Windows 10 Is It Really That Bad Full Of Spyware?

[crazyoildude]

Just curious About Windows 10 my it guy said it is full of spyware and other bad things. According to him its very bad, your privacy is compromised in a big way.
He said Some companies threaten to fire their employees if they use windows 10 for anything work related. I know he really knows what he is talking about but i don't really care if anyone snoops i don't use my computer for anything i need to hide.
Whats everyones opinion on windows 10?
I just noticed someone else is talking about windows 10

 

[SrDriver]

My wife and I have been using Windows 10 (upgraded from Windows 8) and installed on both of our Windows Computers when it was first offered.

I like what I see. Snappy and a huge improvement over Windows 7 or 8 in my opinion.

We are running the Windows Default Anti-Virus Software along with a paid version of Malwarebytes and no issues whatsoever.

As far as security (spyware, etc.,) have had no issues.

As far as a back door who knows? Could have been one with Vista, XP, Windows 7, etc?

Do a lot of on-line shopping, etc., no issues to report.
.

 

[simple_gifts]

I would get fired for using any non company provided computer for anything work related, regardless of OS.

Whose company allows company data on unsecured and uncontrolled machines?

 

[razel]

Google Search/Chrome/Android is the worst spyware. It's fans are just the ones writing articles. IOS would be 2nd. Windows 3rd. What MS is doing right is telling you WELL ahead of time, many times hinting when you select settings that it is sending stuff back.

As for not being able to turn things off... Win10 is probably the easiest to castrate. Try NOT Google search for information.

It's all FUD. You have to choose the least of the three evils. I myself just have two separate online identities. One for business and to pay the bills. The other is for family to share my life and sync my devices. Unforuntately as with the internet, people find it easier to whine and cry rather than find solutions.

 

[Rolla07]

I wouldnt ask my IT guy what OS to run on a home computer. Sounds like he was speaking on a work related experience or something.

I been using Windows 10 for awhile without any issues.

 

[SrDriver]

Am retired but when working any software required approval of the IT Staff before installation. No usage of USB or other portable devices. No CD/DVDs could be used on a work computer. That was a no no.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Full of spy ware and other bad things? By default or what? I question if your IT guy really does know what he is talking about. Any OS can become infected without protection and security patching, but I have not seen W10 to be any more prone than previous operating systems.

 

[sicko]

So perhaps "spyware" was the wrong term to use, but Windows 10 is getting bashed over privacy issues. Do a google search for Windows 10 privacy concerns and you'll find a lot of articles on the topic. It reached a point that Microsoft had to formally respond.

 

[BearZDefect]

I second what razel wrote above.

 

[surfstar]

I heard Windows 10 is what really brought Jared down.

 

[crazyoildude]

this it guy is someone very special and i asked him to tell me more and he did and he showed me a couple of things. Even know i have nothing to hide im steering clear of windows 10

He is a friend i don't get charged so its not that he is trying to sell me anything.
I want to Thank everyone for their input.

 

[Ed_T]

There are alot of tools and Youtube videos about how to reduce / eliminate the incessant Windows 10 "spying" built in. I personally use O&O ShutUp10.

Upgrading from Win7 seemed to fix alot of the slowdowns (like taking forever to hibernate) that 7 had developed over time. It did uninstall several things in the upgrade process (CPU-Z and CCleaner I recall), but left Bitdefender free alone and did not activate Windows Defender.

Supposedly there is a business version coming out that eliminates the built in spying (if that's what it is), probably Enterprise only.

I like Win10 and originally was not going to upgrade, but the W7 slowdowns seemed to be slowly getting worse, not to mention aggravating, and I sure didn't want to reinstall it and all the apps and tweaks made over time.

I also installed Classic Shell *and made a donation* to revert to a usable start menu. It has other mods built in as well.

If you do upgrade play it safe and BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP~! beforehand.

 

[Alfred_B]

It is naive to expect privacy if you use digital media and are networked.

 

[crazyoildude]

Alfred hit the nail on the head there is very little privacy online period...

 

[Hokiefyd]

Windows 10 appears to make it very easy to control the privacy settings. They're well documented on the internet. Here's just one of a multitude of sites that goes through it:

TechRadar website

Originally Posted By: TechRadar Website
Luckily, there are ways to curtail all of Windows 10's cyber sleuthing built right into the OS' privacy controls. However, cracking down on what Window 10 can see will come at the cost of some functionality and could potentially disable features you want to use (such as Cortana).


I use Windows 10 just the way I did Windows 7. I have location awareness turned off, I don't use Cortana, I don't use Windows apps, I don't use the Windows 10 start menu and all the chiclet things, etc. I have Classic Shell on it, and I use all of my regular productivity and VPN applications. Works like a champ -- a super fast version of Windows 7 without any of the junk that Microsoft wishes that I'd use.

That's how you beat Microsoft. Take advantage of the free stuff (like Windows 10) and just don't pay for all the stuff they want you to (like the apps and Office 365).

It's just like using a credit card. We use Discover and Visa extensively, collect hundreds of dollars of reward points each year, and don't pay a dime in interest because we pay our bill every month. We don't use credit cards for the credit -- we use them for the rewards.

I treat Microsoft the same way. I take advantage of the free stuff and skip all the junk.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
Alfred hit the nail on the head there is very little privacy online period...


There *could* be; and there are a lot of ways we can mitigate the myriad ways our privacy is invaded. Sadly, there is way too much profit in data mining users and way too much to be gained by governments in circumventing privacy measures.

We can absolutely take a few steps to make ourselves less "open" to those who would wish to exploit our information. These include simple things like using privacy-oriented browser extensions like Privacy Badger from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and uBlock, right on up to using Tor for our communications and web surfing. Of course, the more anonymous we make ourselves, the less function some consumer technologies will work. Good luck using Amazon or Ebay with Tor, for example!

There are even some Linux distros made for the paranoid and passionately private; TAILS being the most widely used. Linux-based distros are always a much better bet for privacy than anything from Microsoft or Apple.

 

[RTexasF]

For what it's worth..... I bought a new, and expensive, Lenovo laptop about three months ago. It came with Win 8.1. It took me about 15 minutes to realize there is no way I could live with that operating system. I went for Win 10 which was offered after a short time of playing with the new laptop. I did so and it was LOADED with spyware, garbage, malware, trojans, and more. Once I realized what was going on I had no choice but to buy a program (Spyhunter) to get rid of all this garbage. All of the free programs I have used for years did nothing. Since then no problems and Win 10 works just fine for me....with the Windows 7 shell that is. No clue what happened but it was a real problem for a while.