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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

#181

Post by tracker1 »

jessaustin wrote: post #52
talmand wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, there have been multiple Microsoft's that have been in conflict with each other for years.

That's probably true on some level, but from the outside, M$ now is M$ then.

I think DevDiv (Developer Division) is much more in line with Open-Source as a movement, with the business eye towards making Azure the prefered PaaS/IaaS option with their tools.

Windows, and a lot of other bits are more consumer space, and moving closer to Google/Facebook model of customers being the product. I don't necessarily think it's entirely a bad proposition. From a web application developer standpoint, old windows versions, tied to old IE versions have held things back over and over again. Even given some of the privacy concerns, I'd rather most people were on a frequently updated operating system with a frequently updated browser.

That's not to say I think it needs to be windows. Also, if privacy is a concern, one can upgrade to the pro version, or use enterprise skus in offices to disable those bits.

All of that said, I upgraded pretty early (tech preview) and use Pro, so didn't see a lot of the restrictions, or very sleazy upgrade push. My parents/grandparents are mostly on Chromebook devices, and one Grandmother has an Ubuntu desktop. My sister and her family have all bought into the Apple ecosystem... so I'm the most heavy windows user in the bunch and I spend more time on my macbook, ubuntu htpc or in a Linux ssh shell from windows than using windows exclusive software.

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

#182

Post by hendersoon »

ProAm wrote: post #154
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.

Can you disable Cortana? Last I heard you can't

The switch to disable Cortana was removed, so now you have to use the group policy editor or (on Home), edit the registry.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-tip-turn-off-cortana...

Also remember to block searchui.exe in your firewall or windows will contact Microsoft every time you run local filesystem searches.

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

#183

Post by iotku »

AnkhMorporkian wrote: post #97
dspillett wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It may have _downloaded_, Was it bright enough to reliably detect metered connections (did it even try at all?). If not then just this could have cost people money. And consuming a couple of Gb of space could be a noticeable inconvenience on a small system (say one of the many tables and laptops with nothing more than a 64 or 32gb solid state drive).

If you marked your connection as metered, I believe it respected that and wouldn't download it.

>If you marked your connection as metered, I believe it respected that and wouldn't download it.

I don't recall windows 7 having any way to explicitly mark your connection as metered.

As for Windows 8 (I believe it's the same as Windows 10), you can't mark a wired connection (ethernet) as metered if I recall correctly, even though you might be on a satellite internet connection for instance which most definitely is heavily metered.

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

#184

Post by mitm2mitm »

randiantech wrote: post #158

Honest question here: Why tech community is so hard with Windows mandatory updates, and kind of flexible with other companies? Maybe its just me, but the ratio of posts and articles blaming Microsoft for this practice seems to be disproportional. I mean, my Mac asked me 875 times about accepting something about iTunes. No matter how many times i click on decline, it keeps appearing there all the time. Same thing with…

IMO it does not matter what other people are doing. I'm paying for this software so I want control (over my own hardware). Mobile is a lost cause but I literally can't afford to fight my desktop OS. It must work and be reliable.

Maybe I would accept forced security updates if they allowed live updates. Having to restart your computer is awful.

But that's not even the worse problem. It reset settings, install things you removed, services you don't want, remove features you had before for no reason. Not to mention drivers and all the update problems people are reporting. If there's a chance to break, I must be able to choose when I want to upgrade.

I'm willing to pay more for not having to worry about telemetry, MS account and all that bs.

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

#185

Post by ColinDabritz »

randiantech wrote: post #158

Honest question here: Why tech community is so hard with Windows mandatory updates, and kind of flexible with other companies? Maybe its just me, but the ratio of posts and articles blaming Microsoft for this practice seems to be disproportional. I mean, my Mac asked me 875 times about accepting something about iTunes. No matter how many times i click on decline, it keeps appearing there all the time. Same thing with…

Your Mac updates are indefinitely truly avoidable despite the constant nagging. You declined 875 times, and you can decline 875 times more, and forever after that.

Windows 10, in home edition, only lets you delay a limited time. There is a finite amount of possible total time before windows will no longer operate without applying the update. It will apply the updates on restart, or forcibly restart your computer to apply them. This is not the case on any other OS that I am aware of.

You are correct that Chrome applies updates when it is restarted, which is similar, but subtly different behavior. Chrome does not destroy my running context to forcibly restart. I've had the "red" about tag indicating critically out of date for a few weeks on a laptop, with no issues.

http://www.howtogeek.com/219166/you-won%E2%80%99t-be-able-to...

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

#186

Post by AnkhMorporkian »

iotku wrote: post #183
AnkhMorporkian wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you marked your connection as metered, I believe it respected that and wouldn't download it.

>If you marked your connection as metered, I believe it respected that and wouldn't download it. I don't recall windows 7 having any way to explicitly mark your connection as metered. As for Windows 8 (I believe it's the same as Windows 10), you can't mark a wired connection (ethernet) as metered if I recall correctly, even though you might be on a satellite internet connection for instance which most definitely is h…

I can't speak for Windows 7, but I believe you could mark an ethernet as metered in Win 8, but you definitely can't in Win 10.

Edit: I take it back, I was wrong. No ethernet metering. You can do it via regedit, but no way to do it from the UI.

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

#187

Post by hendersoon »

usrusr wrote: post #27
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…

> You can't turn off Windows Update. It will always end up downloading new updates. Just an idea, I don't know if it would work: there's a setting where you can tell Windows that you are on a "metered connection", which supposedly makes Windows postpone various background tasks until you tell it that you are ready for bandwidth abuse (which never happens). I doubt that this would influence any connections by third pa…

You can set ethernet as a metered connection in the registry and the Winaero Tweaker tool can do it for you. However, when I did it, I found manually initiated windows updates stalling on "Downloading Updates 0%" so I don't recommend that solution.

Instead, configure a group policy as documented below.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/328010

Note that Windows respects the "download only" policy but does NOT respect the "no reboot after updates" policy. To stop Windows from rebooting after installing updates, follow steps labeled #2 at the link below.

https://superuser.com/questions/973009/conclusively-stop-wak...

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

#188

Post by eachro »

golergka wrote: post #171
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?

It didn't add to the discussion and the clarification graycat was getting at was hardly necessary. The overreaction edit added afterwards also probably did not help their cause.

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

#189

Post by mitm2mitm »

EasyTiger_ wrote: post #163
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…

Nice meltdown

Copypasta

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

#190

Post by tracker1 »

scholia wrote: post #168
kyberias wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe this. That article nor the article it links did not state that Windows forced the install at any point. Rather the Washington Times article states that: "The company denies wrongdoing, and a spokeswoman said Microsoft halted its appeal to avoid the expense of further litigation." And: "Microsoft says it offers users a choice to update, not a requirement. People have to acknowledge a dialogue box befor…

I had the same experience -- I have numerous PCs and no evidence of any attempt at a forced installation. Not even on my wife's PC, and she's as non-technical as people get. I've generally assumed that people either don't actually read what's in front of their faces (probably pretty common among the non-computerate), or don't understand what they read (ditto), or they panic and do something stupid. Of course, I have…

All the drive-by installs bundled into freeware/floss installers is enough proof that people don't read... I had to stop my mom mid-install after she clicked next pretty quickly, back before she had a chromebook... It was only chance that I was there with her... She almost installed 3 drive-bys with the one app she actually wanted... until switching one of my grandmothers to a chromebook, I'd have to remotely clean all the crap off her PC remotely twice a year... that wasn't at all fun.

I entirely believe there's a lot of people that just click on everything that comes up.

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