Windows 10: What You Need to Know

[STEED]

I was emailed this by a friend, a tool to remove Win10 nagware.

http://win10wiwi.com

A question crossed my mind, why do I have to send them my email address?


BTW: I don't need it I got rid of all that Win10 nag/spyware and all the rest of it.

[aanker]

If you like Windows 7, Rockin Robbins has an excellent walk-through in this Topic on pp 18 post #270 detailing how to remove the 11 suspicious Microsoft updates that install some Win 10 'compatibility files' that then nag you to get Win 10, what their numbers are, and how to keep them from coming back.

I also disabled my 'auto update' and 'download but do not install until I'm ready' options and selected, 'don't download anything from MS update'.

Updates are usually released the second Tuesday of every month and I have always manually selected and installed their updates on that Tue, however now I will carefully research each one first.

Be very careful installing any software that is offered by 3rd party's that claim to remove the Win 10 nag screen icon. Always ask yourself, "is it also a virus or malware?" It is easy to follow Robbins' walk-through and do it yourself, plus you won't have that 3rd party tool to remove if it is even legit in the first place.

You can always upgrade to Win 10 whenever you want, but be aware that the free version of Win 10 will be a step down from your Win 7 version. Win 7 Home Premium will 'upgrade' to Win 10 Home for example:
http://www.cnet.com/news/which-editi...-get-for-free/

I'm checking back here in this Topic and other places before I install the upcoming Nov 10th Windows 7 updates though. There may be another one or two to add to the 'dirty 11'.

I understand that many people do like Windows 10, which is nice for them. More power to you users, glad you like it.

Happy Hunting!

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by aanker

If you like Windows 7, Rockin Robbins has an excellent walk-through in this Topic on pp 18 post #270 detailing how to remove the 11 suspicious Microsoft updates that install some Win 10 'compatibility files' that then nag you to get Win 10, what their numbers are, and how to keep them from coming back.

I also disabled my 'auto update' and 'download but do not install until I'm ready' options and selected, 'don't download anything from MS update'.

Updates are usually released the second Tuesday of every month and I have always manually selected and installed their updates on that Tue, however now I will carefully research each one first.

Be very careful installing any software that is offered by 3rd party's that claim to remove the Win 10 nag screen icon. Always ask yourself, "is it also a virus or malware?" It is easy to follow Robbins' walk-through and do it yourself, plus you won't have that 3rd party tool to remove if it is even legit in the first place.

You can always upgrade to Win 10 whenever you want, but be aware that the free version of Win 10 will be a step down from your Win 7 version. Win 7 Home Premium will 'upgrade' to Win 10 Home for example:
http://www.cnet.com/news/which-editi...-get-for-free/

I'm checking back here in this Topic and other places before I install the upcoming Nov 10th Windows 7 updates though. There may be another one or two to add to the 'dirty 11'.

I understand that many people do like Windows 10, which is nice for them.

Nice, the more info and expoerience on KBs get distrubuted, the better. However, I disagree with your last point:

More power to you users,

No, it is about LESS power to the people.

What you and me now do, switching off updates and choose them manually, is no longer possible under W10, for example, as long as you do not go into the quite expensive higher corporation builds. Also, many options in W10 deceive the customer/user and try to lure him into cloud storage and cloud processing - and what user has power over what gets done in the cloud with his data?

Some people do not care. Some believe in cheap word and glossy paper prospects. Both will not learn until they get hit hard themselves.

Maximum caution and suspicion when dealing with Microsoft. That is the only reasonable option. Everything else is: gamble and pray.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Kptlt. Hellmut Neuerburg

I've been getting that frackin' GWX.exe crap for sometime now in the form of KB3035583. I uninstalled the update only to have Dicrosoft (what I call Microsoft now), ninja install the same KB3035583 update again even after I blocked it. I honestly don't know what the hell the execs at Microsoft where smoking when they came up with this over the top agro marketing campaign to get people to either switch to or buy Win10. They never did that with Win7 or 8, so why do it with Win10? I think Microsoft is really shooting themselves in the foot with this idea and what's the point of forcing consumers to "upgrade from a previous OS that are still fairly new and aren't total bugfests, I mean Win7 isn't perfect but it was a good replacement for XP while Win10 sounds like a repackaged version of Vista.

I could not get rid of it before using XPantispy and switching off all internet-linking backgroudn services as described earlier. I also needed cold reboots with power off.

As long as I keep it that way, all the I think 7 updates I mentioned do not appear on my HD. Once I switch on these background tasks, even with Windows Update still switched off, a few minutes later I get some of those updates back, and then must manually deinstalled them again with all channels sealed off first.

I am 100% certain that Microsoft pushes some of this stuff not just via official Windows Update service, but by abusing other background tasks for bringing it onto people'S HDs. Which as the hacking that this is, imo is the last hint needed to show that they indeed act and behave criminally.

So switch off automatic clock synchronization and whatever other services there are that are not really needed.

People understanding German a bit, can get the last version of XPantispy for W7. Its years old, but works well, and comfortably. Don't be afraid of it being malware or such. It is a true classic here in German-speaking Europe, and was trusted for years and years and over all versions of Windows since 2000, I already used it myself under XP. W8 and W10 support has started to be worked on, but it could still be some time until release.

http://xp-antispy.org/download/

Last version is from 2011 I think, 3.98.2

[aanker]

Skybird, there are folks I know who really do like Win 10. I don't want to, and it is not my intention to insult anyone.

The expression, "more power to you" is an expression that doesn't apply to my feelings about user power and operating systems.

In the US the expression means something like, "if that is your choice, fine, and good luck with that decision" to 'the person' being addressed.

Occasionally I forget that words & 'common phrases' mean different things in different country's - especially if English is the second language. Sorry for the misunderstanding .... if there was one.
----------
Back on topic:
I wonder if re-installing Win 7 on a blank HD would work for those unhappy with their move to Win 10?? One would need to get the drivers necessary for their computer, and burn them to a DVD first.

A friend just had his computer buddy re-install Win 7 to his computer after saving his heavily modded SH4 configuration first. His computer buddy lives in Philadelphia though, and I don't.

I hope that it is possible, because about six months ago I bought a Win 7 install disk for my next computer .... lol. Probably just wasted my money that I could have donated to Subsim ; )

Thanks for the new KB numbers Mister!

Happy Hunting!

[DragonRider]

Still Running Windows 10 and after one month all is still good.
No problems of compatibility with any programs I run.
But I do not like the Edge browser so I use Firefox instead .

No drama to report

[Rockin Robbins]

Just read an article by Susan Bradley, owner of WinSecrets website. Here's the complete article, and it has some interesting things to say about why we should insist on knowing the details of what information Microsoft (or any other company) is collecting, why "everyone is doing it" is not a good reason to roll over and play dead, and even more interesting, what you can do with Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows 10 to keep Microsoft from calling the Mother Ship and sending it your encrypted information, whatever it is.

A partial (sorry for the length) quote:

I started this investigation to see whether I could determine exactly what information Microsoft is gathering from my systems. I was pleased that this telemetry data is now protected — but I was also disappointed that I couldn’t answer my primary question: Is Microsoft snooping on us?
Based on Microsoft’s privacy policy and a recent Blogging Windows post by Windows honcho Terry Meyerson, I’m fairly comfortable that the telemetry information won’t be used for truly malicious intent; hackers can’t access and use the information to wage attacks on our systems.
But there’s also the “Big Data” aspect. Will that data make its way to other massive services and get combined with other sources of information about us? I recently attended a technology conference that discussed Big Data services, and I came away both impressed and worried.
Still, as noted in a recent ZDNet article, if you’ve gone through Win10’s numerous privacy settings and you’re still uncomfortable about what the company does with your data, the alternative is to not upgrade to the new OS — or use “Chrome OS, iOS, Android, or any other system that’s tied closely into the cloud.”
I’m not ready to chuck those platforms, and I assume you aren’t either. But that doesn’t mean we should blindly accept vendors’ data-gathering practices.
On Windows 7 and 8.1 systems, you have fewer privacy options. Here, I recommend disabling the Windows telemetry service. Neither OS will see significant enhancements, so we’re mostly concerned with all-important security updates.
Open the start menu and click Administrative Tools/Services (or Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services). Scroll down the list of services until you find Diagnostic Tracking Service. Click it and stop the service, then click OK. Now right-click the service and open Properties. Change Startup type from Automatic to Disabled (see Figure 2) and then click OK. (Note: If you don’t see the service, it’s probably because you’re behind a domain and didn’t get optional updates KB 3075249, KB 3080149, and KB 3068708 installed, install that service.)

Figure 2. You can reduce the data your Win7 or Win8.1 system sends back to Microsoft by disabling Windows' Diagnostic Tracking Service.

I’m keeping the service disabled on my Win7 (and probably my Win10 systems, too), until I find out exactly what is being sent to Microsoft — or I feel more comfortable with the telemetry process. And I’m keeping a closer eye on all other Web-attached services and software. No matter what you think about Edward Snowden, he made all of us far more aware of how our personal data might be used.

Note that if you've eliminated the "dirty 11" updates as I have, you won't find the Windows Diagnostic Tracking Service. That is good and you need do nothing. But a search of your services once in awhile will ensure that Microsoft hasn't snuck the service back under a different KB number so you can be blessed by their respect for your rights. If it appears, turn it off, then do a search for what update reinstalled it. Microsoft has already done that several times, showing that it will not be bound by respect for our wishes and thinks it has a right to ownership rights to our hardware. Microsoft does not have and will not exercise ownership rights on my computer, even if I have to sunset Microsoft operating systems.

"Maximum caution and suspicion when dealing with Microsoft. That is the only reasonable option." I think Skybird said it best, right there and I'm not going to try to improve on it. And I'm afraid for better or worse, it's going to be the Europeans going to bat over privacy issues on that one. Americans need to grow a backbone and defend the principles we say we're so proud of. Europeans don't bother to make claims. They let their actions show their values. Good on 'em. Better to do something than just show you're a fool for opening your mouth to make claims you aren't willing to back up.

[STEED]

Diagnostic Tracking Service not found on my Win8.1 or those KB numbers.

[Rockin Robbins]

Separate post. One stop shopping for checking out the update package sent to you each Patch Day is at Ghacks.net.

Bookmark that link, set your Microsoft Update to download and notify before installation of updates. Then when it says "updates are ready" you can head on over to Ghacks to see what goodies they've sent you.

The batch for October shows that the important updates are good. However in the optional updates we have the return (zombie!) of dirty 11 member, KB2952664, its Win 8/8.1 equivalent KB2976978. The original bad boy of the list, KB3035583 returns for another shot at the unwary! You should hide all those updates before installing the October list.

I've only concerned myself with updates relating to Windows 7 because if you have 8 or 8.1 your soul is already damned to cell phone hell.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by STEED

Diagnostic Tracking Service not found on my Win8.1 or those KB numbers.

You do well, Grasshopper! Remain vigilant.

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

You do well, Grasshopper! Remain vigilant.

What was found under Diagnostic was these..

Diagnostic Policy Service
Diagnostic Service Host
Diagnostic System Host

[Skybird]

Diagnostic Tracking Service is linked to update KB3022345. If you have deleted it, or blocked it from getting installed earlier this year, you are not having DTS. Which is good enough that you should not want to change that.



Another counter strategy that I leanred about, is "noise generating". Such system floods all output channels with all kind of useless, pointless feedback so that any data that would allow any company to profile the user usefully, gets hidden in a wall of white noise and makes profiling impossible, since when all feedback options for discriminating people get serviced and answered, no useful information is left anymore. Its a wall of white noise, so to speak. Its as if you go into a shop, gets asked by a salesman about this or that possible choice of yours, and you just say consistently to everything, whatever it is, "Yes". Impossible to learn about your preferences that way, what you are up to, or learn anything useful about.

I start to love white-noising. Its just no technique for the average user, but quite advanced. I would not know how to do it so that it indeed works reliably.

And as long as not everybody does it, those few doing it necessarily will attract the attention of automatised intel surveillance mechanisms. A single white-noiser will stand out from the crowd if all around him remain silent. The whole web must be white-noised.

[STEED]

I got nine optional KB's on hold, they are not coming onto my system until I read which ones are OK and which ones are no no.

Win8.1
KB3034348
KB3078405
KB3084905
KB3087418
KB3091297
KB3095108
KB3095649
KB3095701
KB3096433

[andy_311]

If you got the diagnostic tracking service disabled make sure that you also have "wmwappushsvc" disabled too it's part of the package.

[Skybird]

Are you sure you do not mean dmwappushsvc ?

"wmwappushsvc" I do not find anything on.

dmw... in principle is a constant keylogger apparently, covered by Microsoft'S latest privacy policy declaration that people who installed W8 and W10 automatically had to accept. Else they would not have been able to continue with the installation. The service is said to be unable to be deactivated in Windows services.

A keylogger. Wonderful. The more I hear about W8 and W10, the better it gets. My internet banking will come to an end sooner or later, I think.

If it gets backwardls-installed on W7, anyone please telling the KB-number then.

DTS and dmw... should have registry-entries under

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es,

if they are present on your system. That way you can quickly check it out whether you are vulnerable or not.