Part Two: Resisting Windows 10?

http://www.simhq.com/daily-news/part-two-resisting-windows-10.html

Do you think Microsoft's telemetry gathering is benign or something a bit spookier?

I think the issue is who do you trust to protect your information against malicious attacks. Unless you can hire a professional to configure your system against security threats, it's near impossible for the average user. The majority of folks do not have the knowledge to do it right, so then Microsoft becomes the next best thing.

I can't imagine reading a zillion articles, blogs, threads and try to figure out how to protect myself. I'll take the lesser of two evils. Sure Microsoft may be stealing something from me without my knowledge, but it's much better than a hacker doing the same.

Trust is an empirically justified confidence, that means it is basing on a collection of earlier experiences that showed satisfying results from the point of view of the perosn spending the trust.

Microsoft has no such record with me, and the ways in which they try to sneak GWX onto my W7 system even when I deliberately said No and tailored my defences accordingly, has - due to the repeated efforts of theirs to infiltrate my system and to alter my system settings to open a gate for them - in fact formed a full bag of utmost negative experiences that have written MISTRUST all over them. It is the result of their doings. Cheat your customers, and get recognized as a cheater. No surprise there.

To read about how they also auto-reset privacy protection settings on machines with W10 whenever they send an update they decided the user should betatest them for them, no matter his likes or dislikes, is anothe reason why MS does not deserve to be trusted. A company that does not take the customer's No for a No, and instead does what it wants even when violating the explicit will of the system owner, deserves no trust. They violate the explicit will of me, the owner of my computer? They are out. Period. After all, its my property, not theirs.

I have drawn the consequences and have abandoned MS largely, almost completely, only maintain a gaming HD with W7, but do EVERYTHING else from a different Linux HD. When I update my PC in the forseeable future, I will get two systems infact: one gaming rig, if needed with W10, that is only used for launching games: if that data is interesting for them, so shall be it, it means nothing - and I mostly play offline anyway - ; and one laptop with Linux for any other task, surfing, online-shopping, work, data archives and so forth. In other words: all data they do or do not collect from me, is only about what games I play. They get no profiling data,. no emai,.a dresses, no nothing beyond that. Nothing. I do not even feel comfortable anymore to have MS and Linux residing on two difgferent HDs in one PC tower anymore. Trust lost is trust lost completely.

I do not tolerate MS being able to dictate the conditions under which i have to "trust" them. As far as I am concerned, they have shot themselves out of my life's orbit. And I am making sure neither their services nor any of their OS nor any of their software will ever return.

I may sound a bit old school, but the very moment some stranger adresses me with telling me that I could or should trust him, is the moment when my alarm bell comes to life. Trust is not spend in advance (that is hoping for the best when taking an uncalculatable or unpredictable risk), but needs to be deserved. And MS does not deserve it, but does deserve utmost mistrust. The record is clear and strong.

People using cloud services for sensitive, wokr-related or personal data that allows to profile them, I cannot help. I you refuse to hear the shot even when the pistol ,is fired right beside your ear, you're a hopeless case. I do not even touch onto the added problem of that storage servers usually are located in the US and thus fall under US jurisdiction and NSA espionage policies.

I recommend to maintain a regular checking of this, twice or three times per week, and especially when the patching Tuesday of horror is around:

http://www.askwoody.com/

Great article Lee!

A bit sad, as I'm running it on my new LT, and putting aside shady business practice, it's actually a very nice OS, and a great follow on to Windows 7. Classic case of MS getting in their own way.

I haven't updated my gaming DT yet, more than anything because I don't trust the "update while leaving everything in tact" method to work, so I'm assuming I'll need to do the full blown clean sweep install.

Also, I don't care so much about MS having various bits of my data, I care about Someone back-dooring into the MS storage system of said data. That's really where my mistrust of the platform starts aligning more with what Skybird notes above.

I just upgraded a Windows 7 distro to 10 for gaming as I expect to need dx12 at some point for my gaming fix. I however, I do e-commerce and email on another win 7 distro that I have not upgraded since win10 nag started and I removed the offending nag updates from windows update. I will be moving that stuff to Linux on another machine soon. In the mean time the two OS boot drives are not live at the same time.

As far as the future of my Windows 10 pc, it will just be the glorifed gaming device all the xbox kids wish they had.

Ironic that if it had not been for Alex St John, Microsoft would have missed out on gaming and w might all be using a different os like Linux but for now they are integral to any worth-while gaming IMHO

BUT That's All. Protect your sell from the most insidious spyware so far Windows 10

I converted all my 4 laptops and one desktop from Windows 7 or 8.1 to 10 and I am happy I did. Windows 10 runs smoothly and is the way of the future. As for Microsoft keeping tabs on me? If it's not them then it will be the NSA or some other similar outfit. Being paranoid about it is not going to change anything. Not to mention that MS may already be gathering data on all of us using Windows 7 , 8 or 8.1 without us being aware of it.... As far as I am concerned they can gather all the data they want on me and choke on it. Whatever I want to keep private I don't keep it on a computer hard drive anyway.

My next system will be a Windows 10 machine. There comes a point where trying to keep old software (or hardware) running is not worth the trouble anymore.

Quote:

There comes a point where trying to keep old software (or hardware) running is not worth the trouble anymore

.

Shouldn't that be my choice and not and not M$'s choice for the hardware and software I have already purchased? If yes then think about the intrusive practices of Win10.

Not true!

It's just MS way trying to make people belive the sky is falling and the only salvation is Windows 10!

Intel/AMD/Qualcomm is not so stupid they will limit the OS for their CPU's to Windows 10 only. It's MS propaganda machine talking. Old CPU's will still work with Windows 10 (maybe not with all features but thats just like MMX/SSE/etc in the past) and new CPU's will still work with Windows 7/8 and Linux.

/KC

Ohh I forgot this one...

http://www.maximumpc.com/full-screen-ads-showing-up-in-windows-10/

Apparently there is a way to disable the ads, at least for now

/KC

I can understand your incredulity at the statement. I was likewise a little surprised by the bold move by Microsoft.

Do you have a source to back up your claim? Or are you just speculating? If you're speculating, I hope that your guess is correct, however, all the available information that I've seen points to a W10 exclusivity on next-gen (and current gen Skylake)processors. That said, if an announcement has been made in the past few days, I may have missed it. I don't have time to research it right at this moment, but I'll take a look later today. Like I said though, if you have a source to back up that statement, hit me up here or in a PM, I'd like to see it.

Thanks,
--Lee

A little bit of both

I highly doub't CPU makers have any interest to limit their customer base to please MS. I speculate it will not happen and would even bet on it

The article I read a person with no/little knowledge would believe it just reading the headline. What they actually say is that new specific features implemented in the upcoming CPU's won't be supported on older Windows OS. Nothing new and happend before when new technologies got implemented in the CPU.

The difference this time is that MS makes it sound like the sky is falling and Windows 10 will be your "only" OS option for future CPU's so you better upgrade now when it's "free" since you have no choice anyway.

I run Windows 7 SP1/Linux perfectly fine on a new Skylake and so does many others, in that case your information is 100% wrong.

IIRC some of those features only supported by Windows 10 they mentioned was facial recognition as alternative to passwords, network managers could update machines remotely can't remember more but to the missing features are no big deal for a user at home or even small bussineses.

Will see if I can dig up the link to the article.

/KC

I mention in my article that Skylake processors do, indeed, currently work on OS's other than W10... for the time being. The pertinent information from the post:

"Furthermore, Intel�s new Skylake chips, which are already out in the wild, will only receive full support from Microsoft until July 17, 2017. After that time, only �the most critical Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 security updates will be addressed for these configurations, and will be released if the update does not risk the reliability or compatibility of the Windows 7/8.1 platform on other devices.� In other words, you may or may not get the security updates you need."

However, I do hope your guess is correct.

Looks like MS changed their minds...



The last part is of course dependent on HW manufacturers releasing drivers working with 7/8.x


Source: http://www.anandtech.com/show/10167/microsoft-extends-skylake-support-on-windows-7-and-windows-81

/KC

I'm part of the resistance and plan to keep it that way. I'm staying on a modified Win8.1 as long as possible.

I keep a Win98 rig and a DOS rig. I am done with modding games. My time is now spent pissing on WinBlows. :P Linux now plays most Win98 games and continues to port newer versions of DX.

So the march of technology should be determined by your 10-year-old inkjet and copy of Falcon 3.0? I bet you have a Betamax too

Here's the problem I have with MS (or maybe with just the way things are)...

Several years ago I bought a Compaq laptop with Vista, which had just come out. No problem I thought, I'll just replace Vista with XP. Wrong. As part of an agreement with MS, Compaq refused to support XP. The workaround was to use HP drivers, and for the most part it worked except for no wireless and the sound volume control was quirky. I fixed those problems with a USB ethernet and SoundBlaster card, and I use this laptop still today.

A more elegant solution was using Linux Ubuntu, everything worked fine, but I needed Windows.

I'll be buying a Win10 laptop soon and I'll just deal with the stupidity (e.g. going through hoops to turn off automatic updating, not good for satellite ISP users), I just don't care anymore.

Still using a Windows 2000 desktop for 90% of what I do, it just *feels* like a no-nonsense desktop OS (as does XP when I need to work on a laptop). The new Win10 laptop is going to replace my Win7 laptop once it finishes giving up the ghost, mainly for going online.

Windows 10: The Wife's computers broke the other day. An old machine with a bad Graphics card running windows 10. The system itself made loading new drivers difficult for a upgraded/replacement card. It had a AMD card with a PCI express of one. 350 Watts power plant. No AMD card that old in sight so I finally, got a Nvida 710 card with PCI express of 2 to fit snugly in the slot. Its rated for up to 300 Watts DDR of 3. I must say it looks Odd, but works well. Told her to save her nickels and dimes she needs a whole new computer. Anyone know offhand what is the newest and best PC bang for the buck. ?

A Mac Mini.

I did not say that technology should bend to my desires, I said I should have the option to use new tech or not. My air conditioning is an 8" box fan. Should I be required to install central air? When the phone on my wall is no longer supported, should I be jailed because I choose to venture out into the world without a cell phone? If you refuse to acknowledge old school, you become the slave to modern.

Well spoken Brit44..I agree with that 100%,,I dread my machine dying and being forced to a Win 10 one

On 100% Linux here now. Not using Windows 8.1 or any other because I no longer need it.

And btw: hope y'all are ready because Windows is set to push updates to win 7, 8, 10

Tuesday release, on October 11.

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/wind...vicing-changes/

the only place you will be safe are vista, xp and Linux / bsd / other OS

Take up printed in PC Pro September 2016 (Stats from NetMarketShare - Win 10 currently up to 22.53%)

Still on Win 7 and using SpybotAnt-Beacon, and manually check for security updates. Earlier this week I started getting a notification that Malwarebytes was blocking an attempt inbound to run some Windows processes. Strange. Never got that before. Happened 3 times late Monday and Tuesday. Then it stopped. Later that day I rebooted the computer and got "This is not a valid copy of Windows" which it is. Rebooted and that returned to verified. I started scanning, checking, and spent hours going through everything with in-depth scans. Nothing. Clean. After seeing this I wonder if Microsoft has been the culprit.

It is really sad that one has to spend time and lots of efforts on soemthing that should just work and help, instead of preventing a company to screw up a paid-for, legally and working operating system.

At work I have Windows 10 on my machine and it's not too bad to work with.

At home I have Windows 7 on my machine and my wife's machine. Still prefer that version.

Probably because that's what we're used to now. I just don't like the tablet like interface of 8 and now 10.

Just my preferences.

Andy

Microsoft publishes December 2016 Patch Previews

Microsoft gives third-parties access to Windows 10 Telemetry data

https://youtu.be/wgKJMsJ-6XU

Forget the presentor, but listen to what he is saying.

I switched to Windows 10 on all devices as i don't have any issues with it and did not like Windows 8/8.1. Plus the focus of protecting Windows OS from malware shifts to the newer OS both on the part of Microsoft as well as anti-virus providers. In addition to that I'm likely to find fewer complications when adding any new hardware in 2017

Just for the record, that, like most of the scare articles about Windows 10, is largely incorrect.

Here's an article that actually corrected itself, albeit in small print at the bottom:
http://betanews.com/2016/11/24/microsoft-shares-windows-10-telemetry-data-with-third-parties/

Here are some details on how articles like that get traction:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/fake-news-its-not-just-for-politics-anymore/

Likewise switched all my pcs/laptops to Windows 10 to make it simpler and prepare for the future as eventually all previous versions of windows will stop being supported. Windows 10 is easy to use .As for the privacy MS can milk all the data they want I don't use my pcs for personal stuff. The only annoying things are the updates that can ruins games that used to work fine before.

So no bills, taxes, investments or work activity. Then, games get broken.

Pretty sure this covers just about all I have ever used a computer for but maybe I'm alone.

11 years ago, my bank's computer's were hacked and I had to change everything, my bank accounts, credit card, ATM card etc. I learned the lesson. If a bank cannot protect itself against hackers how can I? I stopped using my pc or laptops for important stuff so if I am ever hacked, phished whatever there's nothing of value they can have from me. Just look at Yahoo, 2 billion accounts hacked and they informed their clients only 3 years after the fact....

I've been using Windows 10 ever since the free upgrade and I love it, actually. I mainly use it for web browsing (I'm in a "phase" of wanting to put together the same type of Ludwig blue sparkle double-bass drum kit that Elvis's former drummer, Ronnie Tutt, used from the Fall of 1970 to August 21, 1974.

I'm hoping that I can accomplish this feat before the year is out. I've wanted a kit like that for over thirty years.

A friend in Texas put together a kit like I'm describing and I have pics.

Here's they are:

Here's an article on personal tech security in general:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/simple-security-step-by-step-guide/

And linked in that article is another one specific to securing Windows 10:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/take-control-of-your-privacy-in-windows-10/

Wow! I accidentally clicked this thread and saw that beautiful drum set!

just fyi:

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/04/06/windows-10-full-and-basic-telemetry-data-collection-information/

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/04/12/microsoft-screws-up-windows-patching-even-more/

I quit buying win BLOWS products after XP. I have never owned a cell phone. :P I am still alive and doing exactly what makes me happy. I hope you are doing what makes your existence enjoyable.

A friend helping us move things dropped my desktop running Win7 so I had to get a new one. I was dreading doing so since that meant Win10. I’ve heard a lot of bad about Win10, but surprise, surprise ! I actually like it. With GOG and Old-Games.com I have been able to get all my favorite games running. I like the interface with the ability to either use the older style lists or the new style of graphic. The next step for me is to get EAW running. If I can, then I will be quite pleased with Win10.

So I guess I am in the minority of those who think Win10 is good.

I didn't like 10 at first,it was on and off my system a couple of times at least before I finally settled with it.

You couldn't pay me to go back to 7 now.

I've been on Win 10 since I bought my new Alienware gaming PC a few weeks ago and I have no complaints. After I made a few changes to the default layout I was good to go.

I was very happy and surprised that an old installation of EAW that I had on an external hard drive ran fine on Win10 without any compatibility necessary. Just ran like old times. Now I’m having the knowledgeable people at the EAW forum help me with new versions.

So Win10 is performing very well for me.

I’m happy.

Glad you got it working

Just steer clear of "Windows 10’s S mode" if you get the option some time n the future.

Microsoft expects the 'majority of customers' to use Windows 10's S mode

:P And, another reason I quit updating hardware once it fit what I wanted from my computer and yes, I am still happy with the phone that is mounted to the wall. LOL, This is still not as funny as those who are angry over modern graphic cards prices because coin miners are buying up all the latest and greatest.

Why the heck would anyone want this?

Why, it should be clear why Microsoft wants this. Doesn't need more reasons than that.