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O&O ShutUp10++ – Free anti-spy tool for Windows 10, 11

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Re: O&O ShutUp10++ – Free anti-spy tool for Windows 10, 11

#191

Post by propogandist »

tfigment wrote: post #189
userbinator wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're sure that's actually Google's application doing it, and can show it happening with clear evidence, then I recommend reporting it to the media and everyone else you can think of. That sort of behaviour is essentially espionage and I'm sure it would be enough to get Chrome banned from many places which were previously happy to use it.

It has done this for years. Its not new behavior. Also why I use Firefox and Comodo Firewall. I would remove all privs on the file in Windows to stop it. Deleting will only be temporary.

are there recommendations for a powerful Windows firewall that can be run locally? I have noticed there are DNS calls often resolving from my machine (via pihole), but my local firewall is oblivious to those connections and never alerts me to local application making those calls.

Re: O&O ShutUp10++ – Free anti-spy tool for Windows 10, 11

#193

Post by freeAgent »

m0guz wrote: post #79

I don't trust these tools as any Windows Update can override the setting, or Microsoft can add a new "feature" and continue collecting telemetry data from that. For example; Disk Space Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) tool has been trying to connect to internet since last year's Windows 20H2 updates. I use Binisoft's Windows Firewall Control (wfc)[0], set level to Moderate and check logs regularly. There is also simplewall too…

You do need to remember to re-run this after any major “feature” update on Windows as Microsoft have a way of “forgetting” settings they don’t like or coming up with new ways to violate users’ privacy. This is definitely not foolproof, but it is one of many tools in the arsenal.

Re: O&O ShutUp10++ – Free anti-spy tool for Windows 10, 11

#194

Post by soylentnewsorg »

userbinator wrote: post #176
mmgutz wrote: post #168

The UI is confusing (double negatives). Does Red "Disable Inventory Collector" mean that is enabled? Red, to me, usually means off on a toggle switch. It's explained in the help.

If only they would just use normal checkboxes, available on Windows since the 80s, instead of these stupid ambiguous slider-switches, they would be perfectly clear with the additional advantage that you can use them while colourblind. Check to disable, uncheck to enable. It's the result of another idiotic attempt at UI "modernity". (Then again, the double negatives in Windows' own Group Policy Editor, where some if n…

here are some checkboxes in winaero inder the "disable windows ads" title:

[x] stop unwanted apps windows auto-installs

[x] start menu suggestions

[x] ads in explorer

notice how the first checkbox has "stop" and the second and third don't? to me, if "ads in explorer" is checked, it means you have ads in explorer. not to the winaero guys though. if "ads" are checked, no ads. sometimes. sometimes if "stop ads" is checked, no ads.

my favorite is android, where you have a toggle, and depending on how it's set, the description of the toggle changes. so you have the toggle "off" and it says "disable this feature."

Re: O&O ShutUp10++ – Free anti-spy tool for Windows 10, 11

#195

Post by OmahaBoy69 »

cma wrote: post #169
gigel82 wrote: post #137

There are a lot of open source scripts and tools on GitHub for accomplishing the same goal (in various state of being out-of-date, abandoned, etc.); I started collecting the ones that appear somewhat active here: https://github.com/TemporalAgent7/awesome-windows-privacy I plan on going through them to weed out duplicates and duds. You shouldn't trust any of those blindly, but definitely read through the code; I'm par…

I noticed a media disk drive grinding away the other day, nothing made sense to be causing it. Turns out Chrome now scans all your drives and sends executables back to Google by default or something (software_reporter_tool.exe), even if you are a software developer in competition with them (practically all software developers since Google are essentially all-encompassing at this point). Is it intuitive to anyone that…

I experienced this too. Thank god for having a noisy HDD or I never would have noticed.

I fixed it by replacing the software_reporter_tool.exe with a blank file named "software_reporter_tool.exe" and setting it to read-only.

Re: O&O ShutUp10++ – Free anti-spy tool for Windows 10, 11

#196

Post by ToFab123 »

mmgutz wrote: post #168

The UI is confusing (double negatives). Does Red "Disable Inventory Collector" mean that is enabled? Red, to me, usually means off on a toggle switch. It's explained in the help.

Yes, this tool is very confusing to use. It is hard to tell if the slider has to be red or green to disable something. I have a mix of green and red and with most of them it say recommended "yes". So is my current setting the recommended setting because it say yes or does the yes mean the recommended setting is to disable it? Is disable it then the green or the red knop? This app needs a complete UI redesign to be useful

Re: O&O ShutUp10++ – Free anti-spy tool for Windows 10, 11

#197

Post by r721 »

cma wrote: post #169
gigel82 wrote: post #137

There are a lot of open source scripts and tools on GitHub for accomplishing the same goal (in various state of being out-of-date, abandoned, etc.); I started collecting the ones that appear somewhat active here: https://github.com/TemporalAgent7/awesome-windows-privacy I plan on going through them to weed out duplicates and duds. You shouldn't trust any of those blindly, but definitely read through the code; I'm par…

I noticed a media disk drive grinding away the other day, nothing made sense to be causing it. Turns out Chrome now scans all your drives and sends executables back to Google by default or something (software_reporter_tool.exe), even if you are a software developer in competition with them (practically all software developers since Google are essentially all-encompassing at this point). Is it intuitive to anyone that…

It seems this is the same engine as ESET antivirus scanner:

>As applied in Chrome Cleanup, ESET’s technology is used by Google to alert users about unwanted or potentially harmful software attempting to get on users’ devices through stealth, for example, by being bundled into the download of legitimate software or content. Google Chrome, using ESET’s security technology, then provides users with the option to remove the unwanted software. Chrome Cleanup operates in the background, without visibility or interruptions to the user. It deletes the unwanted software and notifies the user once the cleanup has been successfully completed.

https://www.eset.com/int/about/newsroom/press-releases/compa...

Re: O&O ShutUp10++ – Free anti-spy tool for Windows 10, 11

#198

Post by dbmnt »

TLLtchvL8KZ wrote: post #47

I prefer https://privacy.sexy/ - it generates a script that I can read/edit.

Thanks for sharing this. I tried 3 of the tools mentioned in this thread, in addition to having tried the O&O tool before, and https://privacy.sexy/ resonated with me the most. It's the easiest to understand and also makes it much easier to make smaller incremental changes. Due to the "revert" toggles and heavy commenting, it's easy to roll back if anything breaks.

Re: O&O ShutUp10++ – Free anti-spy tool for Windows 10, 11

#199

Post by dartharva »

Krasnol wrote: post #177
dartharva wrote: post #143

A lot of recommendations here, but it's surprising no one has suggested Sophia Script yet: https://github.com/farag2/Sophia-Script-for-Windows IMO the best and most holistic solution for debloating and de-botnetting Windows.

Probably because of this: > Due to the fact that the script includes more than 150 functions with different arguments, you must read the entire Sophia.ps1 carefully and comment out/uncomment those functions that you do/do not want to be executed.

You can have a GUI for that, it's also mentioned in the README:

https://benchtweakgaming.com/2020/11/12/windows-10-debloat-t...

Re: O&O ShutUp10++ – Free anti-spy tool for Windows 10, 11

#200

Post by dmos62 »

larodi wrote: post #135
dmos62 wrote: post #36

It still amazes me how prevalent closed-source is on Windows. Even hacker-oriented, non-commercial things are closed-source.

everything is closed source, apart from the building blocks that comprise it. all clouds are closed source, most of the finance is closed source, MacOS is closed source, iOS - too. games - closed source, critical infrastructure - closed. okay...let's think. lets take for example postgresql. all right is opensource, we all love it. but how some company uses it - well this is not open source. only few businesses dare t…

You've said a lot of things there. Could you sum up what you were arguing for?
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