Windows 10

Hardware and technical stuff
3195

I was just writing it up.

So Microsoft finally offers some real documentation what the Basic telemetry level sends in the 1703 Creator’s Update coming this month. Note that you are not permitted to set your telemetry lower than Basic in a supported manner on Windows Home or Pro. This is the minimum telemetry they allow.

It’s great to get some documentation, but much of it is so general that you really can’t tell what they’re sending back to the mothership. We get some sort of inkling, but it is not sufficiently specific to nail it all down.

https://technet.microsoft.com/itpro/windows/configure/basic-level-windows-diagnostic-events-and-fields

This only covers the items I found interesting-- the whole list goes on for many many many pages. They collect a metric shitton of stuff on basic.

Common Data Extensions & stuff like Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.DecisionMatchingInfoPassiveAdd

  • These are so generic that they could really cover any behavior. Many of these could log every key you press, every running process, etc. No way to tell from the information provided. They refer to events, scenarios, or flights triggering telemetry but don’t tell you what the triggering things actually are.

Common Data Fields.MS.Device.DeviceInventory.Change

  • Every time you add or remove a device, you tell MS about it. When you plug in a mouse, a webcam, a flash drive, whatever.

Pre/Post upgrade settings

  • Tells MS what a bunch of settings looked like before and after the 1703 upgrade.

Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.DatasourceApplicationFileAdd & Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.DatasourceApplicationFileRemove

  • Sends “compatibility info about files”. It’s unclear how often the “appraiser” runs. This could tell microsoft literally every time you run any executable, or it might only apply to a whitelist of anti-virus exe files. We have no way to tell.

Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.DatasourceDevicePnpAdd & Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.DatasourceDevicePnpRemove &
Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.DatasourceDriverPackageAdd & Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.DatasourceDriverPackageRemove &
Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.DecisionDevicePnpAdd & Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.DecisionDevicePnpRemove & Microsoft.Windows.Inventory.Core.InventoryDriverBinaryAdd (and many more)

  • Tells microsoft every time you plug-in/remove a device. Every USB flash drive, every mouse, every wifi adapter, etc, they want to know about it. Also whenever you upgrade any driver.

Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.DatasourceSystemBiosAdd & Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.DatasourceSystemBiosRemove

  • They want to know when you upgrade your BIOS too.

Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.InventoryApplicationFileAdd & Microsoft.Windows.Appraiser.General.InventoryApplicationFileRemove

  • Sends metadata of ANY file on the system. Filename, date, path, product name, size, etc.
  • They say is must be “part of a compatibility database”, so it is a whitelist, but we have no idea how large the whitelist is or whether it contains wildcards like “*.jpg”. They don’t tell us.

Census.App

  • Sends info about all apps running. Possibly only UWP apps covered-- we have no way to know.

Census.Hardware, Memory, Network, Processor, UserDisplay, etc.

  • Sends all info about the device’s hardware. Name, chassis, serial, SKU, etc. Pretty much everything.

Microsoft.Windows.FaultReporting.AppCrashEvent & Microsoft.Windows.HangReporting.AppHangEvent

  • Sends comprehensive info any time a program crashes or hangs, both win32/64 executables and UWP apps. Does not send a memory dump on Basic.
3196

So its somewhere between a simple ping to let Microsoft know that you are alive and everything you have ever done on Windows 10.

Nice.

3197

No, the minimum is far more than a ping. At minimum, you tell MS every time you plug in a device, upgrade a driver, and any app crashes.

At maximum for basic, they know every process you run and every file you access.

And of course at Full telemetry level you’ll actually upload file and memory contents to them when anything crashes. However the default is Basic, Full is opt-in.

Edit: Actually their summary gives it all away. No need to go into the details. I guess that is an improvement in transparency.

On basic, they collect:
“App usage data. Includes how an app is used, including how long an app is used, when the app has focus, and when the app is started”

https://technet.microsoft.com/itpro/windows/configure/configure-windows-telemetry-in-your-organization#telemetry-levels

So they do literally spy on every process you run at the MINIMUM telemetry level.

3198

Good on them for actually telling people. My guess is that the millions of (l)users who already use Windows RIP probably cba, unfortunately.

Most people only (have time to) worry about privacy when it is the (evil) government, corporations get a free pass (which they can then share with the government).

It is sort of a yin/yang thing.

Good on Microsoft for being honest for once.
Bad on Microsoft for doing this.

I’d be on Win10 if it weren’t for this and the Windows Update malfeasance.

3199

Just curious but how do OSX and Linux compare? I think I might actually trust Apple more here just because I suspect Linux OS’s been thoroughly compromised by state backdoors.

3200

MacOS has a limited telemetry active by default, but it allows you to turn it off.

Linux doesn’t have any telemetry at all, unless you’re running an older version of Ubuntu that did some weird stuff with the Unity scope and Amazon links.

Linux is completely open-source so it should be fairly difficult to hide straight-up backdoors. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily more secure, though, as we learned to our chagrin with OpenSSL and heartbleed a couple years ago.

Again while there is no supported way to disable telemetry on Windows 10, you can turn it off with Shutup10. And you should. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to run it again after each major Windows update, like the 1703 one coming this month.

3201

Just installed the 1703 update. No issues installing as I remembered to unplug all my USB stuff.

New features of note? Errr…

You can get rid of the apps list in the start menu, that’s an improvement, I guess. And it supports a low blue-light mode too. You can put tiles in folders, although I have no particular use for that. That’s about it.

You do of course need to re-run shutup10 and winaero to get rid of telemetry and such again.

3202

just a heads up, i’m getting Mass Effect Andromeda freezing after 1703/CU.

3204

New Nvidia drivers 381.65 today (if you’re running Nvidia):

  1. Includes support for Windows 10 Creators Update

Also an Andromeda patch. Let us know if it works!

3205

Any pressing reason to do a clean install of Creators Update, or is just whatever upgrade it sends sufficient? Once upon a time I loved doing a clean install and getting everything shiny and new, but now the annoyance of re-installing crap (and mostly praying I didn’t lose any important save games… this is my biggest annoyance - put the saves WITH THE DAMN GAME) makes me shy away from bothering.

The only ‘advantage’ I’ve come across is cleaning out cruft from the WinSXS “folder”.

3206

Windows 10 effectively does a clean install followed by a migration with every biannual upgrade. No need to clean install.

3207

Good deal, thought that was the case but I kinda stopped paying close attention (and was never really sure how much cruft could be carried over by the ‘migration’ part).

3208

Just remember to unplug all your non-essential USB devices before upgrading. Leaving a USB3 hard drive in really screwed me badly last cycle.

3209

Upgraded last night with everything connected. No issues.

(YMMV, of course.)

3210

If you have multiple PCs, use the Media Creation Tool to create a USB installer. Save your bandwidth, and it’s faster. You can use the USB for clean and upgrade installs.

I updated 5 machines so far. No issues.

3211

Hey all, I obviously haven’t read the whole thread, but is there a good site that discusses/has good tips on how to tweak Windows 10 for more privacy vs. its default state?

3212

Install shutup10 and turn on all the recommended options. You will need to do this again after every major Win10 update as Microsoft infuriatingly does not respect their users’ clear preferences on this.

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

For more customization beyond telemetry/privacy, I recommend Winaero Tweaker. This will let you stop automatic updates and forced reboots, disable the lock screen they forced in the last major update, and other assorted miscellaneous annoyances Microsoft’s arrogance foisted upon us.

http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.1836

3213

I’ve been having an issue with Plex (as discussed on the Review thread) which has proved impervious to reinstalling, cache deletion etc, but supposedly does not affect fresh installs of the server. If I were to uninstall the server before doing this Win10 update, would I by any chance get something akin to a truly fresh install?

3214

Not really, it installs windows fresh then intelligently migrates all your settings and whatnot. It might be fresher.

What was your plex problem?

3215

Basically, the Comedy Central channel no longer works (specifically it gives a “this channel is not responding” error when you try to play a video). It’s a known issue from when they changed how the website videos worked last year. They supposedly fixed the issue in the Plex channel, but it’s also a known issue that for some users you have to manually fix various things to get it to work. None of which have worked for me.