Windows 10 "How To" : Disable Cortana and Telemetry in three manual steps.

Cortana is a keylogger in the windows 10 botnet, and Telemetry is the data collector that actually sends both metadata and files from your pc to MS servers. This is all stated in the TOS and you agree upon this when you install Windows 10.

However, as I stated in an earlier thread when Windows 10 wasnt out yet:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I have put together a simple guide to disable Cortana and Telemetry alltogether. If you have any questions on how to do this that I didnt cover in the video please feel free to ask them here and I will gladly be of assistance.

the Video is here, please enjoy, and please do follow these steps beacuse if you are not you are just one terminal in the massive Windows 10 botnet.

youtu.be...

I apologize in advanced for poor english and poor sound quality of the microphone (I had it turned up too loud and was too lazy to re-record..)
Also please put it to full HD, and Fullsscreen, otherwise you wont be able to see what the hell Im doing.
Sorry for not using the Zoom function.
This is the first time I am making an interactive video.

If you want I can also write the instructions here in clear text if you find the video to tech savvy or whatever.
Thanks, and please dont bash my english.

I actually forgot one service upon reviewing the video - its called Diagnostics Tracking Service.
Make sure to disable that aswell.

I wonder how many disabled services will be re-enabled during updates? I think this will happen because as you said in your op, its in the TOS.

I tried Cortana at a buddy's house the other day and didn't like her.
I tried to disable her by telling her to kill herself.
She replied "one of us needs to step back and take a breath and one of us doesn't have lungs", Or something among those lines.

a reply to: VoidHawk

most likely none because of the registry edits.
either way its a non issue.
when ms disables gpedt and regedit we have a problem. but not until then.
and if you find services re-enablimg themselves you can physically delete them by hacking the SYSTEM account to circumvent the access denied issue.

Pretty sure in time there will be a AIO put forth by modders in Warez forums once windows 10 plays out and all is discovered. Till then I will stick with my stable windows ultimate warez mod that is able to recieve updates through a proper activator.

originally posted by: alienDNA
Cortana is a keylogger in the windows 10 botnet, and Telemetry is the data collector that actually sends both metadata and files from your pc to MS servers. This is all stated in the TOS and you agree upon this when you install Windows 10.

However, as I stated in an earlier thread when Windows 10 wasnt out yet:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I have put together a simple guide to disable Cortana and Telemetry alltogether. If you have any questions on how to do this that I didnt cover in the video please feel free to ask them here and I will gladly be of assistance.

the Video is here, please enjoy, and please do follow these steps beacuse if you are not you are just one terminal in the massive Windows 10 botnet.

youtu.be...

I apologize in advanced for poor english and poor sound quality of the microphone (I had it turned up too loud and was too lazy to re-record..)
Also please put it to full HD, and Fullsscreen, otherwise you wont be able to see what the hell Im doing.
Sorry for not using the Zoom function.
This is the first time I am making an interactive video.

If you want I can also write the instructions here in clear text if you find the video to tech savvy or whatever.
Thanks, and please dont bash my english.

Why did they have to corrupt the "Cortana" idea? It would have been awesome if it was not recording and sending stuff to the NSA.

a reply to: alienDNA

I actually enjoyed the feel of Win10 while it was installed ... I could see me getting , 'reeled in' .. to a point where i wouldn’t want to go without it ..

But I dont trust it (them) ...

to me .. it seems likely, it has been built from the ground up, with this 'im watching everything youre doing' mentality ...
in its infancy, they have made it clear, they want our data ... where in the past, they werent so 'clear' about it ...

with options set to 'on' as default .. that have to be manually switched off once you find them .. it would not surprise me in the slightest, if there are other 'hidden' technologies hard coded into the OS that just outright spy on you and trasnmit your data anyway ...

Seems likely to me, MS, due to past experience, are fully aware of the community of coders . modders .. and general geeks out tehre .. that will want to get right into every nook and cranny of the OS .. and disable whatever they can in that respect ...

Bein open about wanting our data, doesnt make these companies great .. they just realise it just makes it easier for them to take it now .. since we still 'use these related services' they provide anyway

If ever a company was sinister .. it seems likely it always will be ... and Win10 has alarm bells ringing all over for me. ... i quickly uninstalled it again .. will wait a few years or so to see what all the geeks dig up on it

i switched to ubuntu dual booting with win7 for now ... win7 will do me til its not supported and fizzles out .. by which point .. there should still be many linux distros being updated regularly ... they are faaar more appealing to me than win10 .. just wish they were as compatible

Visual guide to disable Telemetry and data collection in Windows 10
Allot of other useful Windows 10 guides listed in this link -^

I prefer to use Ubuntu but need Windows 10 for tech support. You can download Ubuntu ISO and burn to a thumb drive. Boot to the thumb drive and follow the instructions to install alongside Windows 10.

Installing this @#$^! Win10 was a nightmare. Long story.

*bump

a reply to: alienDNA

I will make sure I keep this page in my fav in case I need to use the information, thanks.

I refuse to install windows 10, to replace my windows 7, but because can not predict the future, is nice to know how to circumvent the spying crap in windows 10, I hope developers will come out with more information on the issue.

my son tried to disable it along with a bunch of other crap, with moderate success.
it was opening all this crap at startup and talking up sometimes 100% of memory.
half the crap it was opening I wouldn't have used anyway, and well even after he tried to fix it, it's still running slower than crap most of the time.
wish they would just come out with a windows basic....
maybe have a list of extras we can add on,
but well something without all those bells and whistles that probably a great many of us just aren't interested in, and the nerve of them thinking that they should be opened up at startup!!!

I did disable some of it, there was one that didn't come back with feedback, no matter how many times I followed the steps. And was missing some aps. But I did 80% of the steps on a video showing what to do, including deep into the registry.

Had an issue with my windows not using half my ram, and a slow computer. And spent a lot of time going through many steps on this, reading info, then trying it, unlocking cores of my motherboard over and over until it let me start with 3, and finally after doing all the steps, the only thing left was damaged motherboard, cpu or ram. I switched ram with my son and it worked for both of us. I then thought how odd, my motherboard seems to prefer a different brand name of ram, but it had all showed up on the bios, just not in windows.

So right now my computer is faster. However, windows 10 for some reason also had increased the speed and was taking less ram than windows 7. 7 took all my ram for some reason, even when it was showing in the bios. I don't know what 10 did when it updated to speed things up marginally, before my long session with bios and unlocking cores successfully.

I don't dislike this one, like it better than 8 which I wouldn't get after seeing the kids computer.

But the level of spyware and keyloggers, just insane.

Also who knows if these are the only issue. Couldn't there be more hidden things. Maybe they put these ones in and instant guides to removing them, to keep people looking in one direction, and then feeling relieved that they're in the clear, when the real threats are more hidden.

originally posted by: Unity_99
Also who knows if these are the only issue. Couldn't there be more hidden things. Maybe they put these ones in and instant guides to removing them, to keep people looking in one direction, and then feeling relieved that they're in the clear, when the real threats are more hidden.

Furtonately, that is not how windows works. And it wasnt MS who put these guides out there, it was the users. Because we knew where to look the moment we installed Win 10.

Everything, and I do mean everything, can be accessed in either gpedit.msc, and regedit.

If you try and disable serviecs to vital Windows function you will get Access Denied error, even if you take ownership of the file or whatever. But there are ways around that too. It is the hidden user called SYSTEM that has the only access to these files and services, and not any Administrator of the PC can do anything about it..... but yes they can, even if it can definately be tricky.

As long as MS puts the tools in there as gpedit.msc and regedit and services.msc, the user will always be in total control.
And CMD tools like 'cacls' to override access to files and folders, including services.

The only alternative would be if MS made it so that it was hidden from all and any access, which to date would be impossible, in lieu of a virus with the same inguinety as Stuxnet.
However, this Virus, if it exists, will be found in due time, and MS would be made bankrupt due to all the companies using MS suing them down to their socks.
I.E its not a feasible thought, its actually just unheealthy paranoia.

There are no "hidden" tools or "spyware" more so than those you cannot get access to through the three methods Ive shown.
Because that is how Windows is fundamentally built.

originally posted by: Kratos40

Why did they have to corrupt the "Cortana" idea? It would have been awesome if it was not recording and sending stuff to the NSA.

Actually, it is sent to MS to be used for directed commercials against users, and for programmers and developers to make more user friendly software.
And that every single keystroke is sent to Microsoft to document peoples writing patterns to make Cortana predict what you are going to do and type, and help you out faster, and getting to know you as your personal little AI friend, you yourself created. These keystrokes and all the files and data they collect will never be used any nefarious purposes, and will certainly not be used for intruding your personal privacy and integrity.



Where did you ever get such a paranoid idea that the NSA is involved in this?

I found out that windows XP added a bit
to any fire wall for ever program you use.
even the screen and key logging.
you have Never been safe.
NSA & CIA Made Windows.
best Spy tool they ever made.
all the world HAD to use it.
but now you have Linux mint.
but even that is not safe any more.

a reply to: buddha

if youre really that paranoid there are firewalls that block ANY and EVERY attempt for the SVCHOST and other MS system services to gain access to the internet.

However I cannot understand how one can stand contantly have to click "deny" or "grant" whether or not you are doing something you want to do, or something is doing something you dont want to do.

a reply to: buddha

The key code is embedded in Microsoft programs since 95 came around.

Microsoft doesn't deny and never denied the allegations, actually it wasn't until Snowden big reveal of the extend of NSA spying abroad with Microsoft products that people started to lose their trust on Microsoft.

Confirmed: Microsoft Tells the NSA About Back Doors in Windows

techrights.org...


NSA has total access via Microsoft Windows

'They can effectively compromise your entire operating system'

Read more at www.wnd.com...

Disable all you like, since updates cannot be turned off they will re-enable all they want, Windows 10 will now spam you if you are genuine and if not it will spam you and most likely Cortana will wake you up one day to remind you that the cops are at the door..

Whichever way you look at it MS are now offensive..

You truly get NOTHING for free......Bar spam...

a reply to: Mclaneinc

you are simply incorrect, sir.
Either you are reading some conspiracy blog or you dont know enough about how the Windows OS is built, because what you are saying is simply not true.

Nothing will just "turn back on" if its disabled the right way.
and if a windows update do in fact enable something, you just disable it again, even though that is a very long shot.

For the not techy user, the 13 year old teen with a laptop, or whatever, will of course be part of the Win10 botnet, but for us who know how the OS is operating can easily opt-out from the botnet/spying.

Also, if youre dumb enough to login in with a windows mail account, rather than a offline local admin account, you deserve to be part of the botnet. Cus that is like the first line of defence. DONT login to any account.
doing that will disable cortana by default btw.

And adding all Telemetry servers at microsoft to your host file, it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to aquire data from your computer.
for example;

127.0.0.1 vortex.data.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 vortex-win.data.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
127.0.0.1 oca.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 oca.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
127.0.0.1 sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
127.0.0.1 watson.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 watson.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
127.0.0.1 redir.metaservices.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 choice.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 choice.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
127.0.0.1 df.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 reports.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 services.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 sqm.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 watson.ppe.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 telemetry.appex.bing.net
127.0.0.1 telemetry.urs.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 telemetry.appex.bing.net:443
127.0.0.1 settings-sandbox.data.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 vortex-sandbox.data.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 survey.watson.microsoft.com

just to mention about half of them. it will be physically impossible for these servers to access your machine.

It is easy to opt-out and use it like a normal OS, or you can be unknowledgable and be part a huge spying botnet.
Your choice.
But dont go saying that MS magically can re-enable and undo the settings you make on your own computer, because that is not true.

Trust me, Ive worked with MS software since MS-DOS v5 and im not trying to brag I just happen to know how it works, just like a linux savvy user knows how to recompile the kernal if necessary, for whatever he or she wants to do.

What many people dont know, is that a MS OS comes with many default settings that any non techy user will notice, but for someone like me and many like me, it is childsplay to opt-out from any botnet spying crap.

The TOS say exactly what they will do to have access to your files and disclose them if needed. It says so in clear text.
But it doesnt say ANYTHING about NOT allowing the user to opt-out from this, and that you cannot disable these features all together.
Which is very easy and takes 10 minutes.