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Old June 3rd 18, 03:35 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Char Jackson
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Posts: 10,449
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

On Sat, 02 Jun 2018 21:51:47 -0400, Paul wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:
On Sat, 02 Jun 2018 15:51:08 -0400, Paul wrote:

Microsoft has rigged the HOSTS file. You cannot stop Vortex,
because no DNS translation is required to get there. And
even if they did use a symbolic address that needed translation,
Microsoft has also hard wired the HOSTS so that certain
microsoft.com domain addresses cannot be blocked (you enter
the values in HOSTS file and they will be ignored). They've
put holes in your bucket, everywhere you turn. Good luck
in your mission to deny Microsoft their information stream.


An easy way to stop that traffic, or any traffic that you don't want, is
to use an external (to that PC) firewall or proxy. For a free firewall,
I like pfSense. For a proxy, I'd just use a virtual edition of the
enterprise gear that I work with every day, but most people won't have
access to that or know how to use it. The firewall approach always
works, though. At least as long as it's not on the system you're trying
to protect.


We don't know where the bottom of the bottomless well is.

They could use malware techniques like algorithmically
generated IP addresses, and you'd have a hard time
blocking all of that.


You could start from a position of blocking everything, then allowing
your trusted applications one by one. Annoying, but more secure than
allowing everything and trying to block the bad stuff. The important
point is to do the blocking on a separate device, preferably not a
Microsoft device. That's why I mentioned pfSense as an example.

We don't really know what their "Plan C" is.


It's apparently a high stakes game, on that we agree.

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