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  • 1 Post By 100LL
  • 1 Post By GeoTommy

Windows 10 Privacy

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    2,879

    Windows 10 Privacy

    So with my new Notebook comes Windows 10. In Windows 10 Microsoft is spying on everything you do.

    Here is an article explaining a few tools to help you stop that:
    Windows 10 Spying: Prevent Windows 10 spying with 6 privacy tools | BGR

    The last one on their list is also available in English these days (the article was from August 2015 and says it's one of the best options but was only available in German language when the article was written):

    English - Home - W10Privacy

    I just spent 10 minutes clicking through (disabling) the various options I certainly don't need on my test machine.

    Create backups and restore points before using such things.

    Last edited by 100LL; 02-06-2016 at 07:23 AM.
    jrkob likes this.

  2. #2

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    Do you have a DD-WRT based router? Enable DNS logging through DNSMAsq and review what DNS lookups your machine is making.

    Wireshark also helps if you're interested in looking at the data going back and forth (although it is encrypted these days), but you often do get an idea ...


  3. #3

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    Apr 2008
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    I have both and while I prefer to have control I am not that paranoid to go analyze packets if I don't have to. Disabling the obvious will be fine.

    Some of the processes/services that call home in Windows 10 are still a mystery. Even the people who write these tools don't know why things like "Background Task Host" need to call home (there are plenty of others), so they simply block external communication for now and it seems to do no harm.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jan 2011
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    Windows 10 Enterprise ignores various privacy settings

    https://twitter.com/m8urnett/status/866353982217699328
    I like one of the Twitter replies:

    Microsoft Windows 10: "Oh, you thought this was YOUR computer?"

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Jan 2011
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    https://www.ghacks.net/2018/11/23/ge...etry-analysis/
    The German Federal Office for Information Security, BSI (Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik) published a detailed Windows 10 Telemetry analysis on November 20, 2018.

    The research paper, which is available in English (partially) and German, provides a deep analysis of Telemetry functionality that Microsoft implemented in the company's Windows 10 operating system.
    Wonder if HK Gov has a department that performs audits like this... unless they’re still mostly using Windows XP?

    Also, ShutUp10 is pretty useful:

    https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
    Rob2020 likes this.