ten years after XP's launch. And now they can't be bothered to help with an OS that they introduced not even three years ago? Time to get the blogs involved. --JorgeA

And now KB2952664 has reappeared yet again, as an optional update. In adddition, there's a new mysterious KB3083710. The "About this update" description is so vague, it's laughable. Any more, updates billed as an "update client" are suspect in my book. --JorgeA EDIT: While researching this last update, I came across the following comment: Sad, but realistic.

Windows 10 sees people ditching IE -- but Chrome wins out, not Edge The most amazing stat there is that Edge usage currently is actually lower than it was before Windows 10 was foisted on millions launched on July 29. And the trend appears to remain slightly downward (and certainly not upward) despite the presumed ongoing installation of new Win10 systems. Terry Myerson was bragging on Monday that 650 billion Web pages had been viewed on Edge. A figure almost completely devoid of meaning. --JorgeA

A Windows 10 field report... A business associate asked me last week if I'd made the switch yet to Win10. When I replied that I had not because it's looking like a privacy nightmare, and that I'll probably move over to Linux once Win7 support ends, she wrote the following: Enough experiences like this, and you're looking at a disaster of Windows 8 proportions -- at least. --JorgeA

^^ Yup! --JorgeA

In principle, it shouldn't be difficult to determine that. Might be little more than a matter of comparing the sotfware's features with the various Win10 privacy settings, to see if the software offers things you can't easily access via the settings. --JorgeA