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With Windows 10, Microsoft Disregards User Choice and Privacy

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Re: With Windows 10, Microsoft Disregards User Choice and Privacy

#171

Post by golergka »

graycat wrote: post #90

Gb abbreviates gigabit or gigabyte? What does GB abbreviate? ===================== In update: PLEASE stop down voting me for my simple, nice, courteous reminder to the person who wrote the post I replied to. I was NOT, NOT, NOT, NOT ignorant of the meanings of Gb versus GB and was NOT, NOT, NOT, NOT asking for a tutorial on the difference. I am not an ignorant newby on HN knowing too little to be posting here. Just w…

Can somebody please explain why is this comment being downvoted so low? I understand that the edits don't look nice, but why was it downovoted in the first place?

Re: With Windows 10, Microsoft Disregards User Choice and Privacy

#172

Post by tim333 »

jakebasile wrote: post #17

I upgraded willingly so the deceptive upgrade practices, while deplorable, didn't really affect me. What does affect me is that Microsoft refuses to let me control my computer. - If you turn off Windows Defender Real Time Protection it explicitly tells you "You can turn this off, but if it's off for a while we'll turn it back on". It turns itself on upon next reboot, it seems. - You can't turn off Windows Update. It…

I upgraded willingly, got annoyed by that kind of stuff and downgraded again back to 7 which I'm happy with. There was nothing terrible about 10 it's probably better overall, I just didn't want the weird extras.

Re: With Windows 10, Microsoft Disregards User Choice and Privacy

#173

Post by hendersoon »

plantocorp wrote: post #135
0xmohit wrote: post #2

Some highlights: Microsoft installed an app in users’ system trays advertising the free upgrade to Windows 10. Not satisfied, the company eventually made Windows 10 a recommended update so users receiving critical security updates were now also downloading an entirely new operating system onto their machines without their knowledge. This is essentially equivalent to saying: You've been running whatever version of Win…

As a Microsoft employee, this W10 force upgrade things is the single thing that pisses me off the most by far... It goes against everything that we are trying to promote/change. Sometimes I'm really wondering if we work for the same company (I'm not in the Windows division). I feel like all the effort we put in investing in open source, being more open, and just generally a more empathic company is totally destroyed…

I believe this famous comic said it best:

http://www.bonkersworld.net/organizational-charts/

For all Satya's promises, nothing _really_ changed.

Re: With Windows 10, Microsoft Disregards User Choice and Privacy

#174

Post by ben_jones »

0xmohit wrote: post #2

Some highlights: Microsoft installed an app in users’ system trays advertising the free upgrade to Windows 10. Not satisfied, the company eventually made Windows 10 a recommended update so users receiving critical security updates were now also downloading an entirely new operating system onto their machines without their knowledge. This is essentially equivalent to saying: You've been running whatever version of Win…

And yet the game Overwatch doesn't have an OSX port so I have windows 10 setup as a dual-boot option. It seems that Microsoft has correctly deduced that users don't really give a fuck. They'll throw a hissy fit, they'll make all sorts of blog posts, but at the end of the day the majority are still staring at a windows 10 installation screen and dealing with it.

Re: With Windows 10, Microsoft Disregards User Choice and Privacy

#176

Post by noblethrasher »

I hate to say it, but a lot of this stuff was advocated by Butler Lampson (one of heroes)[1].

Basically, he advocated for having at least two computers (which could be virtual machines) labeled “red” and “green”. The red machine is promiscuous, and accepts inputs from anything; whereas the green machine only accepts inputs from “accountable” sources (n.b. this means it wouldn’t accept input from the red machine).

Crucially, he says that the green machine, which might have access to sensitive information such as your financial records, would ”require professional management”. The user might be able to make course grain adjustments to qualify what it means to be an accountable source, but in this scheme, the system’s integrity is only assured by allowing the professional administrator to preempt the user.

I don’t like it (Win 8 will probably be the last version I use), but since it’s Butler, I have to at least consider that he might be right.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJw2SZPjAfA&feature=youtu.be...

Re: With Windows 10, Microsoft Disregards User Choice and Privacy

#177

Post by E6300 »

graycat wrote: post #104
Frank2312 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a wired connection, there is no toggle for that setting. There is probably a registry value you can change to do so though.

> There is probably a registry value you can change to do so though. Thanks, but with "probably" I sense that I'm about to get into what I call "mud wrestling" or hours or days of just throwing wild guesses against a wall to see if any appear to stick. I've only got 365 days a year, and I've given away far too many of them to such mud wrestling. GOD knows I do NOT want to do more of that. For physical things, say, an…

Why don't you just put a firewall between the machine you want to stay untouched and the Internet. Block all outgoing connection attempts to Microsoft servers. "Firewall block windows update" seems to return relevant results. That seems like a good "big hammer" sort of solution to me.

Re: With Windows 10, Microsoft Disregards User Choice and Privacy

#178

Post by curt15 »

scholia wrote: post #162
jalami wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "new" Microsoft was a change in business model, not a sudden thawing of the heart. Windows used to be the product, now Windows users are. This is similar to Google and Facebook's offerings. Very few companies still strictly sell software anymore. The open sourcing of tools is marketing and a consequence of prioritizing adoption over exclusivity. Like Android, Windows isn't going to be the bare foundation you buil…

The business model hasn't changed. Windows is an always has been a paid product (with some minor variations) and Microsoft is not a significant player in the advertising business. (AOL does sell Bing ads, I think.) Of course, if you have any factual evidence that Windows users are a product, then I'd be interested to hear it.

Why does Windows 10 now phone home to domains like ad.doubleclick.net and adnexus.net?

Re: With Windows 10, Microsoft Disregards User Choice and Privacy

#179

Post by curt15 »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #31
sotojuan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So all the talk about the "new" Microsoft has been for nothing.

The new Microsoft picked up a lot of habits from Google and other newer companies. 1. Open sourcing crud. 2. Taking away your rights and violating your privacy. We need to communicate clearly to Microsoft what types of new behavior are good, and what types of new behavior are bad. It's just like raising a child. :)

It's probably no coincidence that they pulled out of the EU investigations of Google after starting it. They probably see the financial upside in becoming more like Google.

Re: With Windows 10, Microsoft Disregards User Choice and Privacy

#180

Post by hendersoon »

hackernews2000 wrote: post #40
wvenable wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can't remove worthless apps like Microsoft Groove and OneDrive integration. You can, it's just not super-easy. I've done both. Groove was pretty easy but OneDrive took a few steps. I almost have file explorer configured in a good way for me -- it actually seems much more flexible than previous versions even if half that flexibility is only available in regedit.

OneDrive comes back to the File Explorer after each Windows 10 big update, even if you disable its icon with the registry editor. The same happens to the library folders (Videos, Pictures etc.).

Yes, many customizations are lost with the "big" updates, including disabling telemetry and cortana as well as tons of settings. That's because they aren't _really_ updates; they are complete OS installs. Your old windows directory is literally renamed to windows.OLD.
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