Windows 10 will soon let you tell Microsoft how you use your PC

[Porthos]

Windows 10 will soon let you tell Microsoft how you use your PC

Windows 10 will soon let you select pre-configured categories, such as Gaming and Business, that tell the operating system how you plan on using the device.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

 

[Diggs]

I figured with reporting turned on by default that they already knew the details of what the PC was being used for.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Well, Microsoft is a bit behind on this stuff. Google, Amazon, and Facebook are much better at it.

 

[britechguy]

Well, note that the tag line says, "how you plan to use the device."

I imagine this is more of an optimization setup rather than about telemetry.

 

[Computer Bloke]

I imagine this is more of an optimization setup rather than about telemetry.

That's a very positive way of looking at it.

I've always seen it as more of a "please tell us how we can best sell an Office subscription to you" tool, but you might be right.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@Computer Bloke That's probably not far from the truth... but in this case isn't not about which Office sub, it's about which sub at all.

It's not just M365, it's also Xbox Live, and who knows what else they can come up with. If enough people check new and unexpected boxes, Microsoft is going to try to find something to sell to that group.

But on the Office front, if Microsoft 365 isn't powerful enough for you now it never will be. But for the rest yeah... this is Microsoft's version of a rewards card. It's a data mining point. Even they probably don't even know what they're going to do with the data yet.

 

[GTP]

Thank God for NTLite....
Or the developer, whoever is in charge...

 

[Sky-Knight]

Thank God for NTLite....
Or the developer, whoever is in charge...

And yet you probably typed this post from an Android or iOS based device that has far more tracking tech built into it, and you didn't even give it a second thought.

NTLite is a powerful tool, but it's often misused in the name of "privacy", and in the process we see Windows installs in the wild missing critical telemetry required to properly secure them.

This is the cloud age, and if we like it or not, we require cloud tools. All of this is part of that. If you want out? Use Linux. Oh wait... Ubuntu and Debian are doing similar stuff... umm.... crap. They are however VERY transparent about it, which changes the situation drastically. But on the surface, the same things are being done. The problem on the closed source side is we don't exactly know... and that niggle of fear is the problem.

 

[britechguy]

The problem on the closed source side is we don't exactly know... and that niggle of fear is the problem.

Not that you're not correct, but 'Twas ever thus. The idea that anyone has ever known what, exactly, is going on in closed source OSes has always been there.

I just don't get the furor over telemetry for precisely the reasons you mention. And not only that, but a company like Microsoft is not going to put themselves in a position where what is collected could knock them out of major market segments. Windows 10 is used in all the settings that prior versions of Windows was. And given the security teams surrounding medical facilities and government facilities in particular, it's pretty clear that those best in a position to know do not believe that telemetry, as implemented, is "spying." If it were found out to actually be so the legal and business ramifications would be massive. No one's going to put themselves in a position to be destroyed to mine just a *bit* more data that would be a breach of security and "deep trust" to obtain.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy John Q Public doesn't care about privacy though... so while there is wisdom in what you say, there is also danger. Publicly traded corporations have their own corruption and the market doesn't always catch it.

 

[britechguy]

@britechguy John Q Public doesn't care about privacy though... so while there is wisdom in what you say, there is also danger. Publicly traded corporations have their own corruption and the market doesn't always catch it.

Pretty much all of life involves cost-benefit and risk analyses. I absolutely agree about John and Jane Q Public, which is why the whipping up of frenzy over non-concerns irritates me even more than a clear-eyed examination of the real ones. And virtually all of the hue and cry about Microsoft "spying" is pure, unadulterated BS if one takes what spying is typically about as part of the big picture definition.

And in response to the furor Microsoft has been pretty transparent in documenting exactly what they collect. But there again, if we're dealing with a proprietary system, you still have to "take their word for it." There is no way out of that conundrum, and not just with MS.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy Yeah, but in Microsoft's case you're taking the word of a publicly traded monstrosity that's already dealt with anti-trust action.

Apple, Amazon, and Google have yet to tame that particular tiger... Which is incidentally yet another reason why I do the Azure / M365 thing, less likely to get fried when the inevitable anti-tech monopoly busting hammer lands.

 

[GTP]

And yet you probably typed this post from an Android or iOS based device that has far more tracking tech built into it, and you didn't even give it a second thought.

That would be a "no."
And as for "giving it a second thought" yes I do.
My Android phone is locked down with a firewall, all services that can be disabled are disabled.
Nothing is allowed internet access unless I say so and of the 250 odd "services" that run in the background of an Android phone, only 12 are allowed to access the outside.
I use my phone for calls, text and messaging via Signal. I dont use the inbuilt apps for these tasks.
I play Pokemon too, and its the only app allowed to use my location.

And as for Windows.. however they want to sugar coat what they call "Telemetry" I dont like sugar anyway.
There are many ways to "keep the bastards out."

 

[callthatgirl]

I know all the cancel/close/no thanks/ask me later buttons as fast as they pop up.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@Barcelona So you use a jail broken phone with a custom ROM then?

 

[GTP]

@Barcelona So you use a jail broken phone with a custom ROM then?

No I dont. I feel confidently safe doing it my way.

 

[Sky-Knight]

No I dont. I feel confidently safe doing it my way.

Then honestly, you're being a fool.

You cannot firewall an Android device without root. What you have is a false sense of control and security, the worst possible kind.

Actually let me check that, you cannot firewall ANY device without root access. Which is why I despise all current mobile devices. The bad guys get out of the sandbox ALL THE TIME, but the tools we use to secure them are stuck inside, and therefore useless.

 

[GTP]

You cannot firewall an Android device without root.

This I already know, hence why I said "confidently safe doing it my way."
But thanks for the reality check.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@Barcelona As long as you know! That's all that matters. Everyone has to set that dial wherever they feel it needs set.

 

[britechguy]

@Sky-Knight,

Which is one of the reasons I don't despise mobile devices. I can make them "secure enough for what I need them to do," and that includes online banking. Banks being one of the most risk averse institutions in existence would not be releasing mobile banking apps if the risk of compromise were felt to be significant. Not much different than online banking in a web browser on a computer.

For me, there is such a thing as, "secure enough." [As well as private enough. I accept that nothing is private in the way that my parents and grandparents had reason to expect it would be, and that is mostly because the technology to make public records actually public in individual's homes/hands didn't exist.]