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Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft

arstechnica.co.uk

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Re: Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft

#81

Post by toyg »

thescrewdriver wrote: post #36

Until recently Microsoft had taken a far more reasonable approach to privacy than say Google. Anyone remember the MS "gmail man" ads mocking the way Google inspects your email when MS doesn't? It seems that MS under Nadella has taken a decidedly Google-like turn away from privacy with Windows 10. MS seems as hell-bent as Google and Facebook to collect as much data about you as possible, even if it is for seemingly in…

> Anyone remember the MS "gmail man" ads mocking the way Google inspects your email

Yes, and they were widely mocked. Privacy fears don't really sell, especially when deployed 10 years too late by a company that is the definition of "establishment".

Re: Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft

#83

Post by rhino369 »

thescrewdriver wrote: post #36

Until recently Microsoft had taken a far more reasonable approach to privacy than say Google. Anyone remember the MS "gmail man" ads mocking the way Google inspects your email when MS doesn't? It seems that MS under Nadella has taken a decidedly Google-like turn away from privacy with Windows 10. MS seems as hell-bent as Google and Facebook to collect as much data about you as possible, even if it is for seemingly in…

Competition is often a race to the bottom. Chromebooks are a huge threat to Windows hegemony.

Microsoft lost the internet and mobile platforms to Google. They are going to fight tooth and nail for the PC.

If the average person doesn't give a shit about privacy (and they truely don't), then Microsoft will not be able to charge for products Google supports for free with spying/ads.

Re: Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft

#84

Post by edgyswingset »

inversionOf wrote: post #78
jevgeni wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is Google scanning massively one's emails a requirement for "intelligent systems" and is OK, but Microsoft sending telemetry data is "over the top"?

While I hardly think you're asking with any sincerity, sharing every keystroke, local system search, application activity, wifi passwords, and so on is over the top . Making that the default, instead of a value-add that you pitch, was profoundly poorly considered.

> profoundly poorly considered

For the handful of people who care deeply about data collection, yeah. For the rest of the 900+ million, it's really not a concern.

Edit: I know it sucks to hear, but your concerns about privacy are hardly shared among the general populous.

Re: Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft

#85

Post by ised »

bsilvereagle wrote: post #2

> And finally, some traffic seems quite impenetrable. We configured our test virtual machine to use an HTTP and HTTPS proxy (both as a user-level proxy and a system-wide proxy) so that we could more easily monitor its traffic, but Windows 10 seems to make requests to a content delivery network that bypass the proxy. Does this mean a Win10 machine setup to use something like Tor will leak the user's actual IP back to…

Change the gateway on the Windows 10 install computer (or "default route" as another commenter calls it) to a computer _you_ control, i.e., a UNIX install, that can do IP forwarding. Turn on IP forwarding. Connect the UNIX install to the internet.

Also change your default DNS servers on the Windows 10 install to point to the UNIX install. If you know how, set up DNS on this computer. I recommend using your own cache listening on 127.0.0.x, not a public one.

Then monitor traffic being forwarded by the UNIX install.

This is not difficult for anyone familiar with UNIX. Plenty of good and bad software to help you.

Do people need instructions? If there is interest in blocking this nonsense I for one would be willing to help.

There are a lot more Windows users than Apple users so this is fun to watch how the Windows users react to the incessant connections to the mothership, which is par for the course with Apple products. Would love to see the stats on how much cumulative user-purchased bandwidth Apple and Microsoft are usurping in order to track the people who have to pay for it.

If you want to block this nonsense, then the easiest way to do it is from another computer acting as a gateway.

Trying to block these connections from the computer on which Windows 10 has been installed will probably be an exercise in frustration for most users and they will give up. (Most Apple users do not know or care so they do not try to block.) I am sure that Microsoft is counting on their users acting like Apple users.

Re: Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft

#86

Post by GhotiFish »

t0mbstone wrote: post #79
enqk wrote: post #67

This highlights what we really lost when consumer operating systems started replacing enterprise-grade operating systems. I would have never imagined this kind of things happening on something like Solaris or Irix, which were the base operating systems of many workstations. At some point when Linux became popular it suggested that the regular consumer would benefit from the robustness, focus, reliability of an entrep…

Would you let the creator of your fridge eat some of your food, if they gave you the fridge for free?

If I put a lock on the fridge they gave me, should I be taken to jail?

Re: Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft

#87

Post by pdkl95 »

inversionOf wrote: post #26
irixusr wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In canada that's a big concern

It's a concern anywhere with caps, which increasingly includes much of the US as well. FWIW I'm in Canada and recently my provider (Cogeco) switching my 120Mbps plan to unlimited data per month, which is nice. This actually brings up a great point which is that systems need some sort of bandwidth conservation setting. We recently were traveling and had a couple of laptops and pads with us. Having no data connection a…

The problem isn't limited to bandwidth caps and pay-per-byte; bandwidth usage can be a problem anywhere bandwidth is finite. Any heuristic that tries to hide the bandwidth usage based on a single computer can fail when there are other computers using the same network.

Re: Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft

#88

Post by malka »

thescrewdriver wrote: post #27
PythonicAlpha wrote: post #14

You agreed to the privacy terms, so you are at the mercy of whatsoever Microsoft implemented. Windows 10 even could totally ignore your settings. I say this, not because I think that this is OK, but to reflect, that even the change of the settings do not save you from the harm, that was done from the privacy terms! Why downvoted? When you disagree, than give arguments, not gutless clicks!

Very few people will read the privacy terms. Just because they have a document people clicked 'agree' below without reading doesn't mean that MS should not be held to account for what Windows 10 is leaking. For many users not using Windows isn't an option.

Even if people were to read it, how many are able to understand legalese ?

Am I supposed to consult a lawyer each time I want to install a software ?

Re: Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft

#89

Post by mondoshawan »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #76
Hello71 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We have trouble enough with China trying to hack us literally thousands of times per day you mean you did "tail -f /var/log/secure". > God forbid Microsoft give 7 the boot for support like they did XP. god forbid Microsoft try to deprecate OSs after nearly 13 years. note that in 2001, the newest Linux kernel available was in the 2.4 series, with many people still using 2.2.

I mean China literally doesn't stop. Every college, every department, they're all under attack, all the time. Whether it's sanctioned cyber-theft by the Chinese government or one of their thousands of "patriot hackers" they are ALWAYS trying to penetrate our networks and steal our research, personnel information, and so on. This is an indisputable fact, and my university is not alone.

Can you not block all incoming traffic from China assigned blocks?

Re: Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft

#90

Post by enqk »

t0mbstone wrote: post #79
enqk wrote: post #67

This highlights what we really lost when consumer operating systems started replacing enterprise-grade operating systems. I would have never imagined this kind of things happening on something like Solaris or Irix, which were the base operating systems of many workstations. At some point when Linux became popular it suggested that the regular consumer would benefit from the robustness, focus, reliability of an entrep…

Would you let the creator of your fridge eat some of your food, if they gave you the fridge for free?

Well I would let them maybe eat some food once or twice but they certainly would not have the key to my appartment
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