SecuPerts Anti-Spy for Windows 10 is on GOTD today. And from a reasonably reputable software dev, it serves GOTD's purpose, giving some folks the kind of software they want. Personally I'm not interested, based on simple logic -- Microsoft exists to make money [their trillion or near trillion dollar evaluation proves that], and there's not a dime to be made off the knowledge of what I did while using Win10 today. The old saying is look for means, motive, and opportunity to prove a crime... well Microsoft certainly has the means and opportunity, but any possible motive eludes me. There's no reason for Microsoft to want to store individualized *granular* data on Win10 users -- storage costs money, and it would be insane for them to spend the time and money securing stored data that was worthless.
From the SecuPerts Anti-Spy for Windows 10 site itself: "Windows and even other programs are likely to know exactly where you are." Ummm, if you've got a cell phone, your location is known within cm. "You receive personalized advertising" One of the easiest 1st steps you should turn off setting up a new Win10 install. "Microsoft can share the bandwidth you pay for every month, for instance, to distribute its own updates." Likewise should be turned off under Delivery Optimization during setup. "Your personal data are sent to Microsoft servers in Redmond, California." *Only* what data *you* provide. They also talk about Cortana storing info, but it's up to you whether you use Cortana, or Alexa, or Google's service, and if you do, it's also up to you to decide how much risk is involved in their anonymized data storage. If you use a service to order a pizza you should realize that your choice of toppings is going to be stored, probably in a few places, like the pizza place so they can track how much pepperoni to order next week. Anyways...
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You might have herd the term *big data*, and most everyone’s heard of AI [Artificial Intelligence]. In a nutshell, vast quantities of [usually anonymized] data is worth tons of cash – reportedly that’s why Microsoft was willing to acquire TikTok, as it would have given them tons of data that they could feed to their AI for training. At the same time Microsoft, along with some software companies, collects real-time and near real time data on how things are going with their software to spot problems and aid in tweaking the way their servers operate. That tweaking aspect is also used with web sites – slightly different designs or arrangements are shown to different users and their reactions are tracked. Sales and marketing agencies are also involved, hoping to track individual users to learn likes vs. dislikes and serving them up [sometimes micro] targeted ads [something we’ve seen a LOT of with recent elections].
Note that this tracking I’ve been talking about is separate from *scraping data* from social networks like Facebook, where detailed data is provided voluntarily. Considered by most as unethical, it happens a lot, e.g., it’s how criminals [and BTW government agencies] might build a profile to target specific people for scams &/or theft.
Microsoft itself could care less what sites you visit, or what conversations you have – there’s little to no way to monetize that data, and money is what Microsoft’s about – but some government agencies are interested, sometimes Very interested. How much they’re allowed to get away with, and how much of this spying they do anyway, varies according to where you live. And it’s not necessarily the national security agencies either – local authorities can and sometime do run fake cell towers that act as middlemen, capturing all cellular traffic crossing them.
Generally, the answer Is Not software like SecuPerts Anti-Spy… if it gives you a [false] sense of security, and so relieves some stress, go for it, but otherwise it’s just marketing playing on susceptibility to paranoia. When you surf the web use your browser’s Privacy Mode, blocking both ads and trackers – that also renders apps that allege to clean up those tracks less than useless. If you don’t want your conversations recorded, use something like Telegram &/or ProtonMail. If you don’t want anyone to be able to record what sites you connect to, or what you do there, use a VPN &/or the TOR browser.
Your PC [or laptop or whatever] can be identified by the IP address, which gives the location of the network you used, and by the device’s MAC address, which is specific to the network chip in that device. A VPN [or proxy server] disguises your IP address, though some keep logs that can be given to government agencies, while the TOR browser will route your connection through several anonymous [non-logging] proxies. There are apps to change your apparent MAC address, or you can change the MAC address randomly using a VirtualBox VM, which can also take care of another potential privacy concern…
Windows Is Not designed to hide or mask anything you do – in fact it’s the opposite, with a hard focus on remembering what you’ve done to make it easier/faster the next time. It’s next to impossible to hide or get rid of All the data Windows stores about your activities, regardless any promises whatever apps may make. But you can easily enough use a Windows VM [Virtual Machine]. When you set up Win10 on a new VM, it’s stored entirely on a VHD [Virtual Hard Disk]. You can store a copy of that VHD, then copy & paste it over the one you just used, resetting everything back to zero. And/or you can store that VHD anywhere, including on a microSD card that’s easily hidden or destroyed. You can use VeraCrypt to encrypt that VHD if you want or use a hidden VHD buried in a VeraCrypt encrypted VHD.
You can also make it a practice to when possible give wrong or fake data, have and use multiple accounts and so on. For example, Amazon will deliver to pickup sites, and if you use a pre-paid credit card there’s no reason for them to have your correct address. You don’t have to live *off the grid* to take advantage of some of that lifestyle’s benefits. How far you go is up to you, and how concerned you are about someone or some company or agency building a profile. And if you really want to get paranoid, consider putting whatever you’re going to post anywhere through a translator – people tend to say things in a certain, identifiable way – and copy paste the contents – you’re identifiable by the cadence of your typing – and just generally read up on operational security. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯