Saying you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is as dumb as saying that you don't care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.
Yeah. And who paid for that RAM. I took the lazy way. I run PiHole. Which of course Microsoft cant touch. Xbox to iDevices covered. Everything apart from the socket on the wall belongs to me and I say what happens on MY domain.
@@chriswatt2702 you're just kicking the can down the road with that. Nothing you do is actually private you're just giving your stuff over to someone else
@@QuisUtDeus828 these vampires have to be invited in. PiHole checks the domain against a barred list. If they are on the list the request is sent to local host and not the trackers host.
@@QuisUtDeus828 Is that true? So you saying Pi tech will pass on your data. I own one and find that annoying. I know internet service providers have access to your data. I'm not 100% sure but I thought PiHole could block ISP tracking. Think I saw it on Network Chuck a while ago.
I've been on Windows most of my life (since Windows 3.11) but I finally said "ENOUGH". I'm now on Linux Mint 21.3 and it's awesome. I really do like it a lot.
@@Icem4n84 I'm retired so I don't really use things like Word or Excel anymore, but it runs Steam just fine and there are free replacements to Word and Excel that are reported to run fine on Linux too. My biggest problem was Photoshop
@@Icem4n84 word and excel, you either have to run them on your browser (less functionnalities than the native app, but more stable), or try using wine. i have no clue if wine manages to properly run word or excel. On a personnal standpoint, the day I switched onto my linux was the day I abandoned the office suite for vim. Steam games honestly run perfectly fine for the vast majority. some of them have small issues (you have to tweak the settings, remove fullscreen...) but that can be ignored quite easily. some might be hard pass though, yet I have not encountered any of them. I believe kernel level anti-cheat might not work (so no valorant / lol...), but that's just a guess as I don't play those games. I personally am on garuda (arch based) with a wayland compositor (hyprland). my next move will be to use a minimalistic linux, but i'm not ready to do the maintenance part for now edit: I just checked and lutris seems to be able to install the office suite using wine. I have no clue how stable it is
I tried mint but the very first thing I tried doing, enabling bluetooth speakers was a nightmare. 2 hours later still couldn't get it to play sound, so i just shut down and rebooted windows.
Same story here. I started with Windows 3.11. For many years we did not have all of this Telemetry nonsense that started with 8.1. I just built a new machine and I'm going to have it dual boot with Linux Mint. Libre office is an excellent substitute for Microsoft Office and does everything the same, including saving in the .docx format just like Microsoft Word. My plan is to only use Windows for gaming but according to what you just said I might not have to as long as Steam runs on it.
I can't stand when people say that... there's so many ways to show how absurd that logic is. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, it's none of the government's business what I'm doing, unless they have obtained a warrant/subpoena, going through due process to obtain that information. The point is that they shouldn't have unfettered access to people's personal information. Also, I would gladly pay $100 for Windows to not collect any of my data and to give me full control of my system.
Agreed, except for the part of paying 100€$£ for Windows. This company has the monopoly of an OS that is the main around the world, a lot of people from private business, hime users, students... are being somehow "forced" to use this OS, therfore, I believe that the company deserves a good cut of it but under a decent limit. The other option would be to force any developers that create programs of "obligated use" to work with many kin of OS that are free or in a decent price, and that would make it a lot of programs/apps/platforms not to even be born.
read the end users license agreement on some of these corporations. According to them, you don't even own your pictures or any of the files / data on your computer. So if I'm working on something and they decide they want it... all my hard work is theirs...
As an IT Security Professional i always love these videos that try their best to eliminate/mitigate all the Microsoft Telemetry. Due to my job, i have to use Windows 11 but i can assure you when the day is done, my personal machine is a Linux Distribution. I personally love Zorin OS which is a more polished/professional look over Linux Mint but either way it gives me the piece of mind that Microsoft isn't spying on me. And ofcourse i use Firefox not Chrome for my brower on Linux 🤪
I'll have to check out Zorin. I've been on Mint for many years. It works really well on my 2013 Dell 7010sff and am now with much better internet (Starlink) that is allowing me to explore things! Just bought an XPS 8930 I'm refurbing and upgrading to have some fun with, along with a Dell T3610 for initial home lab stuff. Ubuntu Server loaded with no issue on the on the T3610. The I.T and server world has changed significantly sine 2003! I feel like Rip Van Winkle, just waking up after over 20+ years of sleep.
@@FarmerRiddickPlease try it. I promise you that you'll love it more than Mint. I started with Mint briefly when i first switched to Linux but quickly found Zorin OS from Chris Barnett's TH-cam Channel, "Explaining Computers" and haven't looked back. He has several video about it on his channel if you want to learn more.
@@rootcanal7188 Their default settings are. Firefox can be just as secure with some tweaking. By the way, Librewolf is an already tweaked version of Firefox, which sounds great, except for the fact that it is always several versions older, which in itself can be a security threat. Better to use the most up to date version of the browser, normal Firefox, and set it to be as secure as you choose. Also, Brave browser is a locked down version of Chromium, which is "open source" Chrome. Just for that reason I avoid it.
Excellent vid, you just earned yourself a new sub. I look forward to watching all your vids. I am so sick and tired of paying for internet, a service that I pay cash for, only to be spied on. Same with never ending ads. I paid 1500 bucks for this computer and I pay 100 bucks a month for internet. If they want my data, they should be paying me. It really is like buying a new car and paying for the gas to run it, only to be forced to drive around with 1000s of advertisements on it from people that have no right putting anything on my car, or track where I go and what I do with my car. Now, if I can only figure out how in the hell I can stop never ending ads or non stop political news bs, that would be great.
@@redroses3835 If you have the Notepad icon, you can right click and then select Run as Administrator. If you dont have the Notepad icon: press Windows key on your keyboard, type Notepad, when it appears, right click Run as Administrator. Or if you can open Notepad, open it, then right click on the Notepad icon on the Taskbar, right click where it says Notepad at the bottom and select Run as Administrator. Or you can open Task manager, select File then Run new Task, type In Notepad and select Create this task with administrative privileges.
Yesterday, I mentioned wheat back pennies in a discord. Today, I click on the weather on the lower right, and see article ads for coins and two showed wheat back pennies. Thanks, windows & discord. Real cool.
Just an FYI, on the hosts file you can open it as administrator in something like Notepad++ and you can edit and save without the hassle you described. I do this all the time when I am testing and building websites and it works great.
Waste of time, windows bypasses the hosts file and firewall on telemetry. Have to block it at the router level or PiHole. Yea yea, it shows Defender says host hijacked just look up Barnacles who used to work at microcrap and he was bit surprised finding that out. Maybe Dave Plumber could give an answer to this also.
there is one thing that you could do to make reaplying registry mods in the future easier you can export all created registry keys and save them to one folder and either periodically doubleclick them or you can create bat file listing them and ading this bat to windows scheduler let's say weekly or once a month
@@CyberCPU nothing is stoping you from consolidating registry expoets to just one file by removing headers and splicing the working parts in notepad by copy paste might be a bit much for a begginer but as far as microsoft sometimes lblock"harmfull scripts" in windows defender, i don't think they ever blocked adding registry keys back by clicking on exports
@@kokodin5895the reason I use AutoIT is so I can have options. I typically use a list of checkboxs that will let me choose which reg patches I want to apply. I might not want to do all of them on every machine.
17:08 There is a way to save the Host file without moving it out of the etc folder and that is by opening an elevated Notepad (running Notepad as an admin) then going to File within Notepad and opening the Host file there. Then you can edit the Host file and save it without moving the Host file to a new location.
@9:02 - Windows allows you to select which Store Apps can access your "Camera, Microphone, location" but does not do it for Desktop Apps. is there a registry fix to enable this for Desktop-Apps?
I'm pretty sure desktop apps are included in the list. I know I went to use the same computer to do a video the following week after filming this and my microphone was disabled in my screen capture program. It's a desktop app and I was able to enable it.
regarding the hosts file, just open notepad with Run as Administrator then navigate to the c:\windows\System32\drivers\etc then make sure to change it from looking for .txt files to all files then you can edit the hosts file and save without the copy > edit > save > copy steps.
If you have a router you could load that list of sites to block int he host file into the router, then microsoft can alter whatever they want to no avail.
"I've been smoking 50 a day and Drinking Lighter Fluid for over 10 years, I'm still alive" - not a great idea to advertise unhealthy life habits ;) For a one shot fix try O and O's 'Shut Up Ten' (works on 11) - click a few boxes and youre done!
Besides, Microsoft made the operating system with all the back doors they need built right in for them to have their way with YOUR machine. Only way to keep figurative possession of the computer you physically posess is to format away that malware and use something else. That's why I use Linux. Seeing that as of Windows 10 they've started to leverage that control against the end user.
Big tech wants your data with a powerful will. A HOSTS file edit won't stop code that uses TCP to implements its own DNS client to query well-known static IP addresses or gets a list of IP addresses through some other way. What you need in order to block that is a router that can be configured to not allow direct IP connections that weren't resolved by a DNS query. However, you will find that some online programs, file sharing services and games will not run because they rely on their home server telling them which IP address(es) to connect to. The fact that these other popular programs and games need direct IP access also means you open the door for telemetry to use the same methods. Businesses such as banks and hospitals have to go to great lengths to protect privacy, using technologies not reasonably available to home users.
How can you be sure, that Microsoft really isn’t spying on you after these changes. They could even use sth like proxy’s and just bypass the hosts file.
About the only way to get around that is to block those sites on your router or in a VPN. You might suffer a tiny loss of speed, but an external fence is about the only "certain" way. Of course, there is nothing stopping M$ from using alternate sites. There could also be routines buried in the Windows OS which determine "x" site is unavailable, use site "y".
@@The_DuMont_Network It's really pathetic how far they are going with this. Just give me an option to permanently disables all this crap I'd gladly pay 100 bucks for it every decade. or 5-7 years
@20NBA01 You can't be 100 % sure. but these tips and an external firewall, updating the rules periodically will be a help. I have actually gone into the OS and removed telemetry commands and exes, and substituted null ops (NOPS) for the suspect exe files. This is poking the bear, and not for the fainthearted, but I have had success. And of course, avoiding Google at any cost.
Those Privacy & security toggle switches are there to make you feel good. Try running wireshark before and after you switch them, almost zero difference.
Me personally I do all those steps, but I found Windows processes still randomly calling home found the only way to truly block them is use a reverse firewall like Simplewall.
Microsoft's old surface products (don't know about the newer ones) let you completely turn off the cameras, mic, etc all in the bios. So even if the settings get reset by some update the bios has them disabled completely.
Why not? Reminds us of why we left windows in the first place.. And, we all have relatives that still do use windows, who do you think they call when SHTF? Still good to know how to "subdue" MS's spyware..... Although, I still think all this can be undone by someone like MS, I still believe there is a back door in the coding that they can access, we just do not know about it yet, and, all that has been explained here can be undone by a few lines of code, of this, I am sure... Hell, just install the next update and all this has been undone anyway....
This is true. However, it's virtually impossible to protect your privacy on social media because the point of the app is giving away all your personal data. 🤷🏻♂️
@@CyberCPU I know but we can still limit by not giving them our real names and using a burner mails and phone numbers in addition to securing them with 2 factor authentication and passkeys
Thanks for the great guide and channel. It is very helpful and much appreciated. I followed this guide for Windows 10. Everything worked for me except for disabling Diagnostics & feedback even after creating the registry key mentioned in the video. Is it different for Windows 10?
14:36 dude, you can just turn off Windows update altogether when before turning these things off. Just wait til 2025 and I'm sure you'll have no reason to turn it on again afterwards. Or do it now for a little bit and do it all over again at the end if it's support cycle.
The EASIEST way to stop Microsoft from spying on you is to get the Ghost Spectre version of Windows 10 or 11. It strips out all of the telemetry and useless features that no one wants and takes it a step further by giving you the option to make Windows look like 7 at install. Another benefit is my PC runs faster because all of that bloat is not running in the background.
@@LordOcelotThanks so much for your help. It seems there are so many other people on all platforms offering the link. I will check out their official TH-cam page thanks to you. So basically you have to run this OS unactivated and don't receive any security updates since it's not endorsed by Microsoft?
@@klwthe3rd correct! It has a built in activator that just removes the watermark and Updates are turned off until 2077. Most if not all phoning home is disabled by default and you can activate what you want. We’re talking the power back from Microsoft lol
I thought I'd taken out much of the privacy stuff, but your video showed some I'd missed, so thank you for that, and yes, much of it works in W10 Pro. I have a question however that I'm not willing to try without further research, so if you would be available to advise. Your personal choice is you don't like MS accounts, freedom of choice, I can respect that. And my PC has a local login, but I do use MS OneDrive which signs in automatically when my system boots. I also use a MS email address which I don't want to loose the function off by disabling a MS account function (such as you describe at 7:05). At that timestamp does changing the MS account (not work as that is disabled anyway), but does that disable the MS Account prevent syncing of OneDrive, or do you mean it's just how you log into your PC, local vs online? Many thanks in advance.
Good video. I've watched a few of your videos and found them helpful. I'm now a subscriber. Any suggestions on how to get the search box on the task bar to work properly in Windows 11. My laptop is just over a month old and the search box doesn't work properly.
Great tutorial. Privacy/tracking has always been a concern of mine going all the way back to 3.11. I think your statement at the end sums it up - there is a definitely a balance and it is up to the individual user to decide what they want to allow.
I don´t have "Send my Activity History to Microsoft" setting on my device. There are only two settings available, "Store my activity on this device" and "Clear activity history for this account". How come?
My power settings seemed to get a little messed up but overall great- is there a way to bring back my power plan options? Now it only has 1 power plan option- and when I try to create a new power plan it says "Your power plan information isn't available", and "Windows can't save some of your changes to this power plan's settings- The system cannot find the file specified" - overall not worried as the power plan is the one I want but was wondering if this may have been affected? Thanks for all your videos!!!
It's easy to still get your "local" weather without giving up your full location details. Under Privacy & Security / Location you can set a "default" location. I set it to a municipal building that is within a mile or so of my address. Easy peasy, and a bit of privacy given up but without giving away my actual address.
Great video! I love the thumbnail. A little creepy but funny. I could imagine Im sitting in my kitchen having my morning coffee and reading the newspaper. out of the corner of my eye detect movement outside of my window and its Bill Gates.🤣🤣
Thanks for sharing. But why do you do not use group policy editor to made changes on a one position. There is more to disable as you can do on Windows Settings. A tip from me. Maybe do you can a video for that to. If you have time for that. ^^ Like your videos - Stay tuned.
Please help! I n RegEd (about 6:00 in the vid) I clicked on 64 bit value vs the video saying to click 32. My computer IS a x64-based PC. Am I ok leaving at 64 or need to change back to 32 as he says in the video? Thank you!!
I'm not an expert on anything so take this with a grain of salt. Considering that he's using Windows 11 and that windows 11 is only usable for 64 bit computers and still chose 32. I'd say change it to 32.
Could one create a scheduled task, that recreates these steps everyday around midnight, so any time Windows gets an update and restores its spying setup, our privacy settings kick in soon after? AFAIK, you can choose at which time you want to update, so you can do it 15 minutes before privacy settings get restored.
I don't understand why copying that list into the host file prevents Microsoft from connecting to those sites. Can someone please explain this. It just seems to me you've only added a list of sites to the hosts file. How does it negate connection?
Thanks for your tutorials which I just recently have been using. Q: Disabling search results (9:47) I do not see a "Explorer" folder under: Microsoft > Windows. Is this because I'm using Chrome & not Explore?
I've experienced more scheduled tasks being re-created than re-enabled. Not sure if there's a reason for it, or just my luck, but figured it's worth mentioning.
Wow, thank you so much...I did similar things when I was setting up my computer...and...yeah...most of the things were there again, I wasn't aware of that MS is activating all these things after an update -.- Thanks for pointing this out!
Hello great video however there are a couple of things that are not the same as you’re showing. In the activity history there is only one switch to turn off and that is Store my activity history on this device it does not have the other option. And there’s a second one, but I’ll have to find that one again. I’m running windows 11 Pro version 23H2.
Thank you for all these tips. Definitely gonna use them. However, I have some concerns about the host file modification. Won't it disable or hinder windows update, since your computer cannot connect to Microsoft servers? I like my privacy, but I also want my system to stay updated. Sorry, if this is a bit dumb question, but I am in no way IT skilled enough to understand which servers are being blocked by the modifications.
Thank you sir. Every little bit helps. Also. Can you direct us to perhaps a place where we can decipher whether we need a specific update that comes down the pipe. I have my update settings set to manual. And I notice things like Defender anti virus.....seeing how I use another anti virus, I'm assuming that I wouldn't need that. Your thoughts? Thanks
Just did this on my end. Only thing I allowed through the hosts file were at the very bottom, specifically some xbox stuff. This is primarily because I occasionally use xbox game bar, but it's no biggie if I still can't, I can just use the mobile app for that
Just an F.Y.I, you can actually edit and re-save the hosts file, without having to copy it elsewhere and then back again. You just have to run notepad as administrator, then click File and open, then navigate to the hosts file and open it. Edit it and then save it. Done. 🙂
Things changed since this video. You should to revisit and maybe make new video. Some of the functions changed name, and I am not sure what exactly to disable. Thanks.
I've been through two feature updates (22H2 and 23H2) and both the CEIP tasks and the Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser have remained disabled. Maybe MS will get sneaky one day but that's a pretty good sign that MS (for now) honours the settings of those tasks. I'd probably disable rather than delete as if it's missing MS might put it back with default setting, where as if it exists there's a better chance the update will leave it alone. Who know with MS though.
Saying you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is as dumb as saying that you don't care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.
Absolutely
Edward Snowden quote!
Hah, that's gold! I'm gonna use that (so long as it's opensource). 😅
@@klwthe3rd Is it actually? That's awesome!
@@soulstenance Yep. He has had some pretty awesome quotes over the years. That one posted here is my favorite.
After using these mods, my idle ram usage dropped by 6%
😶
Yeah. And who paid for that RAM.
I took the lazy way. I run PiHole. Which of course Microsoft cant touch. Xbox to iDevices covered.
Everything apart from the socket on the wall belongs to me and I say what happens on MY domain.
@@chriswatt2702 you're just kicking the can down the road with that. Nothing you do is actually private you're just giving your stuff over to someone else
@@QuisUtDeus828 these vampires have to be invited in. PiHole checks the domain against a barred list. If they are on the list the request is sent to local host and not the trackers host.
@@QuisUtDeus828 Is that true? So you saying Pi tech will pass on your data. I own one and find that annoying. I know internet service providers have access to your data. I'm not 100% sure but I thought PiHole could block ISP tracking. Think I saw it on Network Chuck a while ago.
I've been on Windows most of my life (since Windows 3.11) but I finally said "ENOUGH". I'm now on Linux Mint 21.3 and it's awesome. I really do like it a lot.
I'm considering swapping when windows 10 support is done. Does it run steam and everything else well? How to you use things like word and excel?
@@Icem4n84 I'm retired so I don't really use things like Word or Excel anymore, but it runs Steam just fine and there are free replacements to Word and Excel that are reported to run fine on Linux too. My biggest problem was Photoshop
@@Icem4n84 word and excel, you either have to run them on your browser (less functionnalities than the native app, but more stable), or try using wine. i have no clue if wine manages to properly run word or excel. On a personnal standpoint, the day I switched onto my linux was the day I abandoned the office suite for vim.
Steam games honestly run perfectly fine for the vast majority. some of them have small issues (you have to tweak the settings, remove fullscreen...) but that can be ignored quite easily.
some might be hard pass though, yet I have not encountered any of them. I believe kernel level anti-cheat might not work (so no valorant / lol...), but that's just a guess as I don't play those games.
I personally am on garuda (arch based) with a wayland compositor (hyprland). my next move will be to use a minimalistic linux, but i'm not ready to do the maintenance part for now
edit:
I just checked and lutris seems to be able to install the office suite using wine. I have no clue how stable it is
I tried mint but the very first thing I tried doing, enabling bluetooth speakers was a nightmare. 2 hours later still couldn't get it to play sound, so i just shut down and rebooted windows.
Same story here. I started with Windows 3.11. For many years we did not have all of this Telemetry nonsense that started with 8.1.
I just built a new machine and I'm going to have it dual boot with Linux Mint. Libre office is an excellent substitute for Microsoft Office and does everything the same, including saving in the .docx format just like Microsoft Word.
My plan is to only use Windows for gaming but according to what you just said I might not have to as long as Steam runs on it.
I can't stand when people say that... there's so many ways to show how absurd that logic is. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, it's none of the government's business what I'm doing, unless they have obtained a warrant/subpoena, going through due process to obtain that information. The point is that they shouldn't have unfettered access to people's personal information. Also, I would gladly pay $100 for Windows to not collect any of my data and to give me full control of my system.
Agreed, it's crazy what's going on.
Well said and i agree 100%
the data collection uses your ram and power its costing you money and time
Agreed, except for the part of paying 100€$£ for Windows. This company has the monopoly of an OS that is the main around the world, a lot of people from private business, hime users, students... are being somehow "forced" to use this OS, therfore, I believe that the company deserves a good cut of it but under a decent limit. The other option would be to force any developers that create programs of "obligated use" to work with many kin of OS that are free or in a decent price, and that would make it a lot of programs/apps/platforms not to even be born.
read the end users license agreement on some of these corporations. According to them, you don't even own your pictures or any of the files / data on your computer. So if I'm working on something and they decide they want it... all my hard work is theirs...
As an IT Security Professional i always love these videos that try their best to eliminate/mitigate all the Microsoft Telemetry. Due to my job, i have to use Windows 11 but i can assure you when the day is done, my personal machine is a Linux Distribution. I personally love Zorin OS which is a more polished/professional look over Linux Mint but either way it gives me the piece of mind that Microsoft isn't spying on me. And ofcourse i use Firefox not Chrome for my brower on Linux 🤪
I'll have to check out Zorin.
I've been on Mint for many years. It works really well on my 2013 Dell 7010sff and am now with much better internet (Starlink) that is allowing me to explore things!
Just bought an XPS 8930 I'm refurbing and upgrading to have some fun with, along with a Dell T3610 for initial home lab stuff. Ubuntu Server loaded with no issue on the on the T3610.
The I.T and server world has changed significantly sine 2003!
I feel like Rip Van Winkle, just waking up after over 20+ years of sleep.
@@FarmerRiddickPlease try it. I promise you that you'll love it more than Mint. I started with Mint briefly when i first switched to Linux but quickly found Zorin OS from Chris Barnett's TH-cam Channel, "Explaining Computers" and haven't looked back. He has several video about it on his channel if you want to learn more.
@@klwthe3rd Thanks. The only problem with Linux is that income tax software is either Windows-only or Mac-only.
Aren't Brave and Librewolf browsers more private and secure than Firefox?
@@rootcanal7188 Their default settings are. Firefox can be just as secure with some tweaking. By the way, Librewolf is an already tweaked version of Firefox, which sounds great, except for the fact that it is always several versions older, which in itself can be a security threat. Better to use the most up to date version of the browser, normal Firefox, and set it to be as secure as you choose. Also, Brave browser is a locked down version of Chromium, which is "open source" Chrome. Just for that reason I avoid it.
Excellent vid, you just earned yourself a new sub. I look forward to watching all your vids.
I am so sick and tired of paying for internet, a service that I pay cash for, only to be spied on. Same with never ending ads. I paid 1500 bucks for this computer and I pay 100 bucks a month for internet. If they want my data, they should be paying me. It really is like buying a new car and paying for the gas to run it, only to be forced to drive around with 1000s of advertisements on it from people that have no right putting anything on my car, or track where I go and what I do with my car. Now, if I can only figure out how in the hell I can stop never ending ads or non stop political news bs, that would be great.
You can edit the host file at location. Just open Notepad as Administrator and do your thing and save. Been doing it like that for decades
how do i open notepad as administrator new to this
@@redroses3835 If you have the Notepad icon, you can right click and then select Run as Administrator. If you dont have the Notepad icon: press Windows key on your keyboard, type Notepad, when it appears, right click Run as Administrator. Or if you can open Notepad, open it, then right click on the Notepad icon on the Taskbar, right click where it says Notepad at the bottom and select Run as Administrator. Or you can open Task manager, select File then Run new Task, type In Notepad and select Create this task with administrative privileges.
It's not enough.
@@redroses3835 right-click at notepad icon and search there
@@redroses3835just open the host file with Notepad++. Notepad++ will allow you to save the host file after you alter it.
Editing the hosts file was a good tip! 👍
Yesterday, I mentioned wheat back pennies in a discord.
Today, I click on the weather on the lower right, and see article ads for coins and two showed wheat back pennies.
Thanks, windows & discord. Real cool.
Interesting!
Just an FYI, on the hosts file you can open it as administrator in something like Notepad++ and you can edit and save without the hassle you described. I do this all the time when I am testing and building websites and it works great.
It's not much of a hassle. It would take longer to explain to people how to download notepad++ then just move the host file. But good tip.
@@CyberCPU , It even works with Notepad with admin permissions. Just did it.
Waste of time, windows bypasses the hosts file and firewall on telemetry. Have to block it at the router level or PiHole. Yea yea, it shows Defender says host hijacked just look up Barnacles who used to work at microcrap and he was bit surprised finding that out. Maybe Dave Plumber could give an answer to this also.
Visual Studio Code also works just fine, it asks you to retry as an admin and that's just one extra click after pasting.
there is one thing that you could do to make reaplying registry mods in the future easier
you can export all created registry keys and save them to one folder and either periodically doubleclick them or you can create bat file listing them and ading this bat to windows scheduler let's say weekly or once a month
I have an AutoIT script I've made that does that. However, your way works too. The only benefit to the way I do it is it's only a single click.
@@CyberCPU nothing is stoping you from consolidating registry expoets to just one file by removing headers and splicing the working parts in notepad by copy paste
might be a bit much for a begginer but as far as microsoft sometimes lblock"harmfull scripts" in windows defender, i don't think they ever blocked adding registry keys back by clicking on exports
@@CyberCPU Share Please
That would be a great video! @@CyberCPU
@@kokodin5895the reason I use AutoIT is so I can have options. I typically use a list of checkboxs that will let me choose which reg patches I want to apply. I might not want to do all of them on every machine.
holy crab so many steps to get windows away from spying on you
17:08 There is a way to save the Host file without moving it out of the etc folder and that is by opening an elevated Notepad (running Notepad as an admin) then going to File within Notepad and opening the Host file there. Then you can edit the Host file and save it without moving the Host file to a new location.
@9:02 - Windows allows you to select which Store Apps can access your "Camera, Microphone, location" but does not do it for Desktop Apps.
is there a registry fix to enable this for Desktop-Apps?
I'm pretty sure desktop apps are included in the list.
I know I went to use the same computer to do a video the following week after filming this and my microphone was disabled in my screen capture program. It's a desktop app and I was able to enable it.
regarding the hosts file, just open notepad with Run as Administrator then navigate to the c:\windows\System32\drivers\etc then make sure to change it from looking for .txt files to all files then you can edit the hosts file and save without the copy > edit > save > copy steps.
having more privacy sounds fantastic.
Is there a Wireshark pre/post difference?
It's downright thoughtful of them to make it this super easy to disable, when they know a lot of users want it.
Aren't people tired of applying scripts and things to block telemetry, for it to be negated after the next update? It's a never ending cycle.
If you have a router you could load that list of sites to block int he host file into the router, then microsoft can alter whatever they want to no avail.
"I've been smoking 50 a day and Drinking Lighter Fluid for over 10 years, I'm still alive" - not a great idea to advertise unhealthy life habits ;)
For a one shot fix try O and O's 'Shut Up Ten' (works on 11) - click a few boxes and youre done!
@RetroPC-vy3kt how to create the best windows 10 system?
The easiest solution would be to disable automatic updates. CyberCPU Tech probably has.
Besides, Microsoft made the operating system with all the back doors they need built right in for them to have their way with YOUR machine. Only way to keep figurative possession of the computer you physically posess is to format away that malware and use something else.
That's why I use Linux. Seeing that as of Windows 10 they've started to leverage that control against the end user.
Big tech wants your data with a powerful will. A HOSTS file edit won't stop code that uses TCP to implements its own DNS client to query well-known static IP addresses or gets a list of IP addresses through some other way. What you need in order to block that is a router that can be configured to not allow direct IP connections that weren't resolved by a DNS query. However, you will find that some online programs, file sharing services and games will not run because they rely on their home server telling them which IP address(es) to connect to. The fact that these other popular programs and games need direct IP access also means you open the door for telemetry to use the same methods. Businesses such as banks and hospitals have to go to great lengths to protect privacy, using technologies not reasonably available to home users.
How can you be sure, that Microsoft really isn’t spying on you after these changes. They could even use sth like proxy’s and just bypass the hosts file.
Exactly well put
It is simple the only way to finally beat. Hey game that cheats and it's unbeatable is to start playing the damn game
I agree. That's why I call them Micro💩
About the only way to get around that is to block those sites on your router or in a VPN. You might suffer a tiny loss of speed, but an external fence is about the only "certain" way. Of course, there is nothing stopping M$ from using alternate sites. There could also be routines buried in the Windows OS which determine "x" site is unavailable, use site "y".
@@The_DuMont_Network It's really pathetic how far they are going with this. Just give me an option to permanently disables all this crap I'd gladly pay 100 bucks for it every decade. or 5-7 years
@20NBA01 You can't be 100 % sure. but these tips and an external firewall, updating the rules periodically will be a help. I have actually gone into the OS and removed telemetry commands and exes, and substituted null ops (NOPS) for the suspect exe files. This is poking the bear, and not for the fainthearted, but I have had success. And of course, avoiding Google at any cost.
I like your communication style!
Very beautiful work my man. Helped a lot! Greetings from Spain 🎉
Those Privacy & security toggle switches are there to make you feel good. Try running wireshark before and after you switch them, almost zero difference.
Keep going, you're awesome 👍
Me personally I do all those steps, but I found Windows processes still randomly calling home found the only way to truly block them is use a reverse firewall like Simplewall.
Microsoft's old surface products (don't know about the newer ones) let you completely turn off the cameras, mic, etc all in the bios. So even if the settings get reset by some update the bios has them disabled completely.
Thank you Rich, your videos are really helpful! The presentation is good and the information you providd could not be any clearer!
If you have a modded host file, you duel boot, you can replace the host with a copy of the modded from the other OS with no issue.
Awesome video, Thanks.
You're welcome.
Bravo to you man, Just please notice well the "hosts" file should be "read-only" to work.
Where has this guy been all my life?
Linux users, why are you watching this then?
😂
Why not? Reminds us of why we left windows in the first place.. And, we all have relatives that still do use windows, who do you think they call when SHTF? Still good to know how to "subdue" MS's spyware..... Although, I still think all this can be undone by someone like MS, I still believe there is a back door in the coding that they can access, we just do not know about it yet, and, all that has been explained here can be undone by a few lines of code, of this, I am sure... Hell, just install the next update and all this has been undone anyway....
I run winblows in VM on top of host system running Linux
They feel alone without spying.
Because Linux doesn't have decent vr support
What the apps and websites like TH-cam and Facebook they are also interested in our data too
This is true. However, it's virtually impossible to protect your privacy on social media because the point of the app is giving away all your personal data. 🤷🏻♂️
@@CyberCPU I know but we can still limit by not giving them our real names and using a burner mails and phone numbers in addition to securing them with 2 factor authentication and passkeys
Excellent video, thank you!
Just got a Win11 laptop for my wife. I have already done these changes and I have still not even connected to the internet yet. Thanks.
Thanks for the great guide and channel. It is very helpful and much appreciated. I followed this guide for Windows 10. Everything worked for me except for disabling Diagnostics & feedback even after creating the registry key mentioned in the video. Is it different for Windows 10?
Really glad I found your channel. Thanks for the info and for making it easy to understand.
well its still doesn't show disabled Diagnostic Data on my Win 11 Pro 23H2 (local account) OS Build 22631.3085. it still shows sending required data.
14:36 dude, you can just turn off Windows update altogether when before turning these things off. Just wait til 2025 and I'm sure you'll have no reason to turn it on again afterwards. Or do it now for a little bit and do it all over again at the end if it's support cycle.
Great advice - Thank You! Will you be providing an update for windows 11 24H2?
forgot the link in the description for the github
Sorry, I forgot. It's there now.
Syncing bookmarks and settings between machines is a "good" way to let Microsoft to store your web browse potential and habits.
Very helpful. Thank you. Bring more videos like this.
The EASIEST way to stop Microsoft from spying on you is to get the Ghost Spectre version of Windows 10 or 11. It strips out all of the telemetry and useless features that no one wants and takes it a step further by giving you the option to make Windows look like 7 at install. Another benefit is my PC runs faster because all of that bloat is not running in the background.
@@The_DuMont_Network TH-cam channel Ghost Spectre
Do you know why their Windows 10 ISO and Windows 11 ISO are downloadable on two different sights??? Why would all their ISOs not be on the same URL??
@@klwthe3rd You get the latest ISO from the Ghost Spectre TH-cam page and I’ve been running this for years and never had issues.
@@LordOcelotThanks so much for your help. It seems there are so many other people on all platforms offering the link. I will check out their official TH-cam page thanks to you. So basically you have to run this OS unactivated and don't receive any security updates since it's not endorsed by Microsoft?
@@klwthe3rd correct! It has a built in activator that just removes the watermark and Updates are turned off until 2077. Most if not all phoning home is disabled by default and you can activate what you want. We’re talking the power back from Microsoft lol
Big help!! Thanks brother.
From pentium to the modern cpus the backdoors are hardware based so os security is limited.
Yes, correct. Built into chip. No way to get rid of it. Sys admin.
I thought I'd taken out much of the privacy stuff, but your video showed some I'd missed, so thank you for that, and yes, much of it works in W10 Pro.
I have a question however that I'm not willing to try without further research, so if you would be available to advise.
Your personal choice is you don't like MS accounts, freedom of choice, I can respect that. And my PC has a local login, but I do use MS OneDrive which signs in automatically when my system boots. I also use a MS email address which I don't want to loose the function off by disabling a MS account function (such as you describe at 7:05). At that timestamp does changing the MS account (not work as that is disabled anyway), but does that disable the MS Account prevent syncing of OneDrive, or do you mean it's just how you log into your PC, local vs online? Many thanks in advance.
feedback frequency is not in the settings
Man you're a star!! thankyou!! 🤩
Good video. I've watched a few of your videos and found them helpful. I'm now a subscriber. Any suggestions on how to get the search box on the task bar to work properly in Windows 11. My laptop is just over a month old and the search box doesn't work properly.
Great tutorial. Privacy/tracking has always been a concern of mine going all the way back to 3.11. I think your statement at the end sums it up - there is a definitely a balance and it is up to the individual user to decide what they want to allow.
I don´t have "Send my Activity History to Microsoft" setting on my device. There are only two settings available, "Store my activity on this device" and "Clear activity history for this account". How come?
I'm not sure. What version of Windows do you have? Home or Pro?
@@CyberCPU I have a Pro version.
can you share your video on using local account for Win OS 11. thanks
Great vid. Just subscibed.
My power settings seemed to get a little messed up but overall great- is there a way to bring back my power plan options? Now it only has 1 power plan option- and when I try to create a new power plan it says "Your power plan information isn't available", and "Windows can't save some of your changes to this power plan's settings- The system cannot find the file specified" - overall not worried as the power plan is the one I want but was wondering if this may have been affected? Thanks for all your videos!!!
Gr8 Vid. tell me what settings must be redone after windows upgrade?
It's easy to still get your "local" weather without giving up your full location details. Under Privacy & Security / Location you can set a "default" location. I set it to a municipal building that is within a mile or so of my address. Easy peasy, and a bit of privacy given up but without giving away my actual address.
Great video! I love the thumbnail. A little creepy but funny. I could imagine Im sitting in my kitchen having my morning coffee and reading the newspaper. out of the corner of my eye detect movement outside of my window and its Bill Gates.🤣🤣
after modifying the host file, will we still get updates etc?
Thanks for sharing. But why do you do not use group policy editor to made changes on a one position. There is more to disable as you can do on Windows Settings. A tip from me. Maybe do you can a video for that to. If you have time for that. ^^ Like your videos - Stay tuned.
Believe it or not, next week's video is exactly on that topic.
You can open and save the hosts file if you first open Notepad as an administrator.
I'd say Contacts, Calendar, and Account info are vital too.
you can modify the host file if you open notepad as administrator
With pro you can edit the local machine policy and disable telemetry and at user level aswell, is this the same fix but using the registry
Please help! I n RegEd (about 6:00 in the vid) I clicked on 64 bit value vs the video saying to click 32. My computer IS a x64-based PC. Am I ok leaving at 64 or need to change back to 32 as he says in the video? Thank you!!
I'm not an expert on anything so take this with a grain of salt. Considering that he's using Windows 11 and that windows 11 is only usable for 64 bit computers and still chose 32. I'd say change it to 32.
@@O-san4 So change from the 64 bit I currently have checked to 32 bit? Thank you
@@wincav yeah change to 32
@@O-san4 thank you
Could one create a scheduled task, that recreates these steps everyday around midnight, so any time Windows gets an update and restores its spying setup, our privacy settings kick in soon after? AFAIK, you can choose at which time you want to update, so you can do it 15 minutes before privacy settings get restored.
I don't understand why copying that list into the host file prevents Microsoft from connecting to those sites. Can someone please explain this. It just seems to me you've only added a list of sites to the hosts file. How does it negate connection?
I go one further with the camera and mic. I disable them in the system device manager.
You can't use a local account anymore. I've tried three tips including yours and it's a no go.
Great tutorial ❤
Thanks.
excellent video 😎🥳
Thanks for your tutorials which I just recently have been using.
Q: Disabling search results (9:47) I do not see a "Explorer" folder under: Microsoft > Windows. Is this because I'm using Chrome & not Explore?
Thank you for these videos they are very helpful to me with windows
I've experienced more scheduled tasks being re-created than re-enabled. Not sure if there's a reason for it, or just my luck, but figured it's worth mentioning.
How does adding these to the hosts file block anything? It doesn't.....
Wow, thank you so much...I did similar things when I was setting up my computer...and...yeah...most of the things were there again, I wasn't aware of that MS is activating all these things after an update -.- Thanks for pointing this out!
is this for Windows 10 also as the search web still show and Win10 dont have a Windows Explorer Folder in Task Manager
Great video! Something similar for Android? 🤔
After changing host, will I still be able to download the updates from Microsoft ?
My question is once you do windows update will it turn the settings back on and does windows update it's self spy ???
Hello great video however there are a couple of things that are not the same as you’re showing. In the activity history there is only one switch to turn off and that is Store my activity history on this device it does not have the other option. And there’s a second one, but I’ll have to find that one again. I’m running windows 11 Pro version 23H2.
Wi-Fi 6E will not work with 6Ghz channel when location service not allow?
For the local weather, I suggest going outdoors :)
If you launch notepad as administrator then go go file/open then browse to host file you can edit it
Many thanks, specially from 18:15 :)
after the regedit part it didn't shut off telemetry. It created 3 new files that go around the file I made.
What to do?
Switch to Linux.
the reg hacks from last year,that you posted about bing on the start menu are still working
Good to know. Microsoft has been pretty good lately at not undoing people settings with updates. However, it's still something I recommend checking.
@@CyberCPU crafty sods ain’t they
If we're running a 64-bit version of Windows 10, in the registry, do we want to create QWORD instead of DWORD?
Thank you for all these tips. Definitely gonna use them. However, I have some concerns about the host file modification. Won't it disable or hinder windows update, since your computer cannot connect to Microsoft servers? I like my privacy, but I also want my system to stay updated. Sorry, if this is a bit dumb question, but I am in no way IT skilled enough to understand which servers are being blocked by the modifications.
Thank you sir. Every little bit helps. Also. Can you direct us to perhaps a place where we can decipher whether we need a specific update that comes down the pipe. I have my update settings set to manual. And I notice things like Defender anti virus.....seeing how I use another anti virus, I'm assuming that I wouldn't need that. Your thoughts? Thanks
I don't recommend disabling Windows update.
Thanks dude, much appreciated.
Just did this on my end. Only thing I allowed through the hosts file were at the very bottom, specifically some xbox stuff. This is primarily because I occasionally use xbox game bar, but it's no biggie if I still can't, I can just use the mobile app for that
Just an F.Y.I, you can actually edit and re-save the hosts file, without having to copy it elsewhere and then back again. You just have to run notepad as administrator, then click File and open, then navigate to the hosts file and open it. Edit it and then save it. Done. 🙂
Awesome thanks for that helpful tip! I wonder if you can use FOSS Notepad++?
How do I turn an online Microsoft account (hotmail) into an offline account?
Great tutorial. Thanks!
Things changed since this video. You should to revisit and maybe make new video. Some of the functions changed name, and I am not sure what exactly to disable. Thanks.
I've been through two feature updates (22H2 and 23H2) and both the CEIP tasks and the Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser have remained disabled. Maybe MS will get sneaky one day but that's a pretty good sign that MS (for now) honours the settings of those tasks. I'd probably disable rather than delete as if it's missing MS might put it back with default setting, where as if it exists there's a better chance the update will leave it alone. Who know with MS though.
Then on some update you didn't realized happened, they turn all that on.
i turned this things off, but every update resets privacy to allow everything