Windows 10 Losing Steam Over Privacy Concerns And Other Issues?

MWEB GameZone writes: "Microsoft offers an update to privacy concerns. Furthermore, Windows 10 is losing some of its momentum in terms of Steam user base growth and we bring you an easy fix to Windows 10 randomly freezing up, interrupting your gaming sessions."

[HanCilliers]

I find it odd that Windows 10 is slowing down on PC. What with all the support for W10 games. Guess it's the privacy thing that put people off.

[Sillicur]

Yeh it can definitely be that. Would be great to see a stat on how many gamers who installed win 10 moved back to win 7 and if its a significant number

[Kingthrash360]

Wow....I was actually about to dl this too....glad I saw this. I'll wait. I knew there had to be some kind of catch to upgrading free....there's always a catch when something is free.

[Perjoss]

@King

nothing is really free

[miyamoto]

Same big reason that botched the Xbox One launch.

[decrypt]

This is all about government trying to control over the public. Why else would MS be giving out its hottest product for free. Thats suicide.

I never upgraded to windows 10, it seemed fishy to begin with. I dont intend to upgrade until the spyware has been fixed.

[LexHazard79]

@kingtrash, Lol....that was funny. So convenient that this article happened to stop you.

[nveenio]

I put Windows 10 in place on the kids' computer, but the parental controls are much worse. I may be rolling it back to Windows 8.1. (Not being able to approve more screen time right there on the computer when time is up is a major drawback.)

[vallencer]

I switched back because my wireless adapter doesn't have an update yet to work with it. Everyone's so concerned with privacy issues yet they use Google Chrome for searching 9 times out of 10. On top of that they'll have a smart phone. Your privacy doesn't exist when you have a smart phone. Also those same privacy issues that people don't like are now on Windows 7 as well.

http://www.pcworld.com/arti...

[MannGamer]

LOL, I just updated to windows 10. I really wanted to wait but windows 8 is such a mess. I feel like ever since Windows 10 released, windows 8 keep getting worst and worst after each update lol.
It almost as if MS is messing up windows 8 on purpose to have me update to windows 10 lol.

Edit: @Vallencer, I have no idea how people still believe they actually have some kind of privacy. Just google your name and you will be surprise about all the information that you can find about yourself

[VJGenova]

I switched back to windows 7 because of all the SLI issues. I will only switch back when dx12 games are actually released. No point until then.

[Kleptic]

DX12 was/is the only relevant feature for people that play games on their PC's...

and...

no games use it, and none are going to use it any time soon...

so until they do...they got some early adopters, and a whole bunch of 'i'll just wait'...

can't say i find this all that surprising, honestly...

[livininsin]

I wonder if anyone here honestly believes that Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo aren't watching what people are doing on their respective consoles?

Words like "connected", "live", "networked" or "online" are pretty much synonymous with "data mining", "intrusion", "breach", "infringement" and downright "spying" nowadays.

[MurDocINC]

Just waiting for more bugs to be ironed out, still got like 9 months to do it.

[Bigpappy]

Windows 10 is a great upgrade. as long as you have a browser and are on the internet, you have no privacy. That goes for win 7 through 10 and every thing before. Any thing Google is much worst in that regard, especially android.

[Testfire]

I've been spreading the word on the privacy issues with Win 10. I'll personally upgrade when all my programs and peripherals are supported, but I think it's important people know what they're getting into before upgrading.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed. I have both, no way am I going 100% win 10 LMFAO! I NEVER GO 100% a new OS its first few years. I have a HDD with Win 10, a HDD with Win 7, mind you, Witcher 2 and Fallout New Vegas kept crashing on Win 10 and I had to switch HDDS back to Win 7 to keep playing them.

Tried 2 workarounds, they didn't' work...I wasn't wasting a weekend figuring out MS stupid OS changes, merely went right back to a Win 7 HDD and kept playing lol

[mcstorm]

@MannGamer your spot on. It is easy to find information out about most people theses days and Google are the worst for storing our information. But I have nothing to hid so I am really not fussed abut any of this. At the end of the day if you really don't want people to get any information about you it is near impossible now a days as you would have to never use an internet connected device or service.

[Hoffmann]

If win10 would not be a requirement for many games in the future I wouldnt have updated either.

What Microsoft is doing here is again shady and should be forbidden by laws.

[freshslicepizza]

shady for wanting consumers to buy a new product because of new features not possible on older software? say it isn't so! what games do you speak of that won't run unless you have windows 10, fable legends? a game produced by microsoft that is taking advantage of directx12?

should i sue apple because i can't use siri on my iphone 4?

[Roccetarius]

There's really nothing compelling for me to update to Win 10, instead of using Win 7 as i am currently. I'm waiting to see what catches there are before making any kind of moves, plus DX12 is just another of MS's usual hooks to make you switch version. Privacy is another matter, but we've already seen that MS made backdoors for other parties in the past.

DX12's benefits can be achieved with Vulkan as well, and it was mentioned that a backend with DX in mind would basically be a waste of time.

@moldybread Siri is a poor example to use, because it's not essential at all. Same goes for Cortana, which is just extra optional software.

[Hoffmann]

@moldybread

Shady for sending all types of data and moitoring to microsoft and maybe other companies that are using informations for targeted ads?

Shady for not directly informing consumers about what type of data they use. And for what purposes they are doing it.

Games I am talking about? Killer Instinct, its a game I care about.

[freshslicepizza]

@Roccetarius
"Siri is a poor example to use, because it's not essential at all. Same goes for Cortana, which is just extra optional software."

it is not a poor example because it shows how apple, like most tech companies, are always moving forward. that iphone 4 now has a very hard time to even function normally now with ios 8. windows 7 by comparison came out 6 years ago. so why would a business want their consumers to not buy new products? look at android. one of the problems android faces is how many still won't get newer installments of android.

@Hoffmann,
"Shady for sending all types of data and moitoring to microsoft and maybe other companies that are using informations for targeted ads?"

give me a real world implication that actually affects you? you are connected to the internet so if you want to use certain functions like cortana to work properly it has to grab that history of search and so forth. disable it if you don't want to use it. so tell me again a real world implication you have using windows 10 that is the fault of the operating system and not the user going into the settings and controlling it on their own that has caused an actual concern for your privacy.

"Shady for not directly informing consumers about what type of data they use. And for what purposes they are doing it."

people should read the fine print. does anyone actually read the terms to xbox live or playstation network or nintendo's online services?

"Games I am talking about? Killer Instinct, its a game I care about."

oh, you mean a game made by microsoft? the same company trying to sell operating systems? oh dear, what third world problems we face today when a company is pushing others to buy new products. have you ever thought to yourself what microsoft is doing with windows 10 and bridging all window 10 devices together including xbox? if you don't like it don't buy it.

[sinspirit]

@moldybread

Those features that are "not possible" on older versions are possible, just not developed because of Microsoft wanting to force users to upgrade.

Don't use examples of stale hardware that isn't up to date. Computers don't work that way. And, I have installed W10 on a computer that ran Vista and it works no problem. I think I should have just gone back to XP for that one though.

[DiRtY]

The irony is that MS is trying to fight the duty to hand out information to the federal institutions. So, you ask for laws to stop this, but in reality it is the other way around.

techcrunch.com/2014/06/04/mic rosoft-calls-on-us-gov-to-end-b ulk-nsa-data-collection/

[343_Guilty_Spark]

http://www.laptopmag.com/ar...

Holy tin foil hat, Batman! If you've been reading the tech news lately, you'd think that Windows 10 was a giant piece of spyware rather than the latest version of the world's most popular PC platform. Now that tens of millions of users have installed the new operating system, some people have noticed that Microsoft collects certain user data and they're freaking out. Slate's David Auerbach calls Windows 10 "a privacy nightmare," while Rock, Paper, Shotgun writes that "Windows 10 is spying on you." Zero Hedge, a conspiracy-focused news site, writes that "big brother is very much here . . . and we invited him into our homes for free."

Should you be concerned? In a word, "no." By default, Windows 10 sends some information about you and your activity to Microsoft, but the data it collects is largely designed to improve your user experience. Better still, if any or all of these features concern you, you can turn them off. Let's take a closer look at what's really going on here.
- See more at: http://www.laptopmag.com/ar...

[rainslacker]

@moldy

You may be care free about a 3rd party company taking your data, or data about your usage habits, and then selling that data to yet another 3rd party company which you have no knowledge of, but a large number of people aren't.

On a PC, people keep tons of sensitive data, and the policy itself allows MS to collect any and all data on the computer.

You don't need a real world example to realize that it's just bad to let others manage information about you, or collect YOUR data. Data is a huge broad encompassing term, and it is the exact term used in IT to express every bit of information, private or otherwise. All those password files. All those spreadsheets or databases. All those internet histories of the porn sites you visit. What possible good could come to the consumer for MS to collect the content of your emails and selling it? So they can target ads at you?

In what real world scenario does this amount of intrusion into ones life become too much? At what point is collecting all that information beneficial to the end user just to get targeted ads thrown at them? At what point does one's data become vulnerable, and at what point is enough enough? I'd personally rather not wait for a real world example of something like this that effects me negatively, so will remain proactive to prevent it, and use my experience in IT security to tell people this is a wrong practice if just so one person may become informed.

Do you have any idea how many billions of dollars are spent each year on IT or data security to protect this information from outside parties?

Yes, there are people who don't understand what could come of it, and then there are those who wonder why so many people get their identities stolen.

If you trust MS with your data, feel free to accept the TOS. Just don't be critical of others who aren't willing to just let it slide because the policy is extremely broad, could certainly be used for nefarious purposes, and puts the security of your data into MS hands on a silver platter, which they then serve with gold spoons to their partners who you know nothing about. Just because you don't see the possible outcomes, doesn't make the practice safe, ethical, or even needed except for the benefit of corporate entities. MS may have the most secure servers in the world(they actually don't), but I'm sure those advertising agencies they are selling your data to don't.

As far as how it's been done to date, your example isn't a 1 to 1 comparison. Today, it requires cookies or tracking files on your local machine(or host computer in some cases) to be able to serve that information to you or to the server. The user decides to install the application. Windows even gives the option to prevent such things on install from programs that MS doesn't provide...why isn't this a big bold message box on the windows install? The actual data collected by the general use of the internet is more general, and not targeted. There are some other examples which work in the way you say, but people also find that distasteful, and despite your generalization, many people are much more careful about what they put out there.

MS has essentially installed a OS level packet sniffer in their OS, and that is just wrong on so many levels...all for corporate interest with no real regard to the negative effects it could have on the end user.

[freshslicepizza]

@rainslacker,
"You may be care free about a 3rd party company taking your data..."

once again i ask what damage does this do to anyone personally? what real world problems have occurred from this that should concern us, a real example? we use google, it also collects data to work for efficiently on searching.

"On a PC, people keep tons of sensitive data, and the policy itself allows MS to collect any and all data on the computer."

that is very misleading. you are acting like your banking records are collected and if someone manages to hack microsoft servers that we should be worried. i keep hearing about potential issues yet no actual proof anything to really worry about.

"You don't need a real world example to realize..."

yes i do. i want real proof, not something 'may' occur. anything can be hacked and those who visited that site about affairs (madison?) are finding that out the hard way. people need to always be weary about using personal data online on any site. what people are talking about with windows 10 does not concern me at all. i don't care if they collect my data of sites i visit because at the end of the day i am not doing anything illegal. i am not part of any hate group or anything like that. so again why would anyone care because microsoft is not going to publicly announce who i am and what sites i visit publicly anyways. this is all about worrying about something that never materializes.

"In what real world scenario does this amount of intrusion into ones life become too much?"

you're right, it is too much. too much so that anything i do is miniscule to begin with. why would i worry about something that is superficial? think about all the people who use the internet, you're going to tell me all of the sudden my personal history is something microsoft cares about that i should worry? all it is is perhaps to maybe offer me better searches or suggestions. again is this really big world problems? no.

"Do you have any idea how many billions of dollars are spent each year"

not to be rude but do i care? they also spend billions of dollars on security at retail stores too.

"Yes, there are people who don't understand what could come of it, and then there are those who wonder why so many people get their identities stolen."

this has nothing really to do with windows 10 and all to do with your own responsibility online.

[freshslicepizza]

con't

"If you trust MS with your data, feel free to accept the TOS."

again i don't lay the blame on anyone else if i am careless with my personal data. we have all seen breaches in anything from playstation network and accounts on steam to xbox live hacks. windows 10 has options to turn off certain features and privacy concerns. but again when we go online it is up to the user to protect themselves. i am not going to rely on microsoft or anyone else. this is not a windows 10 issue, it is an issue with the internet and how it connects.

"As far as how it's been done to date, your example isn't a 1 to 1 comparison. Today, it requires cookies or tracking files..."

again i say, so what? so what if they want to collect all of this data and have huge data dump drives to collect it all.

"MS has essentially installed a OS level packet sniffer in their OS, and that is just wrong on so many levels...all for corporate interest with no real regard to the negative effects it could have on the end user."

you keep talking about negative effects, i have yet to see or read about one. windows 10 does not collect personal files or content.

this is what they do and don't collect,

"We collect a limited amount of information to help us provide a secure and reliable experience. This includes data like an anonymous device ID, device type, and application crash data which Microsoft and our developer partners use to continuously improve application reliability. This doesn’t include any of your content or files, and we take several steps to avoid collecting any information that directly identifies you, such as your name, email address or account ID."

when something happens to me personally as a result of windows 10 i will let you know.

[rainslacker]

I've had my identity stolen from information stolen from my computer.

I lost $27,000 from my savings, $13,000 from my savings account

I had my 720+ credit score go down to 400.

Had my home foreclosed on because I couldn't pay the mortgage, and almost had my car repossessed for the same reason.

I spent four years getting the wrong things off my credit report. However, some things still exist because they were my debts, and they were defaulted on. I couldn't do anything about those.

Spent close to $3000 to layers to get some of them taken off as creditors didn't care one iota that I didn't actually open the new accounts and rack up close to an additional $100K in debt.

Spent more hours than I can count talking to detectives, the FBI, going to court for civil proceedings, and an ungodly number of hours on the phone trying to fix and explain things. I've had criminal proceedings filed against me by creditors, which costs me even more money for lawyers, and I'm lucky the charges were dropped, and many times they aren't for some people.

I couldn't rent an apartment and had to move back in with my parents for some time, and had to sell most of my stuff at deep discounts to get by for the first year, lost my job as collection agencies harassed me.

I had to declare bankruptcy to finally settle a lot of the problems, and even though it alleviated my debt, it is still on my credit report to this day.

I had my business at the time shut down because my Paypal account had been compromised which effectively ended my ability to accept payments, so lost about $10K in revenue and $2K in profits each month, not to mention the 4K I had in the account which was never recovered. I lost even more money doing the right thing and still sending off items that people had brought in the first couple days this all happened...probably close to $500 in merchandise.

I could go on...but if you think that isn't a real world problem on how not keeping control of your data is a serious threat to someone, I don't know what else to say.

I don't care that you are perfectly willing to let it happen for your own data. Other's aren't, and those people that aren't assume the worst, because they know the worst can happen. Why in God's name would you want anyone else to have any kind of access to that data...and the excuse of we already do it because we're connected to the internet is just an excuse, and people should stop and be mad as hell that data is being mined in this way for no purpose but for the benefit of these companies. They have no accountability should that data be compromised. Heck, how much was Sony fined for their network hack? A paltry sum they could weather, where my sum was much less and I couldn't.

It's not that I think MS will use it for nefarious purposes, it's that I don't trust them, and their "partners" even less, to keep my data secure. Heck I don't even trust myself to do this, and go through extraordinary measures to keep secure what I have to so I don't have to go through that hell again.

Now, is that enough to answer your 2 comment post that asks what could happen? If it's not, then I actually hope you don't have to go through what I did, but I know that if it ever does, you will be saying the same thing I am, and all your MS butt kissing will evaporate faster than your money and life.

MS definition of limited is not specific enough, and them not naming their partners, and this kind of thing should be plainly obvious to turn off from the start, and not hidden away for some perceptive user to find out, which will not make the rounds to the vast majority of users of the system.

[freshslicepizza]

@rainslacker

now show me that was the fault of windows 10. as i said earlier, this is the problem with the internet as a whole and not a case isolated with windows 10 privacy issues. i am well aware of identity theft being a real problem, which you took liberty on to somehow link that to windows 10.

identity theft can also be linked to conversations on the phone, stolen mail, lost documents and other ways. this is the world we live in but to somehow lead us all down this path to it can happen with windows 10 is just that. it can happen with going online and doing your banking using windows 7 or on an imac.

but thank you for raising concerns even though it isn't really in relation to windows 10.

[rainslacker]

It's a problem of not keeping one's data secure. It's not Windows 10 or even MS fault in my case. But digital data is the lifeblood of everyone's life, and even if you don't prescribe to any kind of online connection, you are vulnerable.

To me, I have no problem if people want to give their data to MS. My problem comes is that they hide it away, don't make it clear the the technically clueless, and aren't transparent enough to say what they exactly collect, nor who they will sell to.

All those things add up to even more risks for something like what happened to me to happen to others, and the only benefactor of this whole thing is MS and their partners. MS is not showing an interst in making it clear on how to protect oneself and I find that unethical. Corporations are making people way too free with their personal information, and that's a scary thing to me.

Yes, identity theft could be linked to those other things, but not to the extent that it happened to me, and the only place all that data could come from is my PC. In that vein though, most parcel mail now limits the information given within those letters to prevent such things, where MS is opening up the amount of data to anyone who break through. MS, and others, are taking the opposite direction that banks and creditors have taken to protect themselves, and it's all because MS interests aren't their own money, but on the acquisition of more money.

My above replies are not specific to Win10, but were also a concern I raised with the X1. I spoke out about it heavily when it was discovered Apple was doing it with the iDevices. My replies are on the principals of the benefits of data mining by companies.

MS claims they can acquire any data from your system without making it clear from the start they will be doing it. They will collect your email, have liberty to database or spreadsheet data on your computer, access to encrypted files, as well as be able to know what you type on the KB. They can read your webpages from the saved content that gets loaded into your history. They will have the name of every file you download, and access to it. They can back up this data on their own servers, and sell the information to another company which they do not have control over.

Those things should be concerning. I know some people don't worry, and statistically speaking, it's unlikely to happen to anyone, but the fact it could happen from MS data mining should be enough to make people want to stay clear. MS is not invulnerable, and there is no way to control your data once it hits their servers.

The possible ramifications of what could happen should be more than enough to keep things like this away. All that data is going to be very enticing to the crafty hacker, and a major hack like that which had valuable data stolen would send shock waves through the entire computer industry. If that data is somehow used to negatively effect a huge number of people, it could shut down banks until it could be sorted out. The worst case scenario is much bigger than my troubles, and MS is doing it willingly, on the assumption that that data will be 100% secure.

I'm not asking for MS, or others, to remove these features, just to make them more transparent, and not put PR spin on it, and be 100% clear on where that data is going. I would personally also want them to give access to remove any and all data from their possession upon request...but that's probably too much to hope for. Problem for MS is I doubt they'd easily be able to convince people collecting data is beneficial just so their partners can push ads on them...which is why they don't make it very apparent to secure the clueless.

[sinspirit]

@Moldybread

Let me put it like this. The more you let them document your data the more you allow anyone else to. The more accepting you are of this kind of act the more open and common others will pursue to do the same thing to you with third party services. It doesn't take more than a click of a button in the wrong place sometimes to allow these things to escalate. Sure, you can shout user error. I have never once been hacked or had suspicious behavior from any of my services or accounts. But, that doesn't mean I don't care about breach of privacy. If there is no policy or law set in place to help prevent your unknown authorization of sending companies personal data without reading through pages and pages of terms of agreement then it will open the door for third parties to take advantage of your information for personal gain. If MS made your info more open for them to obtain then they make it easier for some kid at home binding a set of code to a popular program and distributing it to find out information he shouldn't know. It needs to stop and it needs to be easier to track down before they actually commit fraud and use the info.

You have nothing to hide? That isn't an excuse. Actually think about it and what problems it opens the doors to. This is coming from MS whom years ago was giving details to the NSA and when people found out they pretended like they had no choice, and they continue to do it. They keep lying to your face and your letting them shovel it down your throat. Business' can have morals if you don't accept terrible practices.

[UltraNova]

@rainslacker

I just want to openly say that I back your view on the subject 100%.

Nowadays we should all be on guard. Everything we do online (and offline courtesy of W10's data collection policies and others alike)gets stored in servers and remains there until someone decides to hack or sell our personal life to the highest bidder.

Apathetic people and people who willingly give free passes to serious threads like these (potential or not) are weak and they are the same people that Companies/governments with shady privacy policies depend on to lure others into the same pathetic thinking pool in hope they can continue serving us with shady policies as long as possible.

Its up to us, the people who are on guard and vigilant enough to speak our minds on every occasion that presents its self, in hope to open the eyes of those who tragically choose to close them.

[freshslicepizza]

#rainslacker,
"My above replies are not specific to Win10, but were also a concern I raised with the X1. I spoke out about it heavily when it was discovered Apple was doing it with the iDevices. My replies are on the principals of the benefits of data mining by companies."

that is all i really needed to hear, thank you. this is what i have been saying all along, this is not isolated to windows 10 it is much broader than that. any time we connect online we leave ourselves vulnerable.

"They will collect your email"

stop right there, this is pertaining to cortana. this is also not something that is immune to windows 10. almost every smartphone allows this as well. what it is doing is collecting information so that you can say things like email x person. so just stop. stop with this whole fear-mongering like microsoft is taking all this data and wants to know your personal details. you are also totally within your capabilities to turn the feature off. if people like you were running the show we would not have any of these features because you would be telling everyone how unsafe they are.

@sinspirit,
"You have nothing to hide? That isn't an excuse. Actually think about it and what problems it opens the doors to. This is coming from MS whom years ago was giving details to the NSA and when people found out they pretended like they had no choice, and they continue to do it."

ok, now we are getting into even more grey areas. if there is a court order they will try and force microsoft and anyone to give up some personal data. microsoft actually fights against this but what you are talking about again does not worry me. this is pertaining to those who are being charged with a crime and i have no sympathy at all for those who use the internet to hide themselves from criminal acts. microsoft and others are actually fighting to keep private information private. they collect the data yes, but it is to improve its services and they give you options to disable certain features like cortana.

people should read this,

http://www.laptopmag.com/ar...

[sinspirit]

@moldybread

MS doesn't "actually" fight. They didn't care until this problem was present in the limelight and they got bad publicity.

I see that you are derailing from W10 being an issue by talking about Apple doing the same thing. Yes. They aren't the only culprit. Duh. I also see that you pretend like they actually care when they don't. Are you defending MS because you have a bias for XBox? Seriously? XBox and Windows are two different products. Suck it up and stop parading a brand name.

MS did NOT care about providing info to the NSA until after it became public. They did NOT. This is all publicity for them. It's the same as their policies for other products only changing AFTER the public forced them to.

If you wait until your wife leaves you out of neglect you can't just turn around and give her the world and say you cared all along. Why do you love MS so much to defend everything they do? Even if you work for MS you have to work with the consumer, not yourself, to repair what's been damaged. Blindly defending everything they have done without understanding what is wrong is why MS has so many issues especially with what the consumer wants.

MS wants a foot in the door. They already attempted full control over your game console. You should be keeping them in check. Not pretending like they are handing you a check.

[UKmilitia]

there is a tool that disables and deletes all MS spy crap

[Hoffmann]

Please share its name

[Mariusmssj]

Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4

[hiredhelp]

OOSU10 google it.

[lvl_headed_gmr]

Maybe it has to do with the unprecedented 150 million downloads with more than 75 million devices are running Windows 10 in 192 countries across the world all done in such a sort period of time...

Windows is doing just fine.

[warczar]

You do know they are offering it as a free download right? Is not like anyone is actually paying for Windows 10.

[yomfweeee]

Warczar, I think the point is there was a huge rush to get Windows 10 initially because it was free.

Of course it would slow down after that.

[ChozenWoan]

I think that has more to do with how bad win8 turned out.

[Automatic79]

This report may be premature. Tomorrow at the Windows 10 event we should get an idea as two statistics.

[christocolus]

Yeah. I totally forgot about the windows event. Would like to see what they talk about. New apps, their general plans for windows 10 going forward. my cousin has W10 on his lenovo laptop and it runs great,love the OS.. I'm waiting to see what happens at this event before upgrading myself.

[uth11]

I intend to hold out on my free upgrade as long as I can. I let other people be the guinea pigs when it comes to MS OS's. That way when a disaster like Win ME, Vista or Win 8 happens, it saves me lots of aggravation.

[SteamPowered]

I hated Win8 as well til I tried Windows Classic Shell. It reverts Win8 to a much more pleasant experience. The Start Menu is back as well as Windows Explorer is back to the classic look.
Plus then you get to keep the cool features of Win8 like OneDrive and keeping your individual settings by signing into your Microsoft account.
I hated Win8 with a passion till I gave classic shell a try. Now its my favorite OS.

[rainslacker]

I signed up, and was approved, but haven't installed it on my personal computer yet. I use it on my work computer at home because I'm required to. However, we have to set it up a specific way as directed by our IT department due to this policy.

It wasn't something I considered when I signed up for it for my personal machine, despite me knowing better than to trust MS, but was glad when the memo came down about the upgrade very soon after it was made available for use on our home work computers.

We still aren't allowed to save sensitive data on the machine, and have to log into a remote cloud based connection which is controlled by our companies servers and runs on a non-MS OS. If there is a breach of security, then it will be wholly on the company itself, and not third party companies.

I do think the actual chance that data will be stolen for purposes beyond commercial application are pretty slim...particularly if you take other standard methods of safe-guarding your data, but it's still not a risk worth taking for me. Since I see no benefit to me to have data collected just to have ads shoved on me, I'll skip it until they decide to change these policies. I don't think it fair I have to go through even more steps to safe guard my data, when MS should be taking those steps on my behalf in the first place. On top of that, I go through extra measures to avoid ads already.

Win8 wasn't that bad. 8.1 was a big step up. Win10 as far as I can tell is just a reskin of win8 with some optimizations to seem faster, but actual data access and productivity times aren't really influenced at all. The fact the whole thing can be installed, and most things work on a Win10 upgrade without issue leads me to believe it's not quite the revolutionary jump in OS's that MS is making it out to be and probably has most of the Vista code intact in it's Kernel and DLL's. It really is just the new version of 8 meant to fix the problems like WinXP was to Win98. Most of the new "features" seem to be rather app like as opposed to OS related.

[TWB]

Absolutely. For me its that and the fact that I want to see it first hand before upgrading (we have another PC in the house, waiting to see W10 on it).

Also, apparently MS has put some of these "telemetry" tools and spyware into Windows 7/8 too. On W7 a few of them are optional updates and theres some sort of "user experience enhancing" thing that also drives some of that spy stuff.

[Mega_Volnutt]

Wait a minute, where's Windows 9??? lol

[SteamPowered]

Technically Windows 95 and 98 were in the 9's so they didn't want to confuse consumers.

[SteamPowered]

double post.

[nitus10]

MS Windows 10 sounds so much better and more hip than MS Windows 9.

Basically a PR exercise.

[rainslacker]

I'm sure it does, but reading through it, none of the controllable variables are things that aren't already being done on any smart phone from 5 years ago. Heck Win7/8 does most of those things too.

What is unacceptable is MS ability to collect your data, at their discretion, when they feel it prudent...in good faith they say. To me, it's not up to them to decide what data of mine is prudent for them to collect, nor can I imagine any case that it's beneficial for me for them to do so outside of backup to an account. Such types of permission should have express permission, because I don't trust anyone else to safe gaurd my data. I don't even trust myself to safe gaurd it. The policy is too broad, and gives MS carte blanche access to anything that is on your computer.

While I'm sure their intent with the data is purely commercial to make money off advertising or possibly improving their product to suit the consumers need better, it's distasteful that it is not 100% transparent and tucked away in a TOS which they know 99% of people don't read.

It's going to be hard to get business on board with that policy. There is no way a company would agree to that, as much data is sensitive, and it just opens the doors for unethical behavior.

This type of policy, and many of the "features" that can be turned off are almost exactly the same thing they tried to push on the X1 w/ Kinect. I haven't paid attention, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of them still exist. Don't mind so much on the X1, or any console, as I don't keep any sensitive data on there, but it's still unethical, and unnecessary for the consumer benefit.

[ChrisW]

Privacy on the level that concerns possibly the NSA is about the only thing we need to worry about.

And to be honest; if you have nothing to hid, you have nothing to worry about!

[Sashamaz]

Agreed, unless these guys are spies for other countries, got tons of child porn or have committed murders that they have documented in detail on their computers I don't really see what it is they worry about. Think of the number of online forms you've signed and gave your DOB, address, phone number etc The only thing that'll be found on your computer is your internet history.

[Sashamaz]

What kind of horrific crimes are people hiding on their PCs that they are so afraid of this privacy issue. At this point I have resigned myself to the knowledge that what ever the government of what ever forces out there might want to know about me, it's already out there and if I where to have something serious that I need to hide, I wouldn't document it on my computer.

[SegaGamer]

Most people that want privacy don't actually commit crimes you know. I think you'll find that most people don't like being monitored.

Edit: I don't actually think Microsoft are spying on people by the way, i'm just saying that if they were, people wouldn't feel comfortable with it.

[Godmars290]

As odd as it may sound - Not everyone plays games on PCs. Games are not a key reason people buy PCs.

I know I just blew your mind or you refuse to accept such a crazy concept, but its there nonetheless.

[Razputin]

Microsoft is such a liar. You have almost no control over Windows 10.

They say you can control what information is being sent, up to a certain point. The options they give are extremely limited, so at the end of the day, you may say don't collect this bit of information, but only they know what what else they can collect without your knowledge.

You can't even stop Windows Updates, it is completely mandatory, you can't elect to not download them at all. So at some point you will be forced to download updates without your consent.

Many features of Windows 10 I am disliking, but I don't want to revert to my old copies of 7 or 8.

Also I really don't think the privacy issues are deterring anyone. Its more of a I may have to wait X amount of hours to get this download and install done.

[Sillicur]

Hmm you raise some good points. The updates havent really bothered me but i would also like a way to stop it from updating. Coming from South Africa, my internet isnt that fastest and it can really be a hassle sometimes.

[sergons]

You can disable all M$ spying crap on win10. Also M$ is spying on win7, win8 too after latest "security" updates. Check this link for software which allows you to disable all that crap on your pc. http://bgr.com/2015/08/14/w...

[343_Guilty_Spark]

We live in the age of social media and you are worried about privacy?

Also why would anyone not want a Windows Update?

It makes your OS less secure when millions of people have security vulnerabilities.

The spying stuff is overblown. Apple does the same stuff in iOS and OS X

[Perjoss]

@343

You are the kind of person that MS just loves.

[warczar]

The government loves you too.

[SonyWarrior]

not every body posts there life storys and personal info on social media like you.... I dont own any social media

[jmc8888]

Yes privacy is a big thing, sorry you don't understand why.

Also just because someone may decide to be on 'CIA MEDIA' and act a fool detailing all about people's pointless lives and how cool and narcissistic they have become doesn't mean I or anyone else has to act like a lemming and follow them off that cliff.

A) Do you honestly believe if you screw up your life with social media, somehow that means I have to?
B) Do you honestly believe that everyone uses social media?

The spying stuff is NOT overblown, and it's too bad you have not paid attention to the criminals running Wall Street, Washington, UN, and most other nations around the world.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/y...

http://www.wired.com/2013/0...

Plus why do we need to have ANY of this at all? Is it because of the massive screwup of our Gov't because of the actions of two other gov'ts on 9/11?

We had all the info possible to stop 9/11. The morons in charge screwed up (or worse). Even Putin tried to warn us. Bush had the August PDB titled 'Bin Laden determined to strike within the US'. FBI agents were following two of the hijackers, and we knew about the airplane training.

What happened was, the FBI told those agents to stand down. Whoops. Were they told that because the hijackers were being supported by Saudi Arabia and that the whole operation was a subset of Saudi Arabia and U.K. in their funding of terror across the globe? Two words. Al Yamamah. That's an oil for BAE weapons terrorist slush fund that's been going on for about 30 years.

So we should of stopped 9/11, but idiocy didn't allow us to.

Intelligence is a haystack, they have to find a needle. In the pre 9/11 haystack, it was big enough, and contained the needle, and multiple guys found it... not to mention at least one foreign country, Russia, warned us.

Now instead of focusing on that, we swept that under the rug, and our gov't pretended we didn't have the info, and we needed all this extra spying to protect us.

As you can see, that was complete bs, and so all the trillions spent on wars, TSA, DHS, all your rights lost, and all the spying was not justified whatsoever. None of it was needed, it was only done to...
a) cover their butts from the reality that they screwed up
b) because they want that power over you to use against YOU

[jmc8888]

Of course, not learning the lessons whatsoever from 9/11, since originally we were funding al-qeada since the 1970's, we decided to fund, arm, and train their successor ISIS.

So imagine that... we create, then pawn off onto UK and Saudi Arabia the terrorist organization known as Al-Qeada...who then use it against us in a way that supposedly necessitated two wars, bombing about 20 countries, assassinating an American without due process, DHS, TSA, all the spying and rights reductions.... and we decide to do it AGAIN!!!

What part of clandestine blowback do these morons not realize?

The whole war on terror has been a lie. A racket to needlessly give up our rights so we can be crushed by the gov't and corporations at their desire.

What part of unlimited bailouts for fraud don't you understand? What part of the fact that now they can seize your bank deposits to give it to the fraudsters which was the Dodd-Frank 'reform' war monger Obama touts as the biggest financial reform since WWII? The TPP? All the offshoring that past four decades or so?

Gov't and corporations are at war with the American public.

It doesn't matter that all this spying creates a bigger haystack, that the morons can't sift through... thus actually making us less safe. It doesn't matter if morons think Bush kept us safe (when last I checked 9/11 was on his watch).

People choose to be ignorant of reality on a massive scale, which only makes thing worse for everyone. Time to wake up and smell the coffee.

It doesn't matter if Apple is doing the same thing... of course they are. It's a concerted effort to screw us all, and the oligopolies in various industries don't have to work hard to, because they've eliminated the competition in the previous few decades.

[Razputin]

I don't use any of that garbage. You are the type that blindly believe anything you're told without reading anything.

[rainslacker]

I go through great lengths to protect my data, and reasonable efforts to not screw up my reputation or life on social media...which I only use on occasion to begin with to post the random picture or correspond privately with a friend.

What I'm not too happy about is to have to go through even more lengths to protect my data, and worse now, my usage habits. For what purpose are my usage habits important to MS...or anyone that isn't me for that matter? I can stand the random cookie on my computer because I can control that, but to have that kind of information in the hands of a third party for what amounts to forever is just distasteful. I don't care about general statistical data being collected, but specific data to my usage habits, and a broad policy which gives access to a 3rd party to intercept and sell my data is just not good at all.

This stuff about it not being a big deal is under-appreciating the ramifications it could have on an individual should that data be mishandled.

But I guess you are the type of person who prints out your user name and password list to give it to an acquaintance you hardly know who also happens to have sketchy dealings with other people's privacy and can make money off that list so they can remind you of that password when you forget. No big deal there right? What you have in this policy from MS is exactly the same thing...as that information will be transmitted to MS "in good faith". In this case, MS is the acquaintance which you accept with open arms, and their interest is purely for profit.

It actually makes sense now why MS gave away Win10 for free. They stand to make a ton of money off this data. Much more than they'll make off that $79-199 retail purchase. I thought it would be some kind of app store based revenue in the vein of Apple/Google which would support it, but I forgot that MS is underhanded and tried this same crap on the X1 a little over two years ago.

[nitus10]

>> Why would anyone not want a MS Windows update?

When they run a different operating system.

As for spying, I run "AdBlock", "Ghostery" and "Flashcontrol" and currently Ghostery is blocking 17 trackers and AdBlock is blocking 12 adds.

If I take AddBlock off Flashcontrol will activate since I find flash adds the most annoying mainly because they really hammer CPU 0 which causes the temperature of my CPU to get really hot which is odd since I have an i7. No other program does this on my machine.

[rainslacker]

The simple fix is to be able to completely disable data collection within the OS. That would satisfy my requirements.

There's a chance that MS would do it on the down-low, but realistically I doubt they would want to open that can of worms as it would be too huge to contain.

Right now they're just not being very transparent about it, and that's a big problem for people who actually care.

About the only info I would want to send to MS is the data that's collected when a program crashes just so they could possibly fix it, but even then it should be approved each time like it is in win8.

To me, MS needs to prove they can make a secure OS before I would ever begin to trust them with my data security.

[Lennoxb63]

If anybody is concerned about privacy then they need to stop using internet connected devices.

[Ark_]

It's less about full privacy and more about transparency. I just want to know which data they collect. If it's mostly technical stuff and bug reports, which could be sent completly anonymous, that is totally fine. But as far as I know, nobody really knows what kind of data is send in the background ...
I'll definitly hold of the upgrade for now.

Btw DX12 could also be realized on Win8 or Win7 without a problem. So I also feel a bit bullied into Win10 ... which I don't like. Let's see how Vulcan evolves.

[rainslacker]

No, they just need to take reasonable efforts to protect their privacy and data from others. Freely giving out permission to access private data is a far cry from data mining by those with malicious intent.

Truthfully, the data is probably safer with MS than with someone who would actively pursue that data for non-commercial purposes, but in the end, it should be up to the user to decide if they are willing for a 3rd party to do such a thing, and it should be 100% clear on what's collected, what it's used for, and how that data is protected on a personal level.

The way it's set up now, MS has absolutely no accountability should things go wrong, and while MS servers are reasonably secure, and there is no reason to believe there will be someone reading personal emails, the fact remains is that that data is being stored somewhere outside the users control. There isn't even a way to remove that information on the users end, and that is just a terrible practice in IT/data security, and one that would get any IT professional fired for overlooking. Even on cloud services where data is managed by a 3rd party, the end user has complete control to remove it's data from the primary and the back up should they so desire.

The vast majority of "private" information that is collected already on the internet is purely statistical in nature, not targeted or assigned to an individual. That assignment is where that data becomes dangerous and possibly harmful for the end user.

[mhunterjr]

The slow down seems like it can be almost completely contributed to the initial burst of free upgrades tailing off...

Once most of the driver bugs are worked out, you'll see another spike.

25% of all steam users since July is massive... The next been increase will be in the lead up to July 26th, when the upgrade will no longer be free...

I really doubt the privacy issues are deterring most people from updating...

[MCTJim]

How many people actually clicked custom instead of express during the upgrade process? I turned off plenty of things I didn't want the OS or its apps to have access to. I'm not concerned about the minor privacy issues..Facebook messenger is more intrusive...this being blown way out of proportion. People should use reliable tech site that actually do a run down on these so called privacy concerns...My opinion..just the MS hate train pulling into the station.

btw over 80 million devices are running windows 10 already and climbing each day. I'm glad I upgraded and have not turned back.

[JackVagina]

How dare microsoft stop people from breaking the law

[SunnyZ]

What on earth are you talking about?

[SonyWarrior]

who knows what this pervert is doing on his linux slave pc. apparently he thinks what he does every one else does and it appears it must not be legal...

[andrewer]

Disabled windows update and did some other things to try to stop this stuff on my PC, but on Windows I only play games, using Linux for the rest, so not much of a problem. But if DirectX 12 was on Win7 as well would never have "upgraded" to W10...

[Destiny1080]

there's not a single thing I like about win 10, the one thing I liked about win 8, yep they got rid of that. everything looks so basic internet explorer looks like trash, the email program looks hideous, everything seems to be designed to work on some ancient tablet, every option is about enabling or disabling spyware

[feraldrgn]

Losing steam after all of those free upgrades.

[TWB]

I thought the headline meant the Steam store. Almost lost it.

[IrishSt0ner]

I know this isn't the most objective community, but damn talk about delusion.

The only 'spying' which can not be turned off is error reporting (present in all modern Windows versions, just not automatic). The other ones literally can be turned off in 1min.

Spreading pure FUD. If people bothered to look at each feature, key logging for cortana (how else would it learn?), location data for apps (same as every phone) etc... Plus compulsory error reporting is long overdue, problems can be fixed in hours rather than weeks.

Sure there's clearly an attempt for data to use in advertising, these things should not be on by default.

OT obviously its slowing down, still has more than Win8 already, and expect another large jump at the end of free upgrade period. Also, its not free... trying putting Windows 10 on a new board.

[maybelovehate]

Guessing most of the tech savvy gamers updated on day 1, so I expect the adoption rate on Steam to continue to go down. The next boom for Steam will be when a massive franchise that requires DX12 is released.

[Ark_]

Funnily, most of the tech savvy gamers I know are holding back on the updates. If at all, they are involved with win 10 at work right now.

[maybelovehate]

Interesting, me and all my programmer friends have been on Windows 10 since the preview program. Assumed everyone in the industry was in order to be prepared.

[Bobafret]

Here we go with the tinfoil hat crowd. Let's face it, if it were any other software company the backlash wouldn't be anywhere near what we see in these comments.

[jmc8888]

Wrong, look around buddy, the tinfoil hat crowd has basically been right about everything.

Your side? Not so much, and worse yet, your side never bothers to learn anything. Your side sits there for years saying nothing is happening, when all around you it is revealed that everything is happening.

What's a real tinfoil hat conspiracy that's wrong?

That there's nothing to worry about. That's a CONSPIRACY THEORY, and it's been proven wrong time and time again.

Good luck being on the wrong side of history, and I truly hope you survive it.

[Bobafret]

There are conspiracies out there, but this isn't one of them. Calm yourself.

[rainslacker]

He's not on the wrong side of history. Sadly, there are more people who have no clue about what's happening with their data than there are tech savvy people. The ratio's are astounding. Did you know that less than 10% of private home PC's have any kind of virus protection? Less than 1% have effective malware protection(Windows malware protection doesn't count as it sucks completely) The only reason 30% have firewalls is because MS made it a standard default feature.

This will continue until something major happens, and at that point, it will get swept under the rug by corporate and governmental interests. At best, we'll get a Snowden type reveal, which will be a major upset, then people will continue on as if everything is fine.

I would challenge anyone here saying none of this is a big deal to take one semester of IT security. Do so, and you will be scared sh*tles over how mediocre security is nowadays, just how freely people give out their information...sometimes without realizing it, and just how many people there are out there who will abuse that for ill-gotten gains. I wouldn't even blame someone from disconnecting from it all after one semester...I can say my personal security of data increased 10 fold after 2 weeks, and has gone up 100 fold since then in my 10 years as an IT security specialist.

No one worries about it, but the day your bank account is emptied, your credit score is tanked, and you can't even afford to have the problem fixed because you are no longer who you are because we are nothing but a index key in a database to any company or government agency out there.

One person can so easily ruin the lives of hundreds or thousands of people within a matter of hours, and the chance they get caught is pretty slim unless they make a mistake...and even then you're still screwed and responsible for the damages.

But no big deal right? Every company does it nowadays...that makes it safe and perfectly acceptable.

Personally, I'd rather protest the practice and insist better protection for the end user, and not just bury my head in the sand and hope for the best.

[aquaticDonut]

PC gamer here, perfectly content with Win 10.

[Bolts]

Android and Apple spy on you just the same, if not even more. Yet nobody cares.

[killer876]

if you have an android or ios device then you're a hypocrite

[S2Killinit]

I think you are placing the blame with the wrong party. The problem is, what do you do when the corporations start bundling up their intrusive techniques/technologies with incentives for us consumers/people. These corporations are motivated by profits, and in an age when information IS LITERALLY money, the corporations will do everything they can to intrude as much as the law allows them. This is where the LAW is supposed to step in and protect the people. Our elected REPRESENTATIVES are SUPPOSED to pass laws that will protect the freedoms/privacies/rights of the citizens that put them there in their offices. Unfortunately, these same representatives are more representatives of big money than they are of the people. The law is supposed to keep up with technology so our rights don't shrink more and more everyday as they have been doing faster and faster as technology's advancement increases exponentially.

So for you to call the consumers "hypocrites" is placing the blame with US. You are saying if we don't like to be intruded on, we should stop buying their goods. Problem is that these corporations are BUNDLING up their intrusions with incentives knowing full well that with their financial backing, those incentives will eventually win out, whether a few conscious consumers like it or not.

To give you an example; could Microsoft provide the public with a Kinect that does everything Kinect does, and yet doesn't sent information to MS's headquarters, such as, how many people are standing in front of it, how they are feeling at the time; where they are looking, what is their body temperature? Sure they could. But would they? No, why would they? they spent millions of dollars to incorporate those features into the device which have nothing to do with gaming and everything to do with gathering information. Besides they could even do all those things and yet not send that information to their headquarters. But they wouldn't do that unless the LAW prevented them from doing it. Would Apple be able to give us GPS without storing that information in an accessible place to be retrieved by other? I think so. But would they if the law didn't force them to? Nope. In a perfect world, the LAW would be there to safeguard the notions that a democratic country stands for. The question becomes, what should the people do when the law is too slow to protect them, and they are left with a choice: either they will give up their rights to gain the conveniences of modern technology; or they forego convenience while the rest of the population moves in that direction anyway.

I believe you are placing the fault with the wrong people here. We should demand our ELECTED representatives to do their job instead of blaming ourselves for adopting these technologies. What you are saying is, "you have a choice, make it, be quiet, and don't complain." I think that is self defeating.

[S2Killinit]

Well we are loosing our privacy little by little anyway. We dont have nearly as much representation as big corporations and their lobbyists.

[FN4GM]

I have zero interest in it, I'll stay with 7.

[Kyizen]

its so much better than 7. They improved the kernal lot with 8, just how tasks are handled is worth it.

[Kyizen]

You guys all realize its about market share for privacy. Your privacy is already gone. Go on google search a game, next time your on amazon guess what is recommended, that game. Watch some hulu oh a commercial for the game you were interested in...

[Orionsangel]

You can stay with Windows 7 but it's only a matter of time before MS forces you out of Windows 7. When they abandon it all together.

[Mikeyy]

I'm went to windows 10 about a week after it came out.

I have no problems with it, wasn't a huge change from 8.1. Don't know why people are pissed about being unable to turn off windows updates. What is it even hurting?

It's stable and works can't ask for much more.

[ninjahunter]

Microsoft spying on me being a nerd and a pervert are the price i pay for having cortana tell me jokes.

[DarXyde]

Did they fix the black screen issue yet? I went back to Windows 7 and decided to wait it out until it was resolved.

Anyone here with Windows 10 that has had the issue I'm talking about and can confirm it's no longer an issue? I liked how snappy and quick it was, so I'd be more than happy to jump back on it, but I'm hesitant.

[urwifeminder]

I don't mind 10 only thing I don't like is how it has you signed in to edge which I am sure I can disable it, use Chrome anyway .

[kingPoS]

Looks like my choice to stick with Vista sp2 was the right one. No mandatory or steatlh updates for me, no siree.

Techspy topics leaking over to n4g again huh. lol

Gateway MT6706 2008

[SynestheticRoar]

True story. I was at a friends house one weekend Getting intoxicated. When He challenge me in madden.I refuse.He stubbornly kept asking me. I was in no mood to play so I took my penis out, and slapped the Kinect real hard with it. All of sudden his X-box one turned on. lol. Someone is paying attention. Just imagine windows 10.

[muzikjunkie80]

not to be funny here but your privacy goes out the window the second you are born. data collection has been around even before the internet even existed. funny how people dont realize that they are giving up their personal info even when not online. when you call certain places they record that call for security and training purposes. trains buses and even taxis are fitted with cctv cameras. when police scan car license plates it brings up the name of the driver, where they live and what fines or convictions they have.

my point is no matter where you are who you are with you are being watched. why should windows 10 make any difference?