Windows 10 executables connecting to the internet

[kyrcy]

I have recently "upgraded" to Windows 10. I initially "upgraded" from Windows 7, but after some issues I had, I decided to perform a clean installation. After the installation, I run O&O ShutUp10 and applied the recommended and somewhat recommended settings. I disabled windows firewall and installed a third party one and I noticed a number of executable files still trying to connect to the internet. Some of them are:

C:\Windows\System32\WerFault.exe
C:\Windows\System32\browser_broker.exe
C:\Windows\System32\SIHClient.exe
C:\Windows\System32\smartscreen.exe
C:\Windows\System32\backgroundTaskHost.exe
C:\Windows\System32\Speech_OneCore\common\SpeechRu ntime.exe
C:\Windows\System32\wermgr.exe
C:\Windows\ImmersiveControlPanel\SystemSettings.ex e

I usually block anything that tries to connect to the internet and I don't know what it is, but has anyone investigated this further?

[Atak_Snajpera]

You do realize that you will never win this battle against Service10 OS? Win10 was designed from core level to phone home as often as possible on many layers.

[kyrcy]

I was under the impression that by running something like O&O ShutUp10 I would be able to disable telemetry and other apps invading privacy.

[Atak_Snajpera]

If you read EULA you would know that M$ treats win10 as service. Forget about privacy on win10. You got win10 from huge greedy corporation for free and here is why. Now you will be paying back your "debt" with your personal data.

[jan5678]

That's exactly the reason i now use Linuxmint
I was getting frustrated by all the spying of Microsoft so i took the plunge. It was a short learning experience and i like it a lot!

[Bernix]

That's exactly the reason i now use Linuxmint
I was getting frustrated by all the spying of Microsoft so i took the plunge. It was a short learning experience and i like it a lot!

And it resolves all your security issues?
What about google, your isp provider and lots more? Probably you avoid something from microsoft, but don't forgot about Intel or AMD, where ever you are registered. So you simply avoided microsoft, which is under much bigger microscope than any unix based OS.
I stop worrying about microsoft, otherwise I should end in crazyhouse (or building where are people worried about security today) Security today is an Illusion.

Edit: almost everything is illusion "Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world." Archimedes. One of best ever quote.

Bernix

[kyrcy]

I can always "downgrade" to Windows 7 or 8.1, but until when will one be able to use these? I am already thinking about some hardware upgrades that only support Windows 10.

[Atak_Snajpera]

I am already thinking about some hardware upgrades that only support Windows 10.

What hardware upgrades?

[kyrcy]

Latest Intel based motherboards and CPUs only support Windows 10.

[Atak_Snajpera]

Noooooope! Fake news!



https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/384921-Windows-7-Image-Updater-SkyLake-KabyLake-Co...n-Threadripper

[kyrcy]

I contacted a major motherboard manufacturer and they said that Z370 chipset motherboards only support Windows 10, because the chipset supports 8th generation Intel CPUs, which are only supported in Windows 10 by Microsoft.

[Atak_Snajpera]

Bullshit! CoffeLake works fine on windows 7!
examples:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1642446/how-to-install-windows-7-on-coffee-lake-pc-z370-chi...maximus-x-hero

[aedipuss]

i wouldn't build a new high end computer and put an os on it like win7. in 2 years you'll be in the same boat as winXP. no support or updates at all. win10 with all it's flaws at least will get you through the lifetime of the hardware.

i still only use win7 and 8.1 not sure what i'll do with the win7 comps in a couple years...

[sophisticles]

I have to agree with the assessment that installing Win 7 on a new system is probably a bad idea. Can you get manufacturer drivers for most common hardware like video cards and motherboards? Sure.

BUT, there will be a price to pay, for instance no support for new features, such as AVX-512 and Optane DIMMS when they finally become available,

Even on Linux, even though technically some distros are running an "older" kernel, they still have the new drivers backported.

I also second the suggestion that this would be a good time to try a Linux distro, something based on Ubuntu would be the best choice, and leave that mess of an OS known as Win 10 behind.

[kyrcy]

Switching to Linux is not so simple because it requires to stop using both Windows and all software that run under Windows. I know I can find alternatives that run under Linux, but what about the ones that do not exist?

[jan5678]

For almost all populair software there are Linux alternatives.
The tricky part is, and i have to admit, to learn how to use them. When you do want to learn them you will be amazed that they work very well. Gimp for instance, with a photoshop layout, is a very good program and works very well.

Some programs are cross platform and have therefore Windows and Linux versions, although they will not look identical, they will work identical

[kyrcy]

I do not play PC games, but those who do, how can they switch to Linux?

[DeJay]

Switching to Linux is not so simple because it requires to stop using both Windows and all software that run under Windows. I know I can find alternatives that run under Linux, but what about the ones that do not exist?

There are ways around almost everything. First, there is WINE, a compatibility layer that will allow some Windows software to run on Linux. Second there are virtual machines like VirtualBox which allows Windows to be installed on Linux so Windows software can be used. In several years of using Linux, my only use for Windows is to allow me to use video scoring software for which I have paid music licensing fees. Security wise, Windows is running as a Linux application and is completely isolated from external communications. Should I ever wish to download something for Windows, highly unlikely, I can download it using Linux and transfer it to Windows through a shared folder.

[kyrcy]

And among the various distributions which is the most "Windows friendly" one?

[DeJay]

I would say the most user friendly one is Linux Mint and the most Windows-like desktop is KDE.

[jan5678]

i second that Linuxmint is the most user friendly Linux distro, and cinnamon has a look that is very similar as Windows. KDE is more like Windows but is very resource heavy!
I use mint 18.3 cinnamon and like it very much.

Ubuntu is also a good choice for starters, but the look is different than Windows.

More advanced like manjaro is also recommend but only if you have some Linux experience and willing to accept that this is a rolling distro so there could be potential problems lying a head.
I tried it for a while, love the AUR (user repo) so you will have up to date software but went back to mint because it is more stable.

[sophisticles]

Switching to Linux is not so simple because it requires to stop using both Windows and all software that run under Windows. I know I can find alternatives that run under Linux, but what about the ones that do not exist?

The biggest hurdle to switching to Linux is the mental hurdle.

Ask yourself this, ignoring the OS itself, what applications do you normally use on a daily basis. Browser? Torrent Client? Office Suite? Printing capabilities? All these are well represented on Linux and have been for decades.

Do you edit audio with Audacity, encode video with Hnandbrake or ffmpeg, use gpu based video encoding? Linux has you covered.

If you are into games, what kind of games do you play? Are they DX based? Then no, you won't be able to play on Linux.

But then you start getting into some other realities, for instance do you use proprietary software on Windows, such as Vegas, Premiere, Triple A games, etc? If the answer is yes, then did you pay for them or did you pirate them?

If you paid for them then you stick with Windows because you've already made a substantial financial investment in software and it would be silly to walk away from it.

But, if you pirated the software, if you're using a warez copy of Windows, warez copies of games and software then you have no financial stake in the software you're using and if anything you're exposing yourself to malware, trojans, backdoors and potential legal action is caught downloading software illegally, so you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Years ago I took an assessment of my computing habits and realized that except for the OS itself, I had switched to using open source and legally free software for years; I was using Firefox, Open Office, Clam Antivirus, xvid4psp, I was only playing chess on my pc and browser based games, I had switched to gaming on a console a 40" 1080p tv at the time, and so on.

When my Win 7 install, despite my having configured it with what I thought was good security measures, got attacked and Win 7 got one of those cryptovirus that encrypts your data and then demands a ransom (luckily all important stuff was backed up) and then a second time I found my system had been hijacked and was part of a bot net, I said the hell with this and switched to Linux "cold turkey".

Download MX17, or Tumbleweed, or Ubuntu Mate, or Mint, install it on a spare pc like a laptop and see what you think.

[Bernix]

My biggest problem seems to be Adobe Illustrator, because Inkscape isn't nowhere near in quality and easy use. I bet there are lot of more such programs. Comparing latest Photoshop to latest Gimp for professional use I'm also not sure if that software is equal. But Krita, opentoonz, and many more programs are native for linux. But how with drivers for older HW? I.e. graphics tablets? I hardly installed my G. tablet on win10.

Bernix

[jan5678]

@bernix

Older hardware is not a problem but you may have to use a older Linux distro because sometimes support for very old hardware is removed from the kernel

Very new hardware may be a problem because there are no or partial drivers support for that.

And sure there will be hardware that would not be supported at all, like some tv cards. i suggest that you investigate your hardware and check the Linux support before switching. That is if you must use that hardware, otherwise buy hardware with for sure Linux support.
Before i switched to Linux i didn't pay much attention te what hardware i bought because there would be a Windows driver included. Now i check op front if the hardware is supported.

Some Adobe programs work fine with Wine or Crossover (commercial variant of Wine) And Playonlinux support some games.

Like sophisticles earlier said "The biggest hurdle to switching to Linux is the mental hurdle."
If you willing to learn other or different programs you will be amazed of there capabilities

[Bernix]

Hi,
if there is program for linux, is it 100% that I run it under every distribution of Linux? I mean under KDE, Debian, Mint, Fedora and others? Also how is it with dependencies in linux, is there any improvement?

Bernix

[jan5678]

@bernix

If that program is compiled to work with those distro than yes. otherwise you could compile it yourself although that would be not for the faint of heart.
And KDE is a desktop, not a distro..
If the program is compiled with all of the dependencies than there is no problem but if you compile yourself you have to provide all the dependencies.

So the easiest is to find a pre compiled binary or installer of your program for the distro of your like.
best is to use the software in the official repo of your distro, that maybe old but works well.

[DeJay]

And KDE is a desktop, not a distro.

Unless he means KDE Neon which is pretty much a distro.

Bernix, if you follow Jan5678's advice and get applications from the distro's repository, dependencies are unlikely to be a problem, especially with the better known distros like the ones you mentioned. I would avoid KDE Neon for now, from what I read it's not yet ready for the big time.

best is to use the software in the official repo of your distro, that maybe old but works well.

I agree, many distros do indeed have older software versions in their repos, they test them for longer and it helps stability and reliability. On the other hand, some distros have only a couple of days delay before updates reach their repos, usually the rolling releases.

[SameSelf]

Some interesting perspectives; I think I'll add my own. With the ubiquity of mobile devices, if you are like me and have a desktop/workstation that you use for video production and feel the need to connect it to the wide web worlds, I seriously doubt your judgement. Of course this site is about 98% rippers/cappers, not content creators, but like I said, this is my perspective. And if you use SaaS then Windows phoning home is the least of your worries. However, I have been running W10 for a while now and it just happily sits there never phoning home. Of course this means my install gets stale but it is just as well. I tried to upgrade to 1703 but it inexplicably screwed up a key HW/SW interface that no amount of troubleshooting could resolve. I have yet to try 1709 to see if the problem was resolved.

But the truth is I am and have been for a long time OS agnostic. As has already been observed, which OS you use should be using is a function of the SW you use. There are some really, I mean truly great, FOSS out there worth the time to invest learning that compile versions for all three major OSes. Many of those titles aren't even listed on VH. So my advice is stop worrying about the OS, and invest that energy in some of that great SW. That will keep you busy far longer than any upgrade cycle.

[David Banner]

I have recently "upgraded" to Windows 10. I initially "upgraded" from Windows 7, but after some issues I had, I decided to perform a clean installation. After the installation, I run O&O ShutUp10 and applied the recommended and somewhat recommended settings. I disabled windows firewall and installed a third party one and I noticed a number of executable files still trying to connect to the internet. Some of them are:

C:\Windows\System32\WerFault.exe
C:\Windows\System32\browser_broker.exe
C:\Windows\System32\SIHClient.exe
C:\Windows\System32\smartscreen.exe
C:\Windows\System32\backgroundTaskHost.exe
C:\Windows\System32\Speech_OneCore\common\SpeechRu ntime.exe
C:\Windows\System32\wermgr.exe
C:\Windows\ImmersiveControlPanel\SystemSettings.ex e

I usually block anything that tries to connect to the internet and I don't know what it is, but has anyone investigated this further?

This may be of help https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/ - i do not know a lot about telemetry so ido not know for sure if it will

[kyrcy]

For now I have "downgraded" to Windows 7. Besides all the spying which I very much doubt if they can really be disabled, I don't like the looks of Windows 10 and the fact that settings are buried and you need to use third party tools in order to do simple tasks such as for example change the font or size of desktop icons. Thanks but no thanks.