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Two years earlier I purchased a new Win 10 disk from a German company in case my computer ever tossed its cookies. The unwanted upgrade MS Win 10 did on me several weeks back wiped all my files and programs. To say I was pissed is an understatement of huge proportions. Years of valuable data I had that can't be replaced was lost. Years of important and valuable email contacts scrubbed. Thousand dollar software programs scrubbed along with all the data they had cached. Basically MS wiped five years of research and hard work with that upgrade.
Putting up with the "new" upgrade made me growl and grind my teeth every time I booted up as I was reminded of how much trusting MS to "back up" everything had cost me. I reloaded Win 10 from the disk as I was already wiped and knew I was going back to an earlier version. To see what MS was doing with every update was a revelation. Their updates aren't for the customer but for MS to get more intrusive into the customer's computer, what we have on our computer, what programs we load, what we search for on the web, how we shop, what we shop for, and what we buy. MS 10 sends virtually every single thing we do on our computer back to MS. "EVERYTHING".
To say I was shocked at all the things MS gathers off our computers is another understatement. Keep in mind I'm loading an European MS 10 early disk. I was clicking "NO" on almost a dozen info gathering links as the disk loaded. Basically MS wanted every keystroke sent back to the company. Even if I wasn't using their browser or email client, they still would gather everything I did with the two non MS programs. I have read where the chairman of Apple put a piece of tape over the camera on his laptop and his iPhone. With what I found when loading MS, I now have a good understanding why.
Okay, the fun part. European MS even the English version runs totally different than the U.S. version. Basically the same but the little differences are interesting. The sites we visit don't load with exactly the same layout. BCTS is a little weird and the ads are different. Daphne gave a link to "Idon'tworkherelady" a while back. For our across the pond cousins it's a completely different site with different background different voice and arranged in order differently. I know because I have both the U.S. and European sites logged in. I'm getting completely different ads tossed at my computer on the sites I visit. Mostly car ads of models not common in the U.S.
Obviously the Win 10 I loaded is still sending out data but it's data that I'm European and the links are reflecting that. I find it fascinating what our cousins across the pond receive in advertising and how the data is processed from the sites we in the U.S. receive as from what our cousins see. My files and personal data is and always will be backed up. Away from MS grubby data mining from now on and I'm certainly never going to trust MS to "recover or restore" anything. MS, Firefox, Thunderbird, are blocked from upgrades. And that's another story. If you value your privacy like I do, look into it. All my passwords are going into an index file now. Thanks BCTS authors.
The ladies who run BCTS, all those who surf here, and all the authors are awesome.
Hugs People
Barb
Life is meant to be lived, not worn until it's worn out.
Comments
It is not your computer any more
That's what I've been saying about W10 for years.
As for adverts... you can block them pretty well entirely. I use several ad blockers in Firefox plus Adguard. This is a paid app but makes the whole experience on the internet usable.
Barbie,
Don't forget your daily backups of all your user data. It is also worth investing in something like Clonezilla. Clone/image backup your C: drive is priceless and will avoid the bricking that seems to be all too common with W10 updates these days.
There is lots of info out there about blocking or at least delaying Microsoft's insistence of updating your PC when they want to and not when you want to. my advice is to get the block installed pronto.
Happy 2021.
Samantha
Hugs Sam
Yours and everyone's advice is pure gold. In order to block Win 10 from updating I'm using "sledgehammer" It's a very small free program. It one goes into Win 10 and clicks on no updates, it automatically defaults back and will update within ten days. It doesn't really stop updates. One must either use an independent program or go into the Win registry and change the update files. Clicking on settings and the link to stop updates is a MS liars game. It works but only for a couple days and then defaults back to update.
I'm so happy you mentioned "clone" instead of "mirror". So many computer people don't know the difference. I'm not getting into the details but definitely clone one's HD. I feel like a total idiot as I have been spouting that exact mantra for more than ten years and didn't follow my own advice."I'll get to it later was what I was doing and it bit me. BAD! Especially when I have a blank solid state HD on my desk just for that purpose, the past two years. It's even worse as I have two docking stations and all I had to do was plug it into a USB port. How stupid can one person be????
Obviously I LOVE PAIN as I brought all this upon myself.
As for blocking ads, I had several excellent programs that did that. I'm waiting to put them back in as I'm fascinated by the types and kind of ads you get over on that side of the pond. Since I'm now European English (my computer says I am) I get different ads than my American cousins.
Is the whole world insane or is it just me?
DON'T ANSWER THAT SAM
Hugs hon, try and be good. Just try would you. And before I forget. The chiffon, blue dress you wore to the Prime Minister's Dinner last year? Why is that pic just now coming to my attention? You know the party before covid shut everything down? Of course I want to borrow it. You know I love blue.
Barb
Life is a gift, treasure it.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Is the whole world insane or is it just me?
Barb,
Yes, the whole world is crazy except me and thee, and I often wonder about thee.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Amount of spying and data mining...
... is staggering.
Several times I caught my devices at collaboration to defraud me. I mention something in a quiet discussion with a friend in the noisy pub... One hour later my computer, my other phone, my tablet start pummeling me with ads for that thing... From several "competing" advertisers and/or aggregators...
Best local navigation program asks for a permission to track me constantly on every second touch of the screen if I chose "allow access only when active"...
So... Privacy? What a strange word...
You either accept being a main commodity mined by your phone, tablet, computer, or live in a cave hundred miles from the nearest electrical outlet... :-\
You can minimise your internet footprint
But... it takes a lot of effort. It starts with removing yourself from social media. I never signed up for any of them.
Then...
Well I could rant on for hours about it so I'll spare everyone from it. All I'll say is that it takes time (almost every day) and some investment.
On my Macbook using Firefox or Safari, I never see any adverts.
I'll spend an hour tomorrow reviewing the logs from my firewall and taking action to block any new slurping channels as well as hacking attempts from outside.
I'm not living in a cave and I'm not accepting my data is being mined but I'm not an average person when it comes to IT.
Samantha
It sounds like, from what
It sounds like, from what little I can tell here, that you fell for the 'restore' option in the Windows tools that is NOT a return to previous time, but restore the computer to a clean install. I've had customers do that in the past, because it's very deceiving - but it's not something they did to you just because they could.
You still did it, you just did it because you were given bad information. That's why I usually walk people through that step over the phone, rather than telling them to just do it.
Frankly, I've given up on anyone demanding privacy in computers. I mean, Windows 10 isn't HIPAA compliant, and can't be made that way without massive efforts - and they even say so in their privacy policy. Yet every EMR (electronic medical records) company demands that you have to have Windows 10 to be 'secure' and compliant.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Worse yet
When I do video doctor's visits, I'm required to use Google Chrome, in Windows 10. That's like enlisting two thieves to do your banking for you.
Not only does Google collect your data, they share it. (Read "sell it")
To top that off, my bank's online banking website has some features that simply won't work in Firefox. Up until last year, I was on my son-in-law's family plan for my cell phone and used to transfer the monthly charge to his account using Firefox, no problem. Since then, they've added Zelle as a transfer option and the way I was doing it before is still there, but won't call up my son-in-law's account number in Firefox.
I called the bank and waited 20 minutes to talk to a real person in customer service. The short story is that I needed to use Chrome. When I did, everything worked just a it had previously in Firefox.
The bank had the audacity to ask my to take a survey about my experience with customer service. I gave top marks to the person and bottom marks to the method required to do what I wanted. The lady who had the misfortune to take my call was very professional and allowed me to vent my displeasure an remained calm and worked with me. When the survey gave me a place to explain my rating, I let them have with both barrels. I ranted big time about how little I thought of Chrome in particular and Google in general.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Chrome and W10?
That's good. Well, not good for most people because both slurp your data like there is no tomorrow.
I -
- don't use W10 (I'm a Mac User)
- I will not under any circumstances install any Google Software or software based on something supplied by Google.
- 99% of google is blocked at my firewall. That firewall has over 2400 domains and IP's blocked.
There is no way that I'm going to open up one or more to have a video call with my Doctor. My Cancer Consultant and I had a phone consultation last Thursday. Job done. If the doc needs to see me then I'll walk the 150yds from my house to the surgery.
Yes, I'm a dinosaur but I am looking at my internet logs almost daily and hardly a day goes by without me adding more IP addresses to my firewall. I added more than 100 on Christmas Day alone.
I feel your frustration. Keep on ranting.
Samantha
Recovery or Restore
Recovery is going back to an earlier date when the computer was working perfectly before the last program was installed. One installs "widgets program" and computer rebels then go back to an earlier date before the installation and recover. Win XP would keep half a dozen recovery files listed so one could go back months if they wanted. Win 19 doesn't build a recovery date unless one tells it to. It's not automatic like it was before.
Restore will either be the old version where all programs and data is saved or as Bibliophage mentioned it's a total clean Win 10 software install. I was running the old version. Restore would reinstall with all programs and data from the last save. The latest Win 10 update wiped that from what I could find and reinstalled only the Win 10 program.
Basically I was stupid to trust MS anything and I paid the price. I tried recovery twice before I went to restore. Over the years I thought MS was bullet proof with recovery and then restore. I knew I needed to clone my HD and procrastinated. It jumped up and bit me.I can learn and it won't happen again.Things are truly interesting running an European version of Win without all the bells and whistles. In truth I never used those anyway. Windows (any version) is only a carriage for the programs I run. If anyone remembers DOS and how we added everything to run on top of that.
Hugs Bibliophage
Barb
Life is a gift, treasure it.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Here's the problem.
Here's the problem.
What you're calling recovery was called "System Restore" since Windows ME (where it was introduced. Best part of that OS).
So, people see 'restore my PC', but it skips what it used to say - "Restore my PC to a previous time".
If you upgrade to Windows 10 from, say, Windows 7, it'll save the old OS, but only for a certain amount of time. It seems to vary, but up to 30 days, unless Windows 10 gets a major 'feature' upgrade, in which case it'll be until that upgrade is installed. (It saves to the previous "major release", basically)
For those excessively paranoid about the "blocking IP's at the router" above, don't worry too much about that. Most internet routers are NAT routers, so outside traffic can't come in without either being invited by the inside system(s), or heroic efforts in routing (port forwarding, for example). Many routers even block ICMP (Ping) traffic (very frustrating when I'm trying to trace a problem).
What Samantha does is really unnecessary, unless you're doing other things that invite active attacks or are using nonstandard hardware. On my servers, I do block IP addresses, but I rarely make it a permanent ban. Even the ones coming from compromised server farms are rarely active after 5 days or so. If you're going to do permanent bans, you're better off banning entire blocks of addresses granted to countries, rather than random addresses.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Firewall blocking of IP addresses
I took Samantha's comment to mean that she is blocking outbound traffic to specific IP addresses, not inbound traffic. If your software is spying on you, it is sending the information outside your system, so blocking the outbound IP addresses would be necessary to defeat that. Network Address Translation (NAT) stops only inbound attacks.
Outbound traffic
And since Windows gives itself a by as far as outbound traffic goes, no third party firewall running on your box can prevent it phoning home to the mothership.
An external firewall is necessary though out of curiosity I looked into whether you can run a firewall on a virtual OS on the same box and that might be possile, negating the need for another physical box. These days of having lots of cores helps in this regard especially if you are running on a desktop PC with lots of cores.
BTW, preventing downloads of upgrades can be done with the simple check of turning on Metered Connections and Windows will complain it can't finish the download due to that.
Ah. To me, blocking IP
Ah. To me, blocking IP addresses at the firewall is to defend against inbound traffic. to block _outbound_ I block at the machine (which I don't bother doing. If I'm doing really dangerous crap, like malware research, I usually don't even allow the system on a real network at all. )
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
In and Out
My Firewall blocks both.
Outbound is pretty well everything 'owned' by Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Twitter.
Inbound is all the hacking attempts I see on my own blog. That is over 500 different IP addresses (or IP blocks)
Yes, my router does NAT but it also does port forwarding to the server that runs my blog.
Until you run a utility like Wireshark on your network, you really are in the dark about what goes on under the covers/in the background.
When you see all that outbound traffic and begin to wonder what the hell it is slurping, you might start to take notice. Sadly, the Windows firewall is bypassed by the slurping/phone home that MS does to your every action. Only a separate firewall can really block that. ISP supplied routers are basically dumb and dumber and can't do that sort of blocking.
I use a Raspberry-PI for my firewall. It sits between my Modem(wifi turned off) and my WiFi access point.
Sadly, most of what I've done is way beyond the skills of the average computer user.
Samantha
Raspberry-Pi
So you are using a Pi-Hole? I always thought that was just a DNS lookup block or is this a honest to goodess Firewall box? Can it handle gigabit internet ?
It can be both
and if you use a Pi 4, with USB3 (and an USB3->Ethernet adapter) it will handle gigabit ethernet.
https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/vpn/firewall/
I had all the firewall rules from my server so migration was easy.
Samantha
I use an EdgeRouter at home;
I use an EdgeRouter at home; I found I didn't need the extra options that SmoothWall gave me.
I'm well aware of what goes on between PC's and 'the world', especially after 25 years of IT consulting. I stand by what I said.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
It is a very old saying...
"Windows is a largest known computer virus. And you pay your own money for infecting your computer with it!.."
They're all as bad as one another.
These companies have got too big and do exactly what they like, Amazon is another. Sadly, without the internet, life would be less convenient and we pay for that convenience by letting unscrupulous and faceless bastards mine our information and lives and that's not the hackers and other thieves. So, unless like Samantha and other computer buffs who know how to take action and find time to do it, we have to pay that price.
It seems that we are menaced by thieves of one sort or another everywhere we go, what I don't understand is why they can't use their obvious intelligence to do an honest job and stop stealing from the rest of us. I suppose because they know they won't be caught or if they are, nothing much will happen. Welcome to the 21st Century where we have twice the population of previous ones and half the standards. still I won't catch Covid, I have an antivirus program. (joking).
Angharad
Freeware Antidote
Barb, look into Destroy Windows 10 Spying. Get it here.
G/R
Thank you
When I installed the earlier version of Win 10 from a Factory Disk, I blocked all the snooping and tattling it wanted to do on my computer. I also stopped it from upgrading during install and still not linked to the router installed sledgehammer which stops Win 10 upgrades. Win 10 is better than a keystroke logger. Wait..., it does keystroke logging in it's own way. Doesn't mean it is permanent the way MS codes work. I'm positive Win 10 has a few more nefarious spying and linking I'm not finding. At one time I was running a program that tattled on data in and out flow, what program was doing it, and the ISP it was handshaking with. Sat unobtrusive down in the tool bar. When I saw data flowing I could let it go or break the link to the down load.
I would be running Win XP right now but there is a lot in Win 10 the other can't do. Solar Remote security cameras is only one of several functions linked through bluetooth, iphone, and router
Damned if I do and damned if I don't kind of situation. God, can we go back to DOS?
Thank you to all who made their comments and advice. BCTS people are awesome. We have IT personnel and I know of two Physicists, and so many other super smart people. I am awed by the skill set and intelligence on this channel.
Hugs People
Barb
Now I have to check the party circuit and see who was wearing what dress I want to borrow. Life is good outside of MS.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Work Not Secure
One of the reasons that I don't try very hard at writing is that I never know when someone will take it. I even tried using a solid state HD and a switchable 4 port USB hub, but don't trust that either. Anything hooked to the internet is at peril.
Gwen
I drink the Microsoft Kool-Aid
I drink the Microsoft Kool-Aid so I've seen more about why they collect what they do. Microsoft prefers you to set up Windows with a Microsoft Account. This links your Windows License to your account and lets you do things like reinstall Windows and log back in to restore your settings. Your settings includes your browser settings, search history, favorites, etc. if you are using the Edge browser. This explains some of the big brother type behavior. If you are using the Microsoft Defender product, it is also sending lots of info about what is going on with your computer. There is a lot of AI type behavior going on to protect you from threats. In one class I attended they showed how that behavior protected their customers from a zero day threat after just 8 computers in the world were attacked. Their system detected the activity, recognized it, came up with the defense, and deployed it to all Windows computers after just 8 were attacked. This was in August 2019 when they still had in person classes. This is why they want you to have updates turned on. They assume, correctly, that most people don't have an IT department to decide which updates are important and which can wait. They actually have a plan for people who do want to make these decisions. It's Microsoft 365 E5 which gives you Intune so you can control your endpoints running Windows 10, Android, IOS, etc. and decide when and if they get updated. It costs from $35 - $57 USD per user/month depending on which features you want. I have the plan for $57/month as I am the only user. It does work across multiple devices for each user. Anytime a site says you need Chrome to access something you can usually use Chromium Edge instead. That is the current version of Edge which is deployed with the latest Windows 10 update 20H2. No matter which browser you use, you need to keep it updated or you are doomed. Flash is dead as of the new year I think. You can't really use the internet without someone knowing what you are doing whether it's your ISP, VPN provider, or someone else. Just read the Terms of Service and Privacy Policies to see who is collecting what and if you don't agree, don't use that product. I forgot that Windows 10 is a service, not software, that's what makes all the difference. There is not much difference between a PC with Windows 10 and a Chromebook from Google other than Windows 10 does more locally.
I'd rather give
$35 - $57 USD per user/month to Erin (I give more than that on average) than to Microsoft and that is coming from someone who was an MS Developer for more years than I care to remember.
Even when I was in the MS fold, I never used IE or Edge unless it was to download Firefox. (+ NoScript + Ublock Origin etc).
A Chromebook is an even bigger spy on what you are doing unless you get the Educational (up to 12th grade) edition of the software.
While Google might know about Samantha Michele Davies, searching for the real me produces zero results. That's how I like it.
Samantha
A windows 10 neutered edition
Kinda appropriate for this site ^_^
*ahem*
Anyway, there is an ameliorated edition of Windows 10 that defangs a lot of the privacy crap on Win10.
Linus Tech Tips has a video on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwkiU6GG-YU
Ah
Like a OS stray in a shelter.... the neutering might happen quickly enough to keep ole Tensie from reproducing?
Love, Andrea Lena
Windows Decrapafier
That is the name of the software and it truly guts windows 10. But the problem is, it did too good of a job at removing all non essential components. There was nothing left of the basic Win to run any of the added in programs. Thus if anyone plans on installing and running said program, I strongly advise against it. After my little foray into said software jungle I found my Win 10 neutered to such extent it was totally worthless for anything. Reverting back to telling Win to reinstall the deleted portions, I was a little smarter and wasted a whole lot of time trying to escape Win 10 snooping and controlling my computer.
Hugs Kimmie
Barb
Life is a daily learning experience from birth to checking out again.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
I suspect, like many other
I suspect, like many other tools of that sort, if you don't know exactly how it works without using it, you shouldn't run it. I use tools on a regular basis that constantly have warnings like "Don't run this if you don't know what you're doing" and "This can destroy/damage/nuke your system, so we're not responsible if you do that."
Bleeping Computers is full of links to those. (I'll admit, I haven't learned how to use some of the tools, but I tend to just do the repairs by hand, since I'm not doing hundreds a week)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
I agree
I agree there's a bunch of soft that runs on w10 but not on xp. Why not w7 then?
Unfortunately, from personal
Unfortunately, from personal experience, there's a lot of business software that will actually refuse to install on Windows 7.
If you're trying to install a clean OS on a new PC, the newer Intel processors actually block windows 7 as well. Deliberately designed incompatibility. I don't know about Windows 7 on the newer Ryzen processors, however.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
For those who actually care
Facebook and Google have been accused of striking a secret, illegal advertising deal
https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-google-illegal-ad-d...
The FTC is investigating data collection at YouTube, Facebook, and seven other companies
https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/14/22174755/ftc-data-privac...
Hugs People
Barb
My life is meant for me and those I wish to share with, not strangers or businesses
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl