Microsoft is spying on me?!

[Phonedog911]

im not really that concerned with cleaning/shredding software... i got nothin to hide . i was just curious how much of the article was true. i checked out my index.dat files and the "suspicious folders" and opened them in edit and i didnt see logging or anything, does that mean i did it wrong or is the article is false? it was originally posted on a microsoft hate site, afterall.

[AxessTerminated]

Axess, the article was originally found at http://www.****microsoft.com, as I posted in the beginning. That contains a link to the full article, as well as the original. http://www.microsuck.com is another mirror of that site (or possibly the original.) But as with all mirrors, it doesn't really matter which one you use for referencing an article.

Almost...If you read the main page...****microsoft.com sold its domain to the group that has it now. They created another domain leading to the same exact site to make it more "family-friendly"

[darkes]

Originally posted here by Phonedog911
im not really that concerned with cleaning/shredding software... i got nothin to hide . i was just curious how much of the article was true. i checked out my index.dat files and the "suspicious folders" and opened them in edit and i didnt see logging or anything, does that mean i did it wrong or is the article is false? it was originally posted on a microsoft hate site, afterall.

Some bits of the article are sort of true. However, the assertion that MS has done this to spy on you is false. Take the index.dat used by IE as an example: the reason it exists is to speed up the process of retrieving data from your HD, not to log what sites you have visited.

Of course it can be misused in the sense that if you look at it you will find a record of recent sites you have visited. You'll see a similar sort of thing happening with OE - a lot of your 'deleted' messages do still exist - just do a search for dbx files. Again, there is no malevolent intent here - it's just that OE is not very good about garbage removal.

So in essence, yes there is a lot of information on your PC that can be used to trace what you have been doing recently, but that's just a consequence of how must OS work.

And, yes, linux does leave traces behind as well

[alittlebitnumb]

Yeah, Microsoft owns the software that runs 98% of the boxes running now. Okay, as easy as it is to make a routine to spy on schmucks like us using the software, I wonder if MS actually has a team of people to sit at a spy center to see the latest and greatesy pr0n or the latest program we pirated. Personally, I would love to have a job like that. Too bad Bill most likely is more interested in ruling the world.

Seriously, it is not MS you should be worried about sniffing your latest pr0n surfing habits. There is work, your spouse, the kids or the clergy. Heaven knows what would happen if your significant other open IE and sees you are into mature bbw teens wearing dirty socks.

Wait a sec... I am drunk. Disregard this ****.

[nihil]

Heaven knows what would happen if your significant other open IE and sees you are into mature bbw teens wearing dirty socks.

Not a lot............she already knows........she is one

Seriously though, I do recommend removing this stuff because:

1. It wastes space
2. It prolongs routine tasks such as defragmentation and virus scanning.
3. Malware might be hidden there
4. It is a target for market research spyware

Tools I use:

1. Xen
2. McAfee Quick Clean Lite
3. MRU Blaster
4. Internet Sweeper


Just my £0.02 worth

[AxessTerminated]

well it cant just be for speeding up harddrive access. emails from Eudora and Hotmail are also found in there.
Also these files are exceptoinally well hidden, and not to mention the fact that MS refuses to comment on the subject.

[Eonfire]

Jeebus you think they'd make a statement or comment on the matter wouldn't you? Very wierd.

Anyhoo i got lavasoft and am going to reinstall spybot but what better stuff is there thats freeware (i'm broke) at getting rid of these hidden files, or where do i search for them? I'd love to be able to get as much junk out of WindowsMe as possible because it really isn't running very fast at all.

Why would they track what sites that we look at when they could just as easily get a life?!?

Cue my WindowsMe crashing anytime soon..........

Man, people will be resorting to black magic before long in fits of vengeance..................

[darkes]

It might help to clarify that there are two different sorts of files here.

Firstly various temporary files, and things like your 'deleted' emails.
Windows does create a lot of temporary files, a lot of which it doesn't bother to delete afterwards. These are normal files and folders, and show up on directory listings, and can be deleted in any standard way, except for the odd one which Windows is currently using.
I've never been quite sure whether this is intentional behaviour, or just sloppy programming.
Once in a blue moon it can be useful to be able to retrieve a temporary file e.g. if some sort of patch screws your system.
Can also sometimes be useful in a support role when you don't think the end user is giving you the full story
Equally of course all this crap does provide pointers as to what you have been doing on your PC.

The other types of files like the various index.dat files are, as has been mentioned, very well hidden, and are difficult to delete. As I mentioned, I'm pretty sure these are (were?) intended to speed up HD access, but in practice it makes no difference whatsoever. If you delete an index.dat file used by a particular application (IE for instance), then it will just get recreated when you restart that application.

EDIT: The index.dat files get recreated as empty files, so in the case of IE it will just contain the sites you have visited in that IE session, rather than in the recent past.

Incidentally products like AdAware do not regard these files as spyware, so draw your own conclusions ...

[AxessTerminated]

conspiracy theory or not, these could very well be government mandated, or some weird policy of MS...who knows, all I know is that they are real, they contain "deleted" information, they are exceptionally well hidden, and they restore themselves. I have also been able to use the CLSID and UCLSID keys in the desktop.ini files of those folders to hide complete subdirectories from the find utility and from explorer.

[phase1retaliate]

well what do you except? its micro$oft after all.