
Microsoft Makes Windows 10 Automatic Spying Worse - bontoJR
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/11/24/windows-10-automatic-spying-begins-again/
======
scorpioxy
This won't matter much to their target user. Anybody who wants more control
won't be running Windows 10 or probably running an alternative OS.

The target user is not one that knows what this stuff means or at least
doesn't care even if they do. "I want to be able to create this month's budget
on Excel". Everything else is gibberish.

Nor should they. I upgraded my parents to use Android phones. Trying to
explain what the permission system is was really challenging. "Write to
External Storage" is not a statement that you can explain without mentioning
the words SD card and internal storage and difference between them. So I have
come to the conclusion that current software paradigms are too difficult to
understand for anybody who doesn't do this for a living. I wish there was a
platform that is midway between Apple's the user is dumb and Android's
everybody is a tech-wizard approach.

~~~
rustynails
>Anybody who wants more control won't be running Windows 10 or probably
running an alternative OS.

Please don't confuse more control with privacy.

My last foray into Ubuntu and Mint (for more control) was a miserable failure
on several levels, so I went back to Microsoft Windows.

There are many people that would like an alternative, but Mac OS and Linux
aren't suitable (walled garden and stability issues). Having to hack around
security concerns is still my preferred alternative at this time.

~~~
arpa
Stability issues? On Linux? Well I'm yet to see a windows box with uptime of
two years and everything up-to-date.

------
brudgers
In my opinion, 'Connected User Experiences and Telemetry Service’ is a lot
more clear than 'DiagTrack'. In fact, it is so much more clear that I find the
author's claim it is vague and misleading utterly disingenuous.

There is a legitimate criticism if Microsoft re-enabled the service after the
renaming for users who had turned it off under the old name. But that doesn't
fit the narrative arc of Microsoft malfeasance. Tech journalism shouldn't be a
debate team exercise. When it is, there are no winners and everybody walks
away dumber.

~~~
acqq
Deleting the programs seems strange:

"it resets many user preferences (including basics like your preferred web
browser) if they weren’t Microsoft product/services as well as _silently
deleting third party system monitoring apps like: CPU-Z, speccy, 8gadgetpack,
SpyBot, HWMonitor and more._ "

~~~
ionised
It did that to me.

It took me an hour of messing with seeings and Powershell to get everything
back to how I had it before the update.

------
mark_l_watson
Yes, simply renaming this service and resetting user preferences was not a
good thing to do.

I think I understand Microsoft's motivations though. They want everyone up to
date, control third party applications that might lead to instabilities, and
basically make Windows 10 as solid as possible. There is a lot of similarity
in what Apple does. I trust, more or less, both companies.

~~~
rdsnsca
Very little similarity to what Apple does IMO. The user has complete control
over software and system updates, the App Store preference pane lets you
completely turn off updates, if you want.

~~~
rustynails
I am being nagged continually about IOS updates. It's even suggesting that it
can do it overnight. It's not forced, but it's getting pushy.

~~~
rdsnsca
We are mostly referring to the desktop OSes based on the OP but...

try Settings (app) / Notifications / App Store / Allow Notification

I rarely give any app notification privileges.

------
throwawayaway
Backported to windows 7 and 8 now too, but people don't seem to mind. Have a
root around for diagtrack.dll if you don't believe me.

If you don't have it I'll wager you have automatic updates off.

~~~
jnellis
I have windows7 ultimate. I can't find it. I have automatic updates turned on.
I also have never received the windows10 update notification while everyone I
know with Home version has.

~~~
throwawayaway
[https://support.microsoft.com/en-
us/kb/2952664](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2952664)

Have a look for this one, I'm going to look for it on my work machine on
Monday.

~~~
jnellis
I don't have this update either.

------
naveen99
If you don't want spying, put the machine behind a http proxy with a strict
white lists in and out firewall. I guess than you have to worry about the
firewall machine. chain a couple of them, and they won't know which machine is
the final firewall. If any of the others send unexpected chatter, you at least
know you are failing. This way you can still use windows at least until they
require an always on chatty encrypted connection to microsoft to function.

------
vatotemking
Funny, I just read another entry here in HN titled: Things the media does to
manufacture outrage.

