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Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

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Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#261

Post by jonlucc »

tdkl wrote: post #169
jonlucc wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already have a large update coming in the Fall and one next Spring that should bring additional features. Of course, fixes to things that are broken should be happening regularly.

> They already have a large update coming in the Fall and one next Spring that should bring additional features. And this is relevant to a customer now as in what ? I'm getting tired or too old for this "continuous, agile, push now make it work later" attitude of products that's out today.

I only mean that there will be at least a couple changes before the 1-year upgrade offer expires.

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#262

Post by PhantomGremlin »

sandworm101 wrote: post #248
tychuz wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean Apple, we're talking about desktop OS here - new Windows Server is not released yet.

Nope. I mean desktop linux. Every time MS, or Apple, launch a new OS with silly fine print and non-removable malware I get people asking about linux. Actually, silly ToS language and spyware don't really matter. The entire update/versioning process with MS is so painful that distros like ubuntu start to seem the easier option.

Nope. I mean desktop linux.

So you're saying that 2015 is finally the year of Linux on the desktop? That prediction has been made before. That prediction has never come true, and never will. IMO.

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#263

Post by PhantomGremlin »

tremon wrote: post #196

requires javascript; didn't read

Same for me.

When I'm on my deathbed, I don't think I'll say "Damn! I wish I had enabled Javascript back in 2015 so I could read that clickbait article on Windows 10 privacy (or lack thereof)."

All hyperbole aside, I'm glad for HN threads like this. I don't need to read the article to get the gist. And I also gain perspective from all the comments posted here.

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#264

Post by Spivak »

scholia wrote: post #260
ionised wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't say I've noticed any issues. That said, I'm not using the Windows Store, Cortana, ModernUI apps, OneDrive or even a Microsoft Account at all so your mileage may vary.

OK. A bit like Hamlet without the prince! I take it you don't believe in app stores, secure apps, AI, deep learning, cloud computing and similar modern rubbish ;-)

Modern rubbish? These things have been around for decades.

App Stores are just repositories by another name.

Secure apps are just signed binaries.

Cloud computing is just, "pay someone else to host your shit" same as it always was.

I'm not the person you replied to but I share his views. I use all of these 'modern' luxuries but in my case I'm in control of them.

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#265

Post by bratch »

Istof wrote: post #259
bratch wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest problem with mobile phone privacy (assuming you seek it) is that no matter how trustworthy and privacy respecting the operating system and its software is, the baseband modem is usually at the behest of the network provider and also generally has full access to the main CPU and memory. There is one project I am aware of that is looking to address this problem - the Neo900 [1]. The platform should hopefull…

A WiFi-only cellphone with Ubuntu, Cyanogenmod, FirefoxOS or Sailfish as an OS along with a mobile hotspot device that provides a WiFi access point might be able to get around this issue of the baseband modem having access to your CPU and memory [1]. 1. https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardenin...

Correct - by using two separate devices you can cheaply get around the issue today. This gets you a setup that I could agree to be trustworthy and privacy respecting.

The convenience of one device is a big sell though, plus I think a device with a built in cellular modem is more fairly called a "phone".

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#266

Post by ptx »

mikegioia wrote: post #233
ptx wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an official feature: https://youtu.be/H9zwf0VMVDI https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2012/11/28/mozilla-invests-in-... http://everything.me/about/

I mean, you linked a press release from 2012 for a partnership with Everything.me, and an Indian Mozilla video from 2014 about adaptive search which doesn't mention anything about that. I'm not saying FF is innocent in data-sharing, but at this point you're spreading FUD around. To make a claim like that, you need something way more definitive!

The misfeature demonstrated (adaptive app search) is implemented by sending the query to the company mentioned. It's not a secret. See this article for example: http://www.cnet.com/news/mozilla-revamping-firefox-oss-app-l...

Edit: You're right that it's not mentioned in the video. That's part of the problem; it's obviously something people care about and would like to be informed of.

Here is one bug report discussing it - and a "fix" involving stopping the queries in some very specific cases: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1082787

Or how about this direct quote[1] from Mozilla's CTO (where in "e.me" refers to Everything.Me in context):

"So we send an XHR request for each letter to Google on Desktop (search box), and XHR requests to e.me on Firefox OS."

[1] https://lists.mozilla.org/pipermail/dev-platform/2014-Octobe...

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#267

Post by RexRollman »

sigzero wrote: post #237
RexRollman wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iOS does tell you have to turn it off but the user has to notice a small notice on the Spotlight control panel. Same with OS X. I believe this kind is unethical as Apple knows that most people won't change the default settings.

There is nothing unethical about it. It would be if there was no way to turn it off.

The default setting should be to respect the privacy of the user first. Since they know most users will blindly go with the default, it's an asshole play.

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#268

Post by z3t4 »

couchand wrote: post #250
z3t4 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too bad Microsoft bought it, and shut it down though :/

[citation needed]

I currently own a N9 mobile phone, witch is the successor of N900. I had a windows phone before that. And the N9 is superior to Windows phone in all aspects.

When Microsoft bought the company (Nokia) they shut down all support for the phone, including SDK, app store, music store, maps, roads and software updates.

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#269

Post by rosege »

dc_gregory wrote: post #39
bsilvereagle wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are literally thousaunds of bytes exchanged For people on capped connections, this is a nightmare. 4kB/search, for using your computer normally! Even though 100 searches/day is only 12MB of data/month, the fact that Microsoft thinks it's okay for the OS to slurp data like this boggles my mind.

It seems a bit unlikely that users doing 100 searches a day would also be the same set of users who worry about 12MB of data usage in a month. For example, even in the Australian market (very low competition environment), 12MB of data via 4G is trivial.

Try running computers on boats where you have VSAT/Fleet connections and every KB counts

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#270

Post by orionblastar »

snuxoll wrote: post #157
orionblastar wrote: post #154

Microsoft has almost always done this with Windows. Each new version had something new to phone home about. Previous Windows versions told Microsoft what apps you had installed, send in crash data, and other things. Microsoft is doing the customer is the product thing that others have done for like the past decade. It is how they can give away Windows 10 upgrades for free, even to pirated copies, and still earn money…

> Even worse is the Wifi sharing with social networks, if even one of your corporate employees has it turned on, their friends can get access to your Corporate Wifi and it is a security breach. You'll have crackers trying to friend employees on social networks of your company just to get the Windows 10 Wifi sharing password to get into your corporate network. Your first mistake was using a simple WPA pass-phrase to s…

You'll be amazed at the small and mid-sized companies who don't do that to secure their network. Some even don't have an IT department and have tech savvy employees handle the network for them.

A lawyer of mine has her husband handle their network and PCs. Still running XP and Vista, using ClamAV for AV, has clients access the XP PC to watch videos and they could click on any link or browse any address when they aren't looking. You'll find a lot of small law firms work like that.

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