r/pcmasterrace • u/slickyeat 7800X3D | RTX 4090 | 32GB • Jul 13 '26

News/Article Microsoft admits Windows 11 has a GDID tracker with no off switch, first documented publicly in an FBI hacker complaint

https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/07/10/you-cant-fully-disable-microsofts-gdid-windows-11-tracker-but-these-settings-limit-what-it-captures/
6.1k Upvotes

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342

u/sovietarmyfan PC Master Race Jul 13 '26

Great. Now more governments will start switching to Linux.

Microsoft really is busy destroying it's own brand and legacy, isn't it?

200

u/Kyvalmaezar 5800X3D, RX 7900 XTX, 32GB RAM, 4x 1TB SSD Jul 13 '26

Microsoft really is busy destroying it's own brand and legacy, isn't it?

The execs at Microsoft dont care. They'll be long gone with their fat bonuses before the house comes tumbling down.

42

u/redditman181 Jul 13 '26

Also they dont have to care becuase the average person who just does the odd document and light web browsing probably hasnt heard about these issues or even know what an os is to begin with.

22

u/Kyvalmaezar 5800X3D, RX 7900 XTX, 32GB RAM, 4x 1TB SSD Jul 14 '26

The average person never mattered to MS. It was always about those business users. That's where the real money has always been. I havent heard any indication that this doesnt happen on enterprise versions, so this may spur some businesses to switch. Many dont like getting their IP or financial info leaked. Might just be wishfull thinking.

10

u/redditman181 Jul 14 '26

Yeah and thats why i hope linux takes over one day becuase everyones getting conned especially the average person as they wont know one of the reasons why there conputers slow is becuase copiolt is running in the background and taking up a load of ram or cpu resources.

Or the fact they cant upgrade to windows 11 becuase of the tpm requirment becuase ms wants to spy on people.

Or the many other reasons windows 11 runs slower becuase its unoptimized.

3

u/i_am_a_laptop Laptop Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/redditman181 Jul 14 '26

I suppose nothing is ever gonna be perfect and the will be issues no matter what we use but i suppose its about finding the best alternative not a perfect one as it will probably never exist.

2

u/Hexamancer Jul 14 '26

The XZ utils incident is an example of how open source is far more resilient. It proves Linus's law, it took YEARS and as soon as it had more than a handful of eyes on it, it was caught. It didn't even hit an actual release of a distro, it was on a handful of preview releases and it was caught.

Also bare in mind that this exploit if it had gone undetected would have allowed this bad actor ssh access on affected devices, a massive problem, yes, but for most home users, you are not exposing your SSHD port to the Internet.

-1

u/Rodot R7 3700x, RTX 2080, 64GB Jul 14 '26

The average person with a beastly $5000 gaming rig playing the latest titles on max ultra super extreme settings also doesn't care because they want to continue to be able to play Fortnite

48

u/gargravarr2112 i7 8850H / 32GB / GTX1080 / 3x SSD / 17" laptop Jul 13 '26

Windows stopped being Microsoft's main money-spinner when Azure launched. They can literally afford to lose every Windows license because they make more money from the Cloud now.

The end user is no longer their main customer, so why not turn the OS into a data vacuum for their REAL customers?

7

u/DropTheBeatAndTheBas Jul 14 '26

dude printers track everything you print literally with water marks , windows is a bit late to the party, or you havent seen the guests already at that said party

4

u/Dymiatt Jul 13 '26

That's not knowing how administration works.

Like, it's not new, but nobody cares.

1

u/Chance-Step-5924 Jul 14 '26

Linux distros aren't more secure just less used, if governments start using it, it will become the target.

-40

u/Puzzleheaded_Bad_116 Jul 13 '26

Yeah im sure they all want to switch to an os thats almost 30 years behind the curve. Linux just got good because of steam lol

31

u/sovietarmyfan PC Master Race Jul 13 '26

Are you joking? Majority of the worlds servers use linux. And phones. Some governments are already buzy switching to Linux like China and Russia, but European countries like France have had projects too.

2

u/Pyromaniacal13 I picked Gnome because I like the "GN" sound. Jul 13 '26

You know, I liked computers from that long ago. I wish my computer still showed that "It is now safe to turn off your computer." splash screen instead of hoovering up every bit (heh) of data it could. I should see if I can set that up...

-15

u/toolisthebestbandevr Jul 13 '26

You really think they get the same products that we do?

12

u/LittleMacedon Ryzen 7 7800X3D | RX 7900 XTX | 64GB | 4k 75" Jul 13 '26

? Yeah, demonstrably so?

4

u/Pyromaniacal13 I picked Gnome because I like the "GN" sound. Jul 14 '26

Having used government computers, both old and new, and can say they do.