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Avoiding the Windows 10 Upgrade Due to Privacy Concerns? Be Concerned Anyway!

posted by takyon on Wednesday September 02 2015, @11:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the trickle-down dept.

juggs writes:

If you have been refusing Microsoft's offer to upgrade your Windows 7 or 8* operating system to Windows 10 due to the oft-reported data and telemetry slurping it seems inclined to do, then it is time to be on your toes as to which updates you allow to be installed on your earlier version of the operating system.

El Reg reports that Microsoft are busy pushing similar functionality to those older operating systems by way of Windows Update. The updates in question can apparently be rolled back if required.

They are however very determined in their function if allowed to be installed, going so far as to ignore such venerable solutions as additions to the HOSTS file, which has historically been a way to knobble phone-home behaviour:

Now Microsoft is revamping the user-tracking tools in Windows 7 and 8 to harvest more data, via some new patches.

All the updates can be removed post-installation – but all ensure the OS reports data to Microsoft even when asked not to, bypassing the hosts file and (hence) third-party privacy tools. This data can include how long you use apps, and which features you use the most, snapshots of memory to investigate crashes, and so on.

The updates are KB3068708 ("Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry" and mandatory) KB3075249 ("Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7") and KB3080149 (also an "Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry", both optional).

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by martyb on Wednesday September 02 2015, @04:14PM

    by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 02 2015, @04:14PM (#231318) Journal

    So how do I know what updates have been installed on my windows system?

    It would be nice to be able to issue a command and get a list of all installed updates, save that away as a file, and then see if any undesirable updates have been installed. I did a search and came upon Quick and Easy Way to List All the Windows Updates Installed on Your System [techsupportalert.com]. It's amazingly simple; as given in that article:

    Open a cmd.exe window
    wmic qfe list brief /format:htable        > "%USERPROFILE%\hotfix.html"
    wmic qfe list brief /format:texttablewsys > "%USERPROFILE%\hotfix.txt"

    Then using an adaptation of code I found at: http://www.robvanderwoude.com/shorts.php [robvanderwoude.com], I came up with: a simple batch program to do all the work for me; I saved it in a file: hotfix_list.cmd

    @ECHO OFF
    :: hotfix_list.cmd - dumps lists of currently installed hotfixes to txt and html files
    :: Get the date in the format; yyyymmdd
    FOR %%A IN (%Date%) DO (
        FOR /F "tokens=1-3 delims=/-" %%B in ("%%~A") DO (
            SET yyyymmdd=%%D%%B%%C
        )
    )

    :: Get the time in the format: hhmmss
    FOR /F "tokens=1-3 delims=:.," %%A IN ("%Time%") DO (
        SET hhmmss=%%A%%B%%C
    )

    :: Dump the installed updates to files based on current date/time:
    wmic qfe list brief /format:htable        > "hotfix_list.%yyyymmdd%_%hhmmss%.html"
    wmic qfe list brief /format:texttablewsys > "hotfix_list.%yyyymmdd%_%hhmmss%.txt"

    --
    Wit is intellect, dancing.
    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 03 2015, @08:38AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 03 2015, @08:38AM (#231631)

    systeminfo | more

    • (Score: 2) by martyb on Thursday September 03 2015, @12:50PM

      by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 03 2015, @12:50PM (#231699) Journal

      Really? Nice! Thanks for that!! I do notice that it produces only the list of KBnnnnn IDs and lacks the additional information that is provided by wmic, but it is still a very useful tool nonetheless. I'll add it to my toolbox. Much obliged!

      I'm newly on Win7Pro and have not yet delved into the help pages of all the system commands that are available. Guess I'll need to jump in at some point and take the plunge. Or, in light of these revelations about Microsoft's increasing efforts to track users' every activity, take a different plunge and move to a *BSD or *nix.

      Thanks again!

      --
      Wit is intellect, dancing.