Beware Cortana

[Iancider]

If you ever thought 1984 was bid pessimistic and exaggerated when it declared "Big Brother is Watching you" then read this CAREFULLY.

The biggest software supplier in the World has allowed us an upgrade to Windows 10 for free.  Why?  You will also have noticed recently that lovely helpful Cortana has appeared. 

If you wish to retain any privacy whatsoever, print this article now and follow it carefully.

Cortana will take control of you microphone, your video camera, will watch every key-stroke and will shape what it sends you according to what you have entered.  Read the top line again - Big Brother is now watching you.  You need to shut it down.  Here is how:

1 Look for the Windows icon in the bottom left of you screen and RIGHT click on it.

2 LEFT click on SEARCH

3 Do NOT correspond with the pop-up on the right

4 Look in the left sidebar for the Gearwheel icon and click on that

5 In the Panel on the right slide REMINDERS off

6 Set DEVICE SEARCH history OFF

7 Set "Search on-line and include results" OFF

8 Click on the Blue Print that says "Manage what Cortana knows about me in the cloud"
If you have done this pretty promptly then Cortana will not know much but if you have waited a while you will need to open an account to READ YOUR OWN DATA - shocking isn't it!  Hopefully if you nuke it early you can avoid that.  But do remember there is a keystroke monitor live so it will have picked-up all of you passwords.
Scared enough yet?  You haven't even started!

9 Scroll down on the right hand screen and just out of view you will find OTHER PRIVACY SETTINGS you will now see you are only a quarter way to protecting your privacy

10 Choose each of the headings on the LEFT starting with GENERAL (Concentrate!)

11 Under General turn everything off and click on "Manage Microsoft advertising..... " turn personalisation OFF then use the back arrow to go back

12 Now go down every heading on the left and and turn off access to you microphone, Camera and typing and inking

13 For the other TEN items on the left ask yourself do I want or need to share this with an organisation I have no control over and then turn it all off including what may seem useful such as clock and calendar because it all picks up and transmits data about you.

If you do want MS to know what you are thinking, where your kids go to school, when you are in or out, what you eat and buy and all of the more private details of your life such as the specifics of your health and wealth then ignore this process. 

Post Image: Also be aware DO NOT click on any links under Post Image on this forum - you will be bombarded with nasty SPAM and when you get it DO NOT click on Unsubscribe at the bottom - that merely validates your address and it will increase.  Most of what comes through is criminal intent so DO NOT click on any link at all.  DO NOT believe any of its content which is all SPOOFED and leads directly to crime.  I have warned The Gaffer about one very offensive image but beware any click at all will subject you to a torrent of nasty SPAM.

Sorry to be dramatic but you need to know this

Ian

['The Gaffer']

Not disparaging your post Ian, but this is not that dissimilar to Google recording / key-logging your searches and interests and targeting local ads at you, and Facebook logging every one of your likes whether you are on their website or anyones else's with a like button - All the better for them to build a profile about you and record what you actually like. Then we have smartphone location services that builds a record and transmits a list of the places you visit and when. Oh, and lets not forget every pic you post on the web may contain Exif data, the standard that was created to hold stuff that photographers might find useful such as the focal length etc, but there's a good chance that the picture records where it was taken too using built-in GPS, not good if you're sharing snaps with strangers. Oh, another one.. Facebook facial recognition tagging. Trying to keep a low profile? Not that easy when Facebook can automatically tag a name to any images of you that it finds!! Even mobile phone networks can present a clear picture of your every move if required.

The list goes on and on. Everyone is after your information these days and quite often we unwittingly keep spoon-feeding the mothership with daily snippets of our live's to provide a clearer picture of who we are, what we search for, where we go, what we eat, what we watch, what we wear, who our family members are and even what we drive!!

And lets not forget the billions of invasive virus' targeting your computer everyday phishing for your contacts, bank or credit card details etc etc.

I could write a whole page on this but we live in the digital age now where if you are too open with your personal lives, it will bite back! Case in point, the other night I watched a documentary about online security and a so called magician set up a spoof mind-reading show for a selected audience. He absolutely flabbergasted the guests when he revealed very personal details of their lives that no one else could possibly know. In actual fact, every piece of information he 'shocked' the guests with came from their own social media feeds. Have you ever looked in detail at the background in a pic you have posted? A door number? An address on an envelope on your desk? just little things that help the baddies create a profile or steal your identity.

As far as the advertising inks on Postimage, yes they are an annoying fact of life these days, but in my opinion, no more intrusive or offensive than many other blog banners found on the web. I have clicked on many of these links and yes, in most cases you are asked to subscribe to something, but criminal content? that would be very debatable and if I thought BKCC members were at the slightest risk of fraud, Postimage would be pulled in a second. I think most of us are sensible enough to realise that there is no such thing as a 'get rich quick scheme' or a 'meet the woman of your dreams in 5 days' etc so as Ian says, don't even bother clicking the links. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to free image hosting either, so unless the BKCC has limitless bandwidth to host our own images then for the moment, Postinage is the only choice that works. However, there is in fact a 'Family Safe' button to press when posting if you want to try and moderate the content of the ads that appear under your pics.

So, are we safe from the web? the simple answer is no. But by minimising our social footprint and taking care to secure our computers, we can certainly help reduce the risk. If you want to be totally anonymous, throw away your smartphone, delete all your online accounts, sail out to a desert island with no phone masts or wifi and build a tree house

[Facial Hair Optional]

I don't use Windows 10. I don't use Farcebook. I don't use Twatter. I don't use my phone for data if at all possible and I don't use GPS on it either. I have told people I know about this kind of thing for years. They don't listen. More fool them.

Big Brother has been watching us for decades!!!!!! I have recently ended a court case so I will not say more, I'm sorry but most people do not have the 1st microscopic clue of how much they are being monitored. However bad you think it is, you are wrong, it is much, MUCH worse than that!

[paintman]

I use Cortana and find it useful for answering messages whilst i'm up a ladder or got my hands in adhesive or such-like.

Think your getting a bit paranoid me old mate!!

[Facial Hair Optional]

If only that were the case. Just stating a fact I'm afraid.

You know what they say, 'just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you!!' ha ha ha!! 

[Gary RH7]

I live under a cupboard under the stairs and sometimes come out to post on this forum :'(Keeping low profile away from prying media...safe???

[benchmark51]

CES2016 next week too, just to cheer all the technophobes up!

[Facial Hair Optional]

I live under a cupboard under the stairs and sometimes come out to post on this forum :'(Keeping low profile away from prying media...safe???

You've obviously not heard of 'cupboard-cam' Gary 

[fletch_306]

They are welcome to my information, my bank banks with me so no one will ever get my cash. Facebook is boring for me and rarely go on their unless it's to see what my brother is messing up next!! Tbh unless you have something to hide most people won't be affected by anything more than annoying spam which is easy to junk delete and ignore if you regularly use your email account. I never have more than half a dozen emails to read at any time in my inbox. I do however avoid posting images online as they do seem to end up anywhere. Just my opinion but I don't even think turning things off will truly stop cortana or specially Microsoft reading keystrokes, viewing your camera and listening to your microphone. If your really worried cover your cam and unplug your microphone.