
Windows Privacy Dashboard: GUI for Windows 10 Privacy Settings - Mandatum
https://wpd.app/
======
xnx
It is unclear in what ways this is different/better than O&O ShutUp10
([https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10](https://www.oo-
software.com/en/shutup10)), aside from that tool having a much worse name.

~~~
Cthulhu_
To me it comes across as less dodgy - no apparent money making scheme.

~~~
greggman3
So according to HN if you aren't paying for it you're the product. That has me
worried. If this was just a repo on github I'd have a little more faith that
this isn't just a trojan in disguise (not saying it is but it's scary to give
an app enough access to know and set this stuff)

~~~
ccmcarey
I think the concern is less that it contains a virus and more that there will
be some weird monetisation stuff going on like selling usage data.

------
whalesalad
Screenshots are hiding on the press page.
[https://wpd.app/press/](https://wpd.app/press/)

The rest of the marketing site is well done... surprised screenshots aren’t
front and center!

~~~
nogridbag
The back and arrow buttons on the slideshow look like they're part of the app.
I initially clicked away because I thought it was a single screenshot.

------
thiht
When your product is a GUI, the first thing I expect to see on the home page
is a screenshot.

I wonder why the same mistake keeps getting made again and again.

~~~
morganvachon
...it's right there. Look to the right of the logo and download buttons.

[https://imgur.com/kHrmgSJ.png](https://imgur.com/kHrmgSJ.png)

~~~
ubercow13
Ah it's good old "responsive design" again, ie. randomly hiding essential
content depending on viewport dimensions.

------
LeoPanthera
This looks extremely similar to ShutUp10, which has a long pedigree and is
widely considered to be trustworthy.

~~~
lanisik655
cap here: WPD has been around almost since the release of Windows 10.

------
cbsks
Will it let me disable web searches from the start menu? That’s currently my
biggest gripe with windows 10.

There are a few stack exchange questions about it but the answers are all
outdated and don’t work for me.

~~~
sk0g
Search is all kinds of borked, even without that.

I had a file I was working on recently, "vuln2.docx". "vuln2" won't bring it
up, but "vuln" will, alongside the other ones I had been working on. WHY?

~~~
lostmsu
AFAIK this is so that you could pick between multiple matches simply by
continuing to type.

~~~
sk0g
Why does it not match when I've typed more of the filename?

------
detay
not open source. won't install, won't suggest.

~~~
tastroder
Cool, and? Then you're apparently not the target audience.

It's an unobfuscated .NET application that a bunch of folks seem to have built
in their spare time. Did you use any of the widely available tools to
decompile it and find anything egregious in there or is this just a lazy
dismissal?

~~~
MaxBarraclough
This really misses the point. There's a practical point, and a point of
principle.

If you're making the point that disassembly is at least _possible_ , you've
already lost. Sure, maybe they haven't gone as far as they possibly could have
in preventing us from inspecting the code's workings. Perhaps the licence is
gracious enough not to try to prohibit such study. That's still not good
enough.

These days it's pretty much the norm to release such freeware as Free and Open
Source software. If this weren't true, we wouldn't be having this
conversation. Why then haven't they done so? Why do they choose to deny the
rights to study and improve the software?

Releasing the source is also a pretty good way of offering assurance of the
absence of malware.

It's reasonable to be wary with admin privileges. Proprietary freeware comes
across as saying _You 're not allowed to look, just trust me._ I'll pass.

~~~
tastroder
Sure, I completely agree with the point of principle, just found it odd to
simply dismiss a project on it.

The norm for HN maybe just hasn't reached the authors yet given their home
countries and the fact they seem to identify via Steam profiles, i.e. are
likely more involved in a social circle of Windows based gamers instead of
FOSS folks. We don't know anything about those authors, it's pretty unlikely
that this came from a point of explicitly choosing to deny somebody any
rights, for all I know this was made by a bunch of 15 year olds that simply
didn't know any better. While I realize the fundamental difference between
this tool and random webapps, products without disclosed source or incentives
are cheered on by HN all the time, which is why I found "not open source.
won't install, won't suggest." a rather lazy contribution.

If one of the authors had submitted this we could have had a conversation and
suggest they open source it, like you've just done, which is absolutely fine.
Passing on closed source freeware is fine as well but attribution of bad
intentions or "closed source == bad" style comments are just plain unnecessary
imho.

~~~
MaxBarraclough
> I completely agree with the point of principle, just found it odd to simply
> dismiss a project on it.

I dismissed the project the moment I learnt it's closed-source, for the
reasons I've given. A point of principle is a fine reason to dismiss
something, even in the absence of a practical concern. Here we have both.

There are plenty of things I can shrug off about a software project, such as
internal design decisions I disagree with, or using tools and languages that I
dislike, or even using a Free and Open Source software licence that I dislike.
Choosing to make it closed-source is bigger than that.

To be clear, I'm not a FOSS purist (I'm writing this from Firefox on Windows
10), but for a tool like this in particular, it should either be FOSS, or
direct from Microsoft.

> The norm for HN maybe just hasn't reached the authors yet given their home
> countries and the fact they seem to identify via Steam profiles, i.e. are
> likely more involved in a social circle of Windows based gamers instead of
> FOSS folks.

This doesn't change my assessment at all. If the developers are
beginners/hobbyists and are, bluntly, of such low calibre that they aren't
aware of the advantages of Free and Open Source software, I don't see how
that's reassuring.

> for all I know this was made by a bunch of 15 year olds that simply didn't
> know any better

Then I'm glad I was quick to dismiss the idea of giving their code admin
rights on my machine!

> I found "not open source. won't install, won't suggest." a rather lazy
> contribution

You're right that detay's reply didn't explain their dismissal, yes.

> attribution of bad intentions

I mean, they _are_ denying us the rights to study and improve the software.
That's what closed-source software means. Was the decision to go closed-source
the result of bad intentions? Perhaps not, as you say they might not be
deliberately setting out to deny rights that people value, but my strong
reservations remain justified.

> "closed source == bad" style comments are just plain unnecessary

In the context of software of this kind, closed source _is_ bad. I think I've
justified this position.

------
joering2
I crashed many Win 10 versions trying to turn off bunch of telemetrics and
cortana and store and other calling home services by tweaking registry and
never quite succeed. Until I find Henry++ Simplewall. Brilliant tool - instead
of tweaking regs etc you just shut down access to internet to bunch of
services. And boy there is hundred of them trying non stop. So while your
windows 10 works fine, cortana, store, telemetry and windows updates believe
you have no internet at all.

~~~
ents
[https://github.com/henrypp/simplewall](https://github.com/henrypp/simplewall)

~~~
joering2
Yepp. I installed on multiple Windows and donated many times; I suggest you do
the same (I am not related to this project in any way).

The only "issue" I ever had was with Dropbox updates. Dropbox main instance
would download its new update, name it somewhat randomly and then use that
program to trigger update from the internet. This would trigger simplewall to
ask for permission, but by the time you click "yes" the update would already
fail. Minutes alter Dropbox downloads same install with new file name and the
whole whack-a-mole game starts all over. In this case you need to whitelist
Dropbox IPs: in user rules create new rule: tcpip v6, any direction with
remote rule: 162.125.35.0:443-162.125.36.255:443 - this will allow any new
Dropbox update to download new version and safely call home to finish install.

------
api
If your OS needs special tools to keep it from being a privacy joke, your OS
has larger issues.

~~~
hendersoon
You aren't wrong, but if you're a gamer you have you choice. It's Windows or
Windows.

~~~
oehtXRwMkIs
You're mostly right but I play a lot of games and Proton is good enough for me
at least. I think it's a combination of not caring about games that don't run
as well because they don't run as well or not caring for them in the first
place.

------
prophesi
Are there any open source alternatives for this?

~~~
livre
That program is just a dashboard for quickly configuring group policies and
the Windows firewall. It's programmed for .NET, if you don't trust it
decompile it, get the list of policies and their values and set them manually.
ILSpy does a great job at decompiling it. For the firewall part you can
install AdGuard Home[1], set it as your DNS and add the host lists[2] if you
want it to auto update or use WindowsSpyBlocker[3] and keep it updated
manually.

[1]
[https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome](https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome)

[2] [https://github.com/crazy-
max/WindowsSpyBlocker/tree/master/d...](https://github.com/crazy-
max/WindowsSpyBlocker/tree/master/data/hosts)

[3] [https://github.com/crazy-max/WindowsSpyBlocker](https://github.com/crazy-
max/WindowsSpyBlocker)

------
slg
Just to be clear, is this a closed source application that I am supposed to
install to modify my OS and the only contact information for the people who
made it are Steam accounts? And the primary motivation for installing this
software is that I don't trust the multinational corporation that could lose
hundreds of billions of dollars if they inappropriately abuse my privacy? But
of course I trust Barnacle, Vegetorius, and Janeyris.

~~~
oddlama
While I get your point, I think when using Windows, the majority of ibstalled
software will be closed source. And most, if not all of them have been granted
the same level of priviledge a some point during installation.

~~~
slg
That is fair. I would be lying if I said I never installed potentially dodgy
software from the internet. My primary problem here is the motivation behind
the software.

The reason this software exists is fundamentally about a lack of trust. We
don't trust Microsoft with the level of data that Windows 10 collects. That is
a perfectly reasonable position to have. However if that is your opinion, it
seems frankly bizarre to trust these nameless developers who have zero
accountability for this software. Microsoft is at least accountable to the
law, the stock market, and their customers. There is hundreds of billions on
the line if they screw you over. If Barnacle screws you over, the only thing
on the line is their copy of Ultra Street Fighter IV.

~~~
bproven
Yeha I agree, considering it is free why not open source it to alleviate those
concerns?

~~~
tonyedgecombe
Open source comes with a cost to the developer. There was an interesting
discussion about it on HN a couple of months ago.

~~~
prophesi
It's possible to set up your repo to have issues disabled, which will get rid
of the majority of FOSS's costs.

When it comes to privacy/security tools, it makes sense to make it open
source, since they usually are given an insane amount of privileges to modify
your machine.

------
pacifika
I won't install an OS that requires these steps.

~~~
pedrogpimenta
Thank you for your input.

------
nailer
Telemetry is Spyware (see their screenshots) now? You might dislike telemetry
but finding out if and how software fails is an entirely different thing from
watching you to deliberately invade your privacy.

~~~
bravoetch
Yes, telemetry is spyware when it's enabled by default. If you don't think
this is a privacy invasion, please consider that many people take the opposite
view.

~~~
nailer
You're considering everything which impacts privacy to be spyware.

Spyware has a definition. You don't get to change it.

~~~
chopin
Being curios, I looked up
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware).
In my book Windows 10 fulfills what is listed there.

~~~
nailer
> aims to gather information about a person or organization

Telemetry doesn't aim to do this.

------
ecmascript
How much will it take for users to stop using Windows? It seems like
corporations can put whatever they want in products and people will just
continue to consume them.

Maybe it's time to switch to Linux if you don't like to be tracked and have
ads everywhere for a product that is not free.

~~~
rypskar
Where are all the ads in Windows? I have Windows on most my computers and
Ubuntu on one. The only place I see ads are in Ubuntu when connecting through
ssh. Right now there are ads for MicroK8s and Canonical Livepatch.

~~~
wokkel
I get Spotify, Candy crush and Office buttons in my start menu that I didn't
install. It's not the same, but pretty close in terms of the OS doing things I
didn't ask it to.

~~~
vocatus_gate
Tron's stage 2 debloat script will remove all the bloat apps.

[https://github.com/bmrf/tron/tree/master/resources/stage_2_d...](https://github.com/bmrf/tron/tree/master/resources/stage_2_de-
bloat/metro)

I run the Tron project, it's open-source and these scripts are updated
frequently based on community input.

