Are you using Windows Vista?

Then you might as well know that the licensed operating system installed on your machine is harvesting a healthy volume of information for Microsoft. In this context, a program such as the Windows Genuine Advantage is the last of your concerns. In fact, in excess of 20 Windows Vista features and services are hard at work collecting and transmitting your personal data to the Redmond company.

Microsoft makes no secret about the fact that Windows Vista is gathering information. End users have little to say, and no real choice in the matter. The company does provide both a Windows Vista Privacy Statement and references within the End User License Agreement for the operating system. Combined, the resources paint the big picture over the extent of Microsoft's end user data harvest via Vista.

Reading Between the EULA Lines

Together with Windows Vista, Microsoft also provides a set of Internet-based services, for which it has reserved full control, including alteration and cancellation at any given time. The Internet-based services in Vista "coincidentally" connect to Microsoft and to "service provider

computer systems." Depending on the specific service, users may or may not receive a separate notification of the fact that their data is being collected and shared. The only way to prevent this is to know the specific services and features involved and to either switch them off or not use them.

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thanxs Reimar ,

that's creepy <deleted> .....................

This isn't anything new, much of this has been around since Windows 95. It's also a fraction of the information that Google has on most people. You make the call as to whether or not you trust Microsoft. If not, use Linux, because Apple does the same thing.

Microsoft, Apple, Google, and the others at the top of the food chain in this business have a lot to lose if they play fast and loose with your personal info. There are also legal ramifications that can't all be solved by a EULA. When things get fixed in an update, it's often from info gleaned from these types of automated feedback from the OS.

why no opt-out ??

I say FUD!