I'm a PC gamer. I have Windows 10 installed. If you think sticking with Windows 7, 8.1, or Vista, XP, 95, or whatever for that matter keeps you from the prying eyes of "the man"... You are wrong. Period. If you truly care about privacy go off the grid. I also care about privacy, but being a gamer and limited to Windows for the most part (lots of games, I have a problem, don't judge) I don't have a huge say in the matter. When I want to be more secure I use Linux on my laptop. I'm not condoning the state of things, I just don't want people to think that staying with an outdated OS will keep them "safe" because the fact is, it won't. Short of going completely off the grid, there's not a lot the average Joe can do about it. Oh, and you can uninstall Solitaire. I welcome any privacy tips in the comments for those interested.
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[–] 1475002? 0 points 13 points 13 points (+13|-0) ago (edited ago)
The difference is that Windows 10 increases the telemetry you're exposed to, not that it's the only thing that can invade your privacy. Microsoft is now morphing into a facebook/google like creature. The telemetry in Windows 10 is new, and is in addition to, whatever invasions you may already be exposed to, so it's not that Windows 10 is the one and only thing that can affect your privacy - it's just more of something we're tired of dealing with.
People who value their privacy use DuckDuckGo, Firefox with NoScript or other protections, and would not use Google or Bing. Microsoft is baking more telemetry into the OS itself now. There's whole how-to posts about securing Windows 10 from these additional things, which did not exist in Windows 7.
Windows 10 and privacy
Disable data collection
[–] arrggg 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Great links!
The Group Policy settings to make it stop searching the web for everything are exactly what I have been searching for. That hosts file for blocking all microsoft servers is awesome too.
[–] Drachen 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you for sharing those two links with me. You are amazing.
[–] tcp 1 point 4 points 5 points (+5|-1) ago
This is a rant without a point. Thanks for letting us know you've assumed the position, I guess. Meanwhile, people who care will not let Windows 10 become a success by blindly adopting it.
[–] PhishKill [S] 1 point 0 points 1 point (+1|-1) ago
So, what is your primary OS? If it's any version of windows your point is completely invalid. If not, that's good for you, but lots of people are tied to windows for various reasons and thinking that any version of said OS is more secure or private in terms of data collection is pure ignorance. Only difference being that they are up front about it now.
[–] dinosaurus 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
https://i.imgur.com/BsLARf3.jpg
This infographic may look like 4chan trash, but it raises several points why Win10 is worse than Win7.
If Win10 doesn't fail and microsoft continues to be a datacolection spy subagency then Linux is the future.
[–] PhishKill [S] 1 point 0 points 1 point (+1|-1) ago
I don't disagree, I truly hope Linux is the future (2015: year of linux, same as every other year) but if any government body asked MS for your info before, they'd have it in a heartbeat no matter which version of windows you have.
[–] mjmoore ago
I turned off the ad tracking. I'll give Cortana a go and see how useful it is. I have the leaked APK installed on my Android phone too, so it will be interesting to compare it to Google Now. If it proves to me useless over the course of a month, that will also be disabled. I think Microsoft is scrambling to learn more contextual data about customers because everyone uses Google for search, and carries around either an iPhone or an Android phone which has access to their location history. If you went from Windows 7 to Windows 10, and never really used Windows Phone, Microsoft is more or less starting from scratch. See what works for you, and what you consider to be useful. Turn off whatever tracking or contextual awareness features you find to be less than useful.