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 I'm not condoning the state of things, I just don't want people to think that staying with an outdated OS will keep them "safe" because the fact is, it won't. Short of going completely off the grid, there's not a lot the average Joe can do about it.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.