I've been using O&O ShutUp10 since it was released because I trust O&O. I realize it's not a complete solution but it has never borked any of my pc's so I'm sticking with it.
Hold your horses right there. You're going off tangents, spread passive aggressiveness and in the process assume a lot about fellow posters. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that is no way to convince a stranger of the merits of your message.
There is absolutely nothing 'tangential or 'passive aggressive' about what I've posted -- my post is a recitation of documented fact. It doesn't even seem likely you understand the meaning of those word 'tangential' or DSM5 descriptor 'passive aggressive'... As well I've made no assumptions about anyone or anything. The only assumptions made here are yours. The thread premise is about BLOCKING telemetry -- the post and response about false negatives from security tool companies that have a vested interest in telemetry. If you want to shill, and personalize this with ad hominem attacks -- putting you in abrogation of the forum TOU, good luck with that, if you want to challenge my statements on the basis of fact, at least try and do that... While it's not impossible that Blackbird's site was infected with malware by an interested third party that loves telemetry -- it's very unlikely, as the app and its author are well vetted and easy to test, runing the site through any security testing suite reveals nothing worng it seems even more unlikely they're the source of anything insalubrious... The most likely explanation seems to be the most likely (and common) explanation as described in my responding post.
If it's about windows "tweaks" and it does not come in a plain-text script, it should be simply dismissed. It blows my mind people use any of these executables. There is simply no excuse for packaging what it's 99% shell commands into executables, other than obfuscating stuff. Why would any sane person trust that?
I do not understand all the whining, if you do not like it, do not use it, your loss. Others can enjoy its benefits. Any suspicious tweaks/software (Nirsoft, Process Hacker) triggers malware alert, just disabling WD will do. I can not test AVs thoroughly, because they remove my bat files, just because of anti-telemetry entries. It is obviously meant for people with experience, who test it in VM monitoring all the changes, quite simple. It is an anti-telemetry tool and Start is a big nono. It is not its fault, that 10 is faulty, since 1803 restoring entries will not fix Start/taskbar. WU does not even work at all.
Defender removed some of my files, stupid sofab thing. Run those things from optical drive or mounted iso.
I saw the registry entries when I captured them with RegFromApp. I want to know what policies WPD edits (like their name and location in gpedit.msc) because merging the .reg file that RegFromApp generated on a system that hasn't run WPD doesn't edit the policies.
Been reading several threads here and instead of acquiring more confidence that I have mitigated Windows 10's spying.. I'm now concerned because someone somewhere suggested that using a VPN essentially negates ALL privacy tweaks and programs. My PC connects to my VPN (Using OpenVPN native and not using any third party client), as soon as W10 loads. I have a vast number of hosts entries, Firewall Rules and registry tweaks. My Windows is also debloated using MSMG Toolkiit. Can any one please confirm - does using a VPN negate all the work I've done trying to get some shreds of privacy back? To put it more specifically, are the hosts file and firewall rules useless when connected to a VPN? If the answer is yes, is there a way to resolve this? I get that there are privacy tools out there, but as has been said many times, these tools are essentially just front ends to reg tweaks, firewall rules and host files anyway. As an aside, I have an ASUS RT-AC88u router. I haven't put much in the way of network services ACLs in there.. should I be putting my firewall rules in there? Will the VPN connection still make them redundant? btw: MY VPN connection is established from my PC not my router, because there are 10 PCs here and not all use a VPN. Sorry or the noob question(s).
Several weeks ago I discovered Windows Privacy Dashboard, I think it's a good option. I'd like to know your impression about Blackbird, is it better than others?, same?. Thanks
