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Windows 11 to add an AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders, warns of security risk

⁨1025⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.windowslatest.com/2025/11/18/windows-11-to-add-an-ai-agent-that-runs-in-background-with-access-to-personal-folders-warns-of-security-risk/

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  • pastelpulse@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    [deleted]
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    • Diplomjodler@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You need to renounce your wicked lifestyle and follow the teachings of our Lord and Saviour, Linus Torvalds!

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      • pastelpulse@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
        [deleted]
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      • hakase@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Had me in the first half.

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      • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I’ve got an old Mac I’ve managed to get running Sequoia but due to Apple dropping support for Intel, it’s running on borrowed time.

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      • tux0r@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        * Theo de Raadt

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    • cRazi_man@europe.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Many people need to use computers and Windows for 8 hours a day, every working day + AI shoved into personal apps. I wouldn’t expect even the world’s best escort to be giving head continuously for 8+ hours a day, 5 days a week.

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      • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I am a system admin and decided to just use Windows Server on my desktop to avoid the bullshit Windows 11 changes

        Server has its own set of problems but at least the tools to deal with them are prepackaged

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  • Mostly_Gristle@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    At this point I can only assume that Microsoft is actively trying to punish me for using their products.

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    • stoy@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Ever since Windows 7, Microsoft has shown to be a sadist.

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      • Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Windows Vista would like a word.

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      • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Windows ME has some shit to say… Then Windows 8 will be next to have a chat.

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    • Flagstaff@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Linux Mint Cinnamon is incredible, free to try/move to, and reversible.

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      • megabyteX@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        No, it’s not. Horrible and outdated in many aspects. Much better options out there.

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  • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Why? Who’s asking for this stuff, is there somebody out there who is really pleased with this news or is Microsoft really just that out of touch.

    I don’t want to have to start wearing rainbow knee-length socks, but Microsoft are pushing me towards it.

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    • orioler25@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Consumers are not the main driver of profit, speculative value is. Microsoft knows that Windows is guaranteed to be on the majority of PC’s, which means they can afford to implement hostile features that increase the speculative value on data collection and AI investment.

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      • Credibly_Human@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        This is well said. So many people don’t get that of course these companies know you hate this shit.

        They’re just trying to boost their stock value and violate your privacy harder.

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      • audaxdreik@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Once you realize this, you also realize that there’s no going back for them either. If by some slim chance there’s enough resistance for them to pause or rollback some features, it’s only temporary. The overall course remains clear and they will continue to move in that direction regardless.

        There disdain for you as a consumer could not be made any clearer.

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      • umbrella@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        🐧

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    • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I don’t think MS is out of touch with what the customer wants, I think they just stopped listening.

      The fact is nobody is asking for this stuff.

      I think the hope is that they build it anyway and then people will use/want it. AI is the big buzzword of the decade, just like ‘cloud’ was the big buzzword of last decade.

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      • umbrella@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        my hope is that they implement it and we get another wave of people on linux

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    • SabinStargem@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      In theory, I could use an AI for doing stuff. For example, opening ripped videos, finding the timestamp where the episode name is given, and then copying that into the video’s filename. Afterwards, it can open Handbrake, use my preferred settings for audio and subs, then start the conversion of multiple files.

      However, this is all predicated on the AI not doing unwanted things - such as giving Microsoft my personal information, preferences in hentai, and passwords.

      Someday I will use agentic AI, but it will be on my terms.

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    • SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’ve read this exact questions tens of times now. This is capitalism. Now why would a for profit company ever do anything? I leave you to your deductions.

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      • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Won’t they make more money if they don’t piss everyone off.

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    • thethunderwolf@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      put the socks on >:3

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      • rbos@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I’m not sure what’s worse, the greybeard stereotype or the socks.

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    • Jankatarch@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Microsoft is forcefemming people en masse.

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    • BassTurd@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Woah woah woah, lot’s not compare fabulous knee high rainbow socks with the malware MS is putting in their OS. That’s not fair to rainbows or socks.

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      • SparroHawc@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The implication is that they’ll have to jump ship to Linux, and thus become a member of the unixsocks community.

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    • ozymandias@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I don’t want to have to start wearing rainbow knee-length socks

      it’s pretty obvious that you do

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    • salacious_coaster@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      The socks have a bit of a learning curve, depending on what you want to do with them, but it’s worth it. It’s such a huge relief to not care how much more Windows is getting enshittified this week, since it’s not my problem anymore.

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    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I work in IT for businesses and the number of times I’ve had to debunk AI slop hallucinations as actual troubleshooting information is not zero.

      “Yes, I can see the instructions say to check that checkbox, however, that checkbox does not exist” (screenshot of relevant control panel).

      This is just evidence, to me, that business types are already relying on AI instead of doing any actual thought or research on any topic they don’t already have a deep understanding of, or are too lazy to bother with.

      Consumers are not driving this change.

      The worst part is that it’s an echo chamber of yes-men that seem to be pushing for it. The AI enthusiasts trying to sell their crap, convincing the middle managers that they need their AI crap, and them buying it and asking for more/better AI crap, and the cycle continues. At no point does any of the output of any AI system provide any unique insight, or value, to anyone. The rest of us are being dragged along for the ride, regardless of what we want.

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    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Isn’t it so they can train their AI on your personal files?

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    • TheProtagonist@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      The tech industry puts bazillions of dollars into AI development and now it has to put AI literally everywhere to make it look somehow useful. Whether the customer / user wants this or not. I guess they are hoping that people will eventually like it.

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  • JoMiran@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

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    • tux0r@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

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  • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    “I see you are dual booting with Linux? I’ve reformatted that partition for you.”

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    • njordomir@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Not sure if others have experienced the same.

      For a while I had my bootloader on a single drive but I now have my Linux bootloader on /dev/sda and my windows on /dev/sdb and toggle it in the bios when I need to use Windows. I haven’t had Windows overwrite anything in a long time. Could be a coincidence though.

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      • vimmiewimmie@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I’ve read that dual booting Windows and Linux can have temperamental quirks and I’ve had my share of them.

        Now, if I’m doing that, Windows fs gets isolated and I refuse to even connect it to the internet. But, outside of a legacy automotive shop program meant for XP, I’ve not needed Windows for a couple years.

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      • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        It’s mostly an issue when you have them sharing boot drives via partitions. If you keep them isolated to their own separate drives, Windows doesn’t tend to muck with things. It’s because Windows is bad about killing bootloaders, and automatically setting itself as the default in the boot order. So if you have it sharing a drive, it’ll nuke your boot. But if you don’t have them sharing a drive, and boot via a loader on the Linux drive, there is no boot loader on the Windows drive to nuke.

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    • Rooty@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      One of the reasons why I never dual boot. Unfucking GRUB is not on my priority lists.

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      • EddoWagt@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Only dualboot with windows on a separate drive, that hasn’t given me any issues in the past 5 years or so

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  • DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The LLMs demand more data, so MS is providing it by scraping our personal hard drives. Well, not mine, but still most peoples.

    I still have Win10 running on an air-gapped laptop because there are no Linux drivers for my cheap auto-feed scanner, which I’m using to scan a raft of old photos. Once that project is done, I’ll put Linux Mint on it, and use it for something fun.

    Gimp, Inkscape, Blender, Steam, LibreOffice, Obsidian, and Jellyfin do everything I want from a desktop.

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    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I have a dual-boot with Linux Mint. I don’t access anything personal from my windows installation. It’s just for games that don’t work on Linux.

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    • DoctorPress@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      your personal hard drive? Did you mean OneDrive?

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    • massacre@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Oof - that reminds me - I have a LOT of scanning / digitizing to do.

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    • conartistpanda@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Dont forget “Everything”

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  • wuffah@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    How long before you can’t turn this off or uninstall it, just like Edge, or Bitlocker, or TPM?

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    • anon5621@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Just pirate windows server or other enterprise editions which can be used only by business

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      • TommyJohnsFishSpot@lemy.lol ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Absolutely. I spent like 3 hours the other day trying to get a W11 vm running; trying to emulate TPM and faking secure boot. I gave up and installed server in 5 minutes 😑

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    • Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’d give it another year at best.

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    • vk6flab@lemmy.radio ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’m guessing that the answer to that is … as soon as openai collapses … hopefully.

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  • oppy1984@lemdro.id ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    My mom is a retired nursing instructor, I’ve picked up a few things over the years. This is going to be fun when a HIPA violation occurs via MS A.I.

    Honestly any industry where you see confidential information or proprietary information, could pose a massive threat to customers. Just knowing how much of a product your competitors are shopping to a location can tell you a lot of what they are planning.

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    • ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I guarantee you they will solve it by lobbying to get rid of HIPA

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      • Bunbury@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Nah, why get rid of it if you can get exclusions for just AI, like they are doing for other stuff like copyright.

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      • LordCrom@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        At some point, all that juicy sweet medical data will be worth the 8 figure bribe to several congressmen to allow thebsale of access to the data for ‘research’ use to amazon and google.

        All that data is private, until it isnt.

        Dont be so innocent to think that hipaa data will never be sold, it will be eventually

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    • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I work in healthcare (maintenance) and our computer system is so fucking locked down, I’m sure CoPilot will have some similar way of being shackled. I was surprised to learn that the terminal isn’t locked, until I fooled around some and realized that every possible command was individually blocked.

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      • hume_lemmy@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I work IT at a university that does medical research, and the doctors and their assistants are by FAR the biggest security pit among all the demographics: staff, students, various faculties. You could tell them you were official password inspector and flash an ID written in crayon on a used napkin and they’d just “yeah whatever, here you go, stop bothering me”.

        They’d get chewed into paste by their directors after the inevitable happened and their compatriots would learn NOTHING.

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      • WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I have to use TaskManager now to disable co-pilot

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  • Siegfried@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Windows is the security risk

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  • jaykrown@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Step 1, delete Windows 11. Step 2, install Linux Mint.

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  • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    As if recall wasn’t bad enough.

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    • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Recall 2.0

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  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Important to note here that if you are running Windows or a dual-boot, the new version of O&O ShutUp has a utility that allows you to delete CoPilot.

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  • 52fighters@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    What’s the difference between big software companies and drug cartels? No, this is not the opening line of a joke.

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    • Credibly_Human@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Drugs can at least be fun?

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      • BillyTheKid@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Jokes aside, I loved Freelancer and that was Microsoft

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  • LiveLM@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    It’s kind of amazing how much they’re willing to tear down in hopes of this “” incredible “” AI vision

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  • Sabata11792@ani.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    How long until we can trick the Ai into deletion the System32 folder?

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    • muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      That should be a fun defcon.

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  • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    lol

    they just keep piling on justifications for switching away

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  • Wooki@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Time to regulate the shit out of them. They don’t know what consent is, they flaunt the abuse of privacy laws.

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  • Sunflier@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I never bought Windows 11 for AI shit. It wasn’t even what came with 11 originally. Hey Microsoft, why not make a version of Windows 11 with all the AI stuff fully turned on and call it Windows 11-AI. You sell it separately and up charge ad much ad you want. Just reset 11 to no AI and have it be the bare bones 11.

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  • hansolo@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Oh, no thank you.

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  • bold_atlas@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Getting new computer with Windows 11? Then wake what ever your CPU, GPU, RAM is and reduce the number by 50-75%. Have fun.

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  • psoul@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Scammers won’t need to social engineer grandma into giving out her SSN, they can just ask her AI many times and eventually, it will spit out absolutely everything.

    youtu.be/O7BI4jfEFwA

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  • Draegur@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Never. Ever. EVER. INSTALLING. ELEVEN.

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  • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Um, just in case, I’ll have you know that I name all my folders “trans porn”. It doesn’t mean anything in particular.

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  • Reygle@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    cackles maniacally in Linux
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  • hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    So it’s going to be opt-in not opt-out. Just don’t turn it on. Simple as. 🤷‍♂️

    How to disable Copilot

    For Pro, Enterprise, or Education users

    Press Windows + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter. Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot. Double-click “Turn off Windows Copilot,” select “Enabled,” then click Apply and OK. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

    For Home users

    Home users without access to the Group Policy Editor can disable Copilot via the Windows Registry. Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows. Create a new key named WindowsCopilot if it does not exist. Inside this key, create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named TurnOffWindowsCopilot and set its value to 1. Restart your computer to apply the change.

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  • yarr@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    What if I were to tell you the security risk was inside the OS all this time?

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  • henfredemars@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Well, they won’t be accessing my personal folders and files because I just won’t use Windows. Thanks but no thanks. That’s really creepy.

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  • Pirate@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Cool, you know who doesn’t have this issue? People who uninstalled the spyware called Windows from their device.

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  • snoons@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Hey, I’ve seen nhis one before.

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  • ToiletFlushShowerScream@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    So Microsoft is the pig whose committed to the AI chatbot ham. There’s no going back now for windows scanning my personal files for their own use. It’s that or nothing from Microsoft from now on.

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