What's the best tool TODAY to block Microsoft snooping in Windows 10?

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x509

2[H]4U
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Sep 20, 2009
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Free or paid, what's the best way to keep Microsoft's grubby paws off my data (and my family's data)?

Tools?

Registry edits?

Etc?

Thanks,

x509
 
Here is a simple tool to keep Windows 10 from being too much of a pain in the ass.

O&O Shutup 10
O&O ShutUp10: download free antispy tool for Windows 10

I also use Classic Shell.

Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements

I am old school and have no use for the new and improved Windows 10 menu. I am sure some people think it is wonderful but it is not for me.

After a few tweaks, W10 isn't that bad. Most people that complain about W10 do not take the time to customize it or neuter it might be a better term.
 
DPI said:
Which doesn't actually turn everything off.
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There was a post from a [H] member / Microsoft employee a while ago which specified what was still enabled after using the Off sliders. The list of information sent back to Microsoft was very small, useful, and nowhere close to what the tinfoil hat club would have people believe.
 
Ocellaris said:
There was a post from a [H] member / Microsoft employee a while ago which specified what was still enabled after using the Off sliders. The list of information sent back to Microsoft was very small, useful, and nowhere close to what the tinfoil hat club would have people believe.
Click to expand...

Actually, I don't think they were 100% honest/forthcoming with what was being transmitted. The sliders are only what you can control, the rest is a mystery.
 
Still seems to have quite a bit of activity even after using O&O and anti-beacon. Use Windows just for Gaming now so I don't care, but definitely still have activity.
 
Install Ubuntu. Than watch Ubuntu beacon of to SA.

I trust Microsoft slightly more than Africa BTW.

But you can have your FW block Microsoft if you want
 
unclewebb said:
After a few tweaks, W10 isn't that bad. Most people that complain about W10 do not take the time to customize it or neuter it might be a better term.
Click to expand...

Some might say that having to neuter an operating system to make it enjoyable would infact imply a right to complain.
 
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westrock2000 said:
Some might say that having to neuter an operating system to make it enjoyable would infact imply a right to complain.
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And not just neuter it once but then have to constantly look over your shoulder for the next forced update that breaks the neutering and returns the OS to marketing defaults. At which point you have to ask yourself: is the OS working for you, or are you working for the OS?

I don't have time to check and dick with settings constantly, but I'm also not going to throw my arms up and give MS a blank check over my PC like the whole "welp 10 works okay for me what's the big deal" ignorance-is-bliss crowd. So 8.1 it is.
 
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Windows 10 Enterprise NTSB Privacy Edition. Get it from your favorite Linux ISO distributor.
 
Install a firewall if you don't have one and log the traffic. Or log the traffic at the router level. Lots of stuff going on.
 
jshaw42 said:
How can I tell if I am being watched by Microsoft?
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Well, you can monitor the network traffic with a tool like Wireshark if you know what to look for.

If you're concerned about it, you could always use a hardware firewall that blocks all known IPs associated with Windows 10's telemetry, preferably one connected to a service that updates the list automatically as needed.

But what they're gathering probably isn't what you're thinking... I really doubt they're running a keylogger or gathering webcam data.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. I am not really being paranoid, just curious.

The difficulty is that I am not certain I would know just what to look for.
 
Ocellaris said:
The list of information sent back to Microsoft was very small, useful, and nowhere close to what the tinfoil hat club would have people believe.
Click to expand...

Prove it. The data is encrypted so what they send back is speculation. You actually trust a Microsoft employee to tell you the truth? LOL

Anyway, I use the Spybot Anti-Beacon and I am not even running Win10, I use it in Win8 because Microsoft back ported some of their spying to Win7/8.
 
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athenian200 said:
But what they're gathering probably isn't what you're thinking... I really doubt they're running a keylogger or gathering webcam data.
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That is a very big assumption. Unless I can read through and compile the code myself, I wouldn't assume anything.
 
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