How to protect your privacy on Windows 10

[A Guy]

So, you have decided to switch to Windows 10, but you heard that the new OS is a veritable vacuum for user data, which it sends back to Microsoft.

Fear not! While most of the capabilities and permissions to slurp the data are on by default, they can be switched on and revoked.

You can do this either during the installation process or after. Go here or here to discover how.

If you value your privacy, reading Microsoft's Privacy Statement is also a must.

Source

A Guy

 

[ThrashZone]

Nice edit

UPDATE:
“We strongly suggest customers do not install applications of this nature," a Microsoft spokesperson told Help Net Security. "These types of third-party apps can alter the way the system operates, creating future problems and changing important settings and features.”

 

[Layback Bear]

Windows 10 seem to be a huge Microsoft botnet.
I have read somewhere on this forum Microsoft is also using P2P with Windows 10.

 

[FerchogtX]

Windows 10 seem to be a huge Microsoft botnet.
I have read somewhere on this forum Microsoft is also using P2P with Windows 10.

Mhhhhh... that is not exactly true.

What they are doing is using other computers to share their bandwidth and make the downloads of updates faster... in scence, is like using your PC like a P2P, but is not a total P2P, because it only works for Windows Update... can be disabled, but still annoying, I mean, if Microsoft makes me share my bandwith with the rest of the people, speed I PAY FOR every month, then I'd like Microsoft TO PAY ME in proportion for using MY PAID bandwidth. Then, I'd glladly share it.

As I said before, this is why they release this first year for free, it's an experiment, they are using the upgraded users as test subjects to see how their cloud based model will work.

It's like being a guinea pig... honestly, and that attitude from them sucks.

 

[ThrashZone]

Sounds like what Comcast is doing for their valued customers making other Comcast customers share bandwidth :/
Mighty generous

 

[ThrashZone]

Just a fun note,
Did I imagine it or did the bench author actually use classic shell
Liked it that much did they :/

 

[Cr00zng]

Well, why is everyone surprised the lack of respect to their privacy in Windows 10? It is not a standalone OS, instead it is a cloud based service by Microsoft. As such, all of the cloud services related lack/respect of the privacy comes in to picture.

While on the surface Microsoft isn't doing anything that had not been done before, the extent that MS implemented in the new OS is probably worse than Google's Chrome OS or Android platforms. Which means that MS will have more accurate data about its OS users, ergo, better ad revenues through Bing and other third-parties.

Running tools to disable MS snooping will break a number of "features" in Windows 10. For example, the "Search Windows" on the task bar is broken when Cortana is disabled. The other is that the updates are disabled:



Disabling updates isn't the best idea. Unless you believe that "Windows 10 is the most secure operating system from Microsoft..."

And yes, I did run the program referenced in the article on my Windows 10 in VMware. There's no way I update my W7, 8.1 to 10. At least not for another five years or so...

 

[python134r]

No. Updates are not disabled when killing cortana and the insecure bullshit cloud services. It can be locked down pretty well if done correctly and its much faster than Win 7 Pro[which I happen to like very much] all around.

 

[xips]

My question is can Cortana successfully be killed or will it spring back to life somewhere down the road like Friday the 13th's Micheal? Say for instance when you do a repair...

 

[ThrashZone]

Yes repair changes everything back to default and is very annoying too

Disabling web search and cortana using group policy does not break local search
It actually speeds it up tremendously because you don't have to wait for cortana to load and speak and also web search results
Pretty much why the only version possibly worth having is Pro.
All you get is a short message admin's have blocked cortana usage.

Almost instantaneous.

No telling if updates to cortana will have issues installing though ?

 

[Cr00zng]

No. Updates are not disabled when killing cortana and the insecure bullshit cloud services. It can be locked down pretty well if done correctly and its much faster than Win 7 Pro[which I happen to like very much] all around.

Disabling Cortana does not impact the updates. On the other hand, running the article referenced tool (Disable Windows 10 Tracking) does, if disable selected for the four options.

And yes, W10 does fire up faster than W7 or W8.1 for that matter, even in WMvare. The downside is that the system still loading in the background and it takes just as much time to shutdown as starting it up. W7 shuts down much faster...

If W10 would not have the extensive data collection from the end user, I would not hesitate to update W8.1, or even W7. Despite the fact that more and more tools are becoming available to limit the data collection, there are just too many of them are built-in to the OS that still call home. Just try

Wireshark and/or monitor network logs, there are still quite a few TLS 1.2 encrypted connection to "home". Maybe in couple of years people will find workarounds to block all of these, but not at the current time...

 

[FerchogtX]

Disabling Cortana does not impact the updates. On the other hand, running the article referenced tool (Disable Windows 10 Tracking) does, if disable selected for the four options.

And yes, W10 does fire up faster than W7 or W8.1 for that matter, even in WMvare. The downside is that the system still loading in the background and it takes just as much time to shutdown as starting it up. W7 shuts down much faster...

If W10 would not have the extensive data collection from the end user, I would not hesitate to update W8.1, or even W7. Despite the fact that more and more tools are becoming available to limit the data collection, there are just too many of them are built-in to the OS that still call home. Just try

Wireshark and/or monitor network logs, there are still quite a few TLS 1.2 encrypted connection to "home". Maybe in couple of years people will find workarounds to block all of these, but not at the current time...

In fact, Windows Update cannot be configured anymore, just on Pro (but you can just delay updates) and Enterprise (full ability to configure Windows Update), so it has nothing to do with Cortana, you need to do a couple of tweaks to disable Windows Update completely... Which reminds me, there is a collection of scripts around the net that disable Cortana, Web Search, Telemetry (entirely), Defender and all the telemetry stuff Microsoft pasted all over the OS, this includes the removal of two critical services for telemetry, blocking all related tasks in Task Scheduler and some reg tweaks... Although they seem to keep working on preventing the OS to revert back some stuff by itself, like Windows Update settings or Defender "sudden activations" (Yeah, the OS seem to revert back settings MS don't like by itself without warning the user).

About Windows 10 booting "faster", they forced desktop to show earlier, giving the users the illusion or a faster boot, in fact, it boots the same way and speed as Windows 7 does right now, but Windows 7's feel smoother because the desktop shows after the services have been loaded succesfully (thus the "Starting" screen you see before the desktop shows up), giving better response to user input.

Windows 10 benefits from SSD's in this case, because in those disks, showing the desktop at an early stage makes no impact in system performance and responsiveness... But you can call that a "cheap hardware hack" if you like invented terms XD.

I don't see so much luck with this new OS, I liked the looks of it, but it starts to be a problem more than a solution...

 

[Layback Bear]

When someone hacks Microsoft's method of using P2P, P2P will become
P2000000P.
Getting Windows 10 Updates will infect thousands if not millions of computers.

 

[FerchogtX]

When someone hacks Microsoft's method of using P2P, P2P will become
P2000000P.
Getting Windows 10 Updates will infect thousands if not millions of computers.

Dunno if that could happen, but that's one of the reasons people is disabling Automatic Updates, if not them at all, seems like a big hole in security.

 

[Cr00zng]

In fact, Windows Update cannot be configured anymore, just on Pro (but you can just delay updates) and Enterprise (full ability to configure Windows Update), so it has nothing to do with Cortana, you need to do a couple of tweaks to disable Windows Update completely... Which reminds me, there is a collection of scripts around the net that disable Cortana, Web Search, Telemetry (entirely), Defender and all the telemetry stuff Microsoft pasted all over the OS, this includes the removal of two critical services for telemetry, blocking all related tasks in Task Scheduler and some reg tweaks... Although they seem to keep working on preventing the OS to revert back some stuff by itself, like Windows Update settings or Defender "sudden activations" (Yeah, the OS seem to revert back settings MS don't like by itself without warning the user).

Yes, in the W10 Pro version, one could delay the update, but not disabling it. The article referenced hack for privacy sets Windows 10 Pro update to Enterprise settings. The new setting is "Never check for updates (not recommended)", as shown in the image posted earlier.

Disabling Cortana doesn't really stop snooping on the end users, as shown in this article. Telemetry related and other communication still remain even after the hack. If just the control panel used for changing the privacy settings, the data exchange between Microsoft and the end user's PC does not have much impact.

And again, Windows 10 is a SaaS and just like any other cloud based service, the end users should not have reasonable expectation of privacy. This is clearly stated in Microsoft's new privacy agreement, read it. If one does not like it, don't use Windows 10 is the only option.

This privacy agreement is being investigated in Russia for the reason, quote:

In his letter, the politician claims that the end-user service agreement distributed with Windows 10 reads that the operating system (OS) will collect and store users’ web history, access points, passwords and other personal data, including physical location, emails and other messages and information about phone calls. Microsoft also reserves the right to share this data with special services, use it in research, publish or use it in any other way it sees fit.

The chances are that the Russian hackers, creators for the most malware, strenuously object against the investigation. The objection is somewhere along the line of:

Windows 10 is a great OS, it has all of the hacking tools built-in to collect data from the end users. A simple DNS hack allows us to distribute our version of data collection to million if not billions of end users. Who needs malware when the operating system comes with it by default against which, security tools are useless...

That's a stretch, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the "telemetry" is used as an attack vector by the hackers...

 

[Berkey]

Not sure how valid this person's blog (Czech site) is, but it was pointed out to me over on another forum. The author claims to have used PRTG Network Monitor, Windows Resource Monitor and Wireshark to analyze the telemetry of windows 10 and came up with the following. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with any of the information or its validity as it seems a bit overkill, but you never know, anyway here's the overview

Analýza Windows 10: Ve svém principu jde o pouhý terminál na sb?r informací o u?ivateli, jeho prstech, o?ích a hlasu! | AE News

 

[Borg 386]

I don't doubt for a minute that there is a lot of information being passed back to MS. The big trend is gathering as much data on all people on the net. Why not MS? Windows is the most used OS in the world, from what better place to build enormous databases on people & then sell them to the highest bidder. The OS came free, they're going to have to make up their losses somehow.

My primary OS is 7, although I have been tinkering with 10 to see what it's like. One thing I did note, a constant usage & sending of bits of the searchUI.exe (linked to Cortana), which when turned off through process explorer turns right back on. This is after supposedly disabling all of Cortana's functions. From what I've investigated/read online, 10 digs deep into your online & computing habits & passes that info on to MS. It has many angles of mining information. And they are damn near impossible to turn off.

I think I'll stick with 7.

 

[ThrashZone]

I doubt bing desktop search for win-7 is any different beside Cortana not being there it's just bing mining.

 

[Borg 386]

Oh I'm sure they are picking up some info along the way in all OS's. I don't use Bing but I'm aware that does nothing to protect my surfing habits being recorded by something, somewhere.

One thing I do notice, the searchUI.exe isn't present on 7. At least it doesn't show up on any of my scanners. It's firmly entrenched on 10 however.

I did d/l the privacy tool listed in one of the articles. I'll use it when I fire up 10 later & see if it does limit any of the data output.

One of the articles I read lists the only fix for stopping searchUI.exe, is taking ownership of the Cortana folder within a 2 second frame that it stays off once you shut down searchUI. That might be an interesting experiment too.

 

[ThrashZone]

No telling how one could take over the built in system administrator account in 10 like in 7
I'm sure in a year many people will crack it