Posted on 09/14/2015 1:05:28 PM PDT by CedarDave
Conspiracy theories are gaining steam as accusations about Microsoft "spy patches" heat up. But a much larger part of the story may sound familiar to any experienced Windows or Office user.
The tinfoil ball started rolling on Aug. 24, when Sergey Tkachenko at Winaero.com published an incendiary discovery: Four recent Windows 7 and 8.1 patches -- KB 3022345, 3068708, 3075249, and 3080149 -- were sending a potful of data to Microsoft's servers. In at least one case, the spying patches transmit data through hard-coded servers, bypassing the Hosts file and making it even harder to block their activity. On Aug. 28, Martin Brinkmann at ghacks.net posted a follow-up that confirmed several details.
[ See InfoWorld's "Windows 10 review: Hold off if you use Windows 7." | Stay up on key Microsoft technologies with the Windows newsletter. ]
What Tkachenko and Brinkmann revealed is, quite literally, true -- though many on the Windows beat have dismissed their claims as overblown or bordering on irrational. Others, including several widely read mainstream publications, have pointed to their statements and claimed or implied that the Windows 10 privacy-busting "disease" has been thrust onto Win7 and Win8.1 customers.
It's so bad that I'm deluged with emails and phone calls from readers, friends, neighbors, and family members, all asking if they should apply updates to Windows 7 and 8.1 because of the "spy programs." They're genuinely concerned -- and they should be.
Has Microsoft started running spy sorties on Windows 7 and 8.1 systems? Judging from the headlines, it seems a foregone conclusion, but the facts are a little less clickbait worthy.
(Excerpt) Read more at infoworld.com ...
I keep a Band-aid over my webcam .... just in case. :-)
Thanks. I might as well repost the instructions below from the other thread, with a few changes.
If you do not want Windows 10-related updates on your computer, but are not sure whether or not they are installed, you can let Windows do the searching and uninstalling. The below is for Windows 7.Start an administrator command prompt (in Programs > Accessories, right-click Command prompt and select "Run as administrator") and enter:
wusa /uninstall /kb:3035583 /norestartIf the update is installed, it will be uninstalled. If the update is not installed, Windows will tell you.
Here are some other reported Windows 10-related updates. They can be uninstalled using the same command. Change ONLY the number in the command line. Keep the colon that precedes the number:
KB3022345, KB3068708, KB3075249, KB3080149
After uninstalling the updates, you are not done. Windows may reinstall the updates automatically unless you take the next step.
In Control Panel > Windows Update, click "Change Settings." Select "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them." Click OK. Then, if you are online, click "Check for updates."
After the list of updates arrives, look in both the list of important updates and the list of optional updates. If you see KB3035583 or any of the others, right-click each update and select "Hide update." That should block future attempts by Microsoft to install the update.
If you had to uninstall any of the above updates, reboot.
That should do it, though you will still have to ignore occasional prompts to unhide your hidden updates.
With the "let me choose" Windows update setting, you will be responsible for downloading and installing your Windows updates on Patch Tuesday (the second Tuesday of every month) or whenever they appear.
Unfortunately, it looks like unless you actually turn Updates completely off, Microsoft will still force some auto updates on you. See my post #11.
The method I described above should work, because the user will be sitting in front of the computer when he clicks "Check for updates," and he can see the newly-arrived list of updates before they are installed. If he can see the list of uninstalled updates, he can hide particular updates.
There is a very clear option for CEIP at initial setup for both Windows 7 and 8.1. However(and I’m doing this from memory)the way it’s worded may not really clue most people into what it means. I think it is worded along the lines of “Microsoft collects information to improve the Windows experience. The is no personally identifiable information collected for this program...” I would assume most people don’t really take the time to understand the option or program.
for later
later
If you turn on the Update Services, regardless of which setting you have chosen, required updates to some components of the service will be downloaded and installed automatically without further notice to you.
Also trendmicro optimizer turns on updates
Bfl
“Change Settings.” Select “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.”
When I get there, I have a box under Important updates that says “check for updates but let me choose -———
but when I click the dropdown arrow, nothing happens....
I'd like to think that Microsoft isn't dumb enough to forcibly unhide and install updates that the user has chosen to hide.
Microsoft has even provided a tool to hide updates in Windows 10:
http://www.ghacks.net/2015/07/27/microsoft-releases-tool-to-block-windows-10-updates/
From the link above: "Windows will not install hidden updates."
I will say that Linux Mint 17.2 simply lets me install the updates I want to install, when I want to install them. There have been no forced updates.
Reboot and see if it looks the same. You may have already changed the setting.
I may be getting far down in the weeds here and totally paranoid, but what the privacy statement says to me is that Microsoft can bypass the show and select process for some updates and install them without your knowledge. Not being a techie, I have no idea whether they have actually done that with Win 7, 8, 8.1 or 10, or are just saying that they have the ability to do so for some future update.
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