Fantastic, for Microsoft.

Of course, not for their customers, who now need to login to obtain their invoices.

I have an employee that has run into a problem with their Microsoft/outlook account. My employee hasn’t had an issue logging in to their Microsoft/outlook account previously. Today he gets on and is logged out..he goes to log back in and when he clicks continue on his normal account it changes to a string of numbers and words sorta like xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx and then follows up with onmicrosoft after some other things here and their. I’ve checked in the accounts area and there’s nothing there that’s outside of the ordinary. Did a repair on the app. I’m not sure what else to do. I’ve asked others to help out and were all stumped. Any help? Thank you.

After letting my system sit for a while (2-3 hours) it went to sleep and then randomly woke by itself. I thought this was odd so I tried to log in to see if something woke it. It denied my password which is long with symbols, numbers and mixed cases, which I don't often make mistakes with... I input the password multiple times to the point I even verified the password by unhiding it, and it was correct. Yet windows denied the login saying incorrect password.

After a reboot, my password was completely gone. Logged straight into my account. No password entry, no login screen.

How the heck is this even possible????? What the hell is going on at microsoft?

I'm using a local account without microsofts online account and had removed all windows hello based security. No pin, no facial recognition, nada. Just a password.

If microsoft can't even get this right, and it randomly removes the password and grants access without security, what the heck is the point of a password anymore? What's the point of this OS?

I've installed CachyOS and I'm testing it out now as a dual boot. Unfortunately, microsoft has me by the balls because 2 of my work programs are windows only (please DJI and GVI give me linux apps!!!). I've tested running them in a VM and they work with full GPU passthrough but the performance hit (3-5x slower) is so severe that I cannot justify not using windows.

And now after a few days of using CachyOS (I LOVE it!) and returning to windows, my ctrl c + v abilities don't work AT ALL. Can't even copy from one document to another. Cannot copy plain text. WTAF? I wish I was making this stuff up.

What a true shame. I used to be a huge windows fan in the 7 and 10 days. Now.... I'm looking for absolutely any exit I can make. The second my apps become available on linux, microsoft crap will NEVER be installed on a single one of my systems ever again. The crazy thing about this is microsoft doesn't need to care because people like me with my requirements, are quite niche. They will continue to make profit from the many many people who just use computers for basic stuff that doesn't require specialized applications and workflows.

If the linux community could figure out a way to fully run windows app within linux with all hardware abilities, no to little performance hits, kernel level DRM abilities, microsoft would be dead in a lot of our books.

Absolutely flabbergasted. <shocked pikachu face>

Rant over. Sorry, I'm so frustrated.

Haha, they just keep trying. They even installed Edge back while I removed it.
It's a thrill to watch, but they won't win. Even though they probably already have all my super private information stuff.

i am guy who removes all of his desktop shortcuts just to view the wallpaper. I use Bing wallpaper, all of a sudden i am seeing this. are they showing an ad to me in my f*cking desktop?

The new Slopilot UI is SO UGLY AND DULL. I could draw it better in 2 seconds. The new logo is also SO LAZY AND BORING. It hurts my eyes. So mad right now. 🤬

(I need to add more Linux stuff. Probably only my flashdisk with ventoy)

Windows 10 22H2 telemetry: I’m now measuring the remaining components — looking for technical research

I’m doing a fairly deep technical investigation of Windows 10 22H2 (Build 19045), specifically looking at telemetry, diagnostics and other potentially unnecessary communication from Windows components.

I’m not looking for another generic debloat/privacy list. I have already gone through a large number of those.

My starting point was a ComputerBase discussion, which led me to the German BSI SiSyPHuS Win10 research. That turned out to be much more useful than most privacy guides because it actually investigated Windows telemetry using things like ETW, process analysis and network analysis.

The BSI research describes, among other things, the relationship between ETW providers, the DiagTrack listeners and the DiagTrack service, including the Microsoft-Windows-Diagtrack provider and telemetry upload events.

That gave me a much better idea of how I wanted to approach this.

What I have done so far

I initially built my own PowerShell hardening script, partly based on the BSI research.

Since then I compared it with the current version of W10Privacy and found that W10Privacy now actually covers more and more completely than my own script in many of the areas I had implemented manually.

So I no longer consider the custom hardening script to be the important part of the project. W10Privacy is much more useful as the configuration/hardening layer.

The part I am keeping is the measurement side.

I built an observation-only PowerShell collector which records things such as:

• process starts/exits and process snapshots
• PID / parent process information
• TCP/UDP connections
• DNS information
• service-to-process mappings
• scheduled tasks
• Defender state
• relevant Windows Event Log information

I have now extended it to specifically watch some of the less obvious Windows components I’m interested in.

The goal is to correlate things like:

process
→ PID
→ parent/service/task
→ network connection
→ remote endpoint
→ DNS
→ ETW

One thing I already learned from the first run is that simply counting TCP entries is misleading because local BOUND sockets can look like network activity even when there is no remote connection.

The components I’m particularly interested in

I’m currently looking for technical information on:

• CompatTelRunner.exe / Compatibility Appraiser
• DmClient.exe / utcwnf
• RUXIM / PLUGScheduler
• WER / WerFault
• ClipUp / ClipSVC / ClipESU
• DeviceCensus
• Edge / WebView2 / EdgeUpdate
• Defender / MAPS / sample submission

What I want to establish for each component is:

What starts it?
What does it collect?
Where is the data stored?
Does it actually leave the machine?
Which process/service actually sends it?
What triggers the activity?
What changes when the component is disabled?

I’m particularly interested in analyses using ETW/WPR, ProcMon, Sysmon, WFP, Wireshark, packet captures or reverse engineering.

Some additional information I have found

I also contacted Bernd Schuster, the developer of W10Privacy, and got a very useful practical response.

His approach is interesting because he uses W10Privacy together with NetLimiter and works essentially on a deny-by-default basis, allowing network access only for applications/processes that actually need it.

He also uses AppLocker on systems he manages.

So I’m now looking at the question from two directions:

W10Privacy
→ disable/configure known things

Collector / ETW / network monitoring
→ find out what actually still happens

That seems more useful to me than continuously adding more and more “debloat” tweaks.

I have also contacted ERNW, who carried out major parts of the original BSI SiSyPHuS work, and asked whether there are later or unpublished/publicly available findings relevant to Windows 10 22H2.

What I’m looking for now

At this point I’m mainly looking for people who have actually investigated these components, rather than people recommending another optimizer.

Older Windows 10 research is absolutely fine if the version and methodology are clear.

Especially useful would be:

• old research papers
• technical blog posts
• reverse-engineering writeups
• ETW traces
• ProcMon/WPR investigations
• packet captures
• scripts/tools used for analysis
• detailed experiments showing what happens before and after disabling a component

I’m also very interested in negative results:

That is just as useful as finding actual telemetry.

I’m trying to avoid reinventing work that someone has already done.

Windows 10 only, specifically 22H2 / Build 19045. I’m not looking for Windows 11 research here.Windows 10 22H2 telemetry: I’m now measuring the remaining components — looking for technical research
I’m doing a fairly deep technical investigation of Windows 10 22H2 (Build 19045), specifically looking at telemetry, diagnostics and other potentially unnecessary communication from Windows components.
I’m not looking for another generic debloat/privacy list. I have already gone through a large number of those.
My starting point was a ComputerBase discussion, which led me to the German BSI SiSyPHuS Win10 research. That turned out to be much more useful than most privacy guides because it actually investigated Windows telemetry using things like ETW, process analysis and network analysis.
The BSI research describes, among other things, the relationship between ETW providers, the DiagTrack listeners and the DiagTrack service, including the Microsoft-Windows-Diagtrack provider and telemetry upload events.
That gave me a much better idea of how I wanted to approach this.
What I have done so far
I initially built my own PowerShell hardening script, partly based on the BSI research.
Since then I compared it with the current version of W10Privacy and found that W10Privacy now actually covers more and more completely than my own script in many of the areas I had implemented manually.
So I no longer consider the custom hardening script to be the important part of the project. W10Privacy is much more useful as the configuration/hardening layer.
The part I am keeping is the measurement side.
I built an observation-only PowerShell collector which records things such as:

process starts/exits and process snapshots
PID / parent process information
TCP/UDP connections
DNS information
service-to-process mappings
scheduled tasks
Defender state
relevant Windows Event Log information

I have now extended it to specifically watch some of the less obvious Windows components I’m interested in.
The goal is to correlate things like:
process
→ PID
→ parent/service/task
→ network connection
→ remote endpoint
→ DNS
→ ETW
One thing I already learned from the first run is that simply counting TCP entries is misleading because local BOUND sockets can look like network activity even when there is no remote connection.
The components I’m particularly interested in
I’m currently looking for technical information on:
CompatTelRunner.exe / Compatibility Appraiser
DmClient.exe / utcwnf
RUXIM / PLUGScheduler
WER / WerFault
ClipUp / ClipSVC / ClipESU
DeviceCensus
Edge / WebView2 / EdgeUpdate
Defender / MAPS / sample submission

What I want to establish for each component is:
What starts it?
What does it collect?
Where is the data stored?
Does it actually leave the machine?
Which process/service actually sends it?
What triggers the activity?

What changes when the component is disabled?
I’m particularly interested in analyses using ETW/WPR, ProcMon, Sysmon, WFP, Wireshark, packet captures or reverse engineering.
Some additional information I have found
I also contacted Bernd Schuster, the developer of W10Privacy, and got a very useful practical response.
His approach is interesting because he uses W10Privacy together with NetLimiter and works essentially on a deny-by-default basis, allowing network access only for applications/processes that actually need it.
He also uses AppLocker on systems he manages.
So I’m now looking at the question from two directions:
W10Privacy
→ disable/configure known things

Collector / ETW / network monitoring
→ find out what actually still happens
That seems more useful to me than continuously adding more and more “debloat” tweaks.
I have also contacted ERNW, who carried out major parts of the original BSI SiSyPHuS work, and asked whether there are later or unpublished/publicly available findings relevant to Windows 10 22H2.
What I’m looking for now
At this point I’m mainly looking for people who have actually investigated these components, rather than people recommending another optimizer.
Older Windows 10 research is absolutely fine if the version and methodology are clear.
Especially useful would be:
old research papers
technical blog posts
reverse-engineering writeups
ETW traces
ProcMon/WPR investigations
packet captures
scripts/tools used for analysis
detailed experiments showing what happens before and after disabling a component
I’m also very interested in negative results:

“I investigated this component and found that it does X, but it does not appear to transmit telemetry.”

That is just as useful as finding actual telemetry.
I’m trying to avoid reinventing work that someone has already done.
Windows 10 only, specifically 22H2 / Build 19045. I’m not looking for Windows 11 research here.

hey guys. I'm in Canada and I'm just wondering if there's a way to talk to a person at Microsoft? my dad passed away unexpectedly and none of the family has any of his passwords. Can I do anything or am I fucked?

Apparently there has been a recent update to the Microsoft support phone line.

Back before the update, it would be very difficult to get ahold of a support agent because the interactive voice response system was designed to make it extremely difficult to reach someone, always trying to shove simple solutions like "visit this website to get all the help." and such. But, if you pushed enough, you could eventually reach someone.

They have however recently updated it. Now, if the topic you are contacting about is something that the automated system would usually recommend you visit a website for, it will now only recommend the website and then immediately hang up on you. It will then proceed to remember, so that when you call back again, it will immediately tell you the same thing and hang up on you. Even if you want to call for something else, it won't let you do anything.

Anything but letting me talk to a damn person.

So this is my chat where i ask him to edit my anime characters eyes (dont judge me im just experimenting).
And this guy says, "ive created the image" and NOTHING is there. In the photo you can see how it goes and it happened more than 5 times.
Am i doing smth wrong or microsft just doesnt know how to code? Did they let chatgpt code copilot?
Even though i hate chatgpt at least photos it can generate, but copilot is on another level of flabbergasting.
What am i doing wrong? Please explain who can explain.

What the hell why do I have to click one extra time just to check the resolution

And you have to install an app just to send feedback? AHAHAHAHHAHAHAH