Windows 10 - Deeper Impressions

[BudwS]

Windows 10 security:  Install on a dedicated computer with or without network adapters.  To stop all security leaks, shut down the computer.  I've found this technique to be fool proof even for me. 

Even after a Windows Update in which Win 10 loses the WIFI connection and messages are adamant that no network adapters exist, the Router knows that clandestine Win 10 is using the "non-existent" Internet connection for secret purposes.  Shut Down blocks that leak.  At least the Router indicates that assumption.

[cc333]

7 hours ago, xpclient said:

Look what this IT security analyst found about Windows 10. It does not honor many privacy related settings: https://twitter.com/m8urnett/status/866353982217699328

Why am I not surprised?

Windows 10 is okay, if I disable virtually anything, but I like every other version better, particularly XP and 7. Even Windows 8 (not 8.1) is better! In stock form!!

When that happens, you KNOW something's wrong, because 8 was pretty bad. Out of fairness though, 8.0 did improve over time, eventually evolving into the much better 8.1, but still....

c

Edited May 22, 2017 by cc333
Said some vaguely positive things about Windows 8.0

[vinifera]

err

wasn't 8.1 released to "improve" 8.0 ?

[NoelC]

10 hours ago, xpclient said:

Look what this IT security analyst found about Windows 10. It does not honor many privacy related settings: https://twitter.com/m8urnett/status/866353982217699328

The only thing Windows - and Microsoft - can possibly respond to from this point forward is complete contempt.  Not just no, but HELL NO, I will not allow them to control MY system.  Period.

FYI, I think Mr. Burnett hasn't worked quite hard enough.  He's not going to be able to get there with just settings.  Microsoft doesn't care to honor those settings.  They're not smart enough to think through how to make their cloud-integrated toy apps even begin to work without a full-time mothership tether.

I've let my Win 10 v1703 system just sit quietly for days.  It doesn't make any unsolicited contacts except to an NIST time server on a schedule I've set.

Not sure if this image will show here, I posted it on another forum:

This is WireShark showing no outside-the-LAN communications for half a day.  And the only error my system logs all day is right after bootup. Apparently it thinks it’s an error that I’ve disallowed it from starting UAC, because UAC was, is, and always will be an abomination...

The trick is to completely shun the toy Apps, cloud integration (OneDrive/Settings), and half-baked personal digital assistant.  Then of course that leaves Windows 10 no better than any prior version.

-Noel

[mikedigitize]

5 hours ago, NoelC said:

Then of course that leaves Windows 10 no better than any prior version.

-Noel

[ap77]

Looks China will be getting a different version of Windows 10.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/23/redmond_puts_wall_around_windows_10_for_chinese_government_addition/

[UCyborg]

There used to be a bug when it comes to bridging a wired and wireless network adapter. When you had a bridge setup and connected to some WiFi access point, if you set it up that it connected to the access point automatically when it's in reach, it would drop connection after few seconds, supposedly because in other scenarios, it wouldn't make sense to have multiple adapters connected to the same gateway.

This drove me nuts! Took me a while to figure out how to get it to work; I had to disable automatic connection. Anything but obvious workaround. I wonder when it was fixed and whether it's present in older OSes, must have been some update between October 2016 and April 2017 or it was Creators Update when the bug disappeared.

Another WiFi related annoyance that is still present, why does it connect instantly when you set it up to connect automatically, but not if you try to connect manually. There's at least 10s delay, and you have to sit and wait for that spinning circle to disappear. And don't dare to close that pane until it connects, you just cancel the whole thing otherwise.

[Tripredacus]

17 hours ago, UCyborg said:

There used to be a bug when it comes to bridging a wired and wireless network adapter. When you had a bridge setup and connected to some WiFi access point, if you set it up that it connected to the access point automatically when it's in reach, it would drop connection after few seconds, supposedly because in other scenarios, it wouldn't make sense to have multiple adapters connected to the same gateway.

Not knowing exactly what you had experienced, I would guess it is related to how the OS can only have 1 gateway at a time. It doesn't matter if you are connecting two interfaces to one or two to two. When using automatic settings, when you connect to a new network, it will use the gateway as assigned by the DHCP server and then the existing gateway will no longer be used and the new one will. It can switch anytime a renew is done. The outward appearance to this is that you can "lose connection" when using a setup this way. It is not recommended to connect to multiple dhcp servers unless they are specifically set up to allow full access on both networks, or to use static IPs where one has a gateway (usually for internet traffic) and the other does not. This is not limited to Windows.

[UCyborg]

I use the wireless adapter to connect the laptop to home router, therefore granting it internet access and making it part of home LAN. By bridging its wireless and wired adapter, I can connect the desktop computer to the laptop's ethernet port to make it part of the LAN as well. The only catch is, one computer must have manual IP settings, if both use automatic settings (DHCP), they get the same IP address.

The problem that I had that is gone now, if the "Connect automatically when this network is in range" checkbox was checked in the properties of the wireless connection, the connection would be dropped in about 15 - 30 seconds (I don't remember exact time). Until then, both computers could normally access the internet. Trying to re-connect would again make it work only temporarily. When I went and cleared that checkbox and re-connected, the connection stayed. I just had to manually connect to it every time I turned the laptop on. Only when the Creators Update released, I tried again to see whether it would work with that checkbox checked, and indeed it works now as expected. There were no other changes that I'm aware of.

The only tips I found at the time was to check power-saving features on the wireless adapter, manually enabling promiscuous mode and changing roaming sensitivity level, but since they didn't change anything, I reverted them to default settings.

When you have the bridge, IP settings are managed from the properties dialog of the bridge, if you open the properties of the actual network adapter that is part of the bridge, it will just tell you to configure settings from the bridge's properties and give you the button that takes you there. So if I had things configured manually on the laptop, I would have to input the same IP settings in the bridge's properties as I would in wireless adapter properties if I didn't have the bridge setup and would only use the wireless adapter. In both scenarios, I deal with only one network, home LAN, bridge just allows me to connect the desktop to the LAN since I can't connect it directly to the router with the way things currently are in my house.

[Formfiller]

Hi all, long time no see. Anything new regarding Windows 10? I was a bit busy.

By the way: Free speech is truly dead. I posted a criticism about a popular video game in a VG forum - post got deleted. I posted it then on reddit, post was made "invisible".

A frigging video game! It wasn't even a new one. Amazing how many techniques to censor are available by the way: Shadow banning and the like.

[Tripredacus]

There isn't much new to be said about Windows 10. It feels like a feeling of helplessness has overtaken everyone. I still try to avoid it. I do not like to use it, but the complaint is merely Explorer related. I'm sure it would be a lot better using a custom shell.

[bookie32]

1 hour ago, Tripredacus said:

There isn't much new to be said about Windows 10. It feels like a feeling of helplessness has overtaken everyone. I still try to avoid it. I do not like to use it, but the complaint is merely Explorer related. I'm sure it would be a lot better using a custom shell.

It is like I have said all along...biggest load of crap they have seen fit to release...!!

bookie32

[BudwS]

I have no problems with the Windows 10 computer when it's powered off.

[xpclient]

I don't like malware so I am happy with Windows 8.1. Windows 10 is malware.

[NoelC]

I happen to agree with you, xpclient, but there will almost certainly come a time when Win 10 sports something new that becomes "must-have" - either that or Microsoft will just end.

It won't be a new App, and probably won't be something new in the App arena at all, but something like an ability to support new hardware or an ability to do something we geeks love (e.g., an ability to set up a boot volume with ReFS).

Their supreme, utter, obvious marketing failure is that they've failed to win the hearts and minds of technical leaders (e.g., those here on this forum).

It's now less stable than any 2 year old operating system in history, it's not got anything new or exciting technically (where it counts), and it's ugly as f***.  Uglier.

Doing better at ANY ONE of those things could have led to a wider adoption by we geeks.  A lot of people listen to what we say.  If we were to start saying things like "Gee, it's not too cool out of the box but it can be turned into something nice, and so I've adopted it for my own hardware systems" then others would follow.

Those of us in the know just aren't saying that.  Windows 7 is still at what, almost 50% share?  That's just because the fact that Windows 8.1 can be tweaked into something nice isn't well-known.  Pre-Windows 10 systems still account for the MAJORITY of the world's Windows usage.  Think about that.

I've personally had more trouble with my Win 10 test system (on a VM) lately with the Creator's Update than I've had with any prior Win 10 release.  So much so that I've reinstalled it several times, the most recent time being a complete CLEAN install.  I've only JUST BARELY been able to make it to where it will successfully get through a Windows Update, and that's only by leaving almost all the cloud-integration crap enabled.  As a result, it's banging up against my firewall with such URLs as those used by "delivery optimization" (peer to peer Windows Update file sharing), attempting to login via login.live.com, trying to sync settings via settings-win.data.microsoft.com - NONE of which I want it to do.  The tweaks to shut that s*** down leave the system unwilling to complete a Windows Update.

Please give me any reason why a knowledgeable technical expert would want this turkey.

Microsoft stepped over the line a long time ago, and they just keep going!

I'd be willing to pay good money (as I always have in the past) for a decent serious version, but no tech expert I know is even saying that the Enterprise editions are controllable/manageable.

Sorry my frustration is showing.

-Noel