New laptop helps MS spying on us - Page 2

EdH · 2020-05-13, 12:07

I didn't notice it mentioned, but a linux machine can run a 32-bit windows in a VM. I've got earlier Windows VMs that I use for Windows only things in my Fedora desktop, using VirtualBox. It is sometimes a minor pain* to go through linux upgrades and keep the VBs working, but it's an option.

*It's much easier if you remember to close any suspended sessions before the upgrade.

M344587487 · 2020-05-13, 12:07

I would normally buy a Windows laptop, wipe it and put Linux on it. The main things to consider for Linux are to make sure it has an intel NIC and also that the hardware isn't bleeding edge (clean support for newer hardware tends to lag by some months on Linux, we're normally in early-adopter territory for a while).

But the new Ryzen 4000 mobile chips are so far ahead of what intel can offer that I would break the early-adopter rule if it was necessary to upgrade now (assuming you have availability, it looks spotty right now at the start of the rollout). In your case I suggest a Ryzen 4000 chip even if that means resorting to Windows as a stop-gap. Windows is the devil but at the very least an early-adopter on Linux should be on a bleeding-edge/rolling distribution and be prepared for the possibility of applying non-mainline hotfixes or putting up with bugs for a while.

https://www.ultrabookreview.com/3603...4800u-laptops/

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3534...r-laptops.html

My next laptop will have one of the 4000 series chips with a 15W TDP.

tServo · 2020-05-13, 13:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prime95

Is Windows Pro needed as compared to Windows Home?

[/url]

Here's a pretty good article about home vs pro:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2952...o-upgrade.html

M344587487 · 2020-05-13, 16:05

To tame Windows telemetry a good thing you can do is set up a pihole as a DNS server for devices on your LAN, it's used to block ad, malware and telemetry domains and can be configured for Windows telemetry. The higher up the OS stack you go (home, pro, enterprise) the more control you should have over telemetry and updates, but it cannot be relied on.

https://pi-hole.net/

https://connortumbleson.com/2019/07/01/pi-hole/

Use the Tor browser for private browsing on any desktop OS, going through the Tor network is slower than a direct connection but it's fast enough for browsing and even SD video streaming not that I'd recommend it out of respect for other Tor users (Tor is much faster than it was even 5 years ago). A good rule of thumb is to not use the same logins that you would on a normal browser on the Tor browser and avoid unnecessarily logging in to sites. Unless you're using a MS browser MS likely isn't a big factor in your browsing security.

https://www.torproject.org/

Prime95 · 2020-05-13, 16:19

If I use Windows 10 Pro Hyper-V to set up a Linux VM, does that defeat Windows 10 spying what I'm doing while I'm in the Linux VM?

Does Hyper-V have advantages over virtual box?

Prime95 · 2020-05-13, 21:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by M344587487

https://pi-hole.net/

Looks good. I'm going to install that today.

ATH · 2020-05-14, 13:46

You can refuse to login to your Microsoft account in Windows 10 and create a local account in Windows instead. I think that helps a bit with the spying.

chalsall · 2020-05-14, 14:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATH

You can refuse to login to your Microsoft account in Windows 10 and create a local account in Windows instead. I think that helps a bit with the spying.

If I may share... I've had to "make friends" with remote administration of WinBlows boxes lately... And, so, on each machine I admin I've been creating a local admin account for myself. During the first log-in you're presented with a bunch of "opt-in" options for tracking. I turn everything off, and then continue. I don't know if this helps lessen the tracking at all; I haven't "sniffed the wire" yet to empirically determine this.

Somewhat amusingly, I've discovered that Windoze 10 finally has a native OpenSSH server available (although somewhat hidden for installation). With PowerShell I can actually work remotely using a console, and get stuff done.

Finally Micro$oft have caught up to what many of us were doing on *nix more than thirty years ago!

garo · 2020-05-14, 15:15

Someone tell me more about this MS spying. My main browsing is still done on a Windows 7 machine using Firefox or chrome. Fell like I am missing something.

chalsall · 2020-05-14, 15:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by garo

Someone tell me more about this MS spying. My main browsing is still done on a Windows 7 machine using Firefox or chrome. Fell like I am missing something.

M$ really got into "telemetry" with Windows 10. Even recording your typing (if you let it), to "improve user's experience". Yeah, right...

I only know how to limit this during new account creation. Perhaps someone who uses Windows 10 could enlighten us all on how to minimize telemetry from the Settings interface? (Literally, where do I click?)

Seperately, what are people's experiences "blackholing" certain domains? Does this work better? (A bit of a pain having to install additional software, just to stop what shouldn't be default anyway.)

retina · 2020-05-14, 23:23

Telemetry was backported to W7 also, as a "security" update. So unless you have blocked all updates for the last three or four years then W7 users are also sending their private info to MS.

Blocking DNS requests to all the myriad of MS sites is difficult because there are so many names to find. Plus MS also has a collection of hard-coded IP address which they use without any DNS lookup, so good luck finding all those IPs. Plus the outrageous practice of bypassing your locally installed firewall and going directly to the network means you need external equipment to block the stuff.

More than just keystrokes: Your BitLocker keys are sent to MS also "as a backup" because you are deemed too stupid to take care of your own data. Every program you run, what time it was started, and when it was terminated. Every website you access. Every file you open.

MSes self entitlement to everyone's data is shameful. The OS is not the place for this.

Reports are also floating around about MS deleting files on people's computers because the file was deemed illegal. I haven't been able to verify that. But apparently CP file hashes have been sent to MS and they are scanning everyone's files and deleting ones that match.

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2020-05-13, 12:07	#12
EdH "Ed Hall" Dec 2009 Adirondack Mtns 11·347 Posts	I didn't notice it mentioned, but a linux machine can run a 32-bit windows in a VM. I've got earlier Windows VMs that I use for Windows only things in my Fedora desktop, using VirtualBox. It is sometimes a minor pain* to go through linux upgrades and keep the VBs working, but it's an option. *It's much easier if you remember to close any suspended sessions before the upgrade.

2020-05-13, 12:07	#13
M344587487 "Composite as Heck" Oct 2017 2·11·37 Posts	I would normally buy a Windows laptop, wipe it and put Linux on it. The main things to consider for Linux are to make sure it has an intel NIC and also that the hardware isn't bleeding edge (clean support for newer hardware tends to lag by some months on Linux, we're normally in early-adopter territory for a while). But the new Ryzen 4000 mobile chips are so far ahead of what intel can offer that I would break the early-adopter rule if it was necessary to upgrade now (assuming you have availability, it looks spotty right now at the start of the rollout). In your case I suggest a Ryzen 4000 chip even if that means resorting to Windows as a stop-gap. Windows is the devil but at the very least an early-adopter on Linux should be on a bleeding-edge/rolling distribution and be prepared for the possibility of applying non-mainline hotfixes or putting up with bugs for a while. https://www.ultrabookreview.com/3603...4800u-laptops/ https://www.pcworld.com/article/3534...r-laptops.html My next laptop will have one of the 4000 series chips with a 15W TDP.

2020-05-13, 16:05	#15
M344587487 "Composite as Heck" Oct 2017 32E₁₆ Posts	To tame Windows telemetry a good thing you can do is set up a pihole as a DNS server for devices on your LAN, it's used to block ad, malware and telemetry domains and can be configured for Windows telemetry. The higher up the OS stack you go (home, pro, enterprise) the more control you should have over telemetry and updates, but it cannot be relied on. https://pi-hole.net/ https://connortumbleson.com/2019/07/01/pi-hole/ Use the Tor browser for private browsing on any desktop OS, going through the Tor network is slower than a direct connection but it's fast enough for browsing and even SD video streaming not that I'd recommend it out of respect for other Tor users (Tor is much faster than it was even 5 years ago). A good rule of thumb is to not use the same logins that you would on a normal browser on the Tor browser and avoid unnecessarily logging in to sites. Unless you're using a MS browser MS likely isn't a big factor in your browsing security. https://www.torproject.org/

2020-05-13, 16:19	#16
Prime95 P90 years forever! Aug 2002 Yeehaw, FL 2×53×71 Posts	If I use Windows 10 Pro Hyper-V to set up a Linux VM, does that defeat Windows 10 spying what I'm doing while I'm in the Linux VM? Does Hyper-V have advantages over virtual box?

2020-05-14, 13:46	#18
ATH Einyen Dec 2003 Denmark 110001010111₂ Posts	You can refuse to login to your Microsoft account in Windows 10 and create a local account in Windows instead. I think that helps a bit with the spying.

2020-05-14, 15:15	#20
garo Aug 2002 Termonfeckin, IE 2²·691 Posts	Someone tell me more about this MS spying. My main browsing is still done on a Windows 7 machine using Firefox or chrome. Fell like I am missing something.

2020-05-14, 23:23	#22
retina Undefined "The unspeakable one" Jun 2006 My evil lair 2²·1,549 Posts	Telemetry was backported to W7 also, as a "security" update. So unless you have blocked all updates for the last three or four years then W7 users are also sending their private info to MS. Blocking DNS requests to all the myriad of MS sites is difficult because there are so many names to find. Plus MS also has a collection of hard-coded IP address which they use without any DNS lookup, so good luck finding all those IPs. Plus the outrageous practice of bypassing your locally installed firewall and going directly to the network means you need external equipment to block the stuff. More than just keystrokes: Your BitLocker keys are sent to MS also "as a backup" because you are deemed too stupid to take care of your own data. Every program you run, what time it was started, and when it was terminated. Every website you access. Every file you open. MSes self entitlement to everyone's data is shameful. The OS is not the place for this. Reports are also floating around about MS deleting files on people's computers because the file was deemed illegal. I haven't been able to verify that. But apparently CP file hashes have been sent to MS and they are scanning everyone's files and deleting ones that match.