The Creators Edition of Windows 10 that Microsoft began pushing out to computers last Tuesday clarifies some security and privacy issues. It also gives users better controls over what information Microsoft collects.
Microsoft Windows product manager for small and mid size business, Nic Fillingham, says that Microsoft collects information about how computers are used, when, and what problems they are experiencing. Many people seem to consider this to be spying even though Microsoft collects no personal identification information. Fillingham says that only aggregated information is useful to the software engineers.
Microsoft's privacy statement for US users is long, but written clearly. For the operating system, the statement says "both cloud and local elements of Windows are updated regularly, providing you with the latest improvements and features. In order to provide this computing experience, we collect data about you, your device, and the way you use Windows. And because Windows is personal to you, we give you choices about the personal data we collect and how we use it." Additionally, Fillingham says, data from Windows computers is discarded as soon as it has been analyzed.
The term "telemetry" is used to describe the process of collecting data from remote sources. Those old enough to remember the Apollo 13 mission may remember that telemetry from the damaged spacecraft had to be shut down to conserve power, which left flight engineers in the dark. Fillingham has another way of looking at it.
Users can turn off some diagnostic data submissions, but not all. Microsoft recommends allowing the system to return full diagnostic data, which does not include personal information or any data. For example, if you have a backup application that starts crashing repeatedly (I'm looking at you, Acronis), Microsoft will receive information about the crashing program, but it won't receive any information about the data you're backing up. If you limit the diagnostic information, you also limit Microsoft's ability to work with hardware and software vendors to correct problems.
The Privacy panel has 18 tabs, from General and Location to Notifications and Contacts to Background Apps and App Diagnostics. When your computer upgrades itself to the Creators Edition, you'll be offered several privacy option settings the first time the new edition starts. By default, the settings you're offered and most of the settings on the 18 Privacy tabs will be turned on.
Let's drill down to one of the tabs -- Location -- and take a look.
The computer is a notebook device, but it's usually on my desk. The location service is enabled for the operating system, but individual applications also have to be given permission. Because the computer is stationary most of the time, I have set a default location and, if I look at the location history, it shows that the computer is always at that location. Cortana is turned on, and she needs access to location history. I have also enabled location for Maps, Microsoft Edge, and Weather.
An enormous number of applications are allowed to receive information, send notifications, and receive updates in the background. Turning these off when the computer is running on the battery could save power.
The Windows 10 Privacy settings pane is worth spending some time in and so is the new on-line security center where you can log in with your Microsoft account, and better manage your information.
Microsoft started pushing this update out to computers on the 11th of April. Last week I explained how Windows Pro users can delay the update and how any Windows 10 user can obtain the update immediately if it hasn't already been installed.
Security and management are two of the key areas of improvement, for example: Stronger protection against remote code execution in Edge and more capabilities in the Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection.
All users, even Windows 10 Home users, will be able to delay future feature updates by up to 4 months and all but Home users can delay security updates by up to 30 days.
The new Cortana can help users set up their computers and can scan Outlook email messages and then set reminders. That feature is available only to users who explicitly opt in.
There's a new 3D Paint program. How important this will be is to be seen. This feature fits with the "mixed reality" headsets that can appear to project digital objects into the real world. This could be used to show someone what a remodeled kitchen would look like in the kitchen.
The Edge browser can save and restore complete browsing sessions, but Edge is still weak when it comes to plug-ins.
This is the second major Windows 10 update. The first was called the Anniversary Edition and it had more major features. This version is actually less about creators and creativity than it is about privacy and security.
Maybe you're wondering how the updates went for me. Well ...
Adobe unveiled some new technology at last November's Adobe Max. The company does this each year to tease users by demonstrating yet-to-come features. One of these is called Sensei and, although it's not yet complete, it's closer and we can see how it might be used.
At its most basic, Sensei is content intelligence that examines and tags images as well as making recommendations when a user searches for images. This leads to the ability to recognize a typeface and recommend similar typefaces, modifying faces in photos with subtle changes, and even classify regions of an image to allow selections.
Some Sensei features are currently available in various Adobe applications, but the first significant consumer appearance is likely to be in apps for smart phones, probably Apple phones first and then Android phones. Here's a preview.
Sensei has implications for many of Adobe's applications. It's built on a unified artificial intelligence/machine learning framework and includes services that are being introduced to Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, and Marketing Cloud.
Note the subtle differences between the BEFORE and AFTER images.
Adobe says that dozens of these intelligent services have been deployed so far and that more are in development. President and CEO Shantanu Narayen has characterized the new technology as being uniquely focused on solving complex experience challenges in graphic design, document design, and marketing where Adobe has a lot of experience.
In addition to its availability in Adobe's cloud offerings, Sensei will be available to partners and developers as application program interfaces so developers and systems integrators will be able to use the technology to build new types of applications and solutions.
For more information, see the Sensei section of Adobe's website.
Speaking of Windows updates, and I was in the top part of this week's program, support for Microsoft's second-worst-ever operating system has ended. Vista is no longer supported. Why anyone would still be using Vista is a puzzle, but apparently some people still are even though its much better replacement, Windows 7, was released on July 22, 2009.
Coincidentally, support for Vista ended on the day the Windows 10 Creators Edition was released. So if you have a Windows Vista computer, what can you do?
You could continue running Vista, of course. Microsoft doesn't send little suction monsters around the Internet to suck the operating system out of your computer. Continuing to run Vista would be unwise if the computer is connected to the internet because you'll no longer receive security updates.
Open source? Many versions of Linux exist and that's part of the problem with Linux. They're all similar, but each does some things in different ways. Open source applications are bountiful, too, but commercial software is almost always better. Even Munich, Germany, which started switching from Windows to Linux in 2014 now plans to switch back to Microsoft operating systems and applications.
The obvious update might be Windows 10, but it might not be the best choice. Your Vista computer was probably manufactured nearly 10 years ago. Windows 10 will undoubtedly run on the computer, but seriously a better choice would probably be just to buy a new computer. An entry level machine made this year will be far more powerful than a high-end machine from a decade ago and it will come with more modern video, USB3 slots, and a faster disk drive.
You might also choose Windows 7 or Windows 8. Finding a copy of either one will be somewhat difficult because Microsoft would really like to have all users on Windows 10. Installing Windows 7 or 8 on a decade-old computer would have the same complications as installing Windows 10.
So if you want to keep the old system running, Linux might be the most secure option. Despite many advances, Linux is still more complex to set up and maintain for anyone who lacks experience with Linux or Unix. But before making that decision, check the prices of some new hardware.
In addition to starting the Creators Edition roll out on Tuesday, it was also the monthly Patch Tuesday for Microsoft, but the prize for the largest number of patches goes to Adobe with patches to fix 59 vulnerabilities in 5 products.
The five include the usual suspects (Flash Player and Adobe Reader), but Adobe Campaign, Photoshop, and the Creative Cloud App also received updates.
Most of the bugs (44 according to Adobe) are characterized as "critical", meaning that they could be used to execute malicious code on the user's computer. That's an uncommonly high number. Last month, for example, there were just 6 critical fixes.
Many of the vulnerabilities were revealed during the Pwn2Own (pronounced Own to Own) competition in Vancouver last month. The competition is held at the annual CanSecWest conference.
Kaspersky Lab says "Users are being encouraged to update to the latest versions of both platforms, 25.0.0.148 for Flash Player, and 2017.009.20044 for Acrobat and Reader DC continuous track, and 2015.006.30306 for Acrobat and Reader DC’s classic track. Users still running the pre-DC version of the software, Acrobat XI, will want to make sure they update to the latest version, 11.0.20."
Kaspersky also notes that 2 vulnerabilities were fixed the Creative Cloud desktop app for Windows. Neither was critical, but one of the vulnerabilities could "lead to code execution and should be considered important. The other bug stems from improper resource permissions during the start up of some applications through Creative Cloud."
