AlexAtkin   10 #277 Posted December 4, 2015 After reading your post i installed Zone Alarm firewall at 11.55 pm last night, Looked at it this morning at about the same time 11.55 am it had blocked 49 outgoing bits of information, Surely Surely this is illegal? I also might ad that the pc was not used in between installation of Z A F and checking this morning.  Is that with the optional stuff enabled or disabled in Windows (the stuff you choose after upgrading)?  Also, does that in include Windows Update merely reporting what updates you have installed so it knows what needs updating?  Do you have a Microsoft account, that is going to send a decent amount of data to report if you are online/offline, idle, if you earned achievements, etc. Your whole Windows desktop configuration will periodically sync to the cloud if you are logged into a Microsoft account too.  Zone Alarm will catch absolutely everything, including stuff that Windows has always done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
hotrock   10 #278 Posted December 4, 2015 Might be worth checking the settings in device manager for the network card. Under power management in the properties tab untick 'allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'. If your machine goes to sleep or the computer isnt used for a long period of time the wifi card doesnt turn back on when it wakes and a reboot is required to get it working again.  Also regarding W10 dialing home, Just change the host files to stop it reporting back. All though under Chrome the browser can work around any host file changes that affect their own services such as Bing.  I use Spybot's Anti-Beacon to block W10 telemetry.  Cheers, tried that and still no joy, i have to keep going through the command prompt and go through the rigmarole of resetting by entering netsh winsock reset all, netsh int ip reset reset .txt. ipconfig /flushdns. ipconfig /registerdns  i have this set on the desktop as an executable file and one clicked i can reaccess the net for another short burst then i click the file again Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
kidley   48 #279 Posted December 4, 2015 Is that with the optional stuff enabled or disabled in Windows (the stuff you choose after upgrading)? Also, does that in include Windows Update merely reporting what updates you have installed so it knows what needs updating?  Do you have a Microsoft account, that is going to send a decent amount of data to report if you are online/offline, idle, if you earned achievements, etc. Your whole Windows desktop configuration will periodically sync to the cloud if you are logged into a Microsoft account too.  Zone Alarm will catch absolutely everything, including stuff that Windows has always done.  windows 10 was automatically downloaded on my pc as i reserved a copy, all i did was install it on my pc, its no big deal on this pc as its only used for kodi but, i dont like been spied on, Your advice would be very much appreciated Alex. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
apelike   10 #280 Posted December 4, 2015 Zone Alarm will catch absolutely everything, including stuff that Windows has always done.  Not necessarily as Microsoft reporting also bypasses the normal user Windows Firewall settings and does not notify you. Zone Alarm can be set to notify you when any attempt to gain internet access is made which gives you the choice to allow or deny. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
AlexAtkin   10 #281 Posted December 4, 2015 I think you misunderstood what I said.  I meant that Zone Alarm will report everything, including connections that Windows has always made but as you didn't have Zone Alarm installed at the time you never knew it did. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Jeffrey Shaw   89 #282 Posted January 24, 2016 Q: should a Windows 7 user switch to Windows 10 and, if so, why? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
AlexAtkin   10 #283 Posted January 24, 2016 Q: should a Windows 7 user switch to Windows 10 and, if so, why?  I think everyone has already clearly voiced their opinion on this.  To summarise I say yes, for the same reason you should upgrade your device drivers and keep Windows updated in general. Security, efficiency and compatibility with future software.  If you play games then upgrading is even more of a must, as DirectX 12 makes better use of your resources (or will do once games are optimised for it) and a few games only support DirectX 12.  Offering Windows 10 upgrade for free is partly to try and push game developers to code for DirectX 12, make coding easier (and porting to/from Xbox One) and in turn push everyone onto Windows 10 quicker than people have traditionally upgraded in the past. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Mikes10 Â Â 10 #284 Posted January 25, 2016 Q: should a Windows 7 user switch to Windows 10 and, if so, why? Â Â Â I prefer W7, it has a much cleaner user interface than the 'Play School' interface of W8/W10 Â http://www.infoworld.com/article/2972298/microsoft-windows/10-reasons-you-shouldnt-upgrade-to-windows-10.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
AlexAtkin   10 #285 Posted January 25, 2016 (edited) I prefer W7, it has a much cleaner user interface than the 'Play School' interface of W8/W10 http://www.infoworld.com/article/2972298/microsoft-windows/10-reasons-you-shouldnt-upgrade-to-windows-10.html  I'm not sure cleaner is the right term, more easy on the eyes sure, but otherwise they are functionally identical and W10 is supposedly more GPU accelerated.  Windows XP had a cleaner interface still, but its not a good reason to keep using it.  Windows 10 has its issues, but I'm yet to see a single rational argument for sticking with Windows 7 beyond the initial upgrade pains and occasional patch glitches. I might add, its not just W10 that has had the Microsoft patch of death problem, my mums Windows 7 machine had an update that gave it the black screen of death forcing me to install W10 to get a usable system.  So let me summarise that link you posted.  10. Ongoing privacy concerns. These apply to Windows 7 and 8.1 too, its about Microsoft trying to catch-up with Google and Apple in advertising revenue. You use any modern commercial OS and you are putting your privacy in their hands, even if you use Linux you are trusting the community. The fact people are panicking now about privacy is not that privacy is suddenly an issue, its just they are finally being told to think about it when they were blissfully ignorant before. 9. OneDrive regression. Do you use the functions that have regressed? If not, its a none issue. 8. Missing Media Center and DVD player. Media Center has been dead for years, few people used it and most should have moved on by now due its lacking functionality. Install VLC for DVDs, but then hardly any PCs come with DVD drives any more so who even uses this now? 7. Not much in the way universal apps. Windows 7 had zero universal apps, so this is hardly an argument for not upgrading. On the other hand, 10 has the same apps as 8.1 (although there have been quite a lot more released since 10 came out), so again no loss there. Netflix alone is worth upgrading for as it offers SuperHD and surround sound, the browser version does not. 6. Key apps including mail and edge arent ready yet. Who wants to use Edge anyway? IE is still there and most people are using Chrome these days. Mail is perhaps an issue for some, but I have never used Microsoft mail apps anyway as I do not believe in tying yourself to your OS vendor. 5. Win10s tablet mode may not appeal to you. This obviously only applies to people upgrading from 8.1 as 7 had no such functionality. I have heard some people annoyed with the changes, but personally I think its far better than 8.1 plus its improved since the article was made. 4. The installer may not be ready for you. This is a none-issue now as its referring to the staggared rollout at launch. 3. Forced updates This is long overdue. There has been some issues obviously, but in the long-term this is a good thing as the majority of PC users haven't a clue about updates. If forced updates had been in place years ago we wouldn't have half as many botnets out there today. Most people just do not understand the security implications of not updating so it had to be taken out of their hands. I get the argument for having an option for power users to disable this, but the problem there is notice users will end up disabling it too out of misinformation. Far better to just take that option away entirely, assuming Microsoft can get on top of the update problems of course. 2. Ain't broke, don't fix. BS argument as you could just as well say the same about Windows 1. People are reluctant to change and get so used to how something works that they do not realise that it could work better. There are rough patches in Windows 10 but there are also clear improvements, especially when it comes to efficiently using your hardware. Its obviously much easier to see the negatives than the positives but that doesn't mean they do not exist. 1. Questions, Questions, Questions You see, they couldn't even come up with 10 genuine reasons not to upgrade, they had to make up the last one. Edited January 25, 2016 by AlexAtkin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
apelike   10 #286 Posted January 25, 2016 Has Microsoft ever released any details of what and why Win 10 is better than 7 for the average user. As far as rational arguments no one has yet given a good one for not sticking to Win 7.  Direct X 12 and possible "supposed" GPU acceleration? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Guest   #287 Posted January 25, 2016 Has Microsoft ever released any details of what and why Win 10 is better than 7 for the average user. As far as rational arguments no one has yet given a good one for not sticking to Win 7.  Direct X 12 and possible "supposed" GPU acceleration?  Just do a search on google or similar, there's plenty about what's changed under the hood from 7 to 8 to 8.1 to 10 out there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
apelike   10 #288 Posted January 25, 2016 Just do a search on google or similar, there's plenty about what's changed under the hood from 7 to 8 to 8.1 to 10 out there.  I have but its still very vague.  So far we have: Log into windows with a Microsoft account A new start menu (mainly because of complaints) Universal apps and Windows store Cortana Edge Windows defender by default DX 12 And a number of security and under the hood improvements that Microsoft wont tell you about, so its hard to find information on just what they are, what has been improved and in what way.  Now I do not want to use a Microsoft account, Windows store, Cortana, Edge or windows defender. From what I can gather many prefer to use non Microsoft browsers, antivirus and firewalls. That now leave us with very little to convince me and others to upgrade from win 7.  Seems like they are also not giving the consumer the choice of different browsers like they were forced to do with win 7. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...