Really?  Now we're going with "well somebody told me" as proof?  I would LOVE for your sister to show that was Microsoft doing that and it wasn't something she told it was OK.  I'll bet you dollars to donuts it was backing up her My Documents to OneDrive as she told it to during the install.  It's a clearly labelled option.  If she didn't read the menu's when doing the upgrades, that's on her.  They aren't hidden.  They aren't written in some mumbo jumbo meant to confuse people.  Regardless of what ulterior motives Microsoft may have, products are sold to appeal to as many customers as possible.  This means having features like automatic backups on by default.  I upgraded 4 different computers at my house and neither the AP's logs nor the firewalls logs show any massive change in outgoing traffic.  But, guess what, I READ the options it gave during the install and selected according to my preferences.

More importantly, guess what would have happened if that feature was off by default and something happened to her drive and she lost all of her pictures and what not.  "But they said Windows 10 can backup my documents automatically".  That's something anyone who's worked in IT more than a day has probably heard 1,000 times before.

Welcome to the world we live in.  Have you looked into the companies that make the parts for the computer you are using right now?  How about the ISP you are paying for the ability to type on this forum?  Guess what, they are greedy b-holes too.  Unless you're living on a farm, eating food you grew, using tools you made, you're likely giving money on a regular basis to companies that are driven by sheer greed.  But, you (just like me and everyone else) have either decided it's worth it to use their services or decided to try to not think about it.  Yeah, I have no doubt that the inclusion of these items was fueled by greed.  But guess what, that greed has lead to features MOST people want and to be blunt, greed isn't going anywhere.

What makes you think they can't with Windows 8.1?  How do you know they aren't already?  Most the population has zero idea what is actually happening on their home network.  If you hadn't seen these threads on Windows 10 would you have had any idea this was happening?  Be honest.  I suspect no.  I'll also bet that if your sister (and probably 90% of the population) wouldn't have either if she hadn't run into a data cap.  

My roommate was shocked the other day when I told him he needed to stop going to certain types of websites on my network.  He was like "how did you know I was doing that".  Simple.  It's my network.  Your data is going through my firewall.  I can see everything you want to do should I desire to.  But, guess what, your life isn't that interesting.  I really don't care what your taste in porn is as long as there's nothing that might result in the FBI knocking on the door.

I feel largely the same way about Windows 10.  Lets say they remotely turn on the automatic backups of my documents without me knowing and somehow magically manage to make it invisible to the firewall.  You know what they are going to find out?  I'm partial to petite brunettes with glasses and I play Star Trek Online.  Congratulations, I hope that was worth the effort.  Everything else is stored on my SAN which is blocked from getting out to the internet on the firewall.

Hey, if you're just trying to have a cause you can get angry about, great, more power to you.  Personally though, I'd pick a cause with a bit more impact.  You know, like world hunger or AIDS.  Because, again, let's be honest.  Even going with the worse case scenario (ignoring you can prevent them from doing this), what are they REALLY getting?  Some family pictures?  Windows 10 isn't the problem here, poor computing practices is.  Windows 10 is just taking advantage of that.  Just like numerous other companies have been for ages and guess what, the general public really doesn't care because the benefits out weigh that.

....and Microsoft is the father of 'poor computer practices' ...

....or mother....

...better not be sexist....

@ Xavier Mace....

I'm not going to respond to every argument you made in #76 to pick holes in everything I said re: Win 10.  I feel neither inclined or well enough to do so.

However, my sister was not the only one who got stung by the download upload file sharing practice MS implemented for Win 10.  A member here, Benmanns, I think, also go stung... and he is somewhat more tech saavy than many,  You may have been lucky, but the intent to 'file share' IS stipulated in the 40+ page EULA, not that I'm going to hunt is down now to prove a point.

As for my boycotting companies, some are more ruthless and slimy than others when making a profit.  It is those companies who make the greater effort to cheat, deceive and rob customers blind that I take exception to.... that's my right and I'll boycott those who offend me most.  Orright?

As for the world we live in, it would be a far greater place [commercially] if more people had the balls to tell corporations what they're doing wrong by boycotting them, rather than accepting it and willy nilly going along for the ride. As it is, corporations think they can get away with blue murder, and sadly, that is the reality because the majority of people either don't give a shit or are too stupid to realise they're being screwed.

Anyway, that's all I'm going to say on the subject.

Actually I think XavierMace has provided the most intelligent and succinct replies to this thread yet...........certainly more so than I could provide!  

I love that feature in specific situations like if you're at home and having a get together or party. Who wants to shout "ClipperSuck" over 20 people chatting?

It's ironic that ppl feel so threatened by MS. They are such a lenient company, tracking millions of pirates and not doing anything about it. Google does all this and so much more and ppl yawn about it. Myself, I'm indifferent. I realize I can't do anything about what Google does, I'm now a slave to their apparatus. It's scary how Google can target advertising so quickly to be honest. But on the other hand with MS, I can mod the OS to defeat the known security issues so I guess I'm not ok with it but pleased that I can deal with it fairly quickly and easily.

with this being true ,i will go back to win 8.1  that will have dx 10 and maybe to games its fast then Os 10 that im using.

THAT's the "most intelligent and succinct" reply to the thread, actually....

True.  You can deal with what they've let us know about.

My ears were burning. I heard my name mentioned. I did................I saw what you did there   

I'd come knocking at the door? Nope, in my line of work we break down doors without introducing ourselves and if you're lucky we might have a search warrant 

Avon calling? ...

No offense to him, but all that proves is he didn't read it either.  There's no luck to it.  You're not spinning a wheel and hoping it lands on don't upload anything.  I'm sorry, but you're deliberately trying to make this into something it's not.

Look, I know my posts are long winded but the reason this matter irks me this matter is being repeatedly brought up on this forum and in an almost completely one sided manner and by people with ZERO experience with the product.  It's been posted by multiple people how to turn off these "evil" features but that gets overrun by the people who just want to be angry about it.  Because reasons.  If you don't personally want to use it, fine.  I'm not trying to make you.  But how about we leave the product feedback to the people who have actually used the product?  I'm happy with the switch.  Jafo seems happy with the switch.  My roommate is happy with the switch.  The people who seem to have a problem with it are the ones who haven't even used it.  DrJBHL posted the concerns.  Fine, awareness is always good.  Then it was posted how to resolve those concerns.  That should have been the end of the matter.  But, no, it just degraded into another evil companies circle jerk and the HELPFUL advise of how to fix these concerns gets lost in the mix.  That's doing the forums a disservice.

I kinda call myself a 'power user' [comes with the territory] so am relatively 'happy'.

What irks me, however, is that Windows 10 is marketed to 'the general user' who mostly does not even KNOW he NEEDS to perhaps be a little UNHAPPY.

I see a new OS release as a challenge....

But actually they are NOT supposed to be such.

Trouble is.... no-one told Microsoft.  Why? Because within that entity there IS NO 'general user' with a vote.

I love Win10. For a gamer, switching to the new WDDM2.0 and DX12 is a must especially on AMD gpu for the lower driver overhead, well for me at least. I can't speak for others obviously, but I love it. My trifire 290x Lightnings have been quite happy in this new environment. Also it took all of 2 minutes to google the host file block and another for other security defeats. I've linked the two below. One tip, setup your weather in the start menu before applying the pastebin hostfile otherwise the OS will not be able to call home to get your weather. All in all, 10 is not perfect putting aside the sec issues but it does feel better than 8.1. The key for me is that it is the only path to DX12.

http://pastebin.com/050GLwG8

Fix Windows 10 privacy

That's nuffink, we used ter knock 'oles in walls an' 'old their grannies fer ransom 'til people done wot they wos told.