JorgeA

Can someone here with more brain cells than me could explain what kind of mindset stays behind that logic? Great question. My answer would be: the perfect serf. --JorgeA

I totally agree! Different devices for different purposes. The root of the problem is that Microsoft wants to treat (and wants us to treat) our PCs like phones. That's exactly my plan: to stay on Win7 for as long as possible, and then switch to Linux if MSFT hasn't corrected its appproach by then. --JorgeA

If we can no longer trust our own PCs to keep our information private, it may have to come to that. --JorgeA

Here's another privacy-related concern: Bring Your Own Device and Windows 10 This is going to create massive headaches for businesses and institutions that accepted the BYOD trend: either they take enormous risks with their data, or they disappoint (not to say p*ss off) their employees/students/customers. One thing is for certain and that is that Microsoft's lawyers will be hearing about this sooner or later, either before as a warning of the threat that Windows 10 represents to proprietary data -- or else afterward, once important private data has leaked out thanks to Win10's eager sweeping-up of all the bits it can get its digital hands on. --JorgeA

Here's one of the more popular non-sequiturs "for" Windows 10: Other tech companies also collect anonymous data from you and your devices Bad reasoning, very bad. First of all, no one that I know or have heard of, has argued that Microsoft is trying to do things that no other big tech company does. I don't recall ever coming across this argument. Saying that "one could be led to believe" such a thing based on the criticisms being made of Microsoft, is at best groundless when not disingenuous. Secondly -- and more importantly -- the argument that other tech companies are doing it is completely and utterly irrelevant. Apple and Google do it? So what?? I don't buy Apple products and I don't have a Google account, because I don't want my data to be processed and delivered to advertisers. I've kept to the Microsoft environment precisely because it has been comparatively free of this tracking and monitoring B.S. -- a relative refuge. If Microsoft starts imitating Apple and Google in this regard, there's not a whole lot of other places to go to get one's computing done. Linux is all that comes to mind. The issue is not whether Microsoft is merely doing now what others have been doing all along -- the issue is that Microsoft is doing things with users' privacy that it has never done before. Every indication appears to be that Windows 10 introduces what is for Microsoft an unprecedented level of user monitoring and profiling. In terms of privacy, that is the real criticism and the real problem with Windows 10. --JorgeA

Thanks very much! --JorgeA

Thanks for the links. For the MDL one, though, you'll have to register to see the information in the original post:

Privacy concerns surrounding Windows 10 are spreading to the general media: Using Windows 10? Microsoft Is Watching There's so much good material in there, I could block-quote the entire article. But you can read the whole thing (it's well worth the few minutes), I'll highlight the following observation only: Yup. Thanks to zerohedge.com, where I saw the link to this piece. Dozens of comments on that page, but this one caught my eye: --JorgeA

Having just watched The Matrix anew (@dencorso knows the reason why ), I would say that all you need to do is to take the blue pill from Redmond and then all will be right with your world again. --JorgeA

This was not a rhetorical question... do any of y'all remember a scene featuring a self-filling empty glass in one of the Matrix movies, and can perhaps tell me in which of them does it appear, or whether I've just dreamt it? OK, I went through the original Matrix movie tonight. There were several scenes where there was a glass on a table or in somebody's hand, but none where the glass filled itself or anything unusual happened relating to the glass. Hopefully it's not a case where the channel edited the scene out or anything like that! Maybe it's in one of the sequels. I'll keep looking... --JorgeA

Wow, that would make an interesting premise for a movie plot. --JorgeA

Microsoft stands accused of deleting Windows 10 Insider feedback it doesn't like It wouldn't surprise me to learn that this is in fact true -- it would still be a disappointment, but it wouldn't be a surprise. What better way to claim that there is broad satisfaction with Windows 10 and no widespread complaints, than to hide/delete the objections? There is a suggestion in the blog post that maybe MSFT removes them because the issues are getting worked on. Doesn't make sense: the time to remove a problem's listing is when it's solved, not when you are (supposedly) working on it. "I took an aspirin, so I don't have to notice my headache anymore." --JorgeA

Not a problem IMHO. It was understandable you talked that way... and, sadly, completely appropriate. --JorgeA

Another view on Microsoft's enforced connection to the mothership: Windows 10 still phones home, even when ordered not to do so These most recent bunches of revelations are making me wonder if the only safe way to use Windows 10 as an everyday, work OS is to revert back to pre-Internet days and keep the Ethernet cable unplugged (and the Wi-Fi turned off). If we are not in fact headed toward a "cloud OS" model, then there should be no problem, right? We could use whatever current software we need whose latest and greatest features require using Win10, save our file, and sneakernet it to another PC that's connected to the Internet to send out. --JorgeA

Backing up what @alacran and @Formfiller reported upthread about Windows 10 blocking certain hardware and software: Windows 10 could disable pirated games and unauthorized hardware --JorgeA

Windows 10 search bar phones home to Microsoft, even with Bing disabled Interesting that the Ars Technica post is by Peter Bright, who was one of the biggest Windows 8 apologists back in the day. Here's something he reported that's not discussed in the PC World post: At least some of the points made in the posting referenced by TELVM seem to be starting to get corroborated. Bright's bottom line: --JorgeA EDIT: typo

Pardon my French: what a bunch of a$$ho!3s. They knew that people would try to hinder their spying, and took special care to prevent those protective measures from working. And moreover they took care to try to fool the user into beleving that his protection worked. BTW nice finds, TELVM. Time to investigate rn10950's approach. --JorgeA P.S. Would it help anything to disconnet the Ethernet cable from a Win10 PC and see if it hiccups?

Very true. But of course making that ability more hidden or subtle increases the user's cost of maintaining control over his own system. Which is probably the idea: they can argue that "we haven't actually removed it, so what's the problem?" --JorgeA

Kill the messenger (so to speak): Harvard student loses Facebook internship after pointing out privacy flaws Another megacompany that's hostile to user privacy. And if the NSA has figured out a way to access this location data, you can bet they're using it. What's going on with Facebook, Google, and Microsoft underscores the old adage that, "the price of liberty is eternal vigilance." Trouble is, the price gets bigger and bigger with every new development in tech as there are new arcane ways to threaten your privacy and thus, potentially, your physical security. --JorgeA

A new land mine to avoid for Windows 8 users who allowed the "Get Windows 10" thingie to install and populate their notification area: Susan Bradley of Windows Secrets reports in her "Patch Watch" column for this month that Win10 is now showing up pre-checked in the Windows Updates list. --JorgeA

That happened some time ago before I became aware of your advice. It was a tertiary system that I seldom use, so I've never gotten around to tweaking it as thoroughly as I do my more important boxes. Still, the bottom line is that the old counsel of surfing the Web sensibly and avoiding dubious sites is no longer sufficient, as malicious ads can crop up almost anywhere: you need to take additional steps to protect yourself, be it with an ad blocker, a good hosts file, or other measures to keep the ads under control. --JorgeA

Does the Enterprise edition allow customers to put off the updates indefinitely, or do they too have to come on board eventually? (Barring hacks or the use of the update-hiding tool.) --JorgeA

^^ LOL One thing about security, though: it's no longer enough to avoid visiting porn sites and to refrain from clicking on ads. My AV software has stopped a number of attacks from ads that were served to innocuous sites -- including one time when I visited MSFN from a computer that wasn't logged into the forum and it started receiving ads!! (I have the screenshot of the AV report somewhere if anybody's interested.) In fact, nowadays most of the attacks on my PCs come from Web ads. For additional security, then, my suggestion would be to install an ad blocker on one's browser. --JorgeA

Here's a good article that neatly summarizes the issues, and presents some additional IoT security threats. --JorgeA

iReligion: How Apple fanaticism turned tech into a cult I'm sure we can all name more than one person in the Microsoft universe who would fit the description in that article if we simply went around changing "Apple" to "Microsoft." The most striking chunk of text: This is eerily reminiscent of Rudolf Hess's slogan, "Deutschland ist Hitler, und Hitler ist Deutschland!" I wonder if the writer may have had this in mind when he wrote that. --JorgeA