Windows 8 Is Watching You

Playing around with the manufacturers' version of the not-yet-widely released Windows 8, programmer (and hacker) Nadim Kobeissi discovered that the operating system "tells Microsoft about everything you install" and does that "not very securely." Basically, the new Windows has this program called SmartScreen that's designed to protect users but instead gives Windows (and possible hackers) access to a lot of information...

Windows 8 will, by default, inform Microsoft of every app downloaded and installed by every user. This puts Microsoft in a compromising, omniscient situation where they are capable of retaining information on the application usage of all Windows 8 users, thus posing a serious privacy concern. The user is not informed of this while installing and setting up Windows 8, even though they are given the option to disable SmartScreen (which is enabled by default.)

Personally I don't see a big deal with them knowing what apps I am running. I haven't stolen software.

I'm more concerned with their sharing that information. You buy a nice, spiffy Photo Shop, suddenly you get hit with email ads for competitors or companion software (like a photo filing program), or worse, you'll start getting third-party app enhancements pushed on your computer, IOW, malware.

Plus, you have a bathroom with a glass door. I'm not likely to visit you. :^)

I installed the release preview as a 2nd boot option on my laptop yesterday. It is fast, but there are some quirks as well. My Dell laptop allows me to disable the touchpad through a single key on the function row at the top. In Windows 8, that key is disabled and the touchpad remains live. If you accidentally apply pressure around the touchpad when typing, the cursor skips all over the place. I’ve found a small app that will disable the touchpad when typing, but that’s a sorry solution.

Windows 8 mail will collect your Windows live email, or you can add a gmail account, or import from Outlook. But you can’t separately add accounts from your host provider (Comcast, for example).

They’ve buried the shutdown/restart procedure under the settings menu. It’s not hard to do once you figure it out, but it adds at least another step in the process if you want to shut down or reboot.

It did a great job of recognizing devices during installation, and setting up my wireless connection. Both printers were immediately recognized, my mouse, wireless lan, etc. No problems with that.

The Metro screen (the initial screen you boot to...you don’t go directly to the desktop) is real cluttered at first boot. But you can ‘unpin’ whatever applications you don’t want to display. It just takes some work. Also, after installing Microsoft Office 2010 while in desktop, the application installed properly, but doesn’t add icons to the desktop. I had to add each icon separately through commands. Kinda dumb...

One of the dumbest things, though, is they didn’t include any of the Windows games (Solitare, Freecell, Minesweeper, Hearts, etc). I like playing a little Freecell while browsing and I sure miss that. There are some online sites that tell how to add Windows 7 games to Windows 8, but the instructions couldn’t be followed because directories they site in Windows 8 didn’t show up, even though I had hidden directories displayed.

The desktop and windows are pretty plain Jane in design, not a lot of glamour as with Windows 7. But that’s no big deal and, I’m sure, helps with memory usage and speed.

All-in-all, it’s decent. I just may spend the $40 for the upgrade when it comes out, but want to see first whether some of the stuff left out will be included. Like the games. I want my games!!!

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