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Microsoft reveals details of Windows 10 usage tracking

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Microsoft reveals details of Windows 10 usage tracking

#31

Post by delinka »

tomswartz07 wrote: post #6

Here's a 100% serious question: If you 'absolutely must' use Windows 10, would it be possible to firewall off every outbound port from this machine to prevent this sort of tracking? Or does it just use Port 80, piggybacking on the normal http traffic? Has anyone done a comprehensive analysis of exactly how this info is being sent?

"Piggybacking"? Presumably, they're hitting a REST API served up on an HTTP server on port 80 or 443 (hopefully 443...)

And sure - stick it behind a NAT, learn the servers that the systems reports to, block those (or set up your own DNS); nothing that the average mainstream consumer is capable of doing.

Re: Microsoft reveals details of Windows 10 usage tracking

#32

Post by thecatspaw »

holografix wrote: post #21
jinst8gmi wrote: post #5

"44.5 billion minutes spent by users in the Microsoft Edge browser across Windows 10 devices" I wonder how much of that was spent downloading Firefox or Chrome? "30% more Bing search queries per Windows 10 device versus previous versions of the OS" I can't imagine that this is due to anything other than the OS and browser defaults?

Have you tried changing the default search engine? It's SIGNIFICANTLY convoluted. It took me about ten minutes to figure it out and I am 100% confident my parent would be incapable of changing it. I've watched them try.

I had to install a plugin for chrome to redirect bing to chrome. Just in case I ever happen to click on the search bar in the bottom which searches the internet.

Can you turn that off? So that it only searches your local pc?

Re: Microsoft reveals details of Windows 10 usage tracking

#33

Post by akerro »

caskance wrote: post #10
Spone wrote: post #3

They reveal figures from the tracking, but nothing about privacy nor how it can be disabled...

Because the figures are from a PR fluff piece about how much everyone is using the new features in windows 10.

It's awesome that I can share info how many pictures I saw. Totally recommend it to everyone who has pictures!

Re: Microsoft reveals details of Windows 10 usage tracking

#34

Post by ionised »

skrowl wrote: post #29
MikeNomad wrote: post #13

Not having read the EULA / Terms of Service (I don't run Windows 10), Would running a script to turn off / block the tracking and data collection violate the agreements?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection add a new 32 dword "AllowTelemetry" and set the value to 0. Then, open Services and stop & change startup to disabled on "Connected User Experiences and Telemetry" and "dmwappushservice". There are bunches of tools and scripts around to do it, but those 2 things are really all that you need to do. Microsoft doesn't stop you from "opting out" of Tel…

I'm pretty sure some reporting and telemetry is still active even after doing those things, unless you run Windows 10 Enterprise.

You can get around that by blocking it with a (non-Microsoft) firewall though.

Re: Microsoft reveals details of Windows 10 usage tracking

#35

Post by gtk40 »

crummy wrote: post #18
DanBC wrote: post #14

When your start menu (or whatever the hell it's called now) serves you ads you know you can give up on that OS and that the vendor does not care about the user.

Like Ubuntu?

Easily removed and has been removed by default in the new version.

Re: Microsoft reveals details of Windows 10 usage tracking

#37

Post by [deleted] »

ionised wrote: post #34
skrowl wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection add a new 32 dword "AllowTelemetry" and set the value to 0. Then, open Services and stop & change startup to disabled on "Connected User Experiences and Telemetry" and "dmwappushservice". There are bunches of tools and scripts around to do it, but those 2 things are really all that you need to do. Microsoft doesn't stop you from "opting out" of Tel…

I'm pretty sure some reporting and telemetry is still active even after doing those things, unless you run Windows 10 Enterprise. You can get around that by blocking it with a (non-Microsoft) firewall though.

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft reveals details of Windows 10 usage tracking

#38

Post by tallanvor »

akerro wrote: post #26
crummy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like Ubuntu?

In Ubuntu you can remove it very easily, in Windows if you disable one tracking or telemetry feature it will turn itself on after some time.

There was some bad update that asked you to confirm what you wanted to open certain file types when you had already set the default, but I've never seen the telemetry tracking options change, and I've double-checked the settings a few time to verify that they haven't changed.

Re: Microsoft reveals details of Windows 10 usage tracking

#39

Post by sz4kerto »

mikegerwitz wrote: post #7

Let's start gathering statistics on how many times people open their refrigerator, or use the toilet, or take a shower. What's more concerning about these data aren't these specific numbers, but what other data that implies that they have, what they can do with it, and what they can infer about you from it. Privacy and anonymity aren't (reasonably) possible on a Windows 10 operating system. Any entity knowing that I…

You bet that the smart-toilet manufacturers will track the usage. :/

Re: Microsoft reveals details of Windows 10 usage tracking

#40

Post by tajen »

crummy wrote: post #18
DanBC wrote: post #14

When your start menu (or whatever the hell it's called now) serves you ads you know you can give up on that OS and that the vendor does not care about the user.

Like Ubuntu?

Ubuntu has indeed probably exchanged a notable percentage of its userbase with this affair.
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