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Submitted via IRC for Bytram
Windows 10 can carry on slurping even when you're sure you yelled STOP!
A feature introduced in the April 2018 Update of Windows 10 may have set off a privacy landmine within the bowels of Redmond as users have discovered that their data was still flowing into the intestines of the Windows giant, even with the thing apparently turned off. In what is likely to be more cock-up than conspiracy, it appears that Microsoft is continuing to collect data on recent user activities even when the user has explicitly said NO, DAMMIT!
First noted in an increasingly shouty thread over on Reddit, the issue is related to Activity History, which is needed to make the much-vaunted and little-used Timeline feature work in Windows 10.
Introduced in what had previously been regarded as one of Microsoft's flakiest updates – prior to the glory of the October 2018 Update, of course – Timeline allows users to go back through apps as well as websites to get back to what they were doing at a given point. Use a Microsoft account, and a user can view this over multiple PCs and mobile devices (as long[sic] you are signed in with that same Microsoft account). The key setting is that "Send my activity history to Microsoft" check box. Uncheck it and you'd be forgiven for thinking your activity would not be sent Redmondwards. Right?
Except, er, the slurping appears to be carrying on unabated. The Redditors reported that if one takes a look at the Activity History in the Privacy Dashboard lurking within their account, apps and sites are still showing up.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday December 13 2018, @08:04PM (12 children)
No might mean No, but Off does not mean Off.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday December 13 2018, @11:12PM (4 children)
"You see, it's just a cock-up, literally. I work for Microsoft. When I told her she was about to get raped, I forgot to properly implement the callback that would handle a negative response, so the process continued anyway. Terrible oversight in QA, your honor"
(Score: 5, Funny) by Gaaark on Thursday December 13 2018, @11:39PM
Baby, it's cold out there...
...close the Windows, will you?!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Touché) by https on Friday December 14 2018, @06:51AM (2 children)
"I'm just going to add perjury to the list; you previously admitted all QA personnel were fired."
Offended and laughing about it.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Friday December 14 2018, @02:49PM (1 child)
Objection your honor: any assertion that Microsoft has QA is unsupported by evidence.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Friday December 14 2018, @05:12PM
Sustained.
Counsel would do well to advise their client to provide the court with reliable information. Do we understand each other, Mr Clippy ?
(Score: 2) by driverless on Friday December 14 2018, @01:37AM (2 children)
Baaah! also means no in some countries.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday December 14 2018, @02:50PM (1 child)
Languages are a funny thing. In some countries that same word is understood to mean yes by the listener.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Friday December 14 2018, @03:08PM
Ah yes, principally Welsh, and some Australian outback dialects.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 14 2018, @05:37PM
No means no, if she sounds really really pissed off and disgusted, and maybe slaps you. The presence of a sharp kitchen knife while she screams "NO" makes it exclamatory.
Off means off, if you set it by the light of the full moon, while chanting a black mass, whilst twirling widdershins. Anything else, and you don't really mean it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Friday December 14 2018, @08:27PM (2 children)
Off hasn't meant Off for 20 years now. Off morphed to Cold Standby and Hot Standby. If you want to save some electricity, pull the power plugs for equipment like that as well as all AC/DC adapters left stuck in the power strips or wall sockets. I almost think the manufacturers shouldn't be able to use the word "off" to describe what the buttons actually do now.
A 286 AT had an actual off/on button that controlled the circuit providing power to the power supply. That's the last thing I can remember in computing that had a real off button. It changed from that to a momentary switch on the motherboard, which means there is a small amount of power consumption at all times, and some chipsets may be still operating, like Intel Management bullshit.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday December 14 2018, @09:00PM
The kind of REAL off button you describe would starve the Intel Management Engine (ME) of power.
As it is, the ME controls the processor. Hypothetically the processor could "wake" the motherboard and power supply extremely briefly, but without spinning up any noisy fans or hard drives. But enough to have a super quick exchange with the mother ship. Super quick. Maybe just a blip on the power meter. But nothing that nearby people need to be bothered by. Or worry themselves about.
If you were to leave the PC on 24/7, then who knows what exchanges the ME might have with the mothership at odd hours.
If such a thing were possible, then we certainly wouldn't want there to be a REAL power switch, now, would we? Think of the Children!
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 24 2018, @07:22AM
They had real AT or hybrid AT/ATX motherboards up until that point with some industrial computers supporting AT or industrial standards after that.
But real power switches that weren't on the back of the power supply died during that period. I have a 386, 486, and Pentium all with PSUs with an integrated switch (which was part of the reason for the ATX switch, it decoupled the front panel switch from the PSU, which it had been permanently attached to the power supply with tamper-proofing until that time. Most of the switches were 4 or 5 wire as well and most of the earlier power supplies did not contain microcontrollers for regulation or management purposes.