Neal, take a look at this article before you take Forbes article as gospel.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/when-it...ampaign=buffer

Great read.

Cheers. :up:

That shows how careful we have to be when evauating the state of Microsoft's surveillance. And we have to be careful how we read the second article too. It doesn't say Microsoft isn't doing too much surveillance, it only says that the Forbes article doesn't establish anything.

Your fix for actual tracking is installing Spybot Anti-beacon. It will multiply the inquiries exponentially, as detailed in the second article. But no connection will be made with the Microsoft servers and no data will be transmitted. That will result in a tremendous decrease in Neal's data usage.

But mind you, if you do the same test in the Forbes magazine you'd conclude that Spybot Anti-beacon actually INCREASED your problem. Your internet bill will prove otherwise. It's not the number of times connections are attempted, it's the amount of data transmitted over a completed connection that increases your data usage.

Haven't wasted a single 1 minutes-interval with worrying over MS on my rig since Novembre. Saved time well spent! ;)

Taming W10 has turned into a half time job, it seems. I wonder why people invest that time if they do not really need W10.

Unfortunately, most people don't waste any time taming Windows 10 or researching its data "sharing." They just download it without a thought and then wonder why the computer store can't fix their computer after a Windows system file is corrupted, or wonder why their data usage has quadrupled and they're paying high data charges all of a sudden. When their computer crashes and won't reboot they wonder why it's impossible to boot their system recovery DVD to restore their system. But they never waste time trying to tame the beast.

And they especially don't spend time deciding if they need Windows 10. They just press the "downoad now" or "download tonight" button and it's off to the races.

The computer I was working on yesterday was never supposed to have Windows 10 on it. But his teenage niece was visiting, using his computer. Microsloth popped up the window with just those two choices and she picked "screw me later." The next morning our victim woke up to a machine that no longer belonged to him.

Windows 10 and the way it is promoted are malware. They don't exist for your benefit. They exist for Microsoft and its paid partners' benefit.

That could have been from me. :)

I see the Optional Feb updates has gone up from 2 to 14. :hmmm:

Will be checking on any news about Feb's updates this weekend. I have no interest in d/l not for a few more weeks.

Nor do I. I don't want Windows follies to rule my life here.:haha:

For Windows 10 users
 

I hear you Windows 10 users! You're using Windows 10 and everything is just hunky dory. Well Merry Christmas because this morning
Windows 10 forced update KB 3135173 changes browser and other defaults

The cumulative update not only knocks out PCs' default settings, it prevents users from resetting them



Yes, if Chrome was your default browser guess what? It's now Edge. Using Adobe PDF Viewer as your default? No you're not. Edge has edged it out. Use Photoshop Express, Google's Picassa or Google Photos as your default image viewer? Foolish mortal you now use the Windows cell phone Photo App! Video, music, any media that Microsloth has an app for you now use those apps as your default.


No, it gets better. YOU CAN'T CHANGE THEM BACK! Yup, try it. "An app caused a problem!" You'll learn to hate that error message. One user anticipated the problem and saved a .reg file with registration settings for his chosen default applications. Smart man. But outsmarted by Microsoft. When he restored the .reg file the associations were not restored.


The culprit is Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems KB3135173. But it doesn't matter. As a loyal Windows 10 user you have no right to refuse to download and install the update. Then you have the right to wait to see if Microsoft is serious here or will actually fix the situation. You are at their mercy......or lack of it.


Why do I recommend shields up against automatic updating of computers from Windows 7 to Windows 10? Microsoft just bolstered my case big time! Windows 10 isn't free and it isn't an operating system. It's malware, spyware, adware. It's a trojan of the first degree. And it isn't free.

Windows 7 users, we're at MS-DEFCON 2, all patches are suspect. Do not install until they are better analyzed. There is nothing urgent in there that you need to have anyway so waiting won't hurt.

I don't get it. Some time ago I was unhappy because an upgrade reset several of my defaults. I had to go back and reset them the way I wanted. This worked with no problem.

With the latest upgrade none of my defaults changed at all. Not one.

So yeah, everything is fine.

Huh I believe that's why upgrades are rolled out instead of going to all users at once. The alarm is put out by early victims and the people not updated yet say e everything's fine. that disarms victims of the future who think the alarm is false.

That is exactly how the GWX debacle panned out. I've installed GWX Control Panel on ten computers in the past two weeks and have appointments for five more. The holdouts are gettin' religion after Windows 10 really did rear its ugly head against their wil

One of these had a visit from their daughter, who was using his computer one morning and the malware popup said "Do you want to upgrade to Windows 10 now or tonight?" Those are the only two options. She didn't realize she could click on the red x in the upper right corner to close the phishing scam, so she pushed the button for upgrade tonight. The owner didn't use his computer until the next morning and guess what? Merry Christmas sucker. Sucks to be you from your friends at Microsoft.

Is it really their heart's desire to make us hate them? This man is now following my advice to buy and install Windows 7. His machine used to be Windows 8 and he hated it.

According to my update history, my machine updated to KB 3135173 with the last update and, everything is fine.

Yikes! I just purchased a relatively inexpensive (new) HP laptop online with Win 7 Professional 64 bit and SP1 already on it. (they are harder and harder to find )

Right now it is charging, not connected to the internet, and I haven't even turned it on.

My plan is to do the 'first boot', register it... sign in, and immediately disable automatic updates. I should enable the basic firewall too.

Next I'd like to uninstall the - what is it now(?) dirty 12 KB's - if they are installed. I am hoping that the 'Update to Win 10' nag isn't already in the task bar.... arrgh this is scary.

Any advice on how I should proceed? I'm actually afraid to turn it on or do anything until I have some advice... So, I'd really appreciate help on the correct order of steps I should take to do this right, so I don't get tricked into 'accidentally' installing Win 10 please.

Any info could also help other people in the same situation - which is why I posted in this Thread.

Same here. :up:

That is good news. Maybe Microsoft fixed it. These people reporting the problem are experts. But it has been Microsoft's habit lately to release bugged updates and then fix them, re-releasing them under the same number. Hope this means nobody else will have their defaults changed to Microsoft apps.

Aanker, the job of defanging Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 is much easier with GWX Control Panel and Spybot Anti-Beacon. Kill the dirty dozen or so, innoculate with GWX Control Panel and shut down the Microsoft servers with Anti-Beacon and you should be good to go.