Windows7/8 - Updates to hide to prevent Windows 10 Upgrade / Disable Telemetry

Well, I don't know what to say, you aren't specific in any way, and reloading Windows 10 due to problems isn't so out of the ordinary.

If it was a long time ago, DWS 7,8,8.1 and DWS 10 have had many revisions since then, hopefully it's stable enough to use on Windows 10.

What did DWS do that O&O doesn't? The host blocking, the firewall additions, the Task disables, the Metro Apps removal, some specific patch removal differences?

Why didn't you post your problems with it here when you had them, we could have worked out a fix with nummer

Has anyone else run the DWS for Windows 10 version on their Windows 10 system and had success, or not?

 

I was running the Insider Preview all the way from the beginning and never had to reinstall and I tried out RTM but had to send the computer back for an unrelated issue so I went back to 8.1 since Sager barely even knows how to troubleshoot with 8.1, now I'm on the fall update.

I have to figure out what DWS did in group policy that made it so I can't change my Windows Update settings. I just noticed last night that I can't change anything except to prompt to schedule or to install updates and reboot automatically. Defer upgrades is checked and grayed out and Insider is completely grayed out as well.

Honestly, Microsoft has achieved stability much faster with X than they have since Vista. We may not like the spying (although we are all hypocrites if we use Google or Apple devices or services) but its actually a nice OS when you get used to it.

 

and all this privacy stuff can be tamed!

On a side note, beware of the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 11102

Spoiler: Known Issues

Some PC games will crash switching from windowed mode to full screen, upon game resolution change, or upon launch due to a bug in Windows graphics stack. We have observed this with The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Tomb Raider, Assassin’s Creed, and Metal Gear Solid V but it may occur with other titles as well.

With this build (and with the last build), applications such as Narrator, Magnifier, and third-party assistive technologies may experience intermittent issues or crashes. If you rely on screen readers or other software, you should not use this build. This issue will be fixed with the next build.

You might see a WSClient.dll error dialog after logging in. We’re working on a fix for this but as a workaround, you can run the following in Command Prompt with administrative rights: schtasks /delete /TN “\Microsoft\Windows\WS\WSRefreshBannedAppsListTask” /F

While attempting to update to this build, your PC may show a message that your wireless card is not compatible with Windows 10. The workaround is to visit the support page for your PC or wireless card and install the newest driver that is available.

The Connect button does not show up in Action Center.

 

Don't fool yourself, previous browsing/email privacy incursions were all a matter of gradual implementation and finally realization. For years people have been using email services.

Windows 10's EULA is right up in your face telling you, factually and without reservation, that they are taking your personal files, actions, activities, and handing them over to whoever they like.

That's a big No No for everyone, whether they register it internally completely or not. It's totally not acceptable, not cool, and a good point to stop putting up with this crap.

I have done everything I can to block those other privacy incursions, on many fronts via hardware, as well at the cookie level, the browser ID level, the bugs level, javascript, etc, etc, etc.

Please don't think I am not on all that as well

With Windows 10, it's not a matter of just another step on the way, it's the final destination, it's time to wake up and get off at this stop.

 

Well I guess it's time for you to buy a Mac or move to Linux then. Microsoft won't be reversing course any time soon.

Google collects more data from me than Microsoft does. It's a trade off for convenience. I use Google Now on my phone for everything from tracking the weather to seeing when my packages are going to arrive and my bills are due. I only complain about Microsoft because I won't ever use those features on my laptop but the truth is, Google and Apple both have a ton of my data already and they have for years. Every app I install on my phone gives information to yet another company. And don't get me started on how much of my personal data Facebook has gotten before I even had a chance to read about everything I was giving up.

Either way, if you're going to stay in the Windows ecosystem, you're going to have to go to 10 sooner or later so it's a good thing we have all these tools that break features in Windows 10!

 

I already have been in both Linux and Mac ecosystems, since before their beginnings.

The Windows 10 story isn't done yet.

And, the privacy invasion situation will come to a head soon, and resolving to not be a contributing part of it, is part of the process.

You have given up way too soon.

 

How have I given up? I killed all the crap in it. I like it more than 8.1 and I have no serious issues with it. I didn't give up, I wanted to make sure I got my digital entitlement on this machine (already have it on my desktop) and was afraid I would forget. After trying it out a bit, I chose to keep it over 8.1

 

It's a personal choice. 99.9% of the people out there don't care to give up all their info., and from what I've seen the ones that even know about all this chaos, out right chooses to ignore it, which baffles me.

It's like a kid hiding just their head under a sheet/blanket, saying, "...just go away...just go away...they can't see me..." - It ain't going to happen...

There are measures you can take to be proactive with your privacy/security.

Computers: Go Linux. By far the best and cleanest. Then OSX (w/ Little Snitch and apps alike) and then unfortunately Windows 7-8.1 (w/ all the goodies to lock it down the best that we can) for gaming....even us Linux guys know there is no better for gaming than Windows. Period.

Phone: Don't go past Android 4.3 (4.2 is better) and use xprivacy app, afwall+ and a trusted off shore VPN on a pre-paid account.

Just because they have all your info. up until this point, it doesn't mean that you can't start being proactive now. - And for goodness sake facebook...sigh... just look up from credible sources on who runs it now and why they went to the whole timeline interface years ago....remember that silver platter?

 

That's the problem though. There is too much sacrifice involved. I use Facebook because I'm disabled. I'm well aware of everything about Facebook but all my friends use it and I would literally have no social life if it weren't for Facebook other than forums and I don't know anyone on any forum I'm on in real life.

Android - 4.2? No way. Never going to happen. First off the technology I need to even have a phone that works properly with my carrier (Band 12 700MHz LTE, Band 4 1700MHz HSPA/LTE, and Band 2 1900MHz HSPA/LTE along with VoLTE for Band 12 only areas) is predominantly KitKat and up only and second, I'm not willing to sacrifice new hardware for some semblance of security. If I really wanted to have a secure OS I'd build AOSP and leave out ALL Google Apps.

The reality is that I am getting to the point where I don't care anymore. So my information is out there. Who cares? I use two factor authentication for the important things like my Facebook, Microsoft, and Google accounts, I've been known to use PGP for sensitive emails, and I take sensible approaches to protect my information.

If nVidia would fix SLI in Linux, I'd spend the majority of my computing time in Mint or Kubuntu using Steam.

I've disabled all known Windows 10 spying and telemetry, I'm just making a point that the vast majority of us have already given out more information to various other sources around the net. Perfect example - almost all of us use custom keyboards on our Android devices. One of the most popular ones is SwiftKey. If you have the cloud turned on, basically anything you have ever entered is uploaded to their cloud. People don't think about these things.

 

At least you're taking measures to be smart with handling sensitive info over the web. (PGP, Encryption etc...) It's sad that there are a lot of sacrifices made in giving up ones privacy/security for the convenience of what these popular social media, apps etc...provide.

When I had mentioned Android 4.2, I was speaking from the extreme end....I use KK 4.4 as well and have it locked down with a custom open source keyboard that is light as a feather, along with xprivacy, vpn, firewall etc...For more phone talk feel free to PM me.

You're absolutely correct...most people NEVER think about the keyboard they are using.....*** face palm *** People, people, people....DON'T USE 3RD PARTY KEYBOARDS LIKE SWIFTKEY ETC...

Anyhow, we just have to do the best we can with what we have....at the end of the day, it's all up to the individual.

 

EU close to banning US clouds
http://www.techeye.net/business/eu-close-to-banning-us-clouds

"It seems that the US government is prepared to sacrifice its nation’s cloud business on the bonfire of its obsession with spying.

European Union privacy regulators are leaning toward the restriction of personal data transfers to the United States because of the risk of US. surveillance, mostly because the US government will not back down."

 

I'm baffled by the post of @hmscott and it getting so many likes. The above is about what I tried to state, only that I critiqued DWS in a few more points. It had to do nothing with frustration, it was reasonable, true critique. DWS also destroyed my Windows Installation, I also wasn't able to turn on Windows Updates again, as written @Ethrem , defer upgrades checked, options greyed out.

I'm seriously sorry, but I feel that you, hmscott are taking out a personal issue because of what you experienced. If you really knew me, you'd know very well, that I'm below the people that support the software they like because they like it. I report bugs to qBittorrent, I report bugs to Thunderbird, I even send crash reports about Chrome Canary to Google and I do a lot more. With my post, I tried to share my knowledge about DWS and it's quite profound and relates to you heavily advertising DWS, so I had good reason, and you can't possibly demand, that everybody that makes a bad experience with a tool tries to convince the developer if his software has such substantial, basic errors in itself and in its approach to what it is trying to offer, that the chances of the communication with the developer failing is higher than the benefit of switching towards a better tool (i. e. O&O Shut Up, which I also recommended in my post) and report positively about it towards other, less experienced users that read this forum, but don't do that much research and don't test that much.

Extra: The argument, that a re-install is done within only little time, doesn't apply for everybody. Some of us have such modified systems with so many programs that took so long to build, that wrecking an installation costs days. Even rolling back to a previous backup can mean that a lot of work and progress gets lost and has to be redone.

You tell me to stop posting such things, though I have every reason, seriously, you stop taking out personal fights when you're not 100% sure, that you're hitting the right target. Sry for the last, I know that you're usually different and a good person, but you can't attack me because I warn before a program that maybe not caused harm to you, but to at least three people on this thread, and if you don't use all features of a program, you can't judge it

 

I am sure it is confusing

Re-read what I wrote. I re-wrote it a number of times, and took a lot of time trying to give you my experience without offending you.

It's not easy to hear I am sure, and I also know that you don't know why I said it, because to you your criticism of the software was a sincere critique you thought essential to share.

It's not that you were simply wrong about what you said about each and every point, it was that you thought we wanted to hear it.

Noone wanted to hear it, not me, not the developer, and noone else likely cared about any of the points you made.

Not just because they were flatly wrong, but because you were telling us those features weren't wanted by you - and which you assumed on all our behalf's extended to every one of us.

You thought that we needed to be told, that those Utilities weren't needed, and didn't have a place in the application because you thought so, so they should be removed.

That hubris is the problem. Not just that you were wrong in your thinking, but that you told us that we should think that too.

I know it's tough to go deep into ones own surface motivations and tie them to inner motivations. But I suggest you examine yours, and try to figure out why you posted that here and now.

I have, and my response was thusly written, posted, and edited several times for clarity, for your benefit.

Not for me, or anyone else

 

This isn't the place to report DWS bugs to get them fixed.

Report them to the developer.

Breaking Windows Update isn't "Destroying Windows" that is an exaggeration, but it is a bug, so please file a bug report with the developer.

He has a dedicated site for DWS, a GIT hub site for making changes to the source code, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and I am sure many other methods of connecting with him.

If I had a problem with using DWS I would report it here as a heads up - in a short note - and leave the detailed description with the developer.

I haven't had a problem with DWS on Windows 8.1, which is what I always state, others have used it on Windows 10 and not complained until just now. The same for Windows 7.

Months of use, 3 complaints.

Please make the detailed reports to the developer, he isn't here, and he isn't going to read what you write here.

Why are you going on and on here??

 

Sry, but you obviously cannot differentiate between a profound opinion and true hybris. In all honesty, I've been judged to have hubris exactly one time before in my life, and that's years ago and maybe, maybe I had some hubris in that time, because I was young, but nowadays I'm one of the most abject people you'll find, even if it may not seem like that.

I appreciate that you wrote it with the intent of trying to help me, so you had good intentions... You are the one that has hubris though, you tell me to stop posting such things, you tell me & others to report their issues in a certain manner and towards certain persons, you tell me to go deep into my own motivations and examine them, though as you write that the last is a suggestion, I suppose that all the others are aswell. It's beyond me, how an answer can so completely fail and your other answer to be even further away from what is righteous.

 

Please tell the developer about your concerns, please stop talking to me about it, I can't help you.

You said you know how to report bugs to the developers of other applications.

I am asking you to use that expertise and connect with the DWS developer about your concerns and bugs.

It's that simple.

 

But you heavily speak in favour of a program while you admit yourself, that you're not using all of its features, and the users that actually tested those, had to re-install their OS, and I only tried to warn others by sharing what I think about the functions of that program, and it's not even 100% negative, I write that the host-file-changes and the firewall-changes actually are good, because they're an easy, transparent solution and because they're reversable. My warning is a direct reaction towards @metacarpus telling that DWS srewed his Windows Service Pack, so it really has its place into this thread, and not in the forums of the developer of DWS. I don't use DWS anymore so I have no reason to report anything about it towards its developer, but I have reason to report here. As written, I report about those programs that I really like, and I do that out of free will and to support the developers of those programs. I don't like DWS, it's ok if you do. I'll report to the developers of O&O Shut Up if I ever find any bug about which I can contribute with my knowledge, if I have the time and especially only if I ever use Windows 10 again.

 

DWS is the most effective application available to block MS spying in Windows.

That's why I speak so highly of it.

I haven't had any problems with DWS myself on Windows 8.1.

And, until recently noone else has reported any bugs either.

To sumarize the specific bugs, from the 3 complaints:

On Windows 10 you need to be aware that there have been reports that running DWS will break Windows Update. It may be that when uninstalling one of the KB's that MS's uninstaller isn't restoring the state of Windows Update correctly.

On Windows 7 there has been 1 report from someone that had DWS uninstall Service Pack 1 requiring that all the individual Windows Updates contained in SP1 be reinstalled.

That's it. From all your posts and all the heat and bother, those are the 2 bugs.

Please report them to the DWS Developer, more than enough has been said here - but the developer will never hear it until you report it to him

 

Only problem with all of your suggestions is that I never told DWS to disable Windows Update. It broke it on its own. Defer upgrades is permanently checked and I'm not in the mood to do a reset right now. I even tried disabling that feature with Shut Up 10 and its still broken.

 

Thanks for following up that the bug is caused by the core function, and not by running the Utilities option to "Disable Windows Update".

@Phoenix said he ran DWS on Windows 10 a while back and had the problem, but didn't report it here or to the developer. We don't know what version he ran. If he had reported it here, we would have known to stop recommending DWS on Windows 10 until the bug was fixed.

@Seraiel originally never mentioned this bug, instead complaining about the validity of some of the ancillery Utilities functions, but never said Windows Update on their Windows 10 install was broken by DWS. If it is, then please report that bug to the developer.

Which version of DWS did you run Ethrem? The current version? It's important for us to know if we need to worry about the current version, or a previous one.

It sounds like you all need to come up with a clear description of the cause and effect of that bug and report it to the DWS developer so it can get fixed.

When you report the bug to the developer, it's important to spend a few minutes creating a clear and concise statement of what you did, where you did it, and the undesired result.

That way the developer can quickly replicate the problem, fix it in the application for everyone, and provide you a fix for your current Windows Update state.

It sounds to me like the problem is caused by uninstalling a Windows KB, and that the MS uninstaller is not restoring the state of Windows Update correctly.

But, I don't run Windows 10, and I can't help you debug this any further, so please file the bug with the developer so he can fix it for everyone, and help you fix your current Windows Update state on your Windows 10 install.

To me this reaction to a bug and the resulting unfocused behavior is confusing. 3 people, seeminly on top of things, intelligently debugging their situation, and not a one of you thinks to take the problem to the person most likely to be able to help you the quickest. The developer of the tool that caused the problem.

The developer of the application is the quickest route to a solution and an immediate fix as well as a long term solution.

If all of you that ran DWS on Windows 10 and experienced this problem files the bug with the developer, I am sure he will quickly respond, debug, and fix the problem for you.

Please all do get help from the developer, because the benefits from DWS are worth the effort

 

Please do file the bug personally with Nummer at DWS, but since these problems are serious, I thought I would give Nummer a heads up myself, and sent 2 emails to him:

"Subject: Hi, users are reporting DWS is breaking Windows Update on Windows 10

Hi Nummer, sorry to say that we have had a few people report that running DWS on Windows 10 is causing Windows Update to be put into a state where they can't do updates any longer.

I thought it was important enough to let you know, as maybe MS issued another KB of the same number that is now causing this problem, where before it wasn't.

This could affect a lot of people using DWS.

Thanks for all your hard work Nummer!!

Here is the forum link to my last reply, I wouldn't waste too much time reading the pages of posts - it's like trying to herd cats

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...isable-telemetry.780476/page-62#post-10185221 "

And:

"Subject: DWS caused Windows 7 to uninstall SP1, and initiate installing all the individual patches over again.

Hi Nummer, we also had a single report from a user that ran DWS on Windows 7, and the result was that DWS uninstalled SP1 and then reinstalled all the individual KB's instead.

It's possible their system state was in some broken condition that caused this as noone report this before.

It's enough of a pain for a user to go through this that I thought I would mention it to you in case you have heard about it and have a suggestion for a workaround / fix.

Thank you for your help, Scott"

@Phoenix @Seraiel @Ethrem @metacarpus

Again, I can't help him debug this problem because I don't run Windows 10 or Windows 7, so Nummer needs your direct help debugging the problem(s) you found.

Please help him

 

@Phoenix @Seraiel @Ethrem @metacarpus

Update: I haven't heard back from nummer yet about DWS, and I tried to contact him via other methods as well, but it looks like he turned off "Issues" in github, so I couldn't reply there. My emails should have gotten through to him so I will await his response.

For now if you are on Windows 10, don't use DWS until nummer gets a chance to fix it.

This version of DWS was closed up with the Final, and last I heard he had a re-write in progress in C++.

I am very sorry for those of you with the DWS bug in Windows 10 that disables Windows Updates. I never ran Windows 10 so I couldn't know about the bug without someone that runs Windows 10 telling us about it.

It's too bad this bug happened, as the tool is very helpful, and DWS covers a lot of ground other apps don't.

We will need to move forward with manual KB removals, hosts additions, and firewall blocking until DWS is repaired, replaced, or an alternative becomes available

 

@Phoenix @Seraiel @Ethrem @metacarpus

For those of you with the Windows 10 Update problem after running DWS, have you tried running the Windows Update repair option? In previous Windows releases it should be offered to you through help troubleshooting.

Try doing a search for "troubleshoot"

Here are some links:
https://www.google.com/search?q=win...tf-8#q=windows+10+update+troubleshooting+tool

If you get Windows 10 Update working again with troubleshooing, please post a quick note here on how to do it, so others can use it.

 

@hmscott, couldn't we add our own kb's to the aegis script and run that upon boot?

I remember it being mentioned that we run the aegis.cmd script once....however, we need to run the script with the list of hosts everytime we reboot yes? (Just that one script with the list everytime?)

It's not a big deal to run it as it takes literally seconds....=)

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

Unfortunately my availability for developing and managing an open source tool is zero.

So I can't take on fixing the DWS tool or converting the DWS features into an aegis like tool.

Besides, both tools are still owned by someone, and I think they both plan to keep moving forward with their work.

You can contact the Aegis maintainer, and suggest he add the core function data of DWS into his Aegis scripts. DWS is a GUI interface, but underneath it is all implemented from Windows cmd line tasks.

We are in the middle of the transition with DWS from the last version to the new version, and unfortunately something has changed with Windows 10 Windows Update that is causing a failure using the closed Final / version of DWS.

We will just need to be patient

 

On nummers dev blog I found this posting for:

January 2, 2016
Setting method of obtaining updates for Windows 10
http://www.nummerdev.ru/2016/01/windows-10_87.html

His twitter accounts, google+, and facebook entries of recent say he is working on the new version of DWS.

I don't use social groups, so someone else will need to get his attention through these services if you want help.

Hopefully nummer will answer his github email soon...if he got it after disabling further Issues. I didn't get a bounce message, so hopefully he will check in soon, but since he ended the DWS Final, there may be a delay before he checks in again and reads his DWS emails.

 

I was going to reply to your message @hmscott but I figured I would just post it here so everyone can see it. I fixed my issue. O&O Shutup 10 was able to reverse what DWS did. Defer upgrades is no longer forced. Insider Preview is still grayed out but that's likely because I have device driver auto update disabled and that's fine. Between Shutup 10 and immunizing my system with Spybot Anti-Beacon, everything is working as it should. I was surprised to find that Anti-Beacon found things DWS and Shutup 10 didn't.

 

That's great news, and thanks for letting us know

Please would you briefly give the steps / tasks / feature used in O&O and/or Anti-beacon to re-enable Windows Update in Windows 10? And, how you could tell it was disabled/re-enabled?

Glad you found Spybot's Anti-Beacon, I use it as well as Spybot Search and Destroy on Windows 8.1, nice to hear it works well on Windows 10 too
https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/
https://forums.spybot.info/downloads.php?id=55
https://www.safer-networking.org/mirrors/

Spoiler

 

I just opened up Shutup 10 and unchecked everything that had to do with Windows Update except for the drivers then exited, re-enabled all recommended tweaks, then I immunized with Anti-Beacon. I checked for updates later on and noticed defer upgrades wasn't checked and wasn't grayed out anymore. I should note I never forced deferred upgrades with Shutup 10 or manually before this but when I opened the app, it was checked. I ran Shutup 10 before DWS and made a point not to force deferred upgrades and Anti-Beacon doesn't mess with the updates so it had to be DWS.

 

Interesting... DWS shouldn't be touching Windows Updates without using the Utilities options.

Does DWS say in the DWS.log anything to do with Windows Updates? Would you please post the DWS.log in a spoiler section; don't run DWS again until you rename DWS.log, as DWS will overwrite the DWS.log.

The only other thing I can think of is DWS uninstalls KB's which have to do with Windows Updates, and as part of the KB uninstall it might not leave the Windows Update settings state cleanly.

It would be nice to know where the DWS run affects Windows Updates so we can report the bug in more specific detail.

 

Too late on the log, I ran DWS before Shutup to see if it touched anything on Windows Update by default so I have an empty log. =/

I didn't do anything custom with DWS, I left all the defaults alone. Something else that's interesting is that it didn't remove the Metro apps either - I know because I used the Xbox app to stream a game to my laptop the other night. I definitely would suggest not using this app on Windows 10 right now. I lucked out that Shutup was able to fix it.

 

Did you use the Utility option in DWS to remove the Metro 10 apps? That's where I see the option. DWS doesn't remove the Metro 10 apps by default.

Spoiler

I noticed that for operations that take a while, like removing Metro 10 apps would be, you need to wait for DWS to complete a task. Wait for the OK dialog to popup before exiting DWS.

You might not have waited long enough for it to finish.

It's the same for "Delete One Drive", that takes about 30 seconds to complete.

If you want to uninstall the Metro Apps in Windows 10 try CCleaner.

When I run CCleaner in Windows 8.1 I don't see the Microsoft Metro Apps, but that's because I already uninstalled them.

In ccleaner, look under Tools=>uninstall and sort by publisher, all the Metro apps should be under Microsoft, and you can choose which apps to uninstall or keep.

 

Okay, I didn't do that. The default setting has all the apps checked but not the option to permanently remove Metro altogether so I figured it did that on its own. I don't want them gone so it's not a big deal. I actually use the Xbox app.

 

Well here's an update after looking into this a bit more:
DWS does remove SP1 but only if the update was manually installed in the first place. If Windows already came with SP1 integrated then the update doesn't even show up in the Installed Updates list. This would explain why no one else has reported it, as once a SP comes out, all future releases of that Windows OS are sold with it integrated.

 

Thanks for following through and finding the root cause on that

I sent an email to Nummer, IDK if the reply-to's work through GIT any longer since he disabled "Issues", but they aren't getting bounced - I also sent a help request through Github support:

"Subject: Re: DWS caused Windows 7 to uninstall SP1, and initiate installing all the individual patches over again.

Hi Nummer, the user with the Windows 7 SP1 uninstalled figured out his problem:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...isable-telemetry.780476/page-64#post-10186280

IDK if it makes sense to associate a warning / notice when that discrete SP1 install is going to be uninstalled or not, but it was a shock to him at least when it happened."

 

how you found that KB3088195, KB3042058, KB3093983 are keylogger and spying?! I searched web but couldn't find anything saying about such.

 

Shall we add those to the list on aegis?

Also, I'm running Windows 8.1 Pro with classic shell. Other than aegis, what else should I be running that won't mess up the system. I've been following this thread closely, but some things seem wishy washy.

Cheers

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

The only link I found about is https://github.com/Nummer/Destroy-Windows-10-Spying/issues/151 which returns with 404-page not found. I manually searched and this should be the correct link: https://github.com/Nummer/Destroy-Windows-10-Spying

The author gives some unknown for me program to download and run in order to uninstall telemetry/spying updates. I can do this myself. What would be really helpful and nice is if there was some explanation why those updates are spyware and especially keylogger (which is really serious).

note: sorry if bother someone, just require a little proof.

 

Hey guys, I've been watching this thread for a bit, great job figuring all this out.

I was doing some work on my dad's pc and went to grab the newest version of spybot S&D and saw they released a free anti telemetry program called anti-beacon that is designed for W10, and recently 7/8.

Looks like a promising add on to your kits to really stick it to M$.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

Interesting....thanks for the heads up.

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

When nummer completed/finalized this build of DWS he closed the Issues tab, which removed access to those entries.

I would check out nummers social links and follow what is developing there, contact him if you have any questions.

You are free to ignore his list and uninstall what you like, but I have uninstalled those KB's on his recommendation.

 

Thanks for the heads up, keep them coming

We have seen and are using Anti-beacon, and it finds things the other tools don't. DWS + GWX Control Panel + Anti-beacon on Windows 8.1 work great for me.

On Windows 10 O&O ShutUp10 seems to be the only tool people have had good luck with.

DWS messes up Windows 10 Update, but Anti-beacon's (and O&O ShutUp10?) fix it if you reset the Windows Update settings - Check with @Ethrem for details - I don't run Windows 10.

You can do it all by hand too, just look at the source of the programs, their log files from a run - I have posted Windows 8.1 dws.log's - and make a list of KB's, hosts to put in host file, and firewall entries to put in your Windows firewall and 3rd party firewall.

Be sure to also put the IP/IP range blocks in your perimeter firewall(s) - the ones that touch the outside world, in case normal IP access on the PC circumvents the IP/IP range blocks there.

Thanks again for the heads up

 

Seriously... Use ShutUp 10 and Anti-Beacon if you're on Windows 10. DWS is not worth the headache!

 

QFT

 

It begins: Microsoft starts 'recommended' rollout of Windows 10

 

Hey guys, I am going to install Win 10, and create a system image. Immediately afterwards I plan to roll back to Win 7. I really just want the image for my own use in the event I actually do decide to move to Win 10 (Highly unlikely.)

Anyway after creating the Win 10 System image, I want to roll back to Win 7 and completely uninstall everything Win 10 upgrade related.

I wanted to verify that the first post was complete and up to date. From the looks of it, I really only need to run the two scripts and add the .txt file, is that correct?

With regards to the .txt file, what exactly is it blocking? I looked it over, but mainly gibberish to me. Is that blocking the updates? Really the only thing I recognized was bing in there, that I recall.

 

I can't imagine the huge amount of problems this is going to create. They are pushing win 10 to computers that the OEM's won't even support win 10 on. I have a huge ongoing issue with this right now. My parents who live out of state and are older "somehow" upgraded their dell tower to win10 and now its just boots to a black screen. I've sat down on the phone a couple of times trying to walk them through some fixes, but them not being computer savvy, its been a lost cause. I'm not sure how I'm going to get it fixed.

 

Going back to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 (after Windows 10 upgrade)
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/going-back-to-windows-7-or-windows-81

Then install and run GWX Control Panel to deny / disable Windows 10 upgrades - I would watch for updates to GWX Control Panel over the next few weeks should MS add any more attacks that GWX needs to add to prevent.

GWX Control Panel
http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/
http://blog.ultimateoutsider.com/2015/08/using-gwx-stopper-to-permanently-remove.html

Like you said, the Windows 10 Upgrade as a recommended patch is going to upgrade lots of unsuspecting PC owners, many whose hardware doesn't offer Windows 10 support.

Good luck

 

I plan to do this, IF i can get it working again (remotely). Right now it just boots to a black screen. I can't even tell you the amount of head-desks I've had trying to get them to even follow simple instructions.

 

Would you recommend using GWX along side with Aegis v1.9?

I've been using Aegis v1.x for a while. Should using all these great apps be looked at as, "...the more the merrier as one can cover where the other might have missed...."

For Windows 7 and 8.1 users, could you list in order the apps that should be absolutely used for blocking this and that:

Ex.

1. GWX Control Panel
2. Aegis v1.9
3. DWS
43.________________

I've seen a few others being thrown around here and there, but in order to satisfy my OCD, it would be great to a definite list.

Thanks mate.