How safe is your computer? If it runs Windows 10, it is not safe at all according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The EFF accuses Microsoft of “blatantly disregarding” user choice and privacy, and says that by default, Windows 10 sends an “unprecedented amount of usage data” back to Redmond’s servers.

The EFF further states that while it’s possible to opt out of some of Microsoft’s data hoovering, this is “not a guarantee that your computer will stop talking to Microsoft’s servers”. Indeed, you’re forced to share at least some telemetry data with Redmond unless you’re running an enterprise version of Windows 10.

You can read the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s report at https://goo.gl/IY3TX5.

What should you do if you are presently using Windows 10?

Reverting back to an earlier version of Windows will create a bit more protection but not much. Earlier versions of Windows really are not much more secure than Windows 10.

Macintosh certainly is more secure but also has some security issues. The Macintosh operating system itself is generally secure but many Macintosh applications feed your personal information back to corporate servers in the same manner as does the Windows operating system and its applications. To find a few thousand articles about Macintosh’s better security, go to Google.com and search on:

“Tim Cook” Macintosh security

Or go to https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22Tim+Cook%22+Macintosh+security&t=hj&ia=web to perform the same search in a more secure manner on DuckDuckGo.

The downside is that a switch to Macintosh requires the purchase of new hardware. That is a good option if you are thinking about a new computer anyway but may not be practical to abandon a rather new, expensive, and reasonably functional Windows computer.

Probably the best option is to switch to Linux, especially one of the versions that are noted for security. The better-known security-centric versions of Linux include: Tails, Qubes OS (a favorite of Edward Snowden), Whonix, UPR (Ubuntu Privacy Remix), and SELinux (Security-Enhanced Linux) developed by the NSA for use by US government agencies and also available to the general public.

Another possible candidate is JonDo/Tor-Secure-Live-DVD, a premium service for commercial use. While highly secure, the JonDo/Tor-Secure-Live-DVD contains a barebones, non-GUI interface that is best used by techies who already understand the inner workings of Linux. If you are new to Linux, JonDo/Tor-Secure-Live-DVD is probably not a good choice for you.

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Categories: Online Privacy & Security, Software

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