More Windows bloatware

[James Perrett]

On windows 10 Pro you can only defer updates for 35 days.

Mine is deferring indefinitely - I've skipped whole releases before going straight from 1909 to 20H2. I only updated because Microsoft were stopping security updates for 1909. I don't allow it to install any updates automatically but I tend to allow it to install security updates when it asks to.

[Dynamic Mike]

Maybe it's just me but I can only seem to update everything (apart from feature updates) or nothing, and I don't like deferring security updates. Feature updates automatically become part of the next monthly update anyway so there's no escaping them.

You'd expect Windows Pro to be more work flow focused instead of pandering to the clickbait and social media generation.

[James Perrett]

I know I had to dig fairly deeply to set things up as I wanted. As far as I can see, the setting I used is in the Local Group Policy Editor under Local Computer Policy->Computer Configuration->Administrative Templates->Windows Components->Windows Update->Configure Automatic Updates which is enabled and set to 2.

[S.Crow]

You'd expect Windows Pro to be more work flow focused instead of pandering to the clickbait and social media generation.

The last version of Windows Pro that wasn’t just a superset of the Home version was Windows 2000.
Since then the Home and Pro versions share the same code base with Home having relatively few features disabled.

[Dennis J Wilkins]

I have no such issues in my studio -- two PC Audio Labs Rok Boxes running Windows 7 Pro. One is never connected to the Internet and the other connected only briefly if needed to install/authorize new software. They run fast and glitch-free, never suggest an update, use no virus software and have never have. And so far I have found only one program that wouldn't install in Win 7 (Melodyne 5 since the installer refuses to run when it detects Win 7). I have installed dozens of programs claiming to require Win 8 or Win 10, and all work fine.

Win 8 was a disaster and Win 10 has caused many friends and associates a lot of anguish even if it does work OK most of the time. I've run digital audio in my studio since Windows 3.1 (audio for video production at first using Software Audio Workshop) and Win 7 has been by far the most stable, day in and day out. So as "they" say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I realize and understand companies cannot continue to support their programs in Win 7 (I spent decades in software development myself) but also know that almost any program written in a Win 8 or 10 environment will run in Win 7. Since I have a fully functional virtual studio that can handle over a hundred 24-bit audio tracks if needed, and have dozens of synth and sampler emulations and hundreds of audio processors, I'll run these systems as long as I can. I certainly won't ever "upgrade" them to Win 10 or beyond, and will replace them only when I can no longer keep them running!

[merlyn]

For anyone fed up with Windows 10 it's possible to try Linux set up for multi-media here :

http://www.bandshed.net/avlinux/

I would create a bootable USB stick with AVLinux on it and try AVLinux without installing it first to see what you think. Someone who uses Reaper with mostly Reaper plug-ins would find the transition mostly painless I would think. Reaper has also recently added LV2 (the Linux plug-in format) support so there are a lot of Linux plug-ins now available for Reaper.

AVLinux comes with a ton of plug-ins pre-installed. There's also WINE and lin-vst for running Windows plug-ins, which works a lot of the time.

It is different from Windows and it's highly recommended to read the manual before you try it :

http://bandshed.net/pdf/AVL-MXE-User-Manual.pdf

It's possible to get an idea of what AVLinux is like just from the manual.

[Dynamic Mike]

I know I had to dig fairly deeply to set things up as I wanted.

Thanks for that. I'll give it a go.

[adrian_k]

One side effect of the news/weather thing is that I noticed that w10 knows my location. I’m guessing from the ip address or WiFi router name? Anyway there doesn’t seem to be the option to turn off location tracking unless I create an MS account, which I don’t want to do, I only need a local account. Am I missing something? Are they really saying I can only control my privacy options by having an account, thereby giving MS more information about me?

[Dynamic Mike]

Am I missing something? Are they really saying I can only control my privacy options by having an account, thereby giving MS more information about me?

We had a power outage last week. It took out 5 or 6 adjoining postcodes & lasted around 6 hours. My wife phoned the SP Energy advice line on her mobile (obviously no power, no wifi), pressed one for an automated helpline and the response knew our address down to the house number! Given we both have location services disabled on our phones & we've never called them before, I still can't figure out how they knew.

The fact that MS (& others like Google) need to know who you are in order to not collect your data just infuriates me. I pay a subscription for a tracker app on my car, I have no problem with that because I had a choice & I opted in.

[Eddy Deegan]

One side effect of the news/weather thing is that I noticed that w10 knows my location. I’m guessing from the ip address or WiFi router name?

I can help you there. It's not specific to Microsoft. Everybody who knows the real external IP address of your router knows your rough location.

Try it for yourself: https://whatismyipaddress.com/

VPNs can help by hiding your real address, although they slow down your connection a bit and cost money. You also run the risk of being blocked by some services if your 'apparent' IP address is a known VPN endpoint.

Given we both have location services disabled on our phones & we've never called them before, I still can't figure out how they knew.

Again, not a big tech company thing. Your phone is a location beacon in and of itself. As to exactly how the electric company knew I can't say, but there are any number of reasonable, if speculative, explanations.

Folks worry about big tech, internet tracking, cookies and whatnot but if you have a mobile of any description then even without any data or wifi enabled you're broadcasting your location to the world at large.

Further, if your phone has ever been used to call this-or-that service then they know your number and there are databases that track mobile phone numbers based on the registered address for that number. There are also databases that track the geolocation of your IP address, so if you use wi-fi or data services on your phone for any reason at all then unless you use a VPN service you can be assured that every single website or other remote IP address your phone communicates with knows where you are.

It shouldn't happen, but it does. Mobile phones are wonderful personal tracking devices that almost all civilians carry around willingly and that the secret services of years gone by couldn't have wished for in their wildest and most optimistic dreams.

I don't use a VPN (I don't feel the need to) but if you don't want pretty much everyone to know where you are and what you're accessing it's the only real defence short of binning the mobile and terminating your ISP subscription but it still won't hide your location from the phone providers.

[Mike Stranks]

There's a solution for those worried about the inevitability of what we've bought into for the sake of convenience and revolutionising our lives at all levels:

Throw away/permanently switch-off your phones, tablets and computers and employ a couple of people who will run around with your messages in cleft sticks.

Seriously though guys... Yup! 'They' know who we are, what we're up to and where we live... and they have, to varying degrees, for very many years.

So what's the solution? Fretting and grizzling is easy... how are you going to fix it?

One could argue that society has sacrificed whatever privacy it had for the truly transforming effect that the digital revolution since the 1960s has had on all our lives. There's no going back... and in reality very very few people would want to.

[The Elf]

Well said, Mike.

[Drew Stephenson]

Yep, the key thing is doing a bit of research on the company you're signing up with, check their privacy policies and make your own decisions about what level of trade-off you're happy with.

[N i g e l]

I can help you there. It's not specific to Microsoft. Everybody who knows the real external IP address of your router knows your rough location.

.

For my desktop PC, based on the ISP server, it is very rough and can be 100 miles out. Seems to vary at least on a daily basis.

thats half the reason I turned off the weather app - whose weather were they giving me ?

[Hugh Robjohns]

My wife phoned the SP Energy advice line on her mobile (obviously no power, no wifi), pressed one for an automated helpline and the response knew our address down to the house number! Given we both have location services disabled on our phones & we've never called them before, I still can't figure out how they knew.

Almost certainly because the phone number was registered with them as a contact number.

[Dynamic Mike]

One could argue that society has sacrificed whatever privacy it had for the truly transforming effect that the digital revolution since the 1960s has had on all our lives. There's no going back... and in reality very very few people would want to.

That's easy to say if you live in a democracy.

From what I've seen in reality cop shows, if you've turned your phone off in the UK, you're probably hiding a body.

[Dynamic Mike]

My wife phoned the SP Energy advice line on her mobile (obviously no power, no wifi), pressed one for an automated helpline and the response knew our address down to the house number! Given we both have location services disabled on our phones & we've never called them before, I still can't figure out how they knew.

Almost certainly because the phone number was registered with them as a contact number.

SP Energy just maintain the grid, the account is with E-On and they have my number, not my wife's.

[Folderol]

One could argue that society has sacrificed whatever privacy it had for the truly transforming effect that the digital revolution since the 1960s has had on all our lives. There's no going back... and in reality very very few people would want to.

That's easy to say if you live in a democracy.

From what I've seen in reality cop shows, if you've turned your phone off in the UK, you're probably hiding a body.

Well in that case, I must be hiding a towns-worth of bodies

[Rich Hanson]

One could argue that society has sacrificed whatever privacy it had for the truly transforming effect that the digital revolution since the 1960s has had on all our lives. There's no going back... and in reality very very few people would want to.

That's easy to say if you live in a democracy.

From what I've seen in reality cop shows, if you've turned your phone off in the UK, you're probably hiding a body.

Well in that case, I must be hiding a towns-worth of bodies

You have been doing an awful lot of 'gardening' recently...

[Kwackman]

From what I've seen in reality cop shows, if you've turned your phone off in the UK, you're probably hiding a body.

Well in that case, I must be hiding a towns-worth of bodies

That explains your recent re-landscaping of your back garden...
https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... 88#p758188
I hope no-one who attended your recent SOS get together has been reported missing!