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posted by CoolHand on Friday August 11 2017, @01:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the happy-or-unaware dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Microsoft claims seven out of ten Windows 10 users are happy with Redmond gulping loads of telemetry from their computers – which isn't that astounding when you realize it's a default option.

In other words, 30 per cent of people have found the switch to turn it off, and the rest haven't, don't realize it's there, or are genuinely OK with the data collection.

Ever since Windows 10 was released, folks have been complaining the operating system is far too grabby and that it allows Redmond to collect huge volumes of intelligence on its users. In April the software giant responded by simplifying the collection.

There's basically two levels in Windows 10 from the Creators Update onwards: basic and full – the full setting includes everything in the basic level plus a load more. Full is the default for Win 10 Home and Pro, otherwise there's basic. Windows 10 Enterprise and Education have full and basic, plus an extra level called security, which transmits a little less about your system than basic.

Essentially, if you're on Home or Pro, you can't tell your OS to not phone home. And, sure, this information – from lists of hardware and apps installed to pen gestures – is useful to Microsoft employees debugging code that's running in the field. But we're all adults here, and some folks would like the option to not have any information leaving their systems.

"... and we welcome your feedback in helping us make [Creators] the best Windows ever," [Marissa] Rogers concluded.


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  • (Score: 1) by tftp on Friday August 11 2017, @06:23PM (2 children)

    by tftp (806) on Friday August 11 2017, @06:23PM (#552481) Homepage

    Anything complimentary is provided on someone else's terms. Carry a R-Pi firewall with you :-)

    And the installation of a root certificate in order to MITM the Windows 10 box's HTTPS connections, correct?

    No, Windows will not be able to connect even to the DNS, let alone to TCP ports of Microsoft servers. Only the browser that you installed, one that does not tell Windows what the proxy login is, will be able to talk to the proxy. The direct route to the gateway (destination 0.0.0.0) will be denied.

  • (Score: 2) by Pino P on Friday August 11 2017, @07:54PM (1 child)

    by Pino P (4721) on Friday August 11 2017, @07:54PM (#552539) Journal

    I am aware that only the browser will be able to reach the Internet. But won't the browser see the proxy's untrusted HTTPS certificate and complain about there even being a proxy?

    • (Score: 1) by tftp on Friday August 11 2017, @08:17PM

      by tftp (806) on Friday August 11 2017, @08:17PM (#552554) Homepage

      That behavior would break all the proxies in the world. Here are some explanations [squid-cache.org] - but the executive summary is that the proxy simply forwards encrypted packets back and forth without looking into them or understanding them. Filtering is achieved by access control directives that work on the IP address, for example, or some other criteria. In my example no filtering is needed, unless you want some (adblocking, trackers, etc.)

      The proposed "trusted" browser can be replaced with a VM-based solution that does, essentially, the same thing, just increasing the separation between Windows and the browser. Deployment of this architecture in a small company is pretty easy, as Windows boxes will be entirely cut off of the Internet and safe (as they ever can be) from viruses. The Internet comms will be done by a different, isolated component that may, for all practical purposes, be Linux-based, for example, or a VM that frequently gets reverted to a snapshot. With modern PCs this can be completely transparent to the user, and you get to brag about extra security as well :-)