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Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

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Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#121

Post by ikeboy »

blackbeard wrote: post #91
ikeboy wrote: post #86

Just changed two rules in Windows Firewall to blocked and it appears to no longer send anything. https://i.imgur.com/a5yu5vb.png Wondering if I should go through all the Windows stuff there and turn them off. Edit: just did (except for Edge and obvious internet related stuff). Is there a way to change Firewall rules with a registry tweak? That would be the ideal way to distribute this.

Use Powershell: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj554843%28v=wps... You can get the rules and enable/disable them easily.

Thanks!

Typing

> New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Search" -Direction Outbound -Action Block -Profile "Domain, Private, Public" -Program "C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchUI.exe"

in elevated Powershell should work.

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#122

Post by Gracana »

gnufrra wrote: post #89
blackbeard wrote: post #25

I'm starting to think I need to worry about things getting out of my firewall more than things getting in.

On my Mac I use Little Snitch to monitor outbound connections and I love it. I haven't found an equivalent simple and lightweight application for Windows yet.

Oh man, I am racking my brain trying to think of the tool I used to have installed on my PC at my last job. It was built by somebody who posted on HN, lightsomething or something? It would warn you about new programs connecting to the network and do other neat stuff. Not quite the same as little snitch, but similar and very pleasant to use. I'll update if I think of it (or maybe somebody else can name it.)

[edit] Glasswire! https://www.glasswire.com/ It's super slick. Apparently the paid version has an "ask to connect" feature.

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#123

Post by k3d3 »

simoncion wrote: post #114
shard972 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea i don't like this image hosting service either. I'm on some bad wifi atm and it actually froze my UI for a minute.

I don't know what client you're using, but the UI freeze might have been because of the client-side decryption of the image data.

The decryption is done in a web worker, not the UI thread. That shouldn't be the cause.

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#124

Post by Istof »

andrewstuart2 wrote: post #80
chatmasta wrote: post #34

This also happens on iOS with spotlight. As far as I can tell there's no way to turn it off. Source: MITM your iOS traffic. Sidenote -- a possibly unforeseen side effect of end to end encryption everywhere is that it makes it far more difficult to man in the middle your traffic and hold companies accountable for their privacy policies.

Privacy is a double-edged sword. If you want perfect privacy, you also throw away a lot of potential optimizations. For example, you may leak information about sites recently visited, updates applied, etc. if you have a local proxy cache and subsequently look at response timings.

is it even possible to get perfect privacy with a smart phone?

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#125

Post by jack_straw »

gnufrra wrote: post #89
blackbeard wrote: post #25

I'm starting to think I need to worry about things getting out of my firewall more than things getting in.

On my Mac I use Little Snitch to monitor outbound connections and I love it. I haven't found an equivalent simple and lightweight application for Windows yet.

Have you tried GlassWire?

https://www.glasswire.com

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#126

Post by happycube »

morganvachon wrote: post #108
justThis1Post wrote: post #36

As time goes by, computer software begins to feel more and more hostile to the user. When I installed Windows 10, all the privacy settings made me feel like I was wrangling a beast rather than setting up something that would help me. I don't know if there's any solution or if privacy is just a remnant of the past. Is Linux any better? And is there any way to own a smartphone which is built not to leak my information,…

For a desktop OS, try OpenBSD, Slackware Linux, Debian, or Arch Linux, or if those are too obtuse (they can be difficult for the uninitiated to get into) try Ubuntu or Linux Mint. If you go with Ubuntu you'll want to go to the Security & Privacy tab and disable online search results and tracking. For a smartphone, you have to dig back into the past and find a Nokia N900 or an old-school BlackBerry; anything based on…

What about an Android phone running a AOSP variant without Google Services?

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#127

Post by ultramancool »

Istof wrote: post #124
andrewstuart2 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Privacy is a double-edged sword. If you want perfect privacy, you also throw away a lot of potential optimizations. For example, you may leak information about sites recently visited, updates applied, etc. if you have a local proxy cache and subsequently look at response timings.

is it even possible to get perfect privacy with a smart phone?

Yes. http://repo.xposed.info/module/biz.bokhorst.xprivacy

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#128

Post by foiboitoi »

wl wrote: post #71
Paul_S wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you could use free software.

Counterexample: Ubuntu sending local file system searches off to Amazon because apparently online shopping and file searching are things you want to do simultaneously.

The main difference between Ubuntu and Windows 10 is that Ubuntu will respect your decision to opt-out.

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#129

Post by ZoFreX »

to3m wrote: post #61
Macha wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This behaviour bit me in the ass in work today. Had a new Mac, just installed Polycom (our video conferencing program), typed Polyc out of habit in spotlight to launch it, ended up on the wikipedia page for polycystic ovarian syndrome...

I rarely use the Spotlight or Start Menu keyboard searching because of stuff like this. If it doesn't reliably produce the right result each time if you only type a small amount of the name - which it doesn't - what's the point? (Call me crazy, but because of this I've come to not mind the basic Windows 8 start screen. It's not as good as the classic start menu, but compared to the Windows 7 one you can at least arra…

This. I previously loved Spotlight but it's getting strange in its old age. For example, if I type "i" or "it" or "ite" or "iter", Spotlight predicts "iTerm". But if I actually type "iTerm" in full it takes me to "Go2Shell" in the App Store – because it has the word "iterm" in the patch notes of the most recent version. Useful.

Re: Windows 10 phones home when you search your start menu, even with Bing disabled

#130

Post by ptx »

mikegioia wrote: post #94
justThis1Post wrote: post #36

As time goes by, computer software begins to feel more and more hostile to the user. When I installed Windows 10, all the privacy settings made me feel like I was wrangling a beast rather than setting up something that would help me. I don't know if there's any solution or if privacy is just a remnant of the past. Is Linux any better? And is there any way to own a smartphone which is built not to leak my information,…

I don't know if there's any solution or if privacy is just a remnant of the past. This always irritates me when I see it (not specific to you). It's not a remnant of the past and there is of course a solution! The solution is trading some of the conveniences you think you need. The solution is for once trying something other than what you're used to. The reason why you (and everyone else who thinks this way) feel the…

> There are new phones coming out like Ubuntu's and Mozilla's that, while not perfect, absolutely are better alternatives.

The last time I checked, Mozilla's Firefox OS phones appeared to be sending all home screen search queries to some unknown company in Israel, with no clear way to disable it.

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