Ask yourself this. Has anyone, anywhere, had a problem or comeback, or fraud committed against them from using the default settings in W10 ?
Its a non problem, and you can opt out of much of it anyway. You will have far more to worry over through using a non-secure OS such as W7 in 2020 or Vista as of now.
The major issue with spying in Windows 10 is that some Bloggers and commentators have seen it as a way to generate clicks and thus advertising revenue - ie if they write about a controversial issue and use inflammatory words to do the writing more people will visit the site and the advertisers will pay the site owners lots of money. Of course it's irrelevant to these people that their "facts" are totally untrue or at best they are misquoted or generally badly explained.
There was an old quotation ...
Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.
Douglas Adams
The telemetry in Windows 10 is not spying at all, but an essential part of building a better product, that more matches the specific needs of the user. Microsoft's problem with windows 10 is that they actually stated in the EULA that they collect data to make windows better, this was done in previous operating systems, and still is, just not as openly as in Windows 10
Cortana is a prime example, as a lot of the Cortana processing is performed in Microsoft's secure servers, as the majority of users systems are nowhere near powerful enough to do so. In order to enable this they need to transfer key data to that server and return the answers to the user, they do not keep this data linked to a specific user, but what data they do retain is used to analyze what format of questions they should work to improve response to, not to tell the NSA what you're up to, ( they have their own systems)
I fell into the whole spying thing myself, but as time passes I'm realizing it was blown so out of proportion. It's also somewhat worrying that after (at least) the American people was told that they are spied on by their government, on all fronts and regardless how security savvy you think you are, most are still worried about how Cortana will one day suggest you a restaurant that you will actually enjoy (how the hell did they know I like thai food? -- this is my privacy!)
Privacy is a commodity that is slowly but surely disappearing, and now we know it for sure. Going back on topic though, what I'm more worried about is Windows 10 and onwards shoving me endless ads of products I might like through that data collection/telemetry or whatever they choose to 'euphemize' it. Give me control over my system, don't bombard me with things I don't want or need and it's all I can really ask. When Microsoft will start to think they know better than the end user, that's when I'll be looking for alternatives. I think they had this intention with W10, but they quickly fixed it.
Unfortunately, as Windows 7 was developed a while ago it does not have protection built-in for some malware loopholes that have come to light since it's development, Yes they have been patched but a patch is never as good protection as a core system design. I would have to say that windows 7 is less secure than Current operating systems, all other things being equal, It's not unsafe as such, but is slightly less secure than windows 8, 8.1 and 10
Hi,
Any os that serves adds will eventually serve corrupted add links
Skype/ skype app has already done this not to long ago :)
I've never seen any Ads in Win 10. (the OS itself), then again I run Pro or Enterprise plus I don't use Free apps, ( there is always a price for free stuff, ads are one of them). I see ads in websites, the same as everyone else but that's not an OS thing
Telemetry gathers user information on usage and IP and sites to garner advertising data. First off a LOT of sites do this (natively Windows 7 with all of its updates does it already). As more and more OS vendors realize that an OS and software are more just a conduit to selling online (services or products), this will become the new paradigm, and all OS vendors will do it.
I'm not sure spying is a correct term. It almost sounds as if one were stubbornly resisting the future. I understand your concern, but it's not exactly spying.
:)
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