New to Windows 10: advice for stopping updates, data collection, ads,etc

[DarkStar]

Here's some hoopla: I am on a metered connection here. After I pass the monthly bandwidth my ISP charges me £2.70 per GB traffic. Windows 10 could cost me a lot.

What ISP are you with, is it an old contract? - Not seen that sort of thing in years ...

Timico (it was NewNet) - I could upgrade to an unlimited plan, for quite a lot more (and a bundled phone line).

[mcbpete]

Just seen the prices myself - Is that a business focused ISP ? £28 per month for unlimited usage is a bloody rip off !

I'm paying pretty much what's the lowest priced option there for my ISP (Tiscali) and yet am getting what you'd have to pay the most expensive option !

[Kaine]

Relevant to this thread, notes and comments on this weeks Win 10 insiders build:

"Updates can be paused for up to 35 days, allowing the nervous to more easily let other people be the first to take the plunge and discover issues. Windows Professional, Enterprise, and Education (though not Home) will be able to permanently opt out of receiving driver updates through Windows Update. Updates will still be applied automatically, but build 15002 should be better at detecting whether you're in the middle of a presentation. It also increases the "Active Hours," the portion of the day in which it avoids rebooting, to 18 from 12 (a change that brings the desktop operating system in line with the Mobile variant)."

http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... der-build/

Sounds positive...

[lucidsamples]

will be able to permanently opt out of receiving driver updates

As for me it looks like only a small part of problem is being solved. The driver updates. What about the rest?

I've went through many "privacy optimization" programs, recovering OS after some of them, after that more "privacy optimization" programs. In the end i had to find most features by myself, disable them and... What a surprise! After last major update (Service Pack the First I assume) everything had to be started all over again.

I guess for the Win10 users still the best option is to turn the privacy and resources abusing Services off manually. This way you gain control and you can re-enable those which could (and will!) be troublesome when turned off. It is a shame that such a big company lacks respect to their own customers so much.

[ThomasHelzle]

What makes me personally upset about this whole thing is that it's all backwards.
Instead of starting with a secure and privacy aware default, Windows 10 now starts with something that makes even Google and Apple look good in comparison, which before were the bad boys in that regard.
Shoving down all this crap customers throats is simply a bad idea in this day and age, especially since it's done so sneaky - and stupidly.

Microsoft would have been able to offer the free Windows 10 update to people without any of the pushy methods and may actually have gotten more people on board. I personally think Windows 10 is a great OS as such, but I won't install it on my main working machine other than on a parallel drive for testing. My personally warning bell went off when they put way too much effort into spreading a free update. I instantly wondered what the caveat may be. Now we know and it's a very sad thing.

They could offer Microsoft logins in the setup at the same fontsize and with clear wording of the pros and cons with a local account and I would be fine with it. Tell people what's on offer and let them decide themselves.

They are welcome to offer an express setup as well as a custom one, again, on an even level, same fontsize and with some explanation. Most people would probably take the express route anyway. But don't make this into a sneaky way to underhand them the worst possible privacy settings. Offer them easy to understand settings and let them opt in or out easily. And then respect those choices.

Like for the guy in the video some posts up, my main working machine is very important for me. My whole work, income and communication depends on it. Having some idiot company install stuff, read what I type and browse, look at my files etc. for no really good reason is not only problematic because of them having absolutely no business doing that without my consent, it also raises many questions:
- I often work under NDAs, but I can't really guarantee with W10 that my local files are private anymore - I simply don't know.
- Everything that is getting transferred via the Internet can be hacked, looked at by so called security agencies of foreign countries and governments as we know now. As soon as it's out there, it's only about if anybody has enough interest to get at it. So this is not only about MS being sneaky.
- Companies like Cambridge Analytica buy and collect all kinds of data from all kinds of sources and use it to push - for money - things like Brexit and Trump with methods that rely on big data. And we find out we are much easier to manipulate than we are so proud to think: https://translate.google.com/translate? ... t=&act=url
- So far most people only think about the current state of things. But what if at the next election a not-so-friendly government takes over? For instance Turkey is currently changing into what in the end will be a dictatorship - how would you feel about that totally harmless email with some jokes about your "great leader" from a while ago now if you lived there?
ATM. we don't really know how Trump will turn out, but so far I would count on the worst until proven wrong. Now all those companies in the US we get so much of our software and gear from, that create the cloud services people use for their files and mail and where your chat runs through are in his reach. Will it still be so harmless if a guy who couldn't care less about privacy or the rest of the worlds concerns is making the calls?

People who claim they don't care or have nothing to hide simply never thought it through.
But we probably will all find out the hard way over the next couple of years how big data and complete surveillance feels in this day and age where it's so unbelievable easy to do compared to for instance in the olden DDR.
People even buy the surveillance gear themselves...

Cheers,

Tom

[Dominus]

I have yet to find a single reason to install Windows 10. Got a client picking up a new laptop this week. It was "downgraded" to Windows 7, and it might be the last computer he ever buys.

Good job, Microsoft.

[Burillo]

i will upgrade to Windows 10 at some point (i would like to have access to Bluetooth LE and a few other things), but i'm waiting until there's a surefire and easy way to disable all of that privacy invading crap and manually control all of the updates (and no, i do not consider starting/stopping service every time i do something, easy). it's a great thing you guys keep maintaining threads such as this, it keeps me in the loop regarding the situation.

[chk071]

If you want to control the updates, buy the Pro edition, AFAIK, you can control the updates there. About the privacy stuff: I don't see, how that would change in future updates. Windows IS a service now, they won't make enough money with selling the OS, Apple already offers their OS versions for free, Android and ChromeOS are virtually free, so, there's really not much money to be made solely by selling the OS, so it IS the services, which are offered, like, the store, the Outlook services, and personalized ads, which create the money for Microsoft, so, they will hardly un-personalize their services now, to make no money. Microsoft more or less goes the same way as Google now, and the money is being made with personalized advertising in the MS services.

[Burillo]

i'm not saying i want "un-personalized" Microsoft services, i want nothing to do with those services in the first place, and i would certainly like to turn off the ads and other crapware like Cortana. and i don't want to delve into registry hacks, turn off services or otherwise do it all manually, so i'm waiting for someone to come up with an all-in-one tool (legitimate or otherwise, i wouldn't much care if usage of such tool would violate the DMCA or some such) to do it all for me.

[rifftrax]

If you want to control the updates, buy the Pro edition, AFAIK, you can control the updates there. About the privacy stuff: I don't see, how that would change in future updates. Windows IS a service now, they won't make enough money with selling the OS, Apple already offers their OS versions for free, Android and ChromeOS are virtually free, so, there's really not much money to be made solely by selling the OS, so it IS the services, which are offered, like, the store, the Outlook services, and personalized ads, which create the money for Microsoft, so, they will hardly un-personalize their services now, to make no money. Microsoft more or less goes the same way as Google now, and the money is being made with personalized advertising in the MS services.

Absolute bullshit. Let's look at actual numbers.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10 ... heres-why/

Did you see the chart? Non-SaaS sales are still Microsoft's bread and butter by a ridiculous margin. Please folks lets do some research before acting like you intimately know a company's business model.

Also, OSX wasn't free until Mavericks and even then you can't download previous versions once they are released unless you had already downloaded them at some point or you archived them.

[chk071]

i'm not saying i want "un-personalized" Microsoft services, i want nothing to do with those services in the first place, and i would certainly like to turn off the ads and other crapware like Cortana. and i don't want to delve into registry hacks, turn off services or otherwise do it all manually, so i'm waiting for someone to come up with an all-in-one tool (legitimate or otherwise, i wouldn't much care if usage of such tool would violate the DMCA or some such) to do it all for me.

Far as i'm concerned, when you're not logged in with a Microsoft account, but with a "local account", there's not much what you have to fear in terms of privacy, or data collection. You can completely turn off Cortana, and other stuff. There are loads of settings in that regard in the system settings.

[Burillo]

i'm not saying i want "un-personalized" Microsoft services, i want nothing to do with those services in the first place, and i would certainly like to turn off the ads and other crapware like Cortana. and i don't want to delve into registry hacks, turn off services or otherwise do it all manually, so i'm waiting for someone to come up with an all-in-one tool (legitimate or otherwise, i wouldn't much care if usage of such tool would violate the DMCA or some such) to do it all for me.

Far as i'm concerned, when you're not logged in with a Microsoft account, but with a "local account", there's not much what you have to fear in terms of privacy, or data collection. You can completely turn off Cortana, and other stuff. There are loads of settings in that regard in the system settings.

that's great to hear, thanks for the pointer. i'll probably give Windows 10 a run in a virtual machine before i make my decision to upgrade anyway, but if what you're saying is true, i may bite the bullet sooner rather than later.

[chk071]

If you want to control the updates, buy the Pro edition, AFAIK, you can control the updates there. About the privacy stuff: I don't see, how that would change in future updates. Windows IS a service now, they won't make enough money with selling the OS, Apple already offers their OS versions for free, Android and ChromeOS are virtually free, so, there's really not much money to be made solely by selling the OS, so it IS the services, which are offered, like, the store, the Outlook services, and personalized ads, which create the money for Microsoft, so, they will hardly un-personalize their services now, to make no money. Microsoft more or less goes the same way as Google now, and the money is being made with personalized advertising in the MS services.

Well you're actually completely wrong here. Let's look at actual numbers.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10 ... heres-why/

Did you see the chart? Non-SaaS sales are still Microsoft's bread and butter by a ridiculous margin. Please folks lets do some research before acting like you intimately know a company's business model.

Here's an updated version of the chart from that post, covering Microsoft's full fiscal year 2015

Awesome, hope about something more up to date? Windows 10 was just released in mid 2015... and of course, the services are the way to go in the home computing sector, otherwise, Microsoft wouldn't have given away Windows 10 to Windows 7 and 8 users.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

i'm not saying i want "un-personalized" Microsoft services, i want nothing to do with those services in the first place, and i would certainly like to turn off the ads and other crapware like Cortana. and i don't want to delve into registry hacks, turn off services or otherwise do it all manually, so i'm waiting for someone to come up with an all-in-one tool (legitimate or otherwise, i wouldn't much care if usage of such tool would violate the DMCA or some such) to do it all for me.

Far as i'm concerned, when you're not logged in with a Microsoft account, but with a "local account", there's not much what you have to fear in terms of privacy, or data collection. You can completely turn off Cortana, and other stuff. There are loads of settings in that regard in the system settings.

I don't have Cortana enabled, and turned off all the crazy privacy settings. So once you go Pro and can fully opt-out of updates, you should be fine. I'm a longtime Windows user, and 10 is a fantastic OS. Stable and fast.

[ThomasHelzle]

One thing that helps a lot around many issues is simply not using any of the Windows apps and services.
- Vivaldi (my personal choice) and Firefox are great browsers.
- Postbox (I love it), Thunderbird and in a while Vivaldi are good email clients.
- There are dozens of alternatives to Onedrive. I don't use cloud services so can't help there.
- There are much much better alternatives to the Windows Explorer, my personal favourite being XYplorer. 100 times faster and deeper and fully configurable.
- 7zip for compressed files.
- XNview for viewing images.
- Resonic Player/Pro for previewing samples/audio.
- Libre Office instead of MS Office.
- VLC for Video.
- Foobar2000 for Audio (can use ASIO, can do surround).
- I no longer chat much, but there are many alternatives to Skype.
- ClassicShell for a usable Startmenu.
...

I don't like any of the MS offerings anyway, so I find it very easy to avoid them altogether.
If only they would concentrate on what an Operating System is all about...

But I don't think shutting all these things off will ever become completely simple and straight forward. Since MS now depends on it they will continue to try to prevent users from doing so. The last update removed the ability to shut certain things off and I'm sure this will go on if nobody stops them with a bigger hammer.

Cheers,

Tom