Want to keep control of your computer?

[Nightshade]

Don't use Windows 10.

Two major bad things Windows 10 introduces:

1) They demand you cannot keep your personal info private (computer usage, etc.) - http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/22/12582 ... y-concerns

2) They can "kill" any hardware or software they want on your OWN PRIVATE COMPUTER. - http://boingboing.net/2015/08/20/window ... t-can.html

[Tunnelcat]

Plus, with the Windows 10 anniversary update, you can't turn off Cortana, the ultimate Microsoft spybot, without going through a bunch of hoops to kill her. F#*k Microsoft.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3100358/ ... pdate.html

[Nightshade]

Plus, with the Windows 10 anniversary update, you can't turn off Cortana, the ultimate Microsoft spybot, without going through a bunch of hoops to kill her. F#*k Microsoft.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3100358/ ... pdate.html

Yep.

Creepy cyberb*&#$ is after you:

[Tunnelcat]

EEEEEEEEEEEEK! Now what do we do once Windows 7 is no longer supported? Linux?

[callmeslick]

just pay the money to have W10 set up for higher security. You can definitely have Cortina or whatever turned off. Never had any demands regarding personal info, but I'm pretty restrained about personal info on my computer anyhow. Never encountered the software thing, but then I'm mostly running their software anyway. I suppose I'm simply not geek enough to see an issue,but I did have my setup done by a friend who's a security expert. Didn't have him go full-out cyber secure, but I'm, as I say, a pretty low level user in terms of available data.

[Vander]

I don't think Windows 10 is doing anything more severe that what your smartphone is already doing as far as data collection, not that that's a good thing. It's all pretty much par for the course these days.

I'm not a fan of Windows as a Service in general. It's a very big change to the Windows ecosystem that I doubt most users even realize. It puts you at the mercy of Microsoft's whim and leaves you open to the bait and switch. Imagine if Microsoft pushed Windows 8 out like they did Windows 10. You wake up one morning and the desktop metaphor you've been using for 20 years is gone, replaced by a touch interface. That's entirely possible with forced updates. If next year Microsoft wants to open a new revenue stream by putting ads in your Start Menu, there's nothing you can do about it.

This bait and switch has already bitten me with the Anniversary Update. When I put Windows 10 on my computer, I specifically chose the Professional edition because it gave more control over the update process, and reboots in particular. The update removed this control. My desktop, on which I use a CentOS VM to run Plex, Owncloud, and various other services now automatically reboots itself and there's nothing I can do about it. They've basically turned their Professional edition into a souped up consumer product. I'd understand if I was using the home version, but keeping a computer on indefinitely is a fairly common professional use case. If I want to regain control of reboots again, I'll have to go to Enterprise edition which is only available through volume licensing. (I'm lucky enough to have access to it through Microsoft Action Pack)

[Tunnelcat]

Resistance is futile, but most businesses are still flipping the bird at MS.

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/99- ... -to-study/

At least the Anniversary Update killed some webcams. So MS can't spy on you until maybe September.

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/win ... september/

[Nightshade]

EEEEEEEEEEEEK! Now what do we do once Windows 7 is no longer supported? Linux?

Yep. I'm going linux I think. No more windows.

[TigerRaptor]

Plus, with the Windows 10 anniversary update, you can't turn off Cortana, the ultimate Microsoft spybot, without going through a bunch of hoops to kill her. F#*k Microsoft.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3100358/ ... pdate.html

Just a few hoops. Process Explorer to shut down Cortana in memory. Easy Context Menu to take ownership of the folder, then delete.