Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) released a free update of its operating system in the form of Windows 10 last month; the adoption rates hit 14 million within two days. The latest operating system is filled with some privacy holes that the company is likely to take advantage of for future marketing purposes. Bidness Etc looks at how you can protect yourself.
Protect Your Bandwidth Because Microsoft (Msft) Windows 10 Wants To Steal It
As per Lauren Weinstein’s blog, Microsoft Windows 10 is stealing your bandwidth every day that you use it. There is a feature deep within the operating system called “Windows Update Delivery Optimization,” which is enabled by default when you install the operating system. This feature allows Microsoft to use your bandwidth that you receive from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), and then send updates to itself and other computers on the company’s operating systems. This sending of data to other machines around the world is done without the user’s permission, which also leads to the company cutting down on its own bandwidth costs to deliver updates to PCs.
Ironically, the company states that it will not be stealing bandwidth if the user has a metered connection. However, it’s up to the users to change their settings to let the company know that they are using a metered connection, which is buried deep in the operating system’s settings. In the case a user does not change the settings, then the company has no way of knowing whether the computer it is stealing bandwidth from has a metered connection or not. This is how peer-to-peer (P2P) networks work; torrents, in case you were wondering, use the same technology but that is performed through a user’s own discretion. In Windows 10’s case, this stealing of bandwidth is done without permission, which would annoy users in the future.
To turn off this feature, users should go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced options; following this, users should change how they updates are delivered and switch turn off this option.
Microsoft (Msft) Has Permission To Collect Your Data
It’s no surprise that most users accept the terms and conditions without even reading them; in this way, they usually give permission to companies to collect data without them even knowing it. More so, with Microsoft Windows 10, the revised privacy policy that users accept gives the company authority to collect data from your PC whenever they want and store it on their servers.
Techworm states that the operating system is going to sync data by default; this includes browser history, favorites, bookmarked websites, Wi-Fi passwords, and other data. Additionally, your conversation with Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana is also recorded in the company’s servers. Microsoft’s privacy policy states that to better provide results to users, Cortana will be going through data like location, calendar, apps, emails, messages, your call logs, and contacts to provide you with a more personalized experience.
Microsoft has also assigned a unique advertising ID for each computer that is connected to the servers of the company. Microsoft also has a web search engine called Bing, which collects data which is then sold to third parties to provide users with more personalized search results.
A clause of Microsoft Windows 10’s privacy policy states: “We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to protect our customers or enforce the terms governing the use of the services.”
In the case users want to deactivate automatic syncing and personalized ads then you can follow these links and steps to make the experience more secure and private.
For opting out of personalized ads, users can visit thispage while going to Settings> Privacy > General > Change Privacy Options.
To stop automatic sync on your operating system, you can visit this tutorialthat will provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to disable Microsoft from taking your data.
Microsoft (Msft) Windows 10 Will Give Anyone Access To Your Wi-Fi
It is common to share your Wi-Fi password with those who come over to your household. Windows 10 Wi-Fi sense usually just goes through your friends list on Facebook and then gives the friend in the vicinity access to your wireless network. While this is really convenient, it raises safety concerns and may give users who are not that close friends access to a person’s Wi-Fi.
To disable this feature, users should go to Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > Manage Wi-Fi Settings. Anything that shows any signs of sharing passwords should be disabled. More so, there’s also the issue that if a friend comes to a user’s house and connects to the Wi-Fi, then Microsoft will have the power to use the friend’s operating system to send data to its servers for ad personalization. To opt out of this feature, users should add “_optout” to the end of their wireless network names and Microsoft will then not look at your data.
Microsoft has announced that this was the last version of the operating system, after which users will only get updates for life to make the experience better and faster in the future. It is pertinent to note that Microsoft will activate these setting every time you perform an update, so users should make it a habit to disable these features accordingly.
No comments:
Post a Comment