They do offer you the selection. I've already switched back to IE and turned Cortana off. They make both processes very easy. They're there if you want them and gone if you don't. :sunny:

I came across this...Infographic (For lack of a better word) regarding some privacy issues in Windows 10

Might be of interest;

Windows 10 Botnet

(I'll not post it as an image, it's huge.)

Thanks Steve. :up:

If I go for it I will not have to worry about them anymore.

BTW: I still use Microsoft Office 2003 because I like it and not keen on the latter versions. Anyway I hear there has been some issues with M.O. 2007 just wondering will my old 2003 be alright?

As I found out yesterday there are serious issues with Windows Defender and windows Firewall If you have a 3rd party anti-virus program and firewall they should be disabled however it seems there program re-sets itself from time to time and annoying popups appear on your screen.I don't know if this happens on anyone elses but it happening on my pc and my wife's laptop. Microsoft tried yesterday to fix the issue but failed they ran diagnostic tests virus tests to no avail now I got to wait until Friday when an appointment was made for a level 2 technician to call me and try and resolve the issue.

I run Windows Firewall and Avast anti virus free edition on my Win8.1 and no problems to date. :hmmm: Window Defender dose not seem as good on the anti virus front but Windows firewall is. Ran avast for years now and happy with it, had to dump Comodo firewall a few months ago for some strange reason I got a update and it slowed my PC down slower than a snail.

But I take it your talking about Win10.

One thing is sure: what we know about Windows 10 is dwarfed by what we don't know. I just read a summary of all the anti-privacy features which continue to operate after all the privacy features are turned off that are able to in the Windows options. You know, the ones you bypassed when you selected an automatic install. Every single privacy invading option is ENABLED BY DEFAULT. Microsoft is not your friend.

One VERY DISTURBING issue is that Microsoft has redefined a central article of trust in any software you install on your system: that menus are intended to make it easy to do things you want and not use things you don't want to use.

The method of turning off the cell phone app Windows Edge (my computer will NEVER be a cell phone no matter what Microsoft decides) is downright perverse. At one point in the nerfing of this terrible browser (just IE in cell phone clothing, not a new browser at all) you want to set Firefox as your default browser, for instance.

First of all when installing Firefox or Chrome they pop up a dialog box and say "Hey, want to make this your default browser?" Select yes and you're off to the races!!!!.......not. Microsoft has made that impossible. You're going to use their browser......dammmit! Or else. Next option.

Delving deep into the totally irritating charms hell we finally get into changing the default browser. Remember I told you about the repurposing of menu trees? Now, menu trees are for the purpose of tricking or intimidating you into doing things THEIR way, not yours. During the selection labyrnith you are confronted with a menu where the only choice you have is Windows Edge or bail out you fool. In order to get the selection process for desired default browser you MUST SELECT EDGE, the browser YOU DON'T WANT! The menu is for the purpose of intimidating you into giving up your quest to control your own computer.

Similar things happen when you want to boot a CD/DVD, with incomprehensible acronyms, red herring options, absolutely opaque procedures calculated to intimidate you from even trying to boot that CD/DVD. The exact thing happened when my brother bought a Windows 8 computer and transplanted the hard drive from his old laptop: just a comedy of Microsoft intimidation. Try getting into the BIOS. Sure it's possible, but by going through the Charms obstacle course of hell and deception.

If you have a great product, intimidation and flim flammery aren't necessary. People seek out and preferentially use your product without coercion. Customers voluntarily pay you money with a smile and then brag to all their friends about how great you and your product are. Since Microsoft thinks trickery and coercion are necessary this is evidence that bad things are happening which could harm us and which Microsoft does not want us to know about.

I recommend waiting at least six months for investigators to out the REST of the "features" that we don't know about and need to get rid of to avoid the operating system that is Facebook without the human face. I won't even talk about the "start menu" which is no start menu but merely a platform for crass monetization.

Even then, if it is possible to completely defang Windows and replace the bogus start menu with a real one, consider what you do when you use a product. Every download tells Microsoft "I want MORE of this!" What you buy or adopt you get more of. If you endorse their malware/monetization "operating system as Facebook" they will double down. You think they removed the ability not to download certain updates as a way to protect you? NO! It's because they redefined what an update is and now an update is to introduce further monetization features, to find those you've successfully circumvented and reactivate them, to disconnect your browser and reinstitute Edge, to remove your ownership from your hardware. It all started with the "install Windows 10" icon on your taskber, a piece of malware which reinstalls itself if you remove it. The methods of eradication are beyond the means of better than 90% of users. This is reprehensible and was a telegraphing of the true nature of Windows 10 itself. Update as malware. I glare in Microsoft's general direction. Shame on them but they are far too stupid to be ashamed.

I spend a lot of time eliminating malware. Now the operating system IS the malware. Time to sit on the sidelines for awhile and see if Microsoft grows a brain. Legitimate profits come from respecting and meeting the wants and needs of Customers. Microsoft has forgotten how to do that. They've decided it's better to have victims than Customers.

@steed Comodo Firewall bit the big one for performance because it's now infested with malware, a program supposed to eliminate malware which is malware itself mining you for sellable information. That slowed the program down and privacy groups have written Comodo off their list of legitimate vendors.

I have opera in my win10 and it works nice, i dont use edge.

If you dont like win10 , thats fine but please dont over react :)

Not sure what your doing, but setting default programs - including internet browsers (Edge vs Firefox for example) is popcorn easy.

I do have a few minor issues with W10 regarding privacy - actually just one since it requires a reg hack to fully disable - but it is easy to turn stuff off. You just have to be willing to do it.

If your going to complain about M$ - you need to complain about a lot of other companies who install things by default and have default options that you have to "opt out" of. I am no M$ fanboy. You simply need to be consistent rather than targeted in your criticism.

windows 10 and dangerous waters
 

Hello all,
First I would like to say that I'm new and proud to be part of the Subsim community being an ex bubblehead myself. I have downloaded the windows 10 upgrade and everything went smoothly. The older games I have are falcon bms(sorry sometimes I like being an airdale lol) and it works fine. After the upgrade I had the screen trouble issue with dangerous waters. I installed the updated wrapper and it didn't fix it. under windows 8.1 I installed the game to a generic directory and installed the original wrapper and it worked fine. I uninstalled the sim and reinstalled it to a generic folder i.e. games and both .dll wrappers and windows still reports the game has stopped working. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I don't see what all the fuss is about either. MS Edge was a little draggy, so I clicked the button to go back to IE. No problem, and it works just fine.

So far I've had a couple of minor complaints about changes in the way some things work. And I do mean minor. I have had none of the major problems described above. Not one.

welcome aboard!
 

OK I replied in another thread to this but to repeat myself, Firefox is not stopped from being selected as the default browser. I installed it, selected it as my default and away I go. Not once has Windows 10 tried to stop it. As for Edge, easy to disable along with all the other stuff. I get you don't like it, fair enough. Then use Linux or get a Mac. Edge is a new browser, and in my opinion it sucks.

Afraid I can't help not having W10 installed yet nor DW but welcome to SubSim :sunny:

Just remember that Edge and Windows itself are Facebook. They exist for the purpose of using you as a mine for sellable information and gathering that takes lots of background processes and steals time from your use of your machine. The latest information says that doesn't stop even if you deselect all the privacy invading options Microsoft makes available.

Windows no longer exists to serve your needs. It exists to serve Microsoft's, which profits greatly from your voluntary victimhood and hence the "free" price. It isn't free.

Except on an expendable machine, I'd wait at least six months for all the bad stuff to come out and the gurus to defang this beast. Then I'd STILL cast a jaundiced eye toward a product which doesn't think it's possible to earn an honest profit.

Neal, if you back up your data, do a restore if you have a restore partition on your hard drive, or a clean install if you have an installation disk (the best way), you can reinstall software and backup your data. Your machine will run like a scalded dog with no adware/spyware.

That's the only positive part of Windows 10: since the operating system and software provided IS adware/spyware you don't have to worry about downloading any!:har: I just KNEW I could say something nice about Windows 10.

Edge is not a new browser, it is a new shell for Exploder. It merely nerfs Exploder into a cell phone app, nerfs all its options and doesn't work right. You're still using Exploder in wolf's clothing.

How to use Firefox as your default browser. Read it and weep. "Easy" has a brand new definition and it isn't pretty.

What's left after you disable "all the other stuff." We have a new definition of "all" which means "what we want to tell you chumps." Keep in mind that it's very early in the game and all we can say with confidence is that Microsoft is NOT acting in good faith. The next six months to a year will reveal five invasions of our privacy for every one we know now. And everything newly discovered will be something that doesn't even have an opt out option, much less the opt in recommendation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Finally, there are at least four ways to upgrade from Windows 10 to the last Microsoft operating system that actually served its users: Windows 7. Bail out now and you can always go back if you find out I'm wrong. But I'm not wrong. I'm telling a tiny slice of the bad news we don't even know yet.

If all else fails, the street price for Windows 7 licenses (genuine, I'm not going to advocate theft. When you buy something legitimately you send a message that that's what you will buy and nothing slimier. Money is communication.) is about $70. Windows 7 images are still available on the Internet from legitimate sources and upgrading to it is a bargain.

Windows 10 = Antivirus Pro = Ask Toolbar = Cryptolocker = adware/spyware/malware. It's the penultimate example of using social engineering to induce us to harm ourselves. Yes Linux and Mac are superior by far to Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 but it is not yet necessary to jump ship. It's time to put your money to work to vote for Windows 7 if necessary as an alternative to voluntary victimhood.

Nope, didn't have to do that. I upgraded to Win 10, fired up Firefox and it was still my default browser, didn't have to go through the rigmarole on the site you linked to. I even uninstalled Firefox and reinstalled, dead simple.

You have done nothing but railed against Windows 10 the minute it came out. Why do you have such a bee in your bonnet about it? Google are as pervasive if not more so, so why just pick on MS. Or is it an easy target?

Anyway I've said enough.

Just helped someone upgrade an HP Stream 7 tablet from Win 8.1 to Win 10. Had no problems and the process was fairly quick (faster than some previous upgrades/installs I've experienced) and the transition was also fairly simple. The only real sticky issue came when the response time for web connections were really slow. The tablet in question has a built-in Wi-Fi adapter that, while not bad, is not the best. The user was using a USB Wi-Fi adapter and Win 10 made both adapters enabled. Under Win 8.1, the user had disabled the onboard adapter, but Win 10 re-enabled the adapter. I just disabled it again and everything was fine and back to normal...

Regarding the mining of user data, almost any operating system or software, not to mention websites, engage in some level of such data gathering. If you think by avoiding one or another application you're going to prevent someone from getting info on you, you are indeed naïve...


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Concerning mining of the user data, if you are simply using the machine to surf the web and games of what difference does it matter there is mining of my data? Let's face it and as you said, the data mining has gone on for decades. What is out there about any user is already found on the net. Hell, I have no idea how my entire living address history from 1988 to present ended up on the net. Do I care? Not really, one can check the phone book for addresses. Or the fact that I look up a new car and investigate the automobile only find any pages I bring up after the investigation now has advertisements for the said car I was just looking into. I reviewed drills last week. Now every page has drills for sale.

Just what data that is being mined is so critical to the user that they will not use certain apps or stop using a OS? If that data is that critical then one should not be on the net, correct?

Here are a couple of videos that give an idea of how extensive data mining really is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cty7ctycsI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_YF34pcCSU



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