They also do spyware. They just renamed it "AI."
this post was submitted on 04 May 2025
1282 points (100.0% liked)
linuxmemes
24993 readers
1703 users here now
Hint: :q!
Sister communities:
Community rules (click to expand)
1. Follow the site-wide rules
- Instance-wide TOS: https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/
- Lemmy code of conduct: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/code_of_conduct.html
2. Be civil
- Understand the difference between a joke and an insult.
- Do not harrass or attack users for any reason. This includes using blanket terms, like "every user of thing".
- Don't get baited into back-and-forth insults. We are not animals.
- Leave remarks of "peasantry" to the PCMR community. If you dislike an OS/service/application, attack the thing you dislike, not the individuals who use it. Some people may not have a choice.
- Bigotry will not be tolerated.
3. Post Linux-related content
- Including Unix and BSD.
- Non-Linux content is acceptable as long as it makes a reference to Linux. For example, the poorly made mockery of
sudoin Windows. - No porn, no politics, no trolling or ragebaiting.
4. No recent reposts
- Everybody uses Arch btw, can't quit Vim, <loves/tolerates/hates> systemd, and wants to interject for a moment. You can stop now.
5. π¬π§ Language/ΡΠ·ΡΠΊ/Sprache
- This is primarily an English-speaking community. π¬π§π¦πΊπΊπΈ
- Comments written in other languages are allowed.
- The substance of a post should be comprehensible for people who only speak English.
- Titles and post bodies written in other languages will be allowed, but only as long as the above rule is observed.
6. (NEW!) Regarding public figures
We all have our opinions, and certain public figures can be divisive. Keep in mind that this is a community for memes and light-hearted fun, not for airing grievances or leveling accusations. - Keep discussions polite and free of disparagement.
- We are never in possession of all of the facts. Defamatory comments will not be tolerated.
- Discussions that get too heated will be locked and offending comments removed. Β
Please report posts and comments that break these rules!
Important: never execute code or follow advice that you don't understand or can't verify, especially here. The word of the day is credibility. This is a meme community -- even the most helpful comments might just be shitposts that can damage your system. Be aware, be smart, don't remove France.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
and also Recall
Rectal is what it's called I believe?
Microsoft Rectal
Can you remind me what that "recall" is?
It logs literally everything you do with screenshots, then sends it to M$ despite their assurances that it would be local only.
Super invasive!
Thanks, it was hard to recall
load more comments
(2 replies)
It takes a screenshot every five seconds and runs an LLM over it to extract text. Then there's a UI where you can query it for what you did in the past.
It came under fire when they wanted to introduce it last year, because it stored all that data on your disk in unencrypted form. Meaning if anyone manages to run malicious code on your system, they don't need to do the collecting themselves anymore, but can rather just send off any screenshotted passwords or whatever other secret things you might've been doing on your PC at any point in time. In particular, Microsoft had claimed that the data would be encrypted and it wasn't. Didn't even need special permissions to access it.
No idea, if they fixed the encryption now, or if this is just a case of the shitstorm having died down, so they roll it out now. But yeah, even with encryption, the implications aren't great. If your parents or boss or law enforcement want to know what you were doing on your PC, they now have an exact history. And Microsoft could still change their mind and decide to upload all your data at any point in the future.
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
Did they change it from "telemetry" to AI now?
Unless the "telemetry" has been removed, shouldnt there be "added extra" instead of "renamed"?
load more comments
(4 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Holy shit, they automatically activate it on computers without an account to back the key up to?
That's just malicious
IIRC, they only do this if you're logged in with a Microsoft account.
Bitlocker is disabled by default if you only use local accounts
I've occasionally seen it activate itself on computers with only a local account, though I've so far only seen it when upgrading in place to 11 with secure boot enabled in the BIOS, and not every time. Fortunately the one time it locked me out was on a freshly cloned drive, so it only cost me redoing the work.
Also, the number of people who I've seen lose all their data because they don't even know they created an MS account during OOBE, and later had a boot or BIOS hiccup, is too damn high!
I have (had ;'( ) a local account, and bitlocker was activated. I only found out when my motherboard bit the dust, and that triggered the no-TPM bitlocker thingamajig. Goodbye data.
Of course it hits right as I needed the data on that laptop. Fucking murphy and his fancy legal words.
If anyone is in a situation like mine, you might find luck with a little DIY hacking: https://www.techspot.com/news/106166-old-bitlocker-vulnerability-exploited-bypass-encryption-updated-windows.html
load more comments
(1 replies)
They desperately wanted to eliminate personal computers and replace them with dumb terminals running over the net.
When the public rejected this idea
THIS is their response. They are still insisting on total control of our computers.
They desperately wanted to eliminate personal computers and replace them with dumb terminals running over the net.
I don't know about that.
Dumb terminal concept was more what Chromebook was doing.
Microsoft is doing something even stupider.
load more comments
(19 replies)
Not to mention DRM. They want to own your computer and prevent any kind of modification so that movie producers give them money.
load more comments
(13 replies)
load more comments
(16 replies)
Just checked my wife's laptop. Local account, secure boot off, windows 10. It had a message telling me to setup a microsoft account to 'finish encrypting the device'. I clicked turn off, and it's currently decrypting the hard drive. Blech.
load more comments
(8 replies)
Meanwhile in Linux with luls, which I've had since a pre-pre-pre version somewhere back in the early 2000's, I can have multiple keys, all works like sunshine, never had problems.
On windows... So we work with highly sensitive data, and ever since I came in I thought it insane that people working remote don't have that highly sensitive data encrypted. We can't switch Linux yet, so okay, we go for BitLocker.
Boy oh boy oh boy was that a mistake.
50 remote users, 5 get encrypted devices with BitLocker as a trial and within a month, 3 of them already got locked up permanently because apparently it'll pwrma lock itself after x amounts of invalid passwords which is just incredibly stupid. But don't worry, there is a backup key! Yeah, that is lie 48 characters that we'd had to pass by phone and they have to type it flawlessly.
Suffice to say, the remote users will be running Linux soon, like it or not.
Yeah, that is lie 48 characters that we'd had to pass by phone and they have to type it flawlessly.
Wouldn't be so bad if everyone knew their Alpha Bravo Charlies
My one talent: alpha bravo charlie delta echo foxtrot golf hotel India Juliet kilo Lima mike November Oscar papa Quebec Romeo Sierra tango uniform Victor whiskey x-ray Yankee Zulu, typed using voice to text
load more comments
(5 replies)
load more comments
(4 replies)
Not that it helps now, but you can also dump your bitlocker recovery key through powershell and save it independently.
(Get-BitLockerVolume -MountPoint "C").KeyProtector
The control panel dialogue allows you to do this as well. Control Panel > system security > Bitlocker encryption. But it also has the superior option which is to turn it off.
I didn't loose any data BTW. I had my M$ account info, and a backup besides.
But it also has the superior option which is to turn it off.
Why would you not want to encrypt your files? My Linux systems are encrypted too.
load more comments
(13 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
This happened to me once and I had to redo my coursework over the weekend...now I use Fedora :D
I've actually had this occur before to a machine I specifically disabled the tpm on so that it wouldn't happen (it was an account less frozen kiosk). I was fuming the entire time I spent rebuilding it.
I just installed Manjaro on my daily driver over the weekend. My entire steam library just works. My dev tools all work(better) on Linux, and free office is nice and familiar. Fuck widows.
Give them time to mourn first, but then fuck widows :D
load more comments
(1 replies)
Windows is the virus.
Thank you for the word of warning. Does this affect Windows 10 as well?
Does this affect Windows 10 as well
IDK. 10 has bitlocker, so I'd check.
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Why cant windows copy luks and let you choose your own password
load more comments
(4 replies)
I just leave secure boot/bitlocker off when it comes to my home system. It wasnt something I "needed" when I was dual booting windows 10 and it's not something I'm gonna enable now that I'm using 11.
Itβs not βleaving bitlocker offβ, though. Itβs βbe aware about it and turn bitlocker off manuallyβ since itβs enabled by default in the latest updates.
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
Fuck Microsoft.
I remember back in highschool a buddy encrypted his harddrive, didn't backup his key. He Lost ALOT when I upgraded his comp
load more comments
(4 replies)
I can't even adjust bitlocker settings on my laptop's windows 11 home Installation...
load more comments
(10 replies)
Bit late to this thread but I know a few commands that might help if you're stuck:
manage-bde -off C: (or any other drive)
This decrypts the volume and turns off bitlocker
manage-bde -lock/unlock
manage-bde -protectors -get C: (or any other drive)
This displays your 48-digit key. I suggest you store it somewhere, just to be safe.
Get-BitlockerVolume reveals which of your partitions are encrypted with Bitlocker.
Disclaimer: I am not a terminal nerd, I just had similar problems years ago and went down the rabbit hole, used these commands and turned off bitlocker permanently. I don't use windows anymore, but when I did, it didn't cause any problems with bitlocker after this. If you're concerned about your un-encrypted hard drives, consider using Veracrypt (carefully!) or similar open source encryption software.
This has been happening to people randomly for years. Ysed to get calls about it all the time, and that was pre-covid
Always have backups! Doesnt matter what OS you use, stuff will break eventually.
I prefer bootable full system images to my NAS for easy restores, and online file backups, both running daily.
load more comments
(3 replies)
You know, this is actually one Windows decision I agree with. Encryption should be default, especially on portable devices like laptops. For an OS aimed at people who want to use their computers, rather than understand them, you have to choose an encryption that works by default for most of your non-tech-savvy users.
If they want their data truly in their own hands, or full control, use Linux.
If they want to use Windows, but not rely on a Microsoft account for recovery, get the bitlocker recovery key and write it down (which you can do).
But I think this looks like a sane default.
(Full disclosure, I don't use Windows for anything I care about!)
Would be fine. The problem is, Microsoft is encrypting drives and not telling anybody about it. Average users have no clue what any of this is and are completely unaware they need to create a passphrase for safe keeping.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Respectfully, hard disagree and terrible take. I work in IT, and your stance only makes sense if people have some tech knowledge. Which is never going to happen for the average person.
I can't tell you how many older people I've had to tell that I can't save their grandkids first pics because of bitlocker
load more comments
(16 replies)
view more: next βΊ