Unfortunatly that is only a very small list of known tracking domains.
But MS realy owns a gazillion of them. ☺
Thanks for this proxy server suggestion. I use this configuration for the last week and keep it for now:
So I use a pfSense firewall which has a few services and game servers whitelisted and all other outgoing traffic is blocked. The firewall has a proxy server installed and I use Firefox, that uses this proxy, for my browser. The reason for using a proxy is that you don't have to whitelist websites which is almost impossible or annoying at least. For windows updates I use a WSUS server.
The result is 50K+ blocks from my pc to 205 different ip addresses (not only to Microsoft) in just a few days.
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Excellent.
pfSense is my ideal firewall (also proxy as you have shown me) for a future home server.
Also I'll be probably installing it at work in the near future, for a small network that has access to internet.
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Hmm interesting.
Did you disable any of the privacy stuff inside windows10,
the way that allot of guides are showing on the internet?
Because i still think that those host file entries that applications like Beacon do, dont realy make a whole lot of sense.
Aside from the fact that MS most likely owns a shit ton of those tracking domains.
Yes I forgot to mention that. I have all privacy- and metro apps settings off and Spybot ant-beacon shows all telemetry settings at "green full protection". So yes it is interesting.
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Yeah i was allready sorta kinda expecting it.
But this confirms it. ☺
I assume the PC still has to tell MS servers "hey my beacons aren't lit!"
I work at a small company with only 8 people and also maintain a pfSense firewall it's a realy nice firewall, highly recommended.
Using windows 10 isn't any worse that using google chrome....... Or android for that matter. Or googles DNS. Or their ads.
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I hear that Forbes rated it as the best operating system with which to write the hard drive full of onezies and zerozies and then install Linux. But hey, what the fuck do I know (whisper from behind you all creepy like: "noooooothing").
This - most people probably already surrender more of their privacy by carrying a smart phone around with them than they would by using a default setup of Windows 10. Most people (probably not those that inhabit this forum) probably also do more of their personal browsing and communications using a smart phone too.
Not saying the default Windows 10 telemetry collection is right, just perspective on why Joe Public probably won't care.
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So since i use chrome and have a android smartphone, i might as well upgrade to windows 10?
I have an idiot phone, I would rather keep the smarts for me (my own brain); the only smart thing they do is fucking up ~!!! (IMO).
I was going to reply here with how win 10 is pretty good once you get rid of all the crap.
But I decided it needs its own thread.
At least with Android, if you're savvy enough (and have enough patience, as well as search-fu) you can wrangle it, thanks to it being open source.
To some degree it does not matter what phone os you use. Due to inherent flaws in the mobile phone network you can be tracked and your calls/texts monitored by anyone with the right know-how. Even carrying an old style Nokia means you are potentially surrendering your freedom...
This is true and the reason why privacy must be fought for: They won't just give it to us because it's the right thing to do.
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(All of the following is IMO, aside from what happened to me)
About 1 week ago I came into work, I am the only "IT person" at my job and we are small. I only have about 1 server, and 10 computers to manage. Our secretary came to me and said her computer was doing something weird, so I opened my Fruit Punch Rockstar flavored energy drink and sat down at her computer not knowing what to expect, when I looked up my jaw dropped to the floor, and I immediately went to my boss because I thought he was jacking with me and playing some kind of sick joke. Windows 10 was installed.....like completely installed! She was running Win 8.1 before that.
My question to you guys is how is this possible, when I had "Windows Updates" turned off/disabled in services.msc. and force deleted almost anything related to "updates", I do the same thing to all my computers I manage, and yes I know some may think its "unsafe" but I have an outboard firewall, and haven't gotten a virus on any computer since the XP days, and if something happens to a computer I can have it wiped and reinstalled in no time "plus it's job security :) "
We need to talk about the elephant in the room here....and that's Windows 10, someone is lying because the numbers vs. people I know and see actually using win10 is slim to none, I don't give a crap if we get to DirectX9000 I'm not touching win10 with a 100ft pole, and the fact that people are accepting it into their life greatly saddens me, and give me a headache at the same time. When we stop caring about our privacy to play games or just to have the latest software that is when the people have already lost. I know their have been a lot of people saying it in the past and even currently but until they quit the force updates and completely remove the spying shit, me plus a lot of others seriously aren't upgrading to 10, and that is what is going to effect current and next gen Cards and such.
If you have seen Barnacules video about win10 force installing, it gets worse than that, just take a look at google and you will see the upteen thousand threads and posts about Windows10 issues in general. Aside from the whole spying shit, I can't use it at work because we have propriety software that wont run on anything past 7.
How is Windows not facing a class action lawsuit for this?
I like Windows 10. I upgraded shortly after it came out, and have been enjoying it ever since. I like it better than 7, 8, and 8.1. I did the few things to help make the spying "minimal". I figure it's less spying than what happens by me having a Google account... using Google to search, using Gmail, etc. One thing that should be a feature, is the ability to just disable it completely without the average person having to Google it if they even known about it.
Technically if you use MS product or services you agree with their EULA.
So as far as a lawsuit is concerned they got that covered.
But remember that in pretty much every Windows version since XP, there has been telemetry track and diagnostics build in the OS.
In Windows 7 its called CEIP, which is enabled by default without notifying anyone.