Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Windows 10 users are being banned from torrent sites

irishexaminer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 358 posts

Re: Windows 10 users are being banned from torrent sites

#81

Post by Becca_J »

sillygeese wrote: post #60
mtgx wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's what I did: 1) turned off everything in the Customization section at install 2) Used http://pxc-coding.com/portfolio/donotspy10/ 3) Used https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking Then, I installed a traffic monitoring tool - and surprise surprise - I still found some stuff trying to randomly connect to Microsoft's servers, similarly to what Peter Bright from Ars discovered (btw, "telemetry" can only be f…

I wonder why you're getting downvoted.

Me too. Found it to be a useful and interesting post – thanks mtgx.

Re: Windows 10 users are being banned from torrent sites

#82

Post by hobs »

sillygeese wrote: post #60
mtgx wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's what I did: 1) turned off everything in the Customization section at install 2) Used http://pxc-coding.com/portfolio/donotspy10/ 3) Used https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking Then, I installed a traffic monitoring tool - and surprise surprise - I still found some stuff trying to randomly connect to Microsoft's servers, similarly to what Peter Bright from Ars discovered (btw, "telemetry" can only be f…

I wonder why you're getting downvoted.

I am also seeing downvotes in this thread I would not have expected, for what appear to be legit issues with Windows 10, even if some of the rhetoric is a wee hyperbolic.

I dont normally like to go meta and talk about voting, but this is the worst example I have probably ever seen.

Re: Windows 10 users are being banned from torrent sites

#83

Post by forgotmypassw »

KaterKarlo123 wrote: post #62
x5n1 wrote: post #13

Basically M$ adoption of this strategy is the death knell for any semblance of privacy on the PC. It's amazing how far we have come to accepting such draconian measures in order to further marketing. There is still time people, come on over to Linux, the privacy here is still fine and will continue to be fine. And if you come over, then all the desktop software makers will port their software to Linux and all the col…

I've deactivated all reporting and services that call back home (at least which I was aware of). In addition I've installed glasswire to check the network activities. So far I can assure you: Compared to my Android phone Windows 10 is absolutely mute. There're no noticeable differences compared to Windows 7. You seem to be more driven by your hatred towards Microsoft than by real privacy concerns.

The questionable part is that they're there in the first place and enabled by default. I'd be fine with that if the telemetry and what not was opt-in as opposed to a lot of toggle switches spread across multiple settings.

Re: Windows 10 users are being banned from torrent sites

#84

Post by coldpie »

kuschku wrote: post #71
AlexandrB wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but the lists I've seen look huge [1]. It also requires 3rd party software/hardware to block since the name resolution for many of the endpoints seems to be hardcoded into dnsapi.dll. There's also no guarantee that some security update will add additional server names that Windows can talk to. Basically you end up in a security arms race with your OS provider - which is hard if not impossible to win. [1] http://…

Can’t we remove them from dnsapi.dll? Decompile dnsapi.dll, remove all hardcoded hosts, replace and protect to a nonexistent group so that windows can’t even override it during an upgrade.

Or just switch to a less hostile operating system. As more things move to the web, this is becoming a very reasonable proposition.

Re: Windows 10 users are being banned from torrent sites

#85

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

sillygeese wrote: post #60
mtgx wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's what I did: 1) turned off everything in the Customization section at install 2) Used http://pxc-coding.com/portfolio/donotspy10/ 3) Used https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking Then, I installed a traffic monitoring tool - and surprise surprise - I still found some stuff trying to randomly connect to Microsoft's servers, similarly to what Peter Bright from Ars discovered (btw, "telemetry" can only be f…

I wonder why you're getting downvoted.

I didn't but I suspect because their first link looks like a malware pinata. They should have just linked to Github, rather than to some site with a whole host of fake "download" buttons, that looks a lot like CNet/Download.com.

Re: Windows 10 users are being banned from torrent sites

#86

Post by [deleted] »

mtgx wrote: post #36
adrianb wrote: post #6

Has anyone compiled a privacy checklist for Windows 10? What settings people have determined are best to use? I was somewhat forced to do the upgrade and didn't have the time to explore all settings (also they got more confusing since Windows 8).

Here's what I did: 1) turned off everything in the Customization section at install 2) Used http://pxc-coding.com/portfolio/donotspy10/ 3) Used https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking Then, I installed a traffic monitoring tool - and surprise surprise - I still found some stuff trying to randomly connect to Microsoft's servers, similarly to what Peter Bright from Ars discovered (btw, "telemetry" can only be f…

[deleted]

Re: Windows 10 users are being banned from torrent sites

#87

Post by StefanHamminga »

jsf666 wrote: post #17

Shouldn't the built-in botnet/spyware push all major companies and goverments away from Windows? I don't know how they would be ok with all they're data sent/shared with them (and probably a dozen of US agencies). It's like buying a rooted by design system

For this reason I'm considering updating my Terms of Service to include a 'Windows 10 clause' clarifying that any OS that can't be trusted in its default state is in direct violation of any NDA provided by me and would nullify any NDA imposed by other parties.

This because, imho, the issue with every proposed 'fix' for Windows 10 is the same: The deal the Windows 10 buyer made with Microsoft is that Microsoft is allowed to monitor you. There is no guarantee that Microsoft won't disable any fix at a future time, like they do now with methods to bypass their software features (like activation).

Re: Windows 10 users are being banned from torrent sites

#88

Post by hippo8 »

admax88q wrote: post #53
datalist wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$? (and no, I dont mean the shell's exit code) The 90s called and would like to have their hatred back. As for privacy issues in your recommendation -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_%28user_interface%29#Pri...

He said use Linux, not "Ubuntu" There are plenty of linux distro that _do_ respect your privacy.

True. But Ubuntu is one of the most popular distros. I have noticed, for many non-technical users, the name "Ubuntu" is synonymous with linux.

At the end of the day, most of the technical users know how to stay protected. Atleast the type of people who can install a linux distro on their main computer.

It's kind of our fault, we need to make the general public understand these risks, we need to make solutions more accessible. Because, if this sort of thing continue, we would one day suddenly wake up to a world that would not respect anyone's privacy. How many big companies are caught violating user's privacy, remember superfish?

The funny thing is, big companies are starting to be more and more confident violating their user's privacy.

Re: Windows 10 users are being banned from torrent sites

#89

Post by kijin »

r3bl wrote: post #59
adrianb wrote: post #6

Has anyone compiled a privacy checklist for Windows 10? What settings people have determined are best to use? I was somewhat forced to do the upgrade and didn't have the time to explore all settings (also they got more confusing since Windows 8).

There were like 3-4 open source projects posted here (yeah, people don't get that the point of publishing an open source project is to actually collaborate) aiming at making privacy on Windows 10 one click away. As far as I can tell, they all did a miserable job and blocked some legit features (like Windows Update) and domains and never updated their projects once we told them about the legit features they're blockin…

The problem with a one-click approach is that one person's "legit feature" is another person's privacy nightmare.

I have no use for Cortana, so for me, it's nothing more than an annoyance to be disabled. But for others, it might be the one reason why they upgraded to Windows 10. Likewise, some tutorials out there advocate disabling Windows Defender, but I consider (at least some parts of) Windows Defender to be a legitimate feature.

I'm trying out Windows 10 in a VM, and so far I've managed to disable: everything in the privacy control panel, advertising ID in Edge, Cortana, OneDrive, web search from the taskbar, feedback, telemetry, and the half-crippled Start menu. Now it's just a slightly faster and flatter Windows 7. I'm not sure if I'll ever let it out of the hypervisor though.

Re: Windows 10 users are being banned from torrent sites

#90

Post by Silhouette »

x5n1 wrote: post #13

Basically M$ adoption of this strategy is the death knell for any semblance of privacy on the PC. It's amazing how far we have come to accepting such draconian measures in order to further marketing. There is still time people, come on over to Linux, the privacy here is still fine and will continue to be fine. And if you come over, then all the desktop software makers will port their software to Linux and all the col…

Basically M$ adoption of this strategy is the death knell for any semblance of privacy on the PC.

I think if anything it would be users accepting this strategy by installing the new OS that would be the death knell for privacy on the PC. So far, it doesn't seem clear that this will happen, though.

The reaction from business is predictably hesitant anyway. Some of the concerns about Windows 10 won't apply so much with the more business-oriented versions, but in any case it seems likely that large organisations are going to do their homework, other than maybe a few high-profile early adopters who may or may not have been offered unusual incentives in return for being flag bearers.

As for home users, there was reportedly a post from someone on the Edge team a few days after the launch that gave some figures about adoption generally. They looked quite impressive at first sight, but if you extrapolated from the reported adoption rate, it would still take a substantial increase or a very long time to shift the market as a whole onto Win10, despite all the incentives and nag messages and free upgrades Microsoft have been pushing this time.

The one tiny data point I can contribute myself is that based on analytics I just checked for a consumer-focussed site I run, Edge hasn't even moved the needle on browser distributions this month.

So I'm not sure Microsoft get to sound the death knell for privacy on the PC. They can provide an OS that reduces privacy and raises concerns, but that doesn't necessarily mean people and businesses will choose to use it. Time will tell.

Post reply on HN