What should I do before connecting Windows 10 to Internet?

OK, back to OP's question, then If you're behind a decent router/firewall, trust your ISP, and trust Microsoft, you need do nothing. Windows 10 is a secure OS, arguably one of the best. I mean, consider WannaCry. People using Windows 10 with the latest security updates weren't affected. Most victims were using Windows 7 or XP.

If you're not behind a decent router/firewall, get one. If you don't trust your ISP, also use VPN services. If you don't trust Microsoft, don't use Windows. Or if you need to, make sure that it doesn't know who you are, or where you're located.

 

At times I'm envious of your succinctness mirimir.

 

Hey, it helps if you've said something 1000s of times

 

@bo elam - indeed we have different world-views, and I wonder if they reflect some historical backgrounds. It is very difficult, in Europe, to trust government surveillance because it has led to some catastrophic outcomes. What's more, I don't see how government actions can possibly be constitutional or legal, and they have lied about it. There are also those in the IC who specifically think the mass surveillance is counter-productive and ineffective.

I'd also gently point out that not everyone agrees that the US has the right to surveil everyone. All that's saying is might is right.

 

It depends where I am. In home I have decent firewall, but I often go to other city with my laptop, where I don't.

I don't distrust them to the level, where I would believe they are directly targeting me. On the other hand I don't know future. I don't know where their databases are going to be. Who is going to own them in, let's say, 15 years from now. Frankly I don't know in what country I am going to live in 15 years from now. I just think it is good practice to minimize unnecessarily exposed information.

 

Imo the only privacy online that is possible, unless extreme measures are taken, is privacy from individuals & minor corps.

Everything else one mistake or efforts by those who can afford it. Then poof ones' online privacy is gone forever.

 

I would agree that mass surveillance that aims to control peoples lives, where they live, where they work, their children s education, leads to a broken society with horrendous results. Life becomes gray, no color. Boring and dangerous. This states control every move you make, they have someone in every block of every town and city in the country that plays the role of being the ears of the state. You have to watch who you talk to and what you say, who comes to your home, etc. And on top of that, every few blocks they organized local groups usually made up of gangsters, named with revolutionary sounding names like Committee for the defense of the revolution, and they control everyone who lives near by. If you wanted to work, you need a letter signed by them. You wanted to move to another city, they wanted to know why and you needed their permission. I can go on and on but one paragraph is more than enough.. That was real mass surveillance, mean surveillance.

But surveillance that aims to detect plots to ham the innocent, that is seamless, that you cant even tell is there and doesn't interfere with your everyday life or movements, I am all for it, we lose some privacy but I am willing to pay that price for security we get in return.

Bo

 

This task is challenging, what is your current progress? I would love to have a look. I use those bellow, but my tweaks break a lot, virtually everything.

Code:

https://pastebin.com/u/TairikuOkami/1/0/1/?o=n1

 

As long as the W10 pc is installing wu achieving greater privacy is impossible.

 

Hi @reasonablePrivacy,

I just stumbled upon this thread. I'm surprised no one recommended this fount of knowledge:
https://hackernoon.com/the-2017-pen...s-10-privacy-security-cf734c510b8d#.15shb6pah

It's the best I have found. Enjoy!

 

@HempOil Thanks for link. I still not installed Win 10. I will probably wait until Spectre and Meltdown scandal calms down.

 

1. Turn off the privacy settings. I found a Youtube video about this topic months ago, but can't post the link here yet.
2. Install a third party firewall and don't use Windows firewall. I was using Glasswire before firing Win10 and switch to Linux.
3. Install third party anti virus like Bit Defender Free or Avast.
4. Use open source browsers, mainly Firefox or Chromium.

Windows 10 has lots of privacy issues and not to mention automatic updates even though you turned off the updates.. If you concern about privacy, better stay with Win 7/8 or go for Linux like Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

 

Does Windows firewall is really easily bypassable? I use built-in Windows 8.1 firewall. I written/clicked my ruleset. I use gpedit to edit firewall rules, because "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security" in Control Panel is prone to be changed by some installers. On mine system Steam* constantly was adding itself to even inbound rules and I am not ok with that, but gpedit ruleset seems to be respected by Steam and others.
Does Win 10 Pro still has gpedit? Does user still can write ruleset in gpedit on their own?

*I understand Steam is also a privacy risk. I am trying to mitigate that, too.

 

If I remember correctly, early versions of Windows 10 could bypass their own firewall when communicating with MS. Some of system components were allowed to communicate and their connection attempts could not be blocked by built-in FW. IDK how things have developed since then but I doubt that they are any better.

 

Hi @reasonablePrivacy,

I came across a couple more great links relevant to this thread:

http://hardenwindows10forsecurity.com/
https://pastebin.com/m26z309a

 

Still using Win 8.1. Does anyone tried ntlite to enhance Win 10 privacy even before installation?

 

If not firewall then at the very least, they ignore hosts-file (and according to below link have ignored since XP SP2 )
https://www.petri.com/windows-10-ignoring-hosts-file-specific-name-resolution

 

It would be interesting to see a set of Windows Service Hardening (WSH) rules blocking some services Internet access.

 

I finally installed Windows 10 April Update. Configured system to not download driver updates via Windows Update, but it ignored it, so I formatted Windows partition and started again.
On second attempt I disabled Windows Update via StopUpdates 10 and installed updates manually via Windows Catalog.
The most useful links I have found in TheWindBringeth's post and imuade's post, but I don't written what I have changed. Certainly I didn't changed everything mentioned by them. The most interesting thing in imuade's post link were scheduled tasks, because they were not mentioned in first link.
I also block incoming and outgoing connections via Windows Firewall (managed by both Control Panel and gpedit.msc - the same rules in both).
I also used O&O ShutUp10.

 

Wow just wow!

It seems to be a comprehensive list to date.

These are all the websites Windows 10 connects to after a clean install:
https://betanews.com/2018/07/31/all-the-websites-windows-10-connects-to-clean-install/

 

Woah.

OK, so I've never really used Windows 10. But ... Facebook ... Twitter