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We receive our fair share of slashvertisements. Not daily, certainly, but when we get one we often get a handful. Most get a cursory read by the editors, are identified for what they are, and go straight into the bin. But not all.
Recently we have also covered the enforced Windows 10 upgrade currently being pushed by Microsoft. If there is anyone out there who has not seen such stories you really haven't been paying attention. The effort being expended by MS to make sure that you upgrade - whether intentionally or not - is matched only by that being expended by users trying to avoid the upgrade while still being able to use their licensed software. Even the Chinese are getting in on the act.
And today, both of these things, have come together.
Spybot Anti-Beacon: block and stop the various tracking (telemetry) issues present in Windows 7/8/8.1/10
https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/
"Spybot Anti-Beacon is a standalone tool which was designed to block and stop the various tracking (telemetry) issues present in Windows 10. It has since been modified to block similar tracking functionality in Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 operating systems.
Anti-Beacon is small, simple to use, and is provided free of charge. It was created to address the privacy concerns of users of Windows 10 who do not wish to have information about their PC usage sent to Microsoft. Simply clicking "Immunize" on the main screen of Anti-Beacon will immediately disable any known tracking features included by Microsoft in the operating system.
If any issues occur with your PC while using Anti-Beacon, undoing the changes made can be done by clicking the "Undo" button in the main window. This will re-enable all tracking services. If you experience any issues using Anti-Beacon or have any suggestions/recommendations, please be sure to let us know on the forum thread relating to this tool."
We are not making any claims as the the efficacy of this piece of software, nor are we supporting it or suggesting that you should download it. It might work perfectly or may be as bad as the problem that it claims to cure. We simply do not know. But if anyone has tried it we would welcome any comments that you wish to make. You will understand that the community is likely to be a little skeptical regarding comments submitted as Anonymous Coward - that is how we received the slashvertisement in the first instance.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Hairyfeet on Sunday May 29 2016, @10:43PM
I just ran it and....its going a little overboard on what it considers "spying" and this is from someone who considers Win 10 to be malware.
For an example it considers Windows Disk Diagnostic Data Collector to be spyware and all it is a Windows Task Manager task that counts how many disk errors Windows has and alerts the user if Windows is having "disk write error" issues which is a big warning sign your drive is about to shit the bed and it brings up a handy wizard to help you get your data off before it dies...I think most people would like to KEEP that feature, as losing your data to a dying drive is never fun, yet its checked to block it by default. They also have it lumped in with a bunch of the Consumer Experience Improvement Programs so you can't just say "No I want to keep this and get rid of that" which I really don't like. They are also using HOSTS blocking which has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt to NOT WORK as the MSFT telemetry programs have their DNS hardcoded so no calls for DNS are needed.
All in all I really do not care for their "all or nothing" approach nor their blocking data which can actually cause data loss if the system begins having drive issues (since with this setting blocked Windows cannot count errors over time to spot a pattern of failed write) so I will be sticking to the handy dandy .BAT file from Alaya [alaya.net] that simple removes the specific telemetry patches if they are found and if not hides them in WU, combined with GRC's Never10 I've not had any "phoning home" showing up on my router logs for anything other than the usual benign things like Windows Time. If they made the tool a little more fine grained and got rid of the snakeoil HOSTS blocking? I might give it another look, but right now I would be seriously leery of anybody who thinks disk diagnostics are spyware.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.