With all due respect to Mr. Thurrott, W7 users hold the largest, desktop OS market share. The figures I've seen run at approx 60% for W7. XP is at approx 12%, Vista 2% and W8 + 8.1 combined at approx 16%. His perspective that much of the privacy "nuts'" concerns previously existed and have already been experienced in W8 therefore there's nothing to see here, has no logic. He excluded other privacy concerns from his article, like telemetry etc. He also didn't include this example from the MSFT Privacy Statement : https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx If you have any reason whatsoever to mistrust MSFT and/or question its ability to protect your data from hackers, there's plenty to be wary of in W10. That doesn't make me or anyone else, ipso facto, a nut or tinfoil hat wearer.
It's not so much that people might mistrust MS.. I, for example, don't actually mistrust them.. it's (IMO) more of a concern that said data access and distribution may be abused in some way or other, even down the road. Where there is power, there is usually abuse.
I still use Windows, mostly when I need Excel or Access, or some other Windows-only app. But otherwise, and especially for anything where privacy matters, I typically use Linux. In the rare case where I need privacy and some Windows-only app, I use a copy that I've obtained anonymously, and I use it on an isolated LAN, via VPNs and Tor.
I am most concerned with how to stop this "Finally, we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary" Does anyone know how to thwart that?
In a nutshell, no. If they've got all this stuff build into the OS, they can and probably will do whatever they want, in spite of any of the so-called privacy settings, etc. Basically, the OS has been compromised.
These are just the super MS die hards who for years, demonized google and facebook for spying and data mining, but when MS finally joined the party (and I might add far worse than either of those companies as they only track you while using a browser, whereas MS tracks you the moment you turn your computer on) they are trying to deflect the ideal that, they should be doing the same with MS, but just can't coup with it. Kind of like seeing one of your idols being arrested for a heinous crime; you don't want to believe that your hero is actually a ~ Snipped as per TOS ~, yet you're seeing it take place before your eyes, so the easy thing to do is say "your a tin foil hat wearer" which makes them feel good, even though they know its wrong. Essentially they don't want to have to admit that either they were wrong all those years for bashing the other companies or they don't want to believe that MS has joined the spy game and is doing a far better job than their competitors
Your guess is as good as mine, but I'd say that in terms of privacy, 7 will probably remain a much better choice. Honestly, nobody really knows anything for sure, one way or the other. But it doesn't look good for 10. I'd opt for 7 for privacy reasons anytime though...
I am going to put SSD back to factory state and load my Win 7 Pro image back, enough of this worrying I've been doing since install
Yep, my instincts told me much the same. I was stressing over it for several days before I finally went back to Linux for now. I may change my mind later, but not for a while... Gotta be able to sleep at night, right? Like I've said before, most people have nothing much to hide, but it's the principle...
Seriously, what is wrong with the people accepting this garbage? :O You'll be more than welcome to join the winning team!
flashed my win 7 pro image and am a little more at peace now. Do you guys know if there are new security tweaks or group policies that I need to do? I had spent countless hours in gpedit and regedit in win10
Run cmd.exe as administrator. run... wusa /uninstall /kb:3068708 Then run... wusa /uninstall /kb:3022345 It'll search for them and offer to uninstall them. If they're installed I'd boot into safe mode to uninstall. Then hide them from Windows Update.
I like and heavily respect Paul Thurrott and listen to his Windows Weekly podcast. I think he is partially correct. The problem with the whole Windows privacy issue is that Microsoft EULA is scary. What they needed to do was specify what features required what privacy sacrifice. For example, they could specify that Cortana requires access to your contacts, calendar, search history, etc. This allows you to make an informed decision. The funny thing is that another podcast on the same network (Security Now) has Steve Gibson who still uses Windows XP and is just looking to migrate to Windows 7. Great commentary between the two. Leo Laporte who runs the network is really the poster child of somebody who doesnt care about privacy. Annoys me a little.
...or there are different scopes for what people deem, "privacy". I don't care about analytics--in fact, if they make my search and other UX better, I'm all for it. I do care about PII (actual PII, not anything that can be misconstrued as PII) and the abuse of it.
Short. Simple. Smart. I agree with mirimir. If you must use Windows for certain applications, get yourself a good, solid, air-gapped laptop and learn how to harden it. That means not just turning WiFi cards off, but pulling them completely. But to start, yes, you can disable everything to do with networking and uninstall all the drivers. The air-gap computer allows one to kick-up a certain sense of security at every level. And, stay away from Win10, people. Really.
The problem is that I have to use Windows at work. I need it for a few programs that are vital. So not much you can do in that case. Just build your defenses.
Too bad, because they clearly stated "we will get data even from your personal folders". Windows can't be used for privacy. Never did. The difference is that now they do these things in the open, because people are stupid enough to agree with such probes. Soon most people will agree that corporations install cameras+mics in their houses: "well, if I don't have anything to hide, might as well let them fight over my privacy".
they already use the cameras on our laptops and mics too, even on our "smart" tvs and cable set tops, and they even get sheep to pay for crap like Amazon echo, now Cortana is free for all, yipppeeee