Microsoft's New OS System Windows 10

[Shelter]

Well I'm too a fan of the VLC player but I hated the old Windows Media Player - but now the new W10 player is much more better and so I'm using both.

 

[Ainsey]

One of my various computers will be upgraded sometime after the majority of bugs has been worked out; but which one is still a bit of a mystery to me.

 

[W!nston]

Well now isn't this great...

Windows 10 banned by torrent trackers due to privacy concerns
Paranoia runs deep, really really deep
RON / AUG 23, 2015 AT 11:30 AM

Torrent trackers have apparently banned the sharing of Windows 10 due to “privacy concerns” based on reports that surfaced on the internet a few weeks ago. Windows 10 has been in the limelight about privacy concerns since it was released, with reports claiming that Microsoft can wipe torrents and pirated software from people’s hard drives — a piracy kill switch so to speak.

A torrent tracker, for those that did not know, is a server that communicates between peers using the BitTorrent protocol. Torrents are typically used to share files — sometimes (or maybe most of the time) illegal files too. The tracker server keeps track of where these shared files reside on peer machines, which ones are available at time of request, and helps coordinate the sharing of that file.

The controversy regarding Windows 10 and privacy originates from Microsoft’s Services Agreement, which was recently updated to allow the company to download software updates and configuration changes that may prevent people from playing counterfeit games. The agreement does not go into specifics — which is likely why this paranoia came to be. The agreement does not even explicitly include Windows 10, rather it includes your Microsoft Account, Xbox Live, and Windows Store content.

“Sometimes you’ll need software updates to keep using the Services. We may automatically check your version of the software and download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices,” the Services Agreement states.

Microsoft’s Services Agreement refers primarily to protection against counterfeiting of Xbox Live and Windows Store content, not content on Windows 10 specifically. There is no evidence that any privacy related information is in fact being shared by Windows 10.

But the privacy paranoia has been taken to heart with some torrent trackers, having removed Windows 10 altogether. Torrent groups BB and FSC are considering the removal of the operating system from their trackers, while other groups have already done so. A torrent group by the name of iTS explains that Windows 10 is now “off-limits” because of the amount of data it allegedly shares.

“Many of you might have heard or read about the terrible privacy policy of windows 10 recently. Unfortunately Microsoft decided to revoke any kind of data protection and submit whatever they can gather to not only themselves but also others. One of those is one of the largest anti-piracy company called MarkMonitor. Amongst other things windows 10 sends the contents of your local disks directly to one of their servers. Obviously this goes way too far and is a serious threat to sites like ours which is why we had to take measures,” iTS argues.

“Since last thursday Windows 10 is officially banned from iTS. Perhaps at some point special versions of windows 10 will surface that would successfully wipe all those outrageous privacy violations but until then windows 10 is not welcome here in the interest of this site and all iTS members,” iTS adds.

Torrent group BB claims to have seen it first hand that Windows 10 is gathering information and sharing with anti-piracy groups. This is what they had to say: “We have also found [Windows 10] will be gathering information on users’ P2P use to be shared with anti piracy group… what’s particularly nasty is that apparently it sends the results of local(!!) searches to a well known anti piracy company directly so as soon as you have one known p2p or scene release on your local disk … BAM!”

Another group, FSC, is banning anyone who visits their site while running Windows 10. “As we all know, Microsoft recently released Windows 10. You as a member should know, that we as a site are thinking about banning the OS from FSC. That would mean you cannot use the site with the OS installed.”

MarkMonitor, for those that did not know, is a leader in online corporate identity protection. MarkMonitor has worked with Microsoft for the past several years to help combat online identity theft. MarkMonitor basically delivers information about confirmed phishing attacks against its customers directly to Microsoft for use by the company’s Phishing Filter and SmartScreen technology — ultimately protecting those who use Microsoft services.

“Microsoft is committed to increasing consumer confidence in safely using the Internet for commerce and communications. As part of this effort, we’re working with MarkMonitor, a proven anti-phishing technology provider, to help protect our customers,” said John Scarrow, general manager, Anti-Spam and Anti-Phishing Team, Microsoft Technology Care and Safety Group. “MarkMonitor is a recognized leader in monitoring and detecting phishing and other online identity fraud, and this relationship allows us to learn from MarkMonitor’s valuable fraud data and thereby help enhance the protection our technologies can provide for our customers,” Scarrow adds.

Once again, there is no evidence that any privacy related information is being shared by Windows 10. However, if you are concerned about privacy on Windows 10, you can head over here to see how you can adjust a few settings to ease your mind.

SOURCE

What does all of that really mean? Does anyone know? Is there a way to disable any of the W10 'spyware'?

 

[W!nston]

So it's just more hype? There's nothing to worry about then.

 

[gb2000ie]

How is this different than letting Apple and Google access my data on my phone?

The only difference I see between Windows 10 and previous versions is that Microsoft has made everything clear in the privacy statement.

Pretty amazing how stupid the media has been about this IMHO.

It's all about the money - you have to follow the money to understand what incentives are driving a company's actions.

The two most-opposite business models are Google and Apple, so let's look at those two specifically.

Google:
What does google SELL? Ads. So, who are Google's customers? ADVERTISERS! Users are not customers, users are the product being sold to the actual customers. Google offer users their services free of financial charge, because they sell access to those customers, and data about them, to advertisers.

That is why Chrome is free, that is why Android is free, that is why Google search is free, that is why GMail is free ......

Respecting user privacy costs Google money, so they give you the absolute least possible privacy the law, and their users, will tolerate. And they often push at both those margins.

Apple:
What does Apple SELL? Hardware - iPhones, Macs, and a few iPods, and digital media - music, movies, and apps.

Who are Apple's customers? USERS!
When your customers are your users, protecting their privacy does not cost you money, it makes you money, so Apple is incentivized to protect users privacy - hence even Edward Snowden thinks they do it well.

OK, so there is the Google model, and the Apple model. Being a Google user costs you no money, but MUCH privacy, while being an Apple users costs you significant money, but very little of your privacy.

So where do MS fit in? Are they Appley? or Googley?

MS WERE Appley, they sold software, so their users were their customers.

Then, about a decade ago, they began to transition - they are now a bit Appley and a bit Googley, but, becoming every more Googley every year.

Giving Windows 10 away for free means Windows 10 users are NOT customers, they are the product being sold through Bing. This is why the default configuration of Windows 10 is a privacy nightmare, the thing is always phoning home! Even when you try turn it all off, as Ars Technica did, it still phones home a lot, and still send back the searches you perform in the start menu/tiles, and tags them with a unique ID so they can track your search behaviour over time.

If you follow the money, you will understand why Windows 10 being free is a REALLY bad for users. Microsoft really are the new Google.

Personally, I much prefer to be the customer rather than the product, hence I choose to forgo Google's 'free' stuff, and chose to pay Apple for services instead.

Companies have no morals - they follow their financial incentives - Google, and Microsoft, are incentivised to invade your privacy, they more they do, the richer they get - so, they inevitably will do that.

B.

 

[gb2000ie]

So it's just more hype? There's nothing to worry about then.

This exact story is more BS than anytihng, but yes, there is PLENTY to worry about.

Follow the money - Windows 10 users are not MS customers, they are a product sold by MS to advertisers. It is in MS's finacial interest to invade your privacy, so they will, and are.

B.

 

[gb2000ie]

How else can Apple provide its consumers with a top end experience with no feedback loop on real world usage?

What has that got to do with invasion of privacy?

Users can opt in to sending ANONYMOUS feedback if they wish. That is not an invasion of privacy.

What's about proactive? What's about Siri?

Not sure what you mean by 'proactive'.

As for Siri, she (or he) uses a random ID that is not tied to you, is re-set every 15 minutes, making long-term tracking impossible. In other words, siri is anonymous.

Well for Apple this personalisation is apparently anonymous but I wonder how can real personalization be derived from information that doesn’t identify you?

Easy - Apple 'profile' you locally on your device. The profile does not leave your device.

I totally agree with you, Companies aren't charities and they have to follow their financial incentives, they use for sure a different model to invade your privacy but the final result is always the same, they know you and they use data to gain money, in two different ways

No no no no no!!!!!!!

If I pay a company to store my photos, and they encrypt them and only let me access them that is not an invasion of privacy.

If I upload my photos to a company that has in their TOS that they can use my photos for what ever they want, that is an invasion of my privacy.

If a company keeps my data on my behalf, and does not share it, that is TOTALLY different to using my data to profile me and selling that profile to third parties.

Yes, all companies make money by storing my stuff, but no, that does NOT make them all the same from a privacy point of view!

When you are the customer, and not the product, things are very different to when you are the product and not the customer.

The fact that most people don't understand how Google and Facebook make money is the only reason it is possible for them to do so. Companies that sell users rely on user ignorance to thrive. They have more perverse incentives than you can shake a stick at, and are big enough to over-power most regulators most of the time.

Edward Snowden explaining why it is important to support Apple's business model of making money through protecting our privacy, instead of selling our privacy for profit: http://anon.projectarchive.net/?htt...ing-the-hammer-if-it-betrays-us/#.oikuie:obde

B.

 

[turkeyboy]

This thread is most informing indeed and certainly is an "eye opener" into Microsoft's modus of operation.
As I previously mentioned, I won't be upgrading from Win 7 Pro, as my peripherals will not cope with the device drivers of Win 10.
Also ..... I use torrent sites, so it would seem like to me that Win 10 will not allow me to do this and automatically block me out. Is this correct ?

 

[Shelter]

Until now I couldn't ascertain that W10 prevents me to use any sides on WWW.

 

[gb2000ie]

That was a really interesting article but just to clarify no one is selling data, google facebook microsoft never sell your data, according to their privacy policy they sell advertisers access to your attention on their property and may use some of our data for targetting.

A politician couldn't split hairs finer!

They let advertisers buy access to 20 to 30 year old gay men who live in Denmark, make 500,000+ a year, and are into cars.

They have used everything I do on their sites to infer a detailed profile like that, and then they sell it. The more they track you, and the more they convince you to share, the more detailed the profile they create of you, and the more money they make selling access to people based on those profiles.

We do not tell Google or FaceBook these things, they spy on us to find out. They use ads to watch as we move from website to website, they use like buttons to follow us even if we go to pages without ads. They know more about us than even the scariest police states do about their citizens, and all without our informed concent.

If you insist that is not an invasion of privacy, and not selling privacy for profit, fine, then but I 100% disagree.

Data are stored in their servers and don't leave their servers.

See above.

iAd does exactly the same thing.

No, it does not. That is why it is a total flop. Apple will not give advertisers the level of access they want.

http://anon.projectarchive.net/?http://uk.businessinsider.com/apple-iad-more-targeting-coming-2015-3?r=US&IR=T

That has no detail in it at all!

Apple do not read your email to profile you.

Apple do not follow you around the web to profile you.

Apple do not record everything you search for to profile you.

The reason iAd is a flop is because Apple are trying to run an ethical ad agency. I thought it was a daft idea from the start, but what do I know.

The only way Apple could make iAd a success would be to stop being Apple, and to start tracking us like FaceBook, Google, and now MS do. THey are not doing that, so they can't offer to sell what they do not have.

There are marked differences in business model, and they have real-world effects. No, all companies are not the same, because all companies do not make their money in the same way.

B.

 

[c750dt]

Let's look at the issue of privacy invasion in another light for a minute. Big money is changing hands, people are working their asses off and a serious effort is being put into making sure you're aware they can sell you a dildo or some other funny thing. At least corporate America doesn't judge. They see my porn collection and try to sell me something to use as a companion to it.

 

[gb2000ie]

What I'm trying to say is that more or less there isn't a 'privacy virgin' (sadly)

Virgin - an interesting choice of words - a 'privacy angel' might be a better phrase perhaps?

Anyway, you are right that no company is perfect.

But, just because none are perfect, that does not mean the differences between them are not very important.

It's a bit like politicians - there is not a saint among them, and yet, elections still really matter, because the difference between bad and worse can be very big indeed!

To dig in to iAds a little deeper, my understanding from following Apple news semi-professionally is that the little bit of profiling there is on iAds is based on app usage. The logic being that if you use Astronomy-related apps, you might want to see an ad for a telescope.

Advertising at me based on the apps I use is very different to advertising at me based on the content of my emails, the content of my instant messages, my interactions on social media, who my contacts are, what websites I visit, and where I go physically through out the day. To be very clear, the iAd tracking only includes THAT I use an app, not any of the information I enter into those apps.

What iAds also has is a single logically located 'off' button for tracking. On any iOS device, open the settings app, go to the 'privacy' section, then choose 'advertising', then turn on the button that says "limit ad tracking". There is also a button below that one to wipe the slate clean (labelled 'reset advertising identifier') - clicking that button resets your tracking ID to a new one, so you completely disconnect yourself from your previous app usage profile.

I still don't like iAds. I thought it was a dumb move when Apple went there, and I still do. Maybe Tim Cook will do the right thing and kill it?

B.

 

[gb2000ie]

Let's look at the issue of privacy invasion in another light for a minute. Big money is changing hands, people are working their asses off and a serious effort is being put into making sure you're aware they can sell you a dildo or some other funny thing. At least corporate America doesn't judge. They see my porn collection and try to sell me something to use as a companion to it.

I guess there is always that tiny little silver lining!

 

[karlo2648]

I like Windows 10 as an upgrade from 8.1, but I will not upgrade my Windows 7 laptop. I like 7 and am keeping it.

 

[Shelter]

I like Windows 10 as an upgrade from 8.1, but I will not upgrade my Windows 7 laptop. I like 7 and am keeping it.

But at the latest in 2017 you will not get any support für your W7 - so you have to change and than you have to buy. Why not change now?

 

[Cute Prince101]

Hi Guys

Earlier in this thread i mentioned that i personally didn't like the Live tiles on the side of the new start menu and reverted back to Win 7 menu using Classic Shell software, well i decided to give Win 10 new menu a go, but made some modifications on how i like/wanted it to appear. Here is screencap of it live in action



& As for the privacy issue, You can disable a couple of things in the Settings App in the start menu & in the Services app in Control Panel, if you are concern.

& For WWW. part, you don't have to type that in the web address box in any web address as long as you know the rest of the web link, it will still open the site with or without that WWW.

But altogether i think Microsoft have done a wonderful great job with this new OS, as I'm enjoying using it, haven't had any slow downs since upgrading back in July, everything is smooth.

 

[karlo2648]

But at the latest in 2017 you will not get any support für your W7 - so you have to change and than you have to buy. Why not change now?

I've had this Dell computer running Windows 7 since 2009. Given that the computer laptop probably has about 8 to 10 year lifespan, it will probably die before the end of support for the Windows 7 operating system. Since I like Windows 7, I don't see any advantage to upgrade to an operating system that I don't like as well. Perhaps if it was a better computer, I would think about upgrading.

 

[Shelter]

But altogether i think Microsoft have done a wonderful great job with this new OS, as I'm enjoying using it, haven't had any slow downs since upgrading back in July, everything is smooth.

Cute Prince I only can agree with you. I really like W10.

 

[smallsleepyrascalcat]

Gonna download it this today while I'm at a birthday lunch... we'll see if I'm back this evening ^^

Edit: all is well, no problems so far, I like Windows 10.

 

[aman_dig]

The truth is Windows 7 is a great OS, and it will take something very special to beat it. Is Windows 10 that OS? A lot of Windows 7 users will say no. For W7 users, 10 is a downgrade.

This is why I will NOT upgrade:

- According to Microsoft, "some printers and other hardware might not work, and some software might not install or work correctly, including antivirus or security programs.

- We know that Microsoft will have the standard ten year support...but what happens when a new milestone build is released (Windows 10.1, for example)?

- Too much mobile influence

- Built-in apps are worthless on a desktop

- The XAML start menu

- etc...

MS believes most of their customers are idiots. Many homeusers will regret the upgrade. Many of them know almost nothing about Win 10.

Happen to me once while i was "upgrading" from 7 to 8
my autocad stop functioning (which reverted me back on using 7) and months later I find out they build a solution
it still take around 5-10 minutes to open it..