Windows 10

[burrocrat]

Windows 10 could disable pirated games and unauthorized hardware

aarrgghh, matey!

what is unauthorized hardware? will my artificially intelligent personal massage device still be supported (it's wireless)?

 

[JTH]

Many of the Windows 10's invasive features will eventually be implemented on Windows 7 & 8.

If it wasn't for my need to use it for work-related requirements, I would have left these bastards a long time ago.

My "login as admin" issues are still present, despite the many rebuilds and changing out the memory card. At this point, I've been forced to upgrade my Standard User account to an Admin account (this blows chunks)

Also, if you choose not to sign in with your Microsoft Account, you cannot use their apps from the MS Store, they are bound and determined to suck you into their eco system. Also, on the standard free Win 10, you cannot edit or use any group policy features.

I ran into another problem earlier this week. If you are logged into an unencrypted wireless network, you cannot change the original password, or forget the original password, no matter how hard you try. I have not tried this on previous versions, but for Win 10 it would not work. I even went into CMD and deleted the network profile, and once I re-added it, it used the cashed password, (meaning it's keeping the password somewhere else like the registry.

 

[userque]

Many of the Windows 10's invasive features will eventually be implemented on Windows 7 & 8.

Not for everyone The hacking community has always beaten M$'s attempts at this sort of control. They've never been able to stop their precious Office suites from being pirated. Same for all of their OS's. Etc.

So far, I believe they have only stated the update to 10 from 7 and 8 will be a recommended 'windows update.?' It'll be 'forced' on those that have 'windows update' set to automatic for all recommended updates.

Regardless of M$'s control plans; I strongly doubt any of my current computers will ever be 10.

I also suspect the community will release pirated pro(etc.) versions of 10 with the spy capabilities rendered useless, in the future.

The bright side is M$ is probably making linux more popular.

 

[Cactus]

Windows 10 could disable pirated games and unauthorized hardware"Many people will object to the idea that Microsoft is able to scan a system to detect the hardware and software that is running, and then use the results of this scan to determine what hardware and software may be used. With so many concerns about privacy being thrown up by Windows 10, this is yet another which is causing rumbles of discontent."

Just run your copy of Windows inside a virtual machine from Linux and tell it the hardware Windows wants to hear. As for the software, you'll probably find Linux equivalents for a lot of it and won't be running that much on your Microsoft virtual machine. I don't run any M$ software at home, not even the OS. For me everything is Linux based these days.

 

[userque]

Just run your copy of Windows inside a virtual machine from Linux and tell it the hardware Windows wants to hear.

I would rather still use a disinfected version (if available), even in a VM. Things have broken out of VM's before. I would also use the open sourced VirtualBox instead of VMware if I insisted on using a VM.

Also, there is a substantial performance loss by running an OS inside an OS.

I'll never run a legit version of win10, virtually or really. I may end up having to run an inoculated version if/when it becomes available and I have a need. Otherwise I'll stay with win7/8 until it becomes obsolete. At that point, I'll be fully linux I suppose.

EDIT:

IMO. I suspect that M$, along with the resources of the NSA? etc. will have found/created a way to allow win10 to walk out of VM's--if it is possible (see below). Our tax dollars at work, "all in the name of bin laden."

virtualization - Does a Virtual Machine stop malware from doing harm? - Information Security Stack Exchange

Theoretically, the guest system is totally isolated by the VM and cannot even "see" the host, let alone attack it; so the guest cannot break out of the VM. Of course, in practice, it has occasionally happened (web archive link). An attack requires exploiting a security issue (i.e. a programming bug which turns out to have nasty consequences) in the VM implementation or, possibly, the hardware features on which the VM builds on. There are few exit routes for data out of the VM; e.g., for Internet access, the VM is emulating a virtual network card, which deals only with the lowest level packets, not full TCP/IP -- thus, most IP-stack issues remain confined within the VM itself. So bugs leading to breakout from VM tend to remain rare occurrences.

There are some kinds of attacks against which VM are very effective, e.g. fork bombs. From the point of view of the host system, the VM is a single process. A fork bomb in the guest will bring to its knees the scheduler in the guest OS, but for the host this will be totally harmless. Similarly for memory: the VM emulates a physical machine with a given amount of RAM, and will need about that amount of "real" RAM to back it up efficiently. Regardless of what the guest does, the VM will never monopolize more RAM than that. (You still want to limit VM RAM size to, say, at most 1/2 of your physical RAM size, because the extra "real" RAM is handy for disk caching; and the host OS will want to use some, too.)

virtualization - How secure are virtual machines really? False sense of security? - Information Security Stack Exchange

VM's can definitely cross over. Usually you have them networked, so any malware with a network component (i.e. worms) will propagate to wherever their addressing/routing allows them to. Regular viruses tend to only operate in usermode, so while they couldn't communicate overtly, they could still set up a covert channel. If you are sharing CPU's, a busy process on one VM can effectively communicate state to another VM (that's your prototypical timing covert channel). Storage covert channel would be a bit harder as the virtual disks tend to have a hard limit on them, so unless you have a system that can over-commit disk space, it should not be an issue.

The most interesting approach to securing VM's is called the Separation Kernel. It's a result of John Rushby's 1981 paper which basically states that in order to have VM's isolated in a manner that could be equivalent to physical separation, the computer must export its resources to specific VM's in a way where at no point any resource that can store state is shared between VM's. This has deep consequences, as it requires the underlying computer architecture to be designed in a way in which this can be carried out in a non-bypassable manner.

30yrs after this paper, we finally have few products that claim to do it. x86 isn't the greatest platform for it, as there are many instructions that cannot be virtualized, to fully support the 'no sharing' idea. It is also not very practical for common systems, as to have four VM's, you'd need four harddrives hanging off four disk controllers, four video cards, four USB controllers with four mice, etc..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_machine_escape

 

[userque]

https://github.com/Nummer/Destroy-Windows-10-Spying

Destroy Windows 10 Spying

Features:

Remove all spyware modules
Remove spying apps
Add to hosts spying domains!
Remove Spying services
Remove Windows 10 Metro Apps
Support Windows 7/8/8.1/10 or Server 2008-2012 R2
Remove Office 2016 thelemetry
Open Source!

I haven't used it.

EDIT:

Found some more, with REVIEWS:

Comparison of Windows 10 Privacy tools - gHacks Tech News
Windows 10 Spying: Prevent Windows 10 spying with 6 privacy tools | BGR

 

[JTH]

Another Windows 10 major update, I have no idea what it was, but it took over an hour to download & install.

Funny how when I go to view my update history the slate is now clean and nothing shows up...

During the install it told me "we are installing features" yet I have no idea what it did?

 

[userque]

10 updates itself and downloads whatever software it wants, whenever it wants, and doesn't have to tell you what it did...and you can't stop it.

Another Windows 10 major update, I have no idea what it was, but it took over an hour to download & install.

Funny how when I go to view my update history the slate is now clean and nothing shows up...

During the install it told me "we are installing features" yet I have no idea what it did?

Not cool.

 

[JTH]

Not cool.

What's really not cool, is that my tablet doesn't have the space to install the update. Windows wants me to attach a 10GB drive to install the update and says my C-Drive needs an additional 3.26GB of free space, which is something I just don't have.

So my brand new (less than 3 month old tablet) is in purgatory...

WTF?

Why build a tablet with Win10 specifications if Win 10 is just going to exceed the minimum requirements???

I remember when 3GB was an entire OS (not an update)

 

[Valkyrie]

For one thing, on the free version, you will have no control over updates so MS can update whatever they wish on YOUR computer.
Oh, you want to get rid of that cute new icon?

You have to uninstall Microsoft updates KB3035583 and KB2952664 (both supposedly are system updates, one optional and the other important), then hide the updates when they reappear in the update list. Updates are now advertisements it seems.

 

[bmneveu]

I remember when 3GB was an entire OS (not an update)

I remember when 3GB was huge for an entire hard drive!

 

[PessOptimist]

I was talking with one of our network types the other day about unresolved problems with the upgrade from XP to 7. I asked about 8 and he said he thinks they will skip that and there are many issues with using 10 to be figured out. Based on what I read here and elsewhere, yuh, maybe like cyber security rules.

Bmnevue, I recall looking at a 1000Mb drive at the Bx back in the 90s and discussions about how to use it with current operating systems. We already realized we would need it in the future. Price? About $1/Mb.

PO

 

[userque]

For advanced users not wanting to be force-fed windows 10 ...

/g/ - Updates to avoid Windows 7/8/8.1 - Technology - 4chan

Updates to avoid Windows 7/8/8.1 Anonymous 11/14/15(Sat)02:58:09 No.51338505 Archived

KB2505438
KB3046480
(KB2670838 – Windows 7 Only (corrupts AERO and blurry fonts on some websites))
KB2952664 – prepares system for upgrade to Windows 10 (sends a bunch of telemetry data to M$, reported to corrupt system files)
KB2976978 – prepares system for upgrade to Windows 10; Windows 8 only
KB2977759 – prepares system for upgrade to Windows 10, installs telemetry
KB2990214 – prepares system for upgrade to Windows 10
KB3021917 – prepares system for upgrade to Windows 10
KB3022345 – installs diagnostic tracking service, reported to corrupt system files
KB3035583 – pitches the free Windows 10 upgrade
KB3044374 – prepares system for upgrade to Windows 10
KB3050265 – supposedly fixes an issue with windows update, but also changes system files to support upgrade to Windows 10
KB3050267 – prepares system for upgrade to Windows 10
KB3068708 – installs telemetry service, prepares system for upgrade to Windows 10
KB2922324 – (reportedly pulled, uninstall it anyway if already installed)
KB3014460 – affects windows 8 only
KB3015249 – adds more damn telemetry
KB3065987 – makes “improvements” to the windows update client (really just more Win10 bullshit)
KB3075249 – adds yet more telemetry, This update adds telemetry points to the User Account Control (UAC) feature to collect information on elevations that come from low integrity levels.
KB3075851 – makes “improvements” to the windows update client (really just more Win10 bullshit)
KB3080149 – adds yet more telemetry, The diagnostics tracking service collects diagnostics about functional issues on Windows systems that participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). CEIP reports do not contain contact information, such as your name, address, or telephone number.
KB971033 - Description of the update For Windows Activation Technologies

Anything to add the list? Windows released a bunch of updates again, so I got worried if this list needs to get updated too.

Anonymous 11/14/15(Sat)02:58:40 No.51338508

>>51338505
Oh right, the pasta had also this;

cmd:
sc stop Diagtrack
sc delete Diagtrack

Task Scheduler Library:
Everything under "Application Experience"
Everything under "Autochk"
Everything under "Customer Experience Improvement Program"
Under "Disk Diagnostic" only the "Microsoft-Windows-DiskDiagnosticDataCollector"
Under "Maintenance" "WinSAT"
"Media Center" and click the "status" column, then select all non-disabled entries and disable them.

services.msc:
"Remote Registry" to "Disabled" instead of "Manual".

 

[nnuut]

My first computer [$1,850] had a 500mb HD with 2mb of RAM, I upgraded it to 4mb of RAM and it cost $50 a mb!! Also upgraded the 2400 baud modem for $250! Then I installed an upgraded CD Reader, it goes on and on, not cheap in the 1980s. Cheap is NOW!

 

[JTH]

What's really not cool, is that my tablet doesn't have the space to install the update. Windows wants me to attach a 10GB drive to install the update and says my C-Drive needs an additional 3.26GB of free space, which is something I just don't have.

So my brand new (less than 3 month old tablet) is in purgatory...

WTF?

Why build a tablet with Win10 specifications if Win 10 is just going to exceed the minimum requirements???

I remember when 3GB was an entire OS (not an update)

With not enough hard drive space to install the update, the funny part is, now my Win10 tablet will be less secure because it's unable to update...

I could wipe the Android OS, but this would defeat the purpose of having a dual OS tablet.

"Stuck on stupid" on this one, no options...

 

[jkenjohnson]

I got 10 free even though I bought a computer with 8 on it. I haven't had any issues that I remember? But my memory sucks so I could have had problems and just don't remember it. I have been running 10 for several months now.

 

[burrocrat]

ok i got some news for you about windows 10. everybody already knows it spies on you, but did you know that it psychoanalyzes you too? it's true.

it took me a while to figure it out, but it is like those rorschach tests they used to give you in high school where the guidance counselor takes you to the psychiatrist visits and they show you those inkblot pictures and ask you what you think to decide if the thorazine is working or if maybe they should go back to the ritalin. everybody remembers those, right?

except they trick you by first giving you this crappy selection of about 6 screenlock images to start with on initial software install knowing you'll only kind of like any of them but are too busy to figure out how to download a picture of your favorite cat, then every few days they send you more and you have to click on like or dislike before you can get to the enter your password screen. after a while it starts to learn if you like loud busy cityscapes or quiet snowcapped peaks. and then it keeps refining the images it sends for your choice. they even thank you for your feedback and pretend to be genuinely interested in your help to make windows better and it makes you feel special at first but after a while you realize you are being mined and they mainly want to figure out how to appeal to your fears so they can get more money out of you. i am not going to tell you exactly what pictures they send me now, but i definately know they got me dialed in by now.

it doesn't really bother me that my amazon.com shopping history and at&t cell phone plan and whether i like pepperoni or ham on my pizza and porn preferences and where i browse for korean wives is out there on the interweb, that happens to everybody. but if they know intimately what pictures bring me peace and dole them out to me on a 3-day timer budget, i think that is going a bit too far. now bill gates and his minions know i am a sick freak. and even that still doesn't bother me much, but how they went about it i do find irritating. i would have just told them if they asked, no need to trick me.

oh well, i guess it's too late now, no use crying over spilt milk, but maybe the rest of you should know about this.

 

[nnuut]

What's bothering me is they FLASH me a request that wants me to download Win 10 around 10 times a day, browser open browser closed it doesn't matter. That is getting on my nerves!!

 

[Cactus]

Removing that pesky win10 upgrade notice: How To Easily Remove Windows 10 Upgrade Notifications

 

[nnuut]

Thanks Cactus, I'll do that when I get back to that computer~!