Every helpful advancement is geared more and more for spying. I don't trust it either, not to say it's not a decent OS, but I don't like it spying on me. It seems harmless now but in a few years I wonder how many violations will occur or if a data breach occurs where all this data goes and how is it stored. It's also no secret that big brother has used information like this at will but now that they are getting more and more open about the data they collect, it's like oh you can't say we didn't tell you. oh we have to cooperate with big brother..etc etc. I wonder how Europe and other countries who fight hard to protect user privacy will react once something comes out of this. I don't think they would violate any random person, but there's always the concern if you hit a word that's on a list your meta data may be in there, or if something down the line happens then the data collected can be used against you to add more to it. It certainly does take away the feel of innocent until proven guilty if you haven't done anything wrong.
@clownz: Your concerns are valid ones. In the USA there are accusations of domestic spying by the NSA. William Binney, a former officer in the NSA, released a scathing expose' describing the NSA's activities, and information about the PRISM program, which is used to monitor all cellular and data traffic. There are questions of Constitutional laws being broken, which have been answered by Congress by changing the US surveillance laws to allow domestic spying to be done. And these actions are not localized to America. Already there have been revelations that the German Government has been spied on by the US.If Government doesn't respect its' own people, then how can we expect them to respect the people from other countries? Garbellano posted a Youtube video showing how an unlocked (not secured) version of Windows 10, home edition was transmitting "Telemetry" on everything that went on in the tablet. With the operative phrase here being "Tablet". On a PC, you can do more "under the hood" things to protect yourself. In phone and tablet environments, I'm not so sure. I would have to recommend staying away from Windows 10 tablets and phones until it was proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that privacy was respected, and Telemetry could be disabled. Just as targeted advertising is "optional", Telemetry should also be optional. The user should be allowed to choose whether He or She wishes to participate. If that's not the case, then the product or service should be abandoned, and users should find something else. You'll -never- be able to avoid the NSA, just as You can't avoid the IRS, or any other federal agency. But, if you do have dealings with them, Your 5th Amendment right not to testify against yourself will -always- be respected. @DAz999: I understand Your concerns. And as I said, users should have the right to opt out of MS telemetry, regardless if it's designed to improve the "Windows Experience".
SOLUTION Windows XP: Stay in WXP or upgrade to W7 doing the steps below. Windows 7, 8 & 8.1 users: Clean install again your OS and avoid all updates related to telemetry. Don't upgrade, don't install W10. Windows 10 users: Downgrade and do the steps above. Enterprises: Read all above and Google. Concernings? It's your problem, not mine. Gamers worried about DX12: Install W10, disable all telemetry and use the OS only for gaming but configure your router firewall to block everything except games services and some internet services as well. You can also use Smoothwall or, if the games you play doesn't require internet, use W10 for gaming offline. Yes, social networks, logins, phones, all capture what they want. W10 is not enterely like "Facebook". Compared to W10, Facebook is nothing because W10 captures not only social networks conversations, localizations, etc, but all your files, folders, webcam, speach, etc. Concluding, Facebook, Google, Android, etc, are for kids! So, you want to give it a try? Step 1: Open your notepad in W10 and write a plan, write a few words about planning na attack against something (i suggest NY city) or you can also write about some PEDO stuff. Save it anywhere in you disk or external one. Step 2: Wait. Step 3: I don't care, you use W10.
I've been using Linux Mint for a little over a week now exclusively and have some findings. Firstly, last night I reinstalled Windows 8.1 (by this I mean I used Macrium Reflect) and reinstalled a saved image of my Windows 8.1 install, with all my tweaks and settings just how I like them. Reason? GAMING! After a week and a bit of Linux Mint the gaming withdrawal symptoms hit hard And I must admit it was SO good playing some games last night. So, Windows is definitely something I can't live without as yet because I do like playing games. But I gotta say, I'm typing this post on Linux, and will continue to use Linux Mint as my daily driver. After a week its as clear as crystal how damn good it is. There is nothing I want to do, that I can't do using Linux Mint (besides gaming) and that speaks huge kudos to just how far Linux has come. Having to boot into Windows to game is a bit of a pain, but I guess its not a lot different to firing up an xbox or a playstation I guess (I have neither) I think this is going to be how things are for me from here on in. Windows strictly for gaming, and everything else using Linux Mint. In the meantime Linux Mint will no doubt be improving, not to mention improving my own knowledge of it. For a while I thought, eventually it will be Windows 10 or nothing. Hold onto Windows 8 for as long as possible until the inevitable. Thankfully there are options and a way out of Microsoft's idea of what an OS should be.
You can always set it up to dual boot. It's really easy to do do, and most Linux distros will set it up for you as long as you install Windows first and then install Linux to a second (or third) partition. Then when you boot your computer you will have the option which OS that you want to load.
Was being sarcastic. Whenever a business or corporation needs to collect data on you for "marketing" reason, you can guarantee they are keeping it in case you do something shady.
If you only need to run Ms Office and Adobe (just like myself) you actually don't need to dual boot with Windows. MS Office and Adobe runs through Wine or if you need to use Adobe rendering and 3D tools you can use VMvare Workstation 12 in which everything works now as you can address more VRAM and it supports DX 10. Was testing it the other day and it works great.
@Skaendo: I'd like to see a tutorial on setting up a dual boot Linux / Windows system. I'm sure it could become pinned in the Linux section.
I will rephrase my statement, for the sake of the "Semantically challenged" @Skaendo: I'd like to see a tutorial on setting up a dual boot Linux / Windows system on MDL. I'm sure it could become pinned in the Linux section.
But there is one, and you even "thanked" the OP: http://forums.mydigitallife.net/thr...nux-Mint-on-UEFI-System-with-Windows-8-8-1-10
Also. Adding site:forums.mydigitallife.net to the search term produces quite a few useful results on MDL... LMGTFY
Most of the tech news outlets that have writers with more than half a brain (Ed Bott excluded) are now reporting on the Windows 10 privacy issues, and are just now starting to report on the telemetry backports to Windows 7 and 8.x. It's interesting how a lot of this stuff originates here on MDL, then the news sites pick it up a month or more later. I even saw an article today on CBS about the Windows 10 privacy issues, which means that now even non-tech news sites are reporting on this. So many people are ill-informed about their own privacy, that Microsoft knows this and knows that they can take advantage of clueless users by doing unprecedented levels of spying never seen before. Microsoft is deliberately vague in their privacy policy to make it so they can pretty much do whatever they want. Take a look at the paragraph from this article: https://torrentfreak.com/torrent-trackers-ban-windows-10-over-privacy-concerns-150822/ It's interesting how in the "privacy awareness era" born after the Snowden leaks, Microsoft did the exact opposite of what should have been done. Instead of releasing the most privacy-respecting OS they ever created, they released a backdoored piece of crap that scans your hard drive for pirated content. Rather than fixing the problems and creating an updated privacy policy, Microsoft is such a dumb company that they will probably just stay on the same course waiting to hit the gold rush. What a bunch of moronic twits. If Microsoft really wanted to prove there were no true backdoors in Windows, they would release the source code to Windows. However, since there have been malicious features and DRM in practically every version of Windows that gets worse with each version, they can still make a buck or two off the ignorant public. But not me; Microsoft will never get even one penny from me. Sticking to Windows is like a drug addict addicted to meth. Sometimes you have to make concessions in life to achieve a greater good for yourself and others. Why let a dishonest company profit off the backs of ignorant users; the same company, that in a wanton nature embraced standards then later extinguished them for the sole purpose of shutting other smaller competitors with better ideas than their own out of business? Microsoft's world domination is coming to a slow end. The grease on the wheel bearings is starting to dry up, and now loud chattering noises can be heard as the train car barrels down the track. The news sites where paid off shills that write all pro-Microsoft everything are starting to be questioned by more and more people, as the validity of their biased reporting comes into view. Here's a snippet from one of the articles I read, which is linked below: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/01/microsoft_backports_data_slurp_to_windows_78_via_patches/
SOCRATE_MMXII: Thanks for pointing that out to Me. It's for a different OS than the OS than the one that I'm choosing to use. Plus, I'd rather not use UEFI, as I feel it may add an unnecessary level of complexity. I have already done a search for info describing My specific hardware, and only found a recommendation that I should not even bother with it. So I will attempt it myself, and will post My findings on MDL in the Linux section. Hopefully, others who own the same hardware will be able to avoid whatever pitfalls that I encounter.
Specifics and proof? Do you mean "pirated content" in general or MS Software? The OEM EULA makes reference to checking the validity of MS Software (Item 5). I've seen the post about opening image files and Wireshark activity but you say "scans your hard drive for pirated content" - I'd be interested to read definitive proof of that and what it is scanning/sending. eek:
BTW here's a link(voat.co/v/technology/comments/459263) for those who accidentally installed Windows 7/8.1 telemetry updates.