Any way to disable Microsoft tracking you?

I know that microsoft has two features in vista in which it records all the programs you ever launch and the other one is to record/trace what websites you access. Is there anyway to disable these services?

p.s. I'm also pretty sure that the program launching feature is also in XP.

 

go with mac or linux

lol, i rly dont know. heck i didnt even know that feature thing was there...

 

Do you mean something along the lines of recently opened files which can be seen through the "Recent Items" option in Vista? If so, anti-spyware programs such as Ad-Aware SE will remove these files.

If you go with Mac that just means Steve Jobs is watching you!

 

Well, IE's phishing filter needs to clear each website you go to with Microsoft to make sure it's not a known phishing site... you can turn this off in the IE7 options somewhere... if you don't use IE then it won't be an issue (although Firefox has a similar feature using Google that you can also disable).

I'm not familiar with the other issue you mentioned... sorry.

 

I've heard that even older windows copy everything into a page.sys file. Cisco Secure Desktop is supposed to protect the employers network data by making a virtual desktop and erasing everything after logout 7 x times, however I've heard that the page.sys file makes the software futile. Is Vista still using the 'ol page.sys system?

 

I wouldn't say the whole pagefile/swap file system is "old" - but yes Vista still has one (most OSes do - OS X and Unix included). Think of it as a way to temporarily emulate more RAM than you actually have on your HDD. I really wouldn't recommend it, but you can turn it off (allocate it to 0 in the virtual memory preferences).

If you care about the pagefile, you'll probably also want to get rid of hibernation and delete hiber.sys (or whatever it's called) too...

Then again, what with having a registry and all, you'll still have a record of just about everything you install on the system anyway, and even reg cleaners won't be able to get rid of every single one of those entries.

 

You'll have to elaborate on what you know. What specifically are these two features called? Where is this information recorded? Why do you believe that they are implemented as services?

To assist you in answering these questions, for some time, Windows has had a facility called prefetch that could be construed as tracking all launched programs. Using Firefox rather than IE is another hint. Also, cleaning out the Event Viewer logs may placate the paranoid.

 

don't go online, now Windows can't track you

 

keep blaming windows or whatever, one easily forgets that the ISPs are the one that track/store every single bit/byte coming out of one's browser. Think about google, yahoo and the search engines lot.

if one is concerned just in the system areas, use some free apps (like cCleaner) to clear out ur internet actions before shutting down the systems.

cheers ...

 

Zero and physically destroy your hard drive(s) after every (offline, I hope) session.

 

To me its like having an audience to entertain. Wait until I get a webcam!

We live in a society, that I am sorry to say, no longer has the freedoms of privacy. So many have traded it for security. Which would you choose?

 

I mean there is a file that records everytime you launch a program and I'm guessing Microsoft has access to that file. I'm not talking about things like my recent documents or emptying the recycling bin or anything along those lines. I mean this feature was not created for the user's gain.

http://www.abandonia.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15364&st=0

^^ This is not exactly what I'm talking about but another problem.

I mean I don't really care about microsoft knowing what I launch (except that its a privacy issue so princiapally I don't like it)

but the main thing is that I don't want them to know what I surf on the internet. This isn't something managed by the browser so a simple switch or clearing the cookies won't do anythinng. I read about a lady who got locked up (death penatly I forget?) because she searched "How to Buy Guns" and her husband was dead a week later. If "spied" recorded internet searches count as evidence then I don't want to be a suspect in a murder case because I searched for "how to use a gun."

 

well, upon further research, it appears that that guy was using a torrent client and well I can say that it's no suprise that government and foriegn nations are trying to connect him, it happens all the time if you use peergaurdian. I only read his first post.

but I am still positive there is a file that stores all the applications that you've ever launched and I'm not talking about installation.

 

Well said! Who cares that Microsoft or Apple is tracking you.

New York is already starting to implement cameras to watch you 24/7, you're whole life is recorded in exchange for what they call "security".

Computer anonymity really should be the lease of your concerns when pretty much all our freedoms have been removed already.

 

There was such a file in XP and probably is in Vista as well, but it was not for such nefarious purposes as the conspiracy theorists might lead you to believe. It was used to keep track of how often you launched an application so that the defragmentation utility could use that information to move most often used files together to increase the apparaent speed of disk access.

If you are really so paranoid as to think Microsoft is spying on you, I am sure the website you sited above will be happy to give you adivce on applications that will run at shutdown time and wipe clean and cached information that you are so afraid of. There are many such applications out there catering to the conspiracy crowd.

Gary

 

It IS something managed by the browser. The case you sited about the guns was broken by a simple search of the woman's "temporary internet files" folder. There is no other super double secret cache of every page you visit. Don't believe that, boot to dos and use a low level disk sector scanner and search for the name of some web site you visit and see what you find.


Gary

Gary

 

yea what are you doing that you think someone is spending the time watching you......as long as no major financial information is readily available, I wouldn't worry too much

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/security/guide.mspx

http://tweakhound.com/vista/tweakguide/

 

That, without evidence, is called superstition or urban legend. Look in the highlighted directory of the attachment here for that history of fetched programs. And to add to that, why would you even be concerned about showing that a program that is already on your PC was launched? Especially when your ISP likely tracks every URL your IP address has been to over the past 5 or 6 years?

 

Well, I would say she was guilty then. And if you need directions on how to use a gun, just ask me.

 

Yu could dual boot Linux, with a FAT partion to exchange data with, and then using Vista only when offline.
This way, you get two pigeons with one stone: no more spying on you, and a safe "internet experience" (that is to say you won't be hijacked and will have the possibility to scan possible viruses, spyware and malware while you are still in an environment that is not affected by them).

Might be worth trying, if you feel your privacy is at stake.
With Linux you can inspect the source code of every free app you use to access the net. (free as in free speech, in this case).

 

Heh Google takes in and monitors more information than Microsoft ever has. Probably right up there with the US government.

 

This is a good discussion to have.

Privacy is being seriously eroded and folks have to care enough about it to do anything about it. Google's ability to scan your gmail and provide ads is analogous to the post office opening your mail and sticking in store ads based on what you wrote. They may not read it for content/care what it says, but it's still unwanted.

But it's true of anything sent electronically. Every email a person sends goes through several relays that keep a copy of that message for an indeterminate period of time.

The best advice I've heard (for the truly paranoid) is to have two computers: one for web surfing/email. The other for all of your personal stuff (accounting, photos, etc.) that's important to you, you wouldn't want anyone else to have or manipulate, and that's never connected to the web.

 

I used to support "black hole" projects and those computers did not have connections to the outside world, in fact, if a tape came in it could never go back out.

 

Here is a more technical dissertation on prefetch as implemented in Windows.