Is Microsoft Police now?Where is our privacy?Vista Backdoor

Sometime ago I've read some dutch article about Vista having a backdoor that will allow Microsoft visit your pc to look around whenever they want without you knowing it. Is this backdoor story true or false? If it's true would that not be the biggest mistake Microsoft ever made? Taking away our privacy. I'm asking this cause it makes me having doubts to ever buy this OS having some crazy people looking over my shoulders. Orelse it reminds me of of the first steps towards this movie called Gattaca http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/ just kidding .....The XP vs Vista benchmarks Tomshardware is writing about also gives me some doubts about buying this new OS. It shows that XP seems to be way faster in benchmark tests. And those tests don't lie I guess. Now I hope I wont get some simpleminded people responces thinking I'm some sort of anti Vista type of guy cause I ain't...I just read a lot of negative things about Vista....that's all. I like to know a bit about this privacy problem please.....thx

Add a reply

Register or log in to remove.

i don't know about that backdoor issue, but i do know it's not worth it to buy the new OS for atleast another 6 months or ever a year unless you have very specific needs.

Reply to Ghost9

I won't be surprised at all if this is true.

Reply to qwazzy

If that were true I think we'd be hearing more about it.

Reply to kanati

Do a google on NSA and Vista.

It is not far fetched. They did it with another MS OS and got caught.

Reply to ScottyDog

Who gives two hoots? The US government has probably asked for this so they can spy on suspected terrorists and criminals. Hands up who's a criminal and who has something to fear from MS and the US government looking at their PC?

No one?

Diddums!

Seriously though this was done so that people who are doing the wrong thing can get caught. If things are easier for the Police I don't see why this is a bad thing at all. MS has nothing to gain and everything to lose if they start spying on every tom dick and harry.

OS upgrades have never been about performance? Unless the previous OS was extreeeeeemely badly written and had memory leaks and such you'll always find that adding new features slows things down. Spend some time with Vista and you'll realise that although some things are slower you end up doing things faster because Vista is a bit easier to use than XP.

Reply to 306maxi

Quote :

Who gives two hoots? The US government has probably asked for this so they can spy on suspected terrorists and criminals. Hands up who's a criminal and who has something to fear from MS and the US government looking at their PC?

Next thing you will say that it is fine to get US citizens and put them into jail without any court proceedings just because some government official feels this way? Don't we have here somebody trusting too much to our government? Are they all saints or something?

Reply to MxM

Quote :

Who gives two hoots? The US government has probably asked for this so they can spy on suspected terrorists and criminals. Hands up who's a criminal and who has something to fear from MS and the US government looking at their PC?

Next thing you will say that it is fine to get US citizens and put them into jail without any court proceedings just because some government official feels this way? Don't we have here somebody trusting too much to our government? Are they all saints or something?

How did you know? Are you a soothsayer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8O

So I guess you think it's OK to catch a giant squid and send it's tentacles into outer space????????????????? :roll:

I answer your Chewbacca Defence with my own.

Reply to 306maxi

Quote :

Who gives two hoots? The US government has probably asked for this so they can spy on suspected terrorists and criminals. Hands up who's a criminal and who has something to fear from MS and the US government looking at their PC?

Next thing you will say that it is fine to get US citizens and put them into jail without any court proceedings just because some government official feels this way? Don't we have here somebody trusting too much to our government? Are they all saints or something?

Well you've done it to a load of other nationalities already, including British. It would be a change if you actually started on your own citizens.

Reply to The_Abyss

Quote :

Who gives two hoots? The US government has probably asked for this so they can spy on suspected terrorists and criminals. Hands up who's a criminal and who has something to fear from MS and the US government looking at their PC?

Next thing you will say that it is fine to get US citizens and put them into jail without any court proceedings just because some government official feels this way? Don't we have here somebody trusting too much to our government? Are they all saints or something?

Well you've done it to a load of other nationalities already, including British. It would be a change if you actually started on your own citizens.

Too right. The problem is that US citizens are holy beings. Doesn't matter if someone else from another country gets locked up for years for just being in the wrong place.

Reply to 306maxi

I didn't notice any backdoor at all, at least in Vista RC2 which I'm using. A good firewall should get any incoming/outgoing connection in check, so a backdoor wouldn't be a problem... Except maybe if it is being resident in kernel.

Conclusion: Terrorist use Linux! For freedom! (j/k)

Reply to The-Darkening

I just installed Ultimate Vista and they asked straight out if I wanted to send information to MS or not. I said no and watched my ports. No issue. I also just copied a DVD to my hard disk and watched it while watching my ports - no activity. I'm no longer trusting the doom-sayers at this point - looks like bull for the moment.

Reply to pkellmey

Quote :

Who gives two hoots? The US government has probably asked for this so they can spy on suspected terrorists and criminals. Hands up who's a criminal and who has something to fear from MS and the US government looking at their PC?

Next thing you will say that it is fine to get US citizens and put them into jail without any court proceedings just because some government official feels this way? Don't we have here somebody trusting too much to our government? Are they all saints or something?

Well you've done it to a load of other nationalities already, including British. It would be a change if you actually started on your own citizens.

That's only stresses my point, that the power of the government SHOULD BE LIMITED, where it is possible. Hoping that they will not do it, because they are good and honest people is naive.

Reply to MxM

Quote :

Who gives two hoots? The US government has probably asked for this so they can spy on suspected terrorists and criminals. Hands up who's a criminal and who has something to fear from MS and the US government looking at their PC?

Next thing you will say that it is fine to get US citizens and put them into jail without any court proceedings just because some government official feels this way? Don't we have here somebody trusting too much to our government? Are they all saints or something?

Well you've done it to a load of other nationalities already, including British. It would be a change if you actually started on your own citizens.

Too right. The problem is that US citizens are holy beings. Doesn't matter if someone else from another country gets locked up for years for just being in the wrong place.

No, the problem is that some people trust too much to our government, and do not limit it's power, probably thinking that they are saints.

Reply to MxM

Quote :

I just installed Ultimate Vista and they asked straight out if I wanted to send information to MS or not. I said no and watched my ports. No issue. I also just copied a DVD to my hard disk and watched it while watching my ports - no activity. I'm no longer trusting the doom-sayers at this point - looks like bull for the moment.

What kind of information it has asked you to send or not to send?

In any case you have to give your license number and activation number generated on the basis of your hardware in order to register your windows. It you will not do it in a couple of month it will stop working (at least partially).

Then it will have to periodically validate itself, and if you do not allow it to do it, then you again will see the reduction of functionality.

Reply to MxM

Vista asked if they could send performance and diagnostic data (specifically not tied to user information) periodically back to Microsoft. I said no. It then asked if it could use Internet information to keep my media files up to date (they used an example of CD cover labels, or renaming artists/folders etc. much like Media Player currently does) and I said no. No issues and my ports stayed steady. Do I mind that the OS checks periodically to see if it is a legal copy - why should I, because it is. They are not violating my rights - I purchased the license from them and they are only looking at their license and activation information. Again, at this point in time, as long as they don't tie it to my personal information, this is not at all impacting my rights - its the same as having a license plate on a car to make sure it is a valid registration.

Reply to pkellmey

Quote :

Do I mind that the OS checks periodically to see if it is a legal copy - why should I, because it is.

The problem is that they do send the information about your hardware in the process. They send a hash key (or whatever they call it) that was encoded using your hardware. Now, I am not sure if you can decode the hash key back to identify what exactly hardware you have, but if it is possible then, some people would say that it violates their right because MS is basically tracking what hardware they are using and they consider it personal information.

I kind of see reasoning in it, but again, I do not know if you indeed can easily reconstruct the hardware configuration from the sent hash key.

Reply to MxM

Some of the information they are collecting on you and your hardware resides in the following directories if you care to take a gander:
F:\Windows\System32\licensing

Most of it is encrypted, so you will not be able to verify that they are only keeping track of non personal information. The new EULA has a major change in my opinion in that they use legalize to expand on the type of information they can collect.

BTW-When you say you are monitoring your ports, what program are you using to do that? The reason I ask is,in Vista, MS have protected the kernel and I was not aware of any software that can monitor the ports yet in Vista except their own firewall. Symantec and McAfee may get access to the kernel because of a lawsuit in the EU but that has not been made public as of this date.

If there is a back door in the software you would never be able to detect it unless you had some kind of specialized hardware to read the packets being sent back and forth. By definition a back door would be in the kernel and would mask its activity through normal Internet activity.

If you want to know more about back doors, follow this link:
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/5/5263/1.html

Reply to ScottyDog

Quote :

MS have protected the kernel and I was not aware of any software that can monitor the ports yet in Vista except their own firewall. Symantec and McAfee may get access to the kernel because of a lawsuit in the EU but that has not been made public as of this date

Do you think that if Microsoft will lose their lawsuite the backdoor could be shutdown by for example Symantec or maybe zonealarm? I really wonder if that is possible.

Reply to SyPheR

I do not know if it possible but I do not like the idea that MS has total control over my Internet connection.

I would rather have the choice of a Zone Alarm or other product that protects my Internet connection.

I have a hardware firewall but there are no updates out for Vista yet.

Reply to ScottyDog

Quote :

If you want to know more about back doors, follow this link:
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/5/5263/1.html

And this is what the site said.....and you know what....I believe it 99 procent. It is just totally insane.

A CARELESS mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency have been secretly built into Windows.

So if I have to believe this the American Goverment (and their sweet Microsoft help) is not only going for Iraque but is trying to get to know much more about what's going on in other countries too? I hate this crazy kind of behaviour and I don't accept it. What is wrong with these crazy people. Somebody please tell me this is not true.
Btw, let's be fair......Microsoft stole a lot from Linux when it comes to the interface. Another cheap act. If you don't believe me just say it's not true and i'll show you all the details.
I wonder what kind of backdoor service pack 3 for xp will bring for people who like to stick with xp. The same kind of poison? I'm seriously thinking about avoiding everything that has the name Microsoft in it.....I don't like spyware and adware (microsoft anti spyware yeah righ) but this...this is even worse. It's a big shame for the America. God Blesh YOU bush....faker. Somehow I hope God really excists...so he can send Bush and his whole goverment etc to hell (and not only because of the WTC facts they saw it comming). Ok, that was the alcohol in my blood atm but let's be serious...it does make a little sence don't you think so?

Reply to SyPheR

Even if you have access to your computer, what it would change ? They violate your privacy right there, which its illegal i guess in the US and cant use this proof if they discovers a plan to kamikaze a building, but you know people been paranoia sometimes.

Reply to srgess

Quote :

Do I mind that the OS checks periodically to see if it is a legal copy - why should I, because it is.

The problem is that they do send the information about your hardware in the process. They send a hash key (or whatever they call it) that was encoded using your hardware. Now, I am not sure if you can decode the hash key back to identify what exactly hardware you have, but if it is possible then, some people would say that it violates their right because MS is basically tracking what hardware they are using and they consider it personal information.

I kind of see reasoning in it, but again, I do not know if you indeed can easily reconstruct the hardware configuration from the sent hash key.

Have you even seen the amount of information that is sent to Steam every time you log in, directly linked to your account?

Reply to The_Abyss

Quote :

Have you even seen the amount of information that is sent to Steam every time you log in, directly linked to your account?

Exactly. I would be more worried about this type of thing as well:

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6154457.html

This legal situation could change everything about any type of INet data collection.

Reply to pkellmey

Yesterday I read MS had its fingers slapped because Vista was sending them error/crash reports without user approval.

That has apparently been changed now.

I came across it in my reading of many news sites and am trying to find it again.

Although I dont think it anything to worry about, some people didnt like it.

I am sure if MS is up to anything sneakier, people will soon find and post it. You can be certain Vista is being studied under a big microscope by many people right now. (by good and bad people)

Reply to Shadowed

You know what it is not just America. I am an American and I am not being just defensive about my country. Most of my fellow Americans are outraged about the violations of our Privacy that our Government is enacting through legislation like the DMCA and other laws that allow them to violate our rights.

..of course some of them could care less but I think they are the minority. Just read this forum.

It is all Governments. IMHO-They fear the Internet and the freedom of communications. Before the widespread use of the Internet they had total control of the media and communications.

The Internet has changed all of that and they are trying to lock it down after the fact.

Now when a Politician makes a speech, you can check out instantaneously if he or she is lying through their teeth just by doing a google.

I have no problem with them doing data mining but if they want into my computer they should have to go to a Judge and get a search warrant.

Not use some back door so they can spy on me with impunity. I would be willing to bet MS has given security agencies like the NSA or MI5 the ability to use back doors in Vista.

They did it before in NT and Win 2000.

IMHO

Reply to ScottyDog

Vista is more like Linux now, they want to know the information that make crash their system os so they can fix it like any linux distribution do. But vista missed something that could really help gain popularity, is the Destop 3D cube like Compiz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiz . Maybe it would be possible since Aero is 3D acceleration. I hope so that vista could do Compiz like.

Reply to srgess

Compiz is awsome. I have looked at it before and hoped there would be a windows version soon.

@op sorry to get offtrack in your thread

Reply to Shadowed

Quote :

Do a google on NSA and Vista.

It is not far fetched. They did it with another MS OS and got caught.

Do you always talk out of your a**?

They did it in windows 2000? Please enlighten us with your river of information.

Reply to shaba230

You really expect privacy in what amounts to a public domain?

You're seriously naive if you have such expectations.

The only way to keep your data and your computer private is to disconnect it from the internet. Then you can have all the privacy you desire. However, once you start sending packets out onto a public domain, you implicitly agree that your privacy and your data may be comprimised.

Reply to Zoron

Quote :

You know what it is not just America. I am an American and I am not being just defensive about my country. Most of my fellow Americans are outraged about the violations of our Privacy that our Government is enacting through legislation like the DMCA and other laws that allow them to violate our rights.

Yes, totally true. Sadly enough it happens world wide but not at this level. Btw, did you know a Dutch team develop the layout of Vista? Maybe next time we get to develope more Who knows Microsoft could be saved from all the complaints at one day. WOW!!

Btw, a man called Richard Stallman developed GNU (all the linux appz) only they didn't have a kernel yet. So here came The Fin called Linus Torvalds (who later moved to the US) and he created linux based on the Dutch OS called Minix developed by Andrew S. Tannenbaum. When he finished it he donate the kernel to the GNU Project and that's how Linux/GNU came to life.

Too bad all the credits went too Linus Torvalds instead of the Dutch Andrew S. Tannenbaum for getting him the basics of Linux (called minix)..........

Linux does not have these dirty by NSA developed backdoors to check for terrorism etc and does not own other kind of privacy violations. Also it's pretty nice to see that you can create your own interface layout in Linux the way you want it to look..for example....ever wanted To have the vista look in Linux? check this out >>> http://home.wanadoo.nl/darknoize/p [...] -vista.jpg

Reply to SyPheR

Quote :

Do a google on NSA and Vista.

It is not far fetched. They did it with another MS OS and got caught.

Do you always talk out of your a**?

They did it in windows 2000? Please enlighten us with your river of information.

No, but I guess you do.
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/5/5263/1.html

Maybe if you took the time to read the links provided early on in this thread rather than try and call somebody names, you would have saved the egg all over your face right now.

This was big news about 8 years ago but you probably have not owned a computer that long.

Not only that there is a back door in WinXP too.

Do a google at least before calling people names.

Reply to ScottyDog

Quote :

You know what it is not just America. I am an American and I am not being just defensive about my country. Most of my fellow Americans are outraged about the violations of our Privacy that our Government is enacting through legislation like the DMCA and other laws that allow them to violate our rights.

Yes, totally true. Sadly enough it happens world wide but not at this level. Btw, did you know a Dutch team develop the layout of Vista? Maybe next time we get to develope more Who knows Microsoft could be saved from all the complaints at one day. WOW!!

Btw, a man called Richard Stallman developed GNU (all the linux appz) only they didn't have a kernel yet. So here came The Fin called Linus Torvalds (who later moved to the US) and he created linux based on the Dutch OS called Minix developed by Andrew S. Tannenbaum. When he finished it he donate the kernel to the GNU Project and that's how Linux/GNU came to life.

Too bad all the credits went too Linus Torvalds instead of the Dutch Andrew S. Tannenbaum for getting him the basics of Linux (called minix)..........

Linux does not have these dirty by NSA developed backdoors to check for terrorism etc and does not own other kind of privacy violations. Also it's pretty nice to see that you can create your own interface layout in Linux the way you want it to look..for example....ever wanted To have the vista look in Linux? check this out >>> http://home.wanadoo.nl/darknoize/p [...] -vista.jpg

SyPheR

I have started to research Linux and am definitely going to install it to a partition and try it out. If it is as good as everybody says, I will probably make the transition this year.

Vista is the last straw for me.

Check this link out:http://xpero.msfn.org/?page=about

After you install it, WinXP looks just like vista except 400 cheaper.

Reply to ScottyDog

Quote :

You know what it is not just America. I am an American and I am not being just defensive about my country. Most of my fellow Americans are outraged about the violations of our Privacy that our Government is enacting through legislation like the DMCA and other laws that allow them to violate our rights.

Yes, totally true. Sadly enough it happens world wide but not at this level. Btw, did you know a Dutch team develop the layout of Vista? Maybe next time we get to develope more Who knows Microsoft could be saved from all the complaints at one day. WOW!!

Btw, a man called Richard Stallman developed GNU (all the linux appz) only they didn't have a kernel yet. So here came The Fin called Linus Torvalds (who later moved to the US) and he created linux based on the Dutch OS called Minix developed by Andrew S. Tannenbaum. When he finished it he donate the kernel to the GNU Project and that's how Linux/GNU came to life.

Too bad all the credits went too Linus Torvalds instead of the Dutch Andrew S. Tannenbaum for getting him the basics of Linux (called minix)..........

Linux does not have these dirty by NSA developed backdoors to check for terrorism etc and does not own other kind of privacy violations. Also it's pretty nice to see that you can create your own interface layout in Linux the way you want it to look..for example....ever wanted To have the vista look in Linux? check this out >>> http://home.wanadoo.nl/darknoize/p [...] -vista.jpg

SyPheR

I have started to research Linux and am definitely going to install it to a partition and try it out. If it is as good as everybody says, I will probably make the transition this year.

Vista is the last straw for me.

Check this link out:http://xpero.msfn.org/?page=about

After you install it, WinXP looks just like vista except 400 cheaper.

No OEM version of Vista costs $400. Stop spreading FUD

Reply to 306maxi

Quote :

Do a google on NSA and Vista.

It is not far fetched. They did it with another MS OS and got caught.

Do you always talk out of your a**?

They did it in windows 2000? Please enlighten us with your river of information.

No, but I guess you do.
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/5/5263/1.html

Maybe if you took the time to read the links provided early on in this thread rather than try and call somebody names, you would have saved the egg all over your face right now.

This was big news about 8 years ago but you probably have not owned a computer that long.

Not only that there is a back door in WinXP too.

Do a google at least before calling people names.

I did, your link was one of the first to come up. What does that mean? It means in my google search across i think the first 4 pages, i didn't see a single reliable domain. What does that tell me? Well I'll leave that to you.

(P.S. Sorry but scientists tend to not believe things without reliable evidence...just because 40 bs sites decided to write the same story doesn't mean much to me. Even if Fox news wrote a story about it, that alone doesn't do it without significant proof)

Reply to shaba230

You know long time ago motherboard manufacturer insert mini camera into the motherboard and yes nsa can you see you playing your computer but now there are implanted in your lcd screen hiding very well so they can have a better angle to spy you. Maybe they are seeing you at the moment 8O

Reply to srgess

This is more what you need to read before getting Vista:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvi [...] tartm.mspx

-In order to help provide our services, we occasionally provide information to other companies that work on our behalf. These companies are required to keep this information confidential and are prohibited from using it for any other purpose.

-To make Windows Vista work better with the Internet, some features that do not collect personal information are turned on by default. You can choose to disable these features. (They dont tell you how to disable it, lol)

Reply to srgess

Quote :

I did, your link was one of the first to come up. What does that mean? It means in my google search across i think the first 4 pages, i didn't see a single reliable domain. What does that tell me? Well I'll leave that to you.

(P.S. Sorry but scientists tend to not believe things without reliable evidence...just because 40 bs sites decided to write the same story doesn't mean much to me. Even if Fox news wrote a story about it, that alone doesn't do it without significant proof)

You argument would be valid if the articles did not cite sources and methods. For example:
"Like Dr van Someren, Andrew Fernandez, chief scientist with Cryptonym of Morrisville, North Carolina, had been probing the presence and significance of the two keys. Then he checked the latest Service Pack release for Windows NT4, [extern] Service Pack 5. He found that Microsoft's developers had failed to remove or "strip" the debugging symbols used to test this software before they released it. Inside the code were the labels for the two keys. One was called "KEY". The other was called "NSAKEY"."

You claim that the domain the article appears on does not meet you high standards does not pass the smell test. How can you possibly dismiss what a scientist has proved in a scholarly work that was published in a Scientific Journal.

Dr. Peter Gutman at the University of Auckland has commented about this back door in his research on cryptography a long time ago and verified the findings of Andrew Fernandez.

Another computer researcher,Mark Russinovich did some work on WinXP last year and found the same NSA keys present in the file system.BTW-He is the guy that discovered the Sony Rootkit.

Actually, all of this is old news in the computing world. I am surprised that you did not know about it.

Reply to ScottyDog

Quote :

SyPheR

I have started to research Linux and am definitely going to install it to a partition and try it out. If it is as good as everybody says, I will probably make the transition this year.

Vista is the last straw for me.

Check this link out:http://xpero.msfn.org/?page=about

After you install it, WinXP looks just like vista except 400 cheaper.

Well, same counts for me...The only problem is I'm just waiting on buying a new soundcard that uses a USB port as the soundcard I own right now is a Creamware Luna II Studio soundcard but the problem is.....Creamware is totally owned by microsoft (I guess) as they won't let Alsa Linux driver developers get the source code of their Windows drivers so they can't make proper linux drivers for my soundcard. It's really a cheap act but it's not a big deal.....I'll just buy a good soundcard and sell this one so the problem will be history.

ps: maybe somebody can explain why some hardware firms don't give away their driver source codes for use in linux? I just don't get it...they could even have more buyers but something is keeping them from doing it. They don't even have to develop their own drivers for Gods sake. It will all beeen done for them as Linux is open source. Is Microsoft afraid Linux will get too populair and is paying them money to keep Linux from taking the lead or what is it....

Reply to SyPheR

Quote :

You know long time ago motherboard manufacturer insert mini camera into the motherboard and yes nsa can you see you playing your computer but now there are implanted in your lcd screen hiding very well so they can have a better angle to spy you. Maybe they are seeing you at the moment 8O

LMAO, seriously I did not like what is going on with M$ so I'm holding off as long possible not to own another M$ OS. I've been using SuSe for a week now and really like it...

Reply to exisnet

[/quote]

LMAO, seriously I did not like what is going on with M$ so I'm holding off as long possible not to own another M$ OS. I've been using SuSe for a week now and really like it...[/quote]

Man you didnt know Thomas Linus can have acces to any linux os because he made the kernel. Thomas work with the nsa too. There no issue to get a privacy.

Reply to srgess

yea, maybe, but at least I'll have a choice and Linux is priced right.

Reply to exisnet

True but if you are a gamer you wont choose linux :-P but anyway i was joking, some people are very paranoia about their privacy.

Reply to srgess

Quote :

True but if you are a gamer you wont choose linux :-P but anyway i was joking, some people are very paranoia about their privacy.

Yes, some what a gamer... I'm able to use XP and hopfully Vista may not be the only game in town for games. Hopefully in a year or so all this DRM and NSA whatever is cleared-out and M$ shows more support towards their cusumers instead of the dollar... the EULA and the activations are a little too much.

Time will tell... and I'm willing to wait it out.

Reply to exisnet

Quote :

True but if you are a gamer you wont choose linux :-P but anyway i was joking, some people are very paranoia about their privacy.

Ummm, excuse me....a few years ago gaming/program compatability was still not very well using linux but this has changed a lot. Ever heared of Wine for Linux? This let's you even run programs/games from MAC OS, Solaris, FreeBSD...... http://www.winehq.com/
Or maybe you like Cedega who focus on supporting all Windows games under Linux but with a different approach....http://www.transgaming.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=2&meid=-1

At the end most people running Linux use multibooting. One partition Linux the other XP or maybe Vista that I'm so paranoia about ahum....

Reply to SyPheR

I know what is Wine and Cedega. Wine is good but you know its very limiting, Is you are a real gamer you wont be emulated game. Second Cedega is good, but you need to pay 3 month Min. to get acces to their services, then the rest is free but you cant play the game that need upgrade and again its limited in games. And if you didnt know about linux that Ati driver is barely supported for 3D acceleration. Im not a vista fan, i use my self ubuntu, fedora core from long time ago.

Reply to srgess

Don't know about error reports per se, but whenever a program crashes on me a pop-up tries to find a solution to the problem.

Reply to darious00777

you can close this service. I closed myself all the annoying service like window defender, security center, firewall... I never had problem with virus trojan with XP in the past.

Reply to srgess

Quote :

I just installed Ultimate Vista and they asked straight out if I wanted to send information to MS or not. I said no and watched my ports. No issue. I also just copied a DVD to my hard disk and watched it while watching my ports - no activity. I'm no longer trusting the doom-sayers at this point - looks like bull for the moment.

You do know you are legally allowed to make a back up of media, right?
As a little experiment, try burning multiple copies of that DVD you copied, or try some P2P MP3 downloading and let us all know what happens

Reply to turpit

Quote :

I just installed Ultimate Vista and they asked straight out if I wanted to send information to MS or not. I said no and watched my ports. No issue. I also just copied a DVD to my hard disk and watched it while watching my ports - no activity. I'm no longer trusting the doom-sayers at this point - looks like bull for the moment.

You do know you are legally allowed to make a back up of media, right?
As a little experiment, try burning multiple copies of that DVD you copied, or try some P2P MP3 downloading and let us all know what happens

Interesting, can you imagine the public outcry if M$ shut down his burner because of the multiple duplicate burns? Its not coming to that... I hope not.

Edit:
Sarcasm, I know

Reply to exisnet

Forum Windows Vista : Vista General Discussion - Is Microsoft Police now?Where is our privacy?Vista Backdoor

Please mind