[QUOTE=alan1476;2759429]I really like Windows 10 Pro, its very stable and does just about all I want. I even like Cortana, voice recognition is very good and to be honest I have nothing to hide, do when people talk about security and MS spying on them, I guess they have secrets on their rigs, I am an open book. LOL.[/QUOTE]
I do not entirely agree with you in your view. I agree that if you have Windows 8.1, you really should upgrade and that Windows 10 so far is acting just as stable as stable as Windows 7. Once Cortana is tamed by instaling FireFox and so loosen the proprietary behavior and choose how it searches it is a great function.
After that, download “O&O ShutUp 10” to stop what is not easy to get to during install and you have a great instalation.
That is where it stops though… I do not have anything to hide either, but I am concerned about the ever expanding invasion on your right to privacy on a general level.
This is not just about Microsoft though, more and more programs phones home withouth the users consent and some, like the CinemaHD 4 program, will actually deactivate itself unless it can phone home. That is like putting you in the passenger seat on your own PC. Knowing what processes are allowed access to the internet is just taking IT security seriously, but according to such registration schemes, anyone doing so has to be a hacker? Nope, fact is that phoning home without the user’s knowledge is what is bordering to hacking. Done by a company and being legal or in the gray according to local laws does not change that fact.
Luckily, Microsoft is not there yet, but for every program you install, compattelrunner.exe phones home to Microsoft with the information just to mention one. Why on earth would I let it? The official reason is to help microsoft with compatibility of course, but in reality, it also helps them to fasten their grip on the market, choose partners and give early inside information as to what companies to buy cheap as it statistically will show trends earlier than anual and quarterly reports will. This may give them an edge in the market that not necessarily serves the Windows users for the better.
This is still just sidetrack of a much larger picture though, the future will see a bigger challenge when information from various registers gets coupled together.
The current challenge only makes IT security much harder. I wrote in another thread that blocking internet access for non-essential services and processes is pro-active towards future unknown vulnerabilities as there is no way to attack what can not answer the call. I will advice you adopt this way of thinking or you will be running late with security patches
We do not have have to have anything to hide to insist on being in the driver’s seat on our own PC.