Windows 8 sends a couple kb of information for things like searches etc, that you can disable. Windows 10 doesn't let you disable these features, and have been recorded sending dozens mb of data per day. There's a huge difference between the 2.

Oh, please.

Look, a blanket statement like "you cannot turn this off" when it's quite obvious to anyone who spends even 5 minutes looking that you actually can turn it all off doesn't help the point you're trying to make (and I'm starting to wonder what that point even is). Windows 10 privacy is very configurable; the only issues are (1) should this stuff have been enabled by default?, and (2) should the settings have been made more discoverable?

Actually even if you have everything set to off, it still seems to collect the data as per that security audit (They had settings set to off and still picked it up in their router). Additionally, telemetry information can't be disabled except in Enterprise and up editions, as per Microsoft's site.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn904962(v=vs.85).aspx

System/AllowTelemetry

Allow the device to send diagnostic and usage telemetry data, such as Watson.

The following tables describe the supported values:

Windows 8.1 Values 0 – Not allowed 1 – Allowed, except for Secondary Data Requests. 2 (default) – Allowed.

Windows 10 Values

0 – No telemetry data is sent from OS components.

1 – Sends basic telemetry data. 2 – Sends enhanced telemetry data including usage and insights data. 3 (default) – Sends full telemetry data including diagnostic data, such as system state

At first I thought Microsoft probably wouldn't over-reach with data, but see'ing how their collection profile is shaping up is convincing me to stay with Windows 7.

a lot of WTF stuff (on MS's behalf)

... and people called me nuts when I said the Windows 10 installer app was a malware downloader and that there had to be an evil motive behind pushing people towards Windows 10 in such a way!

But seriously, I'm pretty sure this isn't even legal in the EU (it may be in the USA because the small print in the EULA says so, but when your terms are clearly against the law, it's meaningless what you wrote). Let's see how many years it takes the bureaucrates to wake up from their slumber.

... (2) should the settings have been made more discoverable?

So, here's a security audit. http://aeronet.cz/news/analyza-windows-10-ve-svem-principu-jde-o-pouhy-terminal-na-sber-informaci-o-uzivateli-jeho-prstech-ocich-a-hlasu/

Here's some key points.

-It sends all text you type anywhere (not just into search) every 30 minutes to MS. If you type about a holiday to your blog, next day you'll see holiday ads.

- every 30 minutes it sends your geolocation and network info

-if you type a telephone number into Edge it sends it to MS after 5 min

-if you type anywhere in windows a name of some movie, windows will start indexing all your media files after a while and will send it to MS after 30 minutes of your inactivity

-after installing W10, it will send about 35MB of data once

-after turning on your webcam for the first time it sends data to microsoft once. Seems to be a photograph

-everything you say is transferred to MS, it works even if you disable and remove and uninstall cortana. Parts of Cortana are needed for the core of the OS to run. Confirmed by MS helpdesk. You can be identified by your voice anywhere near a microphone after they get enough data from you.

-Voice to text is transferred instantly

-voice is transferred every 15 min, 80MB of data

-after 15 minutes of your inactivity or when screensaver is on, network activity ramps up and everything else is being sent to MS

-blocking in hosts doesnt work, IPs are hardcoded into their code and DLLs

Keep in mind that the servers are all known, and accept incoming traffic, so as soon as there's a 0day that affects them, everyone's information's out there.

So I'm pretty much only going to upgrade out of windows 7 in 5 years, when crackers have ripped all that out.

just spend 3 minutes in the privacy settings window if you forget it at the first OS run, is that difficult? Oh yes, it's better to download unsigned third party tools that play with registry settings and require admin/root rights to work, so "tech journalist" can write shit around the net...

... (2) should the settings have been made more discoverable?

What if we make a giant button labeled "Privacy" on the front page of the settings app...

Oh wait, Windows 10 has that.

This.

Anyway, has anyone any real prove that the OS send to MS or whatever any personal data (ie: no Windows Update checks) that are manually disable by the user? Otherwise everything else is pure rants.

Did you read the MSDN article I linked? Because Microsoft themselves said you can't disable their telemetry data collection unless you're running windows server, or enterprise in their documentation.

Did you read the MSDN article I linked? Because Microsoft themselves said you can't disable their telemetry data collection unless you're running windows server, or enterprise in their documentation.

But what does 'telemetry' actually encompass?

I'd hazard a guess that this clause is mainly present because Windows 10 is also a mobile operating system, and they need to transmit some non-identitying data (wifi fingerprints, for example) to fulfil legal and/or contractual obligations (geo location for 911 calls, primarily).

If you can demonstrate that 'telemetry' encompasses actual user data, I'd be interested to learn details.

Evidence from the MSDN article and elsewhere is that "telemetry" is just the old Windows Error Reporting that's been there since XP.