We've looked into Verizon because their coverage is better than T-Mobile's, but (a) we'd have to get new phones because Verizon uses CDMA whereas T-Mobile uses GSM; (b) even worse, Verizon's plans start higher than our prepaid T-Mobile plan* ($30 per month each) and then cost more still for smartphones.
Perce
If you don't want your "free"subsidy smartphone when contract renewal time rolls around you still don't have to let AT&T keep it for extra profits. You could give it to a family member, a charity, or even sell it online for a little extra cash as many do.
Good luck to you Ron. Over and out.
I wonder if this program actually stops the spying or just toggles the preferences that Microsoft *says* will stop the spying.
I came across an interesting bit today for people with Win7-8. It turns out MS is now setting up spying on them, as well, and it may take some effort to prevent it:
Interesting set of scripts here to unistall telemetry updates and also use an obscure Registry setting to block calling home. (Apparently MS is bypassing HOSTS with hardcoded IPs to report spy data.)
I'm confused about this. The app referenced adds domain names to the hosts file or the router. But, the discussion also says that MS bypasses the hosts file by hardcoding the address. If they hardcode the IP address, how can a domain name block help? For windows 10, don't we need actual IP addresses blocked in the router???
And, what's to keep them from changing the IP addresses with every update? Or worse, if they can't connect to the spy site, they can easily cause windows to hang/crash/deactivate/whatevertheydamnwellplease until they are allowed to connect. Blocking spyware seems to violate the extremely broad TOS on the subject. And you thought, "all your base are belong to us" was broad...
Seems like we're gonna need a fake server that runs locally on the machine to satisfy M$ need to converse???
And maybe one that fires off an email to Gates, and a dozen other people who'd be annoyed enough to suggest that Gates have it fixed, for every spy connect. Having a million emails in your inbox
10 seconds after you flush it is attention-getting. You have to annoy someone who matters.I carry a spy card that's required to get sale prices at the grocery store. it's rather worn and doesn't scan. When they offer me a new card, I just say, "It annoys you just as much as it does me, doesn't it? Just type it in!" They can't do anything about it, but if enough of us could annoy someone in charge, they might.
MS won't fix it unless it hurts them in some way. So far, it doesn't.
| I'm confused about this. | The app referenced adds domain names to the hosts file or the router. | But, the discussion also says that MS bypasses the hosts file by | hardcoding the address. | If they hardcode the IP address, how can a domain name block help? | For windows 10, don't we need actual IP addresses blocked in the router??? |
That does seem to be a big question. The DoNotSpy10 program looks like it's probably more a pacifier than anything. People can run it to shut up their friends' warnings. :) MS has explicitly said that Win10 updates and spying cannot be disabled, so the DoNotSpy10 solution cannot be complete. On the other hand, Fox gets a catchy article and the people at Microsoft probably don't mind, given that it makes Win10 spying sound like a tiny issue.
The BlockWindows scripts use a more obscure approach, which I was unaware of, apparently altering how specific IPs are treated. But as you said, there's nothing to stop MS from switching IPs.
And now all of this is also being applied to Win7/8. In those systems one can stop updates, at least at present, but it sounds like constant vigilance, and extensive familiarity with Windows, will be needed to stop the spying.
I have one Win7 computer that I had to spend some time on in order to block all outgoing processes, including svchost. And I've never enabled Windows Update on any machine. But even with that, can I be sure that MS is not bypassing my firewall somehow? I don't know enough about possible network protocols to know that.
That's a big part of the problem, it's a moving target.
Here's another utility for managing privacy settings in Windows 10:
This one is from a legit company that has been providing Windows utils for about 20 years now. It's a stanalone program (no installer) and carries no crapware. Any program of this type will of course need to be updated as Windows spying techniques change.
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