Re: Windows 7 and 8 Now Getting The Spyware Treatment
@Chris: it's anonymous usage and crash data, so-called "Telemetry". Obviously some people will have no problem with this, but it does include potentially sensitive information, and unless you feel a particular obligation to send it, you shouldn't have to. MS have since clarified that the "Customer Experience Improvement Program", which these updates largely affect, can be managed by the user, but unfortunately it does appear that Windows is still talking to the network even with these settings completely disabled. So, unless you want your box chattering away to the mothership, remove the updates. You can't just install everything any more.
@mario: yes, that script runs under Win7, Win8/8.1, and Win10. Be careful with it.
@CW and @Crashmaster: you're right, everybody is in this game to a certain extent, and I'm not suggesting you stop caring about the others or privacy as a whole. However, this move from MS is in my mind the most blatant demonstration that they are no longer in the business of just selling software products. Now they want your data too. They are the old Google. This is shocking betrayal, plain and simple. Windows 10 is free--you're the product. For Google and Facebook and to a lesser extent Twitter and other services, this was always true, so no surprises there. Do no evil, my arse. I don't trust Android with its deep ties to Google services, but Chrome is a much safer venue and has well-defined boundaries and policies. Apple are in the hardware business, so their agenda does not yet include data collection, although this will naturally occur if it happens to benefit their hardware business, for example iCloud and Siri being foisted on us. With Apple, so far anyway, it's largely straightforward to say "No". The Spotlight Suggestions issue is a fairly good illustration of this: on by default, but two checkboxes to turn off, and whatever is sent is whatever you ty ped and not collected behind your back. Likewise, anything you are doing that naturally requires you reveal some information, like browse the Internet, is only revealing as much information as is really required. The point is that you, not somebody else, should be the ultimate arbiter of what happens to your data. If you intentionally give away your data, for need or want, then that's fine. But if somebody else, say MS, does it, without giving you a choice, then that is not fine.
The only true safe harbour, right now, is Linux! Such a shame Linux accessibility is so terrible for us. Ubuntu does a similar thing to Apple's Spotlight, but you can turn that off, but probably just don't use Ubuntu. I can't think of anyone else.
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