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Windows needs to stop showing tabloid news

(www.tomshardware.com)
1725 points taubek | 2 comments | 27 Mar 23 05:20 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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CommanderData ◴[27 Mar 23 05:57 UTC] No.35323347[source]▶
Tracking and privacy on Windows is becoming atrocious, I didn't know about the built in keylogger until I ran a declutter tool.

Unpopular opinion but to stop Microsoft's shenanigans = legislation. Opt-in by default would be a good start. Transparency tools to show what's being exported to MS. How about stopping forced major updates too.

User needs protective legislation fast.

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mock-possum ◴[27 Mar 23 08:03 UTC] No.35324098[source]▶
Sorry, “built in keylogger?” Which one is that?
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1. jeroenhd ◴[27 Mar 23 11:24 UTC] No.35325274[source]▶
Presumably "Inking and typing personalization". Microsoft collects all the words you type, presumably filters out the ones that match the dictionary, and collects things like names in your Microsoft account. This can be used for spell check and turning stylus-drawn shapes into text more accurately.

So yes, Windows does collect some information akin to a keylogger.

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2. mock-possum ◴[05 Apr 23 22:05 UTC] No.35461031[source]▶
Ohhhh. Yeah I mean - it specifically gives you the option to opt out of that during windows install… you don’t need to run a ‘declutter tool’ to do so. But maybe we shouldn’t expect users to have the presence of mind to pick through install options, in all fairness, maybe the most secure least permissive configuration should be the default. Then power users can enable things they understand the risks of.