Microsoft stirs suspicions by adding telemetry files to security-only update

We don&#x27;t know if this is a security update or not.<p>This is an article, about an article, about a blog post, about a random comment. Someone grabbed the update&#x27;s file change list, spotted files used by the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) and then said that because those files were updated that this security update &quot;added telemetry.&quot;<p>Problem is that those files previously exist on Windows 7 as part of CEIP and may require legitimate updates (inc. security). You still need to opt into the CEIP so that telemetrics are sent to Microsoft, and there&#x27;s no proof that this update has changed that.<p>I guess what I am saying is: There could be a story here, hypothetically, but this article lacks enough information to say that there is. This could be a legitimately security update to an unpopular part of the Windows 7 OS.

The last time I helped my wife with a Windows 10 install, I was utterly grossed out. I&#x27;ve always been suspicious about snooping and covert logging, and spent years playing the game about blocking it all, but Windows 10 is crazy invasive.<p>I mean, by default, it wants to send every keystroke back to Microsoft servers! For &quot;diagnostic purposes&quot;, I guess. And every URL that you visit. That&#x27;s arguably worse than Google. Which is saying a lot.

You know, I would do quite a lot to get full granular control of Windows Update back. I&#x27;d sign and mail a liability waiver. I&#x27;d send Microsoft a box of chocolates. I&#x27;d take a training course and pass a standardized licensing exam.<p>In the meantime I&#x27;m stuck dealing with Windows Update breaking things every week. I&#x27;ve completely given up on ever using my convertible laptop as a tablet again because every day I have to replace the updated broken drivers for the orientation sensor with the good ones from a fresh install of Windows and every night it dutifully installs the broken updated ones and there&#x27;s not a damned thing I can do about it without disabling Windows Update entirely.

Since I have very clear memories of the first time MS did something like this, it kills me that no one publishes articles with quite the same degree of alarm about the massive amounts of telemetry that Google, Facebook, Amazon, et al. have successfully deployed. I mean, I don&#x27;t like MS, but they&#x27;re kind of like the annoying acquaintance who always pushes their latest MLM scheme while we all live in a neighborhood full of gangster thugs.

Yawn. That would only be a problem if you choose to run Micro$oft software. And it is in your hands to fix the problem by going with Linux etc. (key word is choose...i realise it is imposed on many, specially in the enterprise world).

How on earth is MSFT supposed to maintain comparability for quintillions of iterations of hardware across millions of machines with no data on what works and what doesn&#x27;t? Unlike FAANG they aren&#x27;t out there pushing listening devices or trying to build exclusive data sets; they are trying to maintain the stability and security of 78.43% of the world&#x27;s desktop computers. I don&#x27;t care for the alarmism here when there are blazing infernos of actual malevolence burning in every direction.

If no one is paying you, is there still any good reason to use Windows?

Not sure what happened lately, Microsoft is having a stint of bad news as well! They must always remember that the faith now is hard earned through lots of good decisions and generosity.

wolf in sheep&#x27;s clothing, the &quot;new&quot; microsoft.

I don&#x27;t have this problem on Linux.