Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Either system firewall or the one in the router will do it.

Currently the IP addys for those two are

vortex-win.data.microsoft.com: 64.4.54.254
settings-win.data.microsoft.com: 64.4.54.253

It's important to use the numerical IPs because those resolve through more than one server (for example, the settings one resolves through onesettings-cy2.metron.live.com.nsatc.net!!)

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Seems that the W10 upgrade files are showing up on people's machines via Windows Update, basically unannounced.

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

GWX Control Panel

GWX Control Panel - rid yourself of the upgrade nag.

Check this free tool out - GWX Control Panel. Written by a real geek - seems to do the job. This way you can rid yourself of the prying "upgrade me" that W10 has become.

Get the standalone - requires no install, just a reboot.

On his blog he states that if it shows back up later, after new updates, run it again, and if it doesn't work, he should have a new version soon to fix that.

This guy is also an audiophile, and has a tool to fix VST plugin problems.

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Big Brother on You PC- The "Free" Windows 10

An Operating System that gathers data on everything you do

By Mark Blackwood
August 10, 2015

Microsoft launched the latest version of its Windows operating system (OS) on July 29, promoting the event as the largest software update ever. Unlike previous releases, the new version has been offered by Microsoft to all domestic users as a free upgrade. Over 14 million users are reported to have downloaded and installed it within the first 24 hours of its release.
One question that remains unanswered, however, is: out of the 14 million who upgraded in the first 24 hours, how many had the time to read and study the 45 page privacy policy and service agreement in the End User License Agreement (EULA) prior to installation?
Following the customary corporate fanfare that generally accompanies a Windows OS release, reports rapidly emerged about marked changes to the company’s privacy policy and service agreement. The new agreement, by default, effectively gives permission for Microsoft to monitor users’ activities via the use of keylogger type spyware.
Spyware is software that enables the information about a computer and the activities that take place on it to be transmitted covertly from their hard drive to another computer. A keylogger is a type of spyware or surveillance software created to log every keystroke made on the infected machine.
A keylogger like the one in Windows 10 can record instant messages, emails, search requests, credit card details, the contents of documents and spreadsheets, or anything else that is typed on a keyboard. The log file created by the keylogger can then be sent to the designated receiver, in this case Microsoft.
According to the Guardian, the default settings of Windows 10 also permit Microsoft to control a user’s bandwidth in order to “upload data to other computers running the operating system, share Wi-Fi passwords with online friends and remove the ability to opt out of security updates.”
The main reason Microsoft wants to monitor its users en masse is to monetize information about them and their habits. With 90 percent of the world’s laptops and PCs running a Windows operating system, the company’s monopoly position gives it a huge potential for harvesting data on its customers and emulate the likes of Google and Apple.
According to Heini Järvinen, Community and Communications Manager at European Digital Rights, “Microsoft basically grants itself very broad rights to collect everything you do, say and write with and on your devices in order to sell more targeted advertising or to sell your data to third parties. The company appears to be granting itself the right to share your data either with your consent ‘or as necessary’.”
Many users, when installing Windows 10, will not know how to configure it to prevent the automatic installation of the new default software. Moreover, the vast majority of PC and laptop users download and install software without fully reading the EULA.
Web developer Jonathan Porta described the tactics used by Microsoft during the installation process of its OS, “Everything about this screen is urging me to just accept the default configuration and get on with life. … With all of these settings on these two screens enabled I might as well relocate my computer to Microsoft headquarters and have the entire company look over my shoulder.”
What makes Microsoft’s new operating system all the more concerning is the corporation’s close relationship with the National Security Agency (NSA) and FBI, which have been engaged in the systematic and illegal violation of the democratic rights of computer users for years.
In 2014, NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden described the aim of his employer as wanting to “collect it all”—in other words, capture the entire content of the world’s Internet activity in order to analyze and profile all potential opponents of the American government, above all, political opposition from the working class.
Snowden revealed the depth of collaboration between the NSA and Microsoft (and other IT corporations) as they sought to monitor and collect data on users of Microsoft products. Documents sent via Outlook.com, Skype and SkyDrive were monitored. Microsoft even worked with the NSA to create a backdoor to its own encryption software to ensure the agency’s fullest possible access to user data.
Rather than be greeted with excitement for being a free operating system upgrade, the question that should be asked by everyone is why is a corporation like Microsoft, with such history, is so willing to give out this operating system for free.

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Microsoft Warns Windows 7 Has Serious Problems

http://i68.tinypic.com/33k6iae.jpg

Microsoft Warns Windows 7 Has Serious Problems

Windows 7 runs on 55% of all the computers on the planet, but according to news this week that is actually a bad and potentially dangerous thing. Says who? Actually Microsoft MSFT -1.82%…

Speaking to Windows Weekly, Microsoft Marketing chief Chris Capossela explained that users who choose Windows 7 do so “at your own risk, at your own peril” and he revealed Microsoft has concerns about its future software and hardware compatibility, security and more.

“We do worry when people are running an operating system that’s 10 years old that the next printer they buy isn’t going to work well, or they buy a new game, they buy Fallout 4, a very popular game, and it doesn’t work on a bunch of older machines,” Capossela stated. “And so, as we are pushing our ISV [Independent Software Vendor] and hardware partners to build great new stuff that takes advantage of Windows 10 that obviously makes the old stuff really bad and not to mention viruses and security problems.”

He also stressed it is “so incredibly important to try to end the fragmentation of the Windows install base” and to get users to a “safer place”.

There’s only one problem with Capossela’s statements: they are complete rubbish.

Windows 7 is no less secure than Windows 10 (it will be supported until 2020) and no less compatible with new hardware and software. In fact its far greater market share means it is developers’ priority and has greater compatibility with legacy programmes and peripherals. If Fallout 4 won’t run on your Windows 7 computer, it will be upgrading your components not installing Windows 10 which fixes that.

As for fragmentation, the only issue that creates is for Microsoft and its target of getting one billion devices running Windows 10 within 2-3 years of release. And this is where the true motivation for Capossela’s statements become clear:

“We think every machine that is capable of running Windows 10 we should be doing everything we possibly can to get people to move to Windows 10…We are going to try to find that right balance, but we just know there’s a lot of people out there who constantly kick the can down the street without a little bit more of a, frankly, a push.

And so, there’s no doubt with a base as big as ours, it is hard to move anyone to a new model without angering some people. We don’t want to anger anybody, but we do feel a responsibility to get people to a much better place, and Windows 10 is a much better place than Windows 7. We will always give you a way out, but we’re trying to find the right threat balance.”

This phrase – “threat balance” – is telling. Microsoft has been cranking up the pressure on Windows 7 and Windows 8 users to upgrade and, in my opinion, the ‘balance’ was replaced by ‘threat’ a long time ago due to mandatory Windows 10 downloads, automatic upgrade attempts and now Capossela’s claims which add up to nothing more than deliberate misinformation designed to unsettle users.

At its core Windows 10 is a very capable operating system with immense promise but it is also overly controlling and I can respect those Windows 7 and Windows 8 users who choose to stay where they are. And this is the part Microsoft has forgotten: technically it keeps giving users a choice, but by enforcing nagging pop-ups, cutting opt-out options and spreading groundless fear for the average user it appears there is no choice at all…

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Microsoft: Windows 10 Redstone Features “Will Change Everything”

http://i1379.photobucket.com/albums/...psafg68dzr.jpg

Redmond starts teasing new Windows 10 features

Windows 10 Redstone is already an exciting update for the core operating system, given the fact that it’ll bring browser extensions to users, but it appears that Microsoft is working on something that’s even more exciting than that.

Although development has already started behind closed doors, Microsoft executives are now teasing some of the new features on Twitter, thus trying to suggest that something unexpected will come. Something “that will change everything,” as they say.
"“You are all gonna freak out!”"

First of all, it’s Rich Turner, Senior Program Manager on the Windows team, who has posted a teaser and who says, as Neowin notes, that he got to “play with the new Windows 10 features and you are all gonna FREAK Out when you see this.” While he hasn’t provided any new details regarding these features, it’s very clear that at least an early version has been created, and the chances are that he’s not talking about browser extensions.

Scott Hanselman, Principal Program Manager and Community Architect on the Azure Application Platform and Tools group, has also joined the teasing frenzy and revealed that these features “are going to CHANGE EVERYTHING.” Again no details, but Turner has added that more specifics will be provided during the BUILD developer conference kicking off this month.

“These features (I know what this is because I'm helping) are going to CHANGE EVERYTHING. No joke. You can't even,” Hanselman has tweeted.

While it’s clearly too early to speculate on what exactly Microsoft’s officials are referring to, there’s no doubt that Redstone is going to be quite an exciting release for everyone on Windows 10.

Redstone is projected to make its public debut in June, but work has already started, and insiders are getting preview builds to try out new features. An upcoming build is likely to bring support for browser extensions, one of the features that are also supposed to be part of the final release later this year.

"You are all gonna FREAK OUT": Microsoft program managers tease new Windows 10 features

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Microsoft Releases Mysterious Windows Update with No Details About What It Does


KB3103709 is specifically aimed at Windows 8.1 users

KB3103709 is one of the updates released by Microsoft as part of this month’s Patch Tuesday rollout, but as compared to the typical Windows patch, this one comes with zero information about its content or purpose. So while users are being offered this update, nobody can tell for sure what it does.

Specifically, KB3103709 is only offered to computers running Windows 8.1 and is listed as optional, so users need to manually select it when installing updates via Windows Update. But if they do, it’s nearly impossible to say what it changes, although Woody Leonhard of InfoWorld says that at least one user claimed that a Windows 10 upgrade popup was spotted after installing the update.

Windows 10 is offered as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs and Microsoft uses patches shipped via Windows Update to let users know about their promo, to prepare computers for the upgrade, but also to “nag” them every once in a while to make the move.

On the other hand, there are some posts that KB3103709 is actually related to Microsoft’s Active Directory Services given some of the files included in the archive, but with a confirmation from Microsoft, it’s nearly impossible to tell this for sure.

"The Windows 10 upgrade push"

It wouldn’t be the first time when Microsoft rolls out a patch that’s supposed to bring more upgrade notifications on computers running an older version of Windows.

Previously, the company has implemented a popup notification system in an Internet Explorer security patch offered as recommended, with users of the browser getting a message to upgrade to Windows 10 whenever they opened a new tab.

But for the moment, it’s not clear if this update is related in any way to the Windows 10 upgrade push, so we’ve reached out to Microsoft to ask for an answer and will update the article should an answer be provided.

InfoWorld:
Is Update KB3103709 Fake?

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Microsoft Releases Windows 10 Emulator Try it from your Browser

http://i66.tinypic.com/2jbo0nb.jpg

See the top Windows 10 features in your browser

Microsoft has just launched what it calls a Windows 10 emulator that’s supposed to show you the advantages of the new operating system and let you see them in action to decide whether an upgrade is worthy or not.

Although it’s called an “emulator,” this new website is more of a portal that contains details about Windows 10’s features, showing info and videos that present the most important options in the operating system at work.

You can thus get to meet Cortana, find out more about the new Start menu and pretty much everything else about Windows 10 from this page, and Microsoft believes that all of these should help you make a decision on whether you should install the new OS or not.

There are 11 topics on the website, and each comes with at least one video, so you should easily figure out what Windows 10 is all about. Of course, a genuine emulator that would actually let you try out Windows 10 in your browser would have been a much better idea, but this clearly involves more work, and Redmond just wanted to go the easy way.

"1 billion devices running Windows 10 by 2017"

Microsoft has a goal of bringing Windows 10 on 1 billion devices by 2017, so every little thing matters when it comes to its efforts to convince more users to upgrade.

Back at Build 2016 developer conference, the company revealed that there were 270 million devices upgraded to Windows 10, and while it emphasized that this is the fastest adoption Windows version ever, it looks quite difficult to reach the aforementioned 1 billion devices goal.

Windows 10 remains available free of charge to users of Windows 7 and 8.1 until July 29, and enterprises should also begin the transition later this year, so Microsoft expects adoption figures to continue growing in the coming months.

Windows 10 Demo:

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Microsoft reportedly installing Windows 10 without consent -- again

We all know that Microsoft is using increasingly aggressive -- and desperate -- tactics to get people to upgrade to its newest operating system. A month ago it switched the update status from 'optional' to 'recommended', and last week it snuck Windows 10 advertising into a security patch.

So what dirty trick is next? Well, according to Reddit, it’s installing the OS without user consent -- and without much warning -- and hiding the decline button to make it much harder to abort the process.

One Redditor describes the situation like this:

Yep, went afk and saw this message box that said something like "Your update is ready! Restarting and installing in 13 minutes". If I made myself a meal or watched TV, I would have had Windows 10. Oh, and the best part is how they hid the "Decline" button in the more info button.

Another user says:

Yep this happened to me this morning. Working and all of a sudden Windows closed all my programs, logged me out and started the upgrade. I quickly shut down my computer and was able to stop it but my son wasn't so lucky. Same thing happened to him today.

It is very concerning that they have this kind of access to push these updates without our consent. What else is being pushed through our computers or being pulled off in the background without us knowing?

It’s likely, of course, that these unwanted installations have happened due to Windows 10 now being a recommended update. If your system is set to install all recommended updates -- y’know, for security purposes -- then you’ll receive Windows 10.

If you have been a victim of Microsoft installing an unwanted operating system on your PC, there is good news -- you can easily uninstall Windows 10 and go back to Windows 7 or 8.1, provided you act within 30 days.

You don’t mind wasting your time removing an operating system you never asked for, right?

Of course, it’s fair to say Microsoft will, at some point, put Windows 10 on your PC again, probably using some other underhand method to sneak it on there.

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Microsoft to patch Windows 10 photo importing

Microsoft will release an update for Windows 10 on the next Patch Tuesday (May 10th, 2016) that fixes a photo import issue in the system's official Photos application.

The bug prevents some memory card readers from working properly when the Photos application is being used (which it is by default).

Particularly, SATA-attached readers, which you find used by multi-slot readers and on many laptops, don't work from within the Photos application while USB connected readers, USB Card readers or direct USB connections, work fine.

Support threads on Microsoft's official Answers forum highlight the frustrating issue with users stating that they cannot import photos to their Windows 10 device from their camera or card readers.

Support threads
http://i65.tinypic.com/15ofhif.jpg

The memory card readers are listed by the Windows 10 operating system and many users help themselves by importing photos using the operating system's File Explorer application instead.

While that gets the photos on the PC, the transfer rate when using File Explorer is a lot worse than the transfer rate that the Photos application gets. The reason for this is that the Photos application uses a new API which improves transfer speed during imports significantly.

A transfer test of 1700 photo and video clips using an iPhone 6s connected to devices running Windows 10 using File Explorer and the Photos app, and the import tool on Windows 7 highlights the issue:

* Explorer copy/paste took 15 minutes 4s
* The old Vista/Win7 import took 4 minutes 17s
* The Windows 10 Photos app took 1 minute 35s

It shows that the new Windows 10 Photos api improves the import transfer speed significantly, and that Explorer transfers are roughly 10 times slower on Windows 10 when compared to the Photos application import, and four times slower when the import tool on Windows 7 is being used.

The patch corrects the SATA card reader bug that Windows 10 users experience when they connect certain memory cards readers to PCs running the operating system.

The patch is already live on Insider Builds of Windows 10.

Photo importing on Windows 10 had quite a few problems associated with it (all listed fixed by now, on May 10th, or with the Anniversary Update this Summer):

* A firmware bug in Nikon and Fuji cameras that prevented them from working properly when connected to Windows 10. The issue has been resolved by now.
* An upgrade bug that removed access rights to the Documents folder which affected the Pictures folder thus preventing photo imports.
* Early device compatibility issues prevented the Photo app to work with some devices.
* SATA card readers don't work with the Photos app (will be fixed this Patch Day).
* There is still an issue where the Photos app displays all card reader slots, even those without a media inserted, which might confuse users as they will see G:\, H:\, I:\, J:\ etc on multi-slot readers.
* Last, the new Apple “Live Images” – which really are a JPEG + a short .MOV, are identified as videos in the Photos app thumbnails where you can select/deselect pictures to import.

The last two issues are corrected in the API and will be available with this Summer's Anniversary Update (already available on recent Insider Builds).

Takeaway: If you want to import photos on a device running Windows 10, use the official application as it is a lot faster this way.

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Upgrading to Windows 10 spoiled live

http://i68.tinypic.com/2qtbb7q.jpg

As practice shows the update from Microsoft often come at the wrong time. News anchor least expected encounter with this problem in the air.

Funny incident occurred at one of the American TV channels. Leading intended to tell you about inclement weather in the region but on top of the map screen suddenly appeared a proposal from Windows 10. Notification blocked a key part of the screen which displays the weather reports.

For a moment leading hesitated but in the next moment she laughed at what is happening and continued her story and the program editors quickly removed the annoying upgrade.
Video



Recall Windows 10 is notorious for constantly upgrade offers. Often this happens even without the demand of users which caused a wave of discontent after some time after the release of the new OS.

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Notification of an update to Windows 10 will disappear from Windows 7 and 8.1 after July 29

http://i63.tinypic.com/262ma9z.jpg

Notification of an update to Windows 10 will disappear from Windows 7 and 8.1 after July 29

After July 29 from Microsoft will remove Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 program of the Get Windows 10 ( "Get Windows 10 '). This is representative of the corporation told WinBeta edition.

In an official statement Microsoft said among other things

"The details are still being specified but on July 29 of the annex the Get Windows 10 which makes it easy to upgrade to Windows 10 is disabled and may be removed from PCs around the world. This like the spread in their time Get Windows 10 will take time. "

For Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 which chose not to upgrade to "tens" which means the disappearance of the annoying notification with a proposal to do a free upgrade. Strictly speaking if you wish to disable this notification may be now - the web is sufficient third-party programs.

The function will be completely removed along with one of the released updates. On this option many users complain about the old system in which the notification simply annoying. It is possible however that the company wants in a different way to induce a person to purchase their software although at the moment there is on this subject no information.

In late April the app Get Windows 10 "has become famous." [As Showing in post above] Live US TV KCCI 8 was forecast when a large part of the map of Iowa suddenly closed the pop-up window with the recommendation of Microsoft free upgrade to Windows 10. Leading confused and did not react to abnormal situations with humor.

Yesterday Microsoft announced that from July 29 stops the action for a free upgrade to Windows 7 and 8.1 on Windows 10. After that date get the Windows latest version will be available only in two ways by purchasing a PC to the "Top Ten" or Windows itself 10 for $ 119 ( in Russia - 7900 rubles).

Re: MSoft. W7/8/10 SPYING On Pirates =FIX/ RESOLUTION
 

Microsoft launches its final offensive against consumers running Windows 7 and 8

http://i64.tinypic.com/25i98b4.jpg

Microsoft has launched the final push in its nine-and-a-half-month upgrade offensive against consumers and businesses running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

Last week, Microsoft switched the automatically-offered Windows 10 upgrade to a "Recommended" download that in turn scheduled the upgrade process unless the user interfered.

"As we shared in October, Windows 10 will be offered as a 'Recommended' update for Windows 7 and 8.1 customers whose Windows Update settings are configured to accept 'Recommended' updates," a Microsoft spokesman said Friday in an email reply to questions.

Those questions were spurred by reports from Computerworld readers, who said that they'd again been offered an upgrade after months of either ignoring the campaign or dodging the transmutation of their PCs from Windows 7 or 8.1 to 10.

In February, Microsoft kicked off the "Recommended" phase of its long-stated strategy to convince, coax and pester users into upgrading to Windows 10. At the time, the Redmond, Wash. company confirmed that it had begun pre-selecting the upgrade as a Recommended update delivered through the Windows Update service. But it also said that the shift to Recommended would "roll out in a phased approach," signaling that the migration would take weeks or months.

In Windows Update, a Recommended update is one that is automatically downloaded and installed -- no user assistance required -- on PCs whose owners have not changed the default behavior of the service.

Microsoft originally announced in October 2015 that it planned to use Windows Update, the operating system's default security maintenance service, to automatically send the upgrade to PCs.

Also last week, Microsoft expanded a long-existing support document that details what users see when the Get Windows 10 (GSX) app -- which Microsoft planted on millions of PCs last spring and has refreshed and reinstalled many times since on those systems -- schedules the upgrade and how people can cancel the process before it starts.

That scheduling is not new -- a search provider cache of that page still available on Friday showed it had been part of the push since at least March -- but the revised document was more detailed as well as more forthcoming about how the upgrade is triggered.

According to both the latest and the previous versions of the support document, the upgrade and its scheduled implementation is approved when the user either clicks the "OK" button or the "X" in the upper right corner of the notification.

"If you click on OK or on the red 'X', you're all set for the upgrade and there is nothing further to do," the document stated. The "X" Microsoft mentioned is one way to close a window in Windows.

But Microsoft's interpretation of clicking the X is contrary to decades of practice in windowed user interfaces (UIs) and normal user expectations: To users, shutting a window by clicking the X tells the OS to remove the notification or application frame without expressing an opinion, selecting an option or calling up an operation.

Instead, Microsoft equates closing the window with approving the scheduled upgrade.

Microsoft has applied some unusual stratagems in its efforts to get customers to upgrade to Windows 10, but this behavior is among its most aggressive simply because it is deceptive in the context of normal Windows UI behavior.

In fact, it's very likely that many of the accounts -- and they have been widespread -- that the proffered Windows 10 upgrade began without user approval can be traced to this strange interpretation by Microsoft. Thinking that by clicking the X they were rejecting the notification, or at least ignoring it, users instead were actually authorizing the upgrade.

When the upgrade began later, they professed they had not approved it, not remembering an explicit affirmation, when in reality they had -- under Microsoft's rules -- given the green light.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2q0r3as.jpg