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Microsoft's 'Recall' feature can't be uninstalled after all

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Re: Microsoft's 'Recall' feature can't be uninstalled after all

#131

Post by StableAlkyne »

Dalewyn wrote: post #118
StableAlkyne wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Look up the CVE stats by OS 2024: https://www.cvedetails.com/top-50-products.php?year=2024 9 of 10 are Windows branded operating systems. 3,276 across all of these platforms. Of these, over 1,000 are different versions of Windows 10. Compared to 1799 on the Linux kernel, which is actively developed and will be actively developed for the foreseeable future. Are you arguing that Windows doesn't continuously get CVE e…

>9 of 10 are Windows branded operating systems. 3,276 across all of these platforms. Of these, over 1,000 are different versions of Windows 10. Compared to 1799 on the Linux kernel, which is actively developed and will be actively developed for the foreseeable future. How many of those CVEs actually affect you in a tangible way as to disturb your sleep at night? If you are not considering your threat model to discern…

The OP invoked CVEs for the FUD argument, not me

I agree completely that they have a low signal to noise ratio

Re: Microsoft's 'Recall' feature can't be uninstalled after all

#132

Post by varunnrao »

ezst wrote: post #60
crabmusket wrote: post #46

I had to replace an aeging Windows laptop recently, and MS (and to a lesser extent Apple) going all-in on this kind of AI boondoggle finally gave me the shove I needed to go Linux-only (not dual booting as I'd done in the past, or WSL as I've been doing more recently). Framework made the landing soft, and I'm really excited to never look back. I wish this were a more accessible path for non-tech people.

> I wish this were a more accessible path for non-tech people. It should be forbidden to ship PCs with Windows preinstalled, unless the user made it a conscious purchase decision (and offered to choose between several options). I suspect fewer and fewer users would be willing to fork hundreds of bucks for something that's objectively terrible (and only getting worse), tech literacy would only improve as a result. But…

> It should be forbidden to ship PCs with Windows preinstalled, unless the user made it a conscious purchase decision (and offered to choose between several options).

I don't know where you're buying PCs but where I'm from there is always an option to buy the PC with FreeDOS at a discount of about ~$20-30 compared to the Windows version. Lately, I also see an increase in Ubuntu computers.

> But then you can bet Microsoft lobbying won't let that happen.

I feel "MSFT lobbying" isn't charitable at all to what MSFT and their devs have achieved. You have to give credit where it's due. MSFT have spent a lot of time, effort and dev years ensuring that their customers can run their software without breakage and downtime. This is a non-trivial aspect that most people who don't use Windows often dismiss. MSFT have made themselves the standard platform because of their broad support. This is no mean feat. Canonical has tried for almost 20 years at this point and have barely made a dent with Ubuntu.

Re: Microsoft's 'Recall' feature can't be uninstalled after all

#133

Post by euroderf »

cmcaleer wrote: post #95

Unfortunate. Luckily, Windows itself can be removed. It's incredible how much Microsoft is resting on their laurels in terms of seeing Windows as insurmountable and so consumers must take whatever Microsoft decide to dish out. I would have been totally resigned to this fact a decade ago, but middle-school+ kids these days don't use Windows - they use Chromebooks. A huge minority of them use iPhones. Familiarity with…

Windows+Micro$oft still seems to be the default for big installations, like tens of machines on a LAN needing centralized authentication. What is the state of Mac/Apple for this ? Can it be done ? Can MS be banished from the premises, perhaps traded for a Linux server here & there ?

Re: Microsoft's 'Recall' feature can't be uninstalled after all

#134

Post by spartanatreyu »

langsoul-com wrote: post #99

Currently using Ubuntu as my main driver, replaced Windows. I wouldn't really say the user experience is as good as Windows. Apps hang more often, steam freezes and restarts more. Games crash more often. All problems I wouldn't have on windows. Even though Linux has gotten really far, I wouldn't be using it if windows wasn't so shit now.

Ubuntu's snap packages are terrible, they lag and crash.

It's like Ubuntu saw the Windows Store (less features, worse performance, unmoderated and not used by anyone) and said we want that too.

Just download the thing from whoever's website and you won't run into problems.

You can download steam for linux directly on steam (in a .deb package).

Re: Microsoft's 'Recall' feature can't be uninstalled after all

#135

Post by rafaelgoncalves »

Sol- wrote: post #126

Is that not consistent with how Microsoft always introduced its "features"? Especially all the crap that came since Windows 10/11. First you could still create a local account after there was backlash against cloud-everything, nowadays a local only Windows is quite complex to set up. The Cortana/search bar stuff was also regularly re-enabled or parts of it made non-configurable, with them only occasionally backtracki…

same thing with the Edge browser for me, i have to remove on every update (he has so much telemetry that is a burden, same with other parts of the SO). This is a testament on the philosophy change between all those years, i used so much win95/98/xp that i loved, the times were so simple...

Re: Microsoft's 'Recall' feature can't be uninstalled after all

#136

Post by cynicalsecurity »

pmontra wrote: post #97

China, Russia and many other countries will enthusiastically use Windows to send their secrets to cloud servers in the USA /s

Russian army stopped using Windows many years ago. They switched to Linux.

UK's ships with nuclear war heads are still using Windows XP.

Re: Microsoft's 'Recall' feature can't be uninstalled after all

#137

Post by hrnnnnnn »

Sol- wrote: post #126

Is that not consistent with how Microsoft always introduced its "features"? Especially all the crap that came since Windows 10/11. First you could still create a local account after there was backlash against cloud-everything, nowadays a local only Windows is quite complex to set up. The Cortana/search bar stuff was also regularly re-enabled or parts of it made non-configurable, with them only occasionally backtracki…

I set up a local only Windows 11 machine recently.

1. Install with throwaway Microsoft account 2. Create new local admin account 3. Use local admin account to delete setup account

Not ideal, but not difficult either.

Re: Microsoft's 'Recall' feature can't be uninstalled after all

#138

Post by arp242 »

Spivak wrote: post #19
stackghost wrote: post #4

National Defense runs almost entirely on Windows workstations, including "high-side" or classified networks. I can't imagine the powers that be are too thrilled with this feature, and much like the Intel TPM High Assurance bit, I bet there's an undocumented way to remove it.

The article is a bit of rage-bait. You can already disable it via Group Policy and users can turn it off. They're trying to get clicks because they're trying to make it seems like uninstalling it is some meaningful difference. If you don't trust that the settings on your computer work what in gods name are you using windows for.

I don't really use Windows, And just have a Windows VM I use for testing or compiling some things.

The amount of effort I had to spend to turn off things like Search Indexer and Windows Defender is insane. You can disable things in the control panel but it's still not really disabled and you have to play tricks to really disable it somewhere else. And then sometimes it would come back on because ... reasons?

I have zero faith that if I disable something (anything!) on Windows that 1) I've actually disabled it, and 2) that it will stay off.

Current Windows is absolutely horrible giving any control over the internals – even more so than the old XP/7 systems were. Before my VM I hadn't touched Windows at all for more than ten years, and I was shocked just how difficult some of these things had become.

Re: Microsoft's 'Recall' feature can't be uninstalled after all

#139

Post by stackghost »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #121
stackghost wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have worked in National Defense, held a security clearance, etc. and can confidently say you are mistaken. Microsoft is not maintaining a separate build of Windows for DoD. They may have bespoke licensing agreements and support contracts, but military and DoD workstations run regular windows.

They are, however, maintaining a separate cloud, and parent is not mistaken; windows professional running under group policies is a different animal than windows home https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/servicedescripti... >> Subscriptions in the GCC High and DoD environments include the core Exchange Online, SharePoint, and Skype for Business features. Given the increased certification and accreditation of t…

I'm not going to get any further into it, but the only one who mentioned "windows home" was the other poster, in an attempt at reductio ad absurdum.

Whether or not "windows professional with group policies" constitutes "their own version of windows" as per bongodongobob is left as an exercise to the reader.

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