Script to change user name and machine name on Windows 10

"Joe Scotch" wrote


Can someone please corroborate what Good Guy said which is that simply
changing the local hostname automatically invalidates a Windows 10 license?


Don't pay attention to him.

According to this, Windows keeps the computer name
in the Registry:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...=vs.85%29.aspx

Probably you could use something like a VBScript
or WMI through other scripting to change it. But
there are loads of caveats. If you're on a network
that might confuse things. If you use security
software it may interfere with the change. Win10
may even interfere. Similarly with user name, you
might face unseen complications because that name
is used for so many things.

You could just back up and try the changes for
a day or two and see how it goes. On the other hand,
why not just use a decent firewall?
I block all outgoing on XP and 7. Win10 is spyware
in itself, so if you want privacy then you're using
the wrong Windows version. But it should still be
possible to block most things other than Windows
from going online.

The approach you're using is roughly analogous to
leaving your front door open and trying to always
make sure you have only counterfeit money in the
house, so that all thieves will get worthless booty.
That *might* reduce the info collected by big
companies that sold you software, but what about
all the other leaking? And they still have your IP
address. And they probably still have a unique key
recorded that they can use to ID you. You could
even have malware that's reduced your computer to
a spambot, or is stealing your financial records, and
you wouldn't know it, simply because that wouldn't
involve the user or computer names.

/nIn news wrote:

Don't pay attention to him.

Thank you for the corroboration.
I don't know who to pay atention to and who just wants attention!

According to this, Windows keeps the computer name
in the Registry:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...=vs.85%29.aspx

I change the computer name manually all the time.
I used to go from "a" to "b" and then loop back to "a" when done, but now I
just type an arbitrary string each time I manually change the host name.

Probably you could use something like a VBScript
or WMI through other scripting to change it. But
there are loads of caveats. If you're on a network
that might confuse things. If you use security
software it may interfere with the change. Win10
may even interfere. Similarly with user name, you
might face unseen complications because that name
is used for so many things.

I don't see any complications in the least from repeatedly manually
changing the machine name. The ,manual user name change causes a slight
hiccup when you first log in after making the changes.

Other than that, if there are adverse issues, I haven't seen them.

You could just back up and try the changes for
a day or two and see how it goes. On the other hand,
why not just use a decent firewall?

What firewall tells you whether the machine name and hostname and NIC MAC
address are being transmitted?

I block all outgoing on XP and 7. Win10 is spyware
in itself, so if you want privacy then you're using
the wrong Windows version. But it should still be
possible to block most things other than Windows
from going online.

I'm not trying to prevent Microsoft from their spying activities, other
than I turned off every setting that I could (so many that even Cortana
finds nothing all the time - so I turned off one too many settings!

The approach you're using is roughly analogous to
leaving your front door open and trying to always
make sure you have only counterfeit money in the
house, so that all thieves will get worthless booty.

Actually, the approach I'm using is the same approach used by a woman who
is asked for her phone number by someone she doesn't want to give her phone
number to.

She could refuse, but then have to deal with the complications involved.
Or, she could just give it what it wants, which is a fake number.

I do that all the time when a web form, for example, when iOS asks for my
name, phone number, address and zip code. Why would iOS need any of that
just to work? It doesn't. So I give it spoofed information.

In the case of iOS, you can't refuse. It requires "a" phone number and
address and name - but it will take anything you give it.

On Windows, it's so easy to change the machine name that a script isn't all
that much of an improvement but the username takes three steps so that's
why I asked if there was a script.

I guess I could write a rudimentary batch script if I knew how to do that
with the registry *.reg files which I think is the simplest way to do it.
[] Create a system restore point & back up the registry
[] Change the machine name in the registry from "a" to "b"
[] Change the user name in the registry from "a" to "b"
[] Rename the user directory in the file system from "a" to "b"
[] Reboot

But I was just asking because I can't be the only person out there giving
out fake phone numbers to everyone who doesn't need it but asks anyway.

/nIn news
http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm

What good would enforcing some arbitrary strings on
the installed OS serve ?

I have manually changed the user name and machine name so many times that I
didn't think what Good Guy said would be right but nobody corrected him so
that's why I asked for corroboration.

From your reference, Windows checks hardware things such as the first
Display Adapter
SCSI Adapter
IDE Adapter (effectively the motherboard)
Network Adapter (NIC) and its MAC Address
RAM Amount Range (i.e., 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc.)
Processor Type
Processor Serial Number
Hard Drive Device
Hard Drive Volume Serial Number (VSN)
CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM

The only thing I habitually spoof of those is the NIC MAC address.

And I was never trying to outwit Microsoft anyway.
I don't see any utility in spoofing Microsoft since they control the OS.

/nIn , John
wrote:

A question if I may?
If you don't want the programs to send the user/machine names to
anyone why are you allowing them to run?

I would just kill them.

You may have missed one of the posts which said that we already know that
some programs send this information but that nobody knows all the programs
that send this information home.

I currently have 85 processes running, according to Process Hacker.
You may have a similar number running at any one time. Right?

How do you know which ones are phoning home and which ones aren't?
Let's say five of them are phoning your machine name and username home.

What are you doing about that if you don't want that to happen?
I'm doing something about it (by spoofing that information randomly).

If you don't care about the problem it's like not caring about litter.
It doesn't bother you.

But if you go for a walk in the park with your kid and someone's dog is
pooping right in front of you and another is throwing their cheeseburger
wrappers on the ground, then it might bother you.

If it doesn't bother you - then it's not something you care about.
Hence it's not something you care to do anything about.

But if it bothers you that unknown processes "can" phone home, what would
you do about it.

"Joe Scotch" wrote

You could just back up and try the changes for
a day or two and see how it goes. On the other hand,
why not just use a decent firewall?

|
|What firewall tells you whether the machine name and hostname and NIC MAC
|address are being transmitted?
|
The point is that a good firewall can block
transmission by process. There's no reason
for most software to be calling out at all.

If you want to monitor what a program sends
then that gets complicated. Most will go
encrypted. And most will be encoded in some
way. I don't think it's possible to even find
what all the values in a Google search string
mean. And there's been lots of investigation
into Microsoft's spyware on Win10, but as far
as I know, no one has fully figured out exactly
what they send home. It's not meant to be read.
It's meant to be efficiently interpreted by custom
software.

The approach you're using is roughly analogous to
leaving your front door open and trying to always
make sure you have only counterfeit money in the
house, so that all thieves will get worthless booty.

|
Actually, the approach I'm using is the same approach used by a woman who
is asked for her phone number by someone she doesn't want to give her phone
number to.
|

I suppose you could say that. But the first problem is
that she's being dishonest unnecessarily. And in this case
she's already had the man in question over for a barbecue,
so refusing her phone number isn't going to accomplish
very much.

|
She could refuse, but then have to deal with the complications involved.
Or, she could just give it what it wants, which is a fake number.
|

Suit yourself. I don't see any complications with the
software I use. It's not analogous to a drunk, horny man
in a bar at 2AM. I just block software from calling home.
I also block WinXP and Win7 from calling home. (As far
as I can tell. I don't allow svchost through the firewall.)
I haven't had any problems.

| In the case of iOS, you can't refuse.

That's a whole other kettle of fish. Nothing Apple
does surprises me. They're not only the ultimate in
sleaze but they also have a mysteriously compliant
fanbase who are happy to open their wallets for the
chance to be exploited.
Phones and tablets are also a different category.
I don't know if there's any chance of reasonable privacy
there. You have to assume that you have a tracking
collar, that you're under surveillance, and that the
spying audience is every app maker on your phone,
as well as Apple and the NSA. The app makers all want
to spy for targetted ads. Anyone who really cares
about privacy wouldn't be using a device like that in
the first place.

So now your analogous woman with the private phone
number has just had sex with a new man and met his
kids. One has to wonder why she's still lying about her
phone number.

I remember years ago my then 12-ish niece was signing
up with all sorts of things online, including hotmail. I
warned her that there was a privacy problem with doing
that. She responded, "Oh, I know. I told them I'm an old
farmer from Arkansas." Clever. But her IP address said
she was in NH and her choice of websites said she's
probably a 12-year-old girl. I doubt Microsoft analytics
was fooled.

|
But I was just asking because I can't be the only person out there giving
out fake phone numbers to everyone who doesn't need it but asks anyway.
|

No. I give out fake email addresses when they're
demanded for no reason at sites. Or if it's in person I tell
people that I'll provide an email address if they insist, but
that I'll never see their email. That usually shuts them
up without having to lie. In stores that ask for zip code
or phone number I just say "no". It's so sleazy. They
ask in the most casual voice possible, as though such
questions are normal. They don't deserve a more polite
answer. Lately I've taken to answering, "No to everything"
because there are so many questions.
Though my ladyfriend, who doesn't like to be
confrontive, has what I think is a very good response:

"Phone number?"
"Why do you need that?"
End of conversation. Though sometimes a perky clerk
might launch into a listing of all the great benefits
that come with being a store club "member".

But you might be the only person who thinks that
changing computer and user name is a good privacy
strategy online. In any case, that's your business. If it
were me I'd search for some combination like:

vbscript wmi registry change computer name

If there's a script available it should turn up. A Windows
group is not the best place to look, since people using
Windows don't necessarily know about scripting.

On Sat, 22 Jul 2017 14:27:15 -0000 (UTC), Joe Scotch
wrote:

/nIn , John
wrote:

A question if I may?
If you don't want the programs to send the user/machine names to
anyone why are you allowing them to run?

I would just kill them.

You may have missed one of the posts which said that we already know that
some programs send this information but that nobody knows all the programs
that send this information home.

Possibly true, though Paul might. He's brilliant at this stuff.


I currently have 85 processes running, according to Process Hacker.
You may have a similar number running at any one time. Right?

62, but only since I killed BOINC. When I was running SETI at Home
and the prime and protein searches it was a lot more.


How do you know which ones are phoning home and which ones aren't?
Let's say five of them are phoning your machine name and username home.

Search engines. That and experience and years of work. Decades of
work. Decades of *supporting* people at work.
Even so, I'm less expert than some. Certainly far less so than the
people who work at Microsoft.
Your point is well made.


What are you doing about that if you don't want that to happen?

Truthfully? Learning stuff. That's why I'm reading this group, among
other resources.


I'm doing something about it (by spoofing that information randomly).

Personally I see that as wasted effort but each to his own.
Your machines have numbers hard-wired into the hardware. Those are
slightly more difficult to spoof. It seems to me (and I'm well
prepared to accept being wrong - again) that not sending data is
better than sending slightly bogussed data.
But it's your machine. You know more than I ever will about your
situation.


If you don't care about the problem it's like not caring about litter.
It doesn't bother you.

Oh, both bother me muchly.
I ****ing *hate* litter. Not so much dog **** in the wilderness but
simple refuse like sweetie-bags, crisp pokes and pop-bottles layered
five metres deep within a few hectometres of bins.
Laziness is cool, inconsiderate stupidity is evil. Carrying the
litter to the nearest bin is the *lazy* thing to do. It saves Society
much effort in doing it for you.
And it costs each of us little.
PESI.
The Principle of Enlightened Self-Interest. I like a nice, tidy,
crap-free world so I take my rubbish to the nearest bin.
That way, *EVERYONE* benefits, even me.


But if you go for a walk in the park with your kid

Not applicable but I get the point. And I agree.

and someone's dog is
pooping right in front of you and another is throwing their cheeseburger
wrappers on the ground, then it might bother you.

And both do but for different reasons. The dog ****e one bothers me
because dogs can be taught to be very discrete, just like cats are
instinctively. Anything less is inconsiderate stupidity on the part of
the owner.
The burger bother me because they attract gulls. The gulls here
double as attack helicopters. I really like them but they can terrify
large adults. If you want to feed he pigeons, gulls or rats you should
at least chuck the burger to some distance from people.
That cause much fun.


If it doesn't bother you - then it's not something you care about.
Hence it's not something you care to do anything about.

There are many, many things I don't give a toss about.


But if it bothers you that unknown processes "can" phone home, what would
you do about it.

"Unknown" is not something I like on my machinery. If I am not fairly
sure of its purpose, I kill the thing.
If Windows gets buggered up, I'll think about re-instating it but
that hasn't happened for ages.
There are tons of sites that tell us what each process does, what
it's for, what it sends home and how to strangle the buggers. Online
search engines will find them if you type in the name of a process as
the keyword.
Be careful. Some sites are elderly and some are bloody dangerous as
they were written by wallies.

Sure, my boxes are probably spewing stuff into the aether but I
killed CEIP and some other stuff and I won't use Win-10 *ever* so I've
done what I realistically can without becoming an aluminium-foiler.

If I hate Win-Nein so much why am I reading this group? Well, my
sister uses it. Other people who rely on my expertise (such as it is)
use it and it's not going away any time soon. I've played with, used
and learned every version of Win/Dos since the dawn of the Cretaceous
so I try to keep up with Win-Ten. A little.
I just don't let the verminous little hobbit into my home.

As a start in learning stuff, the services application in Windows is
pretty good about telling us what each service does. Online process
explorer sites can tell us if each is useful *TO* *US*.
I really, truly don't give a flying **** how useful they are to
*Microsoft*.
They aren't paying me enough. Or anything.

Thank you for your very thoughtful answer, I was really just a little
curious. I meant absolutely no offence.
J.

/nIn news wrote:

The point is that a good firewall can block
transmission by process. There's no reason
for most software to be calling out at all.

I agree with your statement that there is almost never any reason we would
want any software at home to call out to its corporate office.

I admit that I'm clueless on firewalls.
I have something called "glasswire" running.

Basically it tells me that something happened.
But that is too late of course.

But I'm a noob when it comes to firewalls.

If you want to monitor what a program sends
then that gets complicated.

The original intent was just to spoof some of the easy to spoof data, such
that if it DID get sent, it would be garbage data and not meaningful.
Username = aaa
Machinename = bbb
SSID = ccc_optout_nomap
Router MAC address = dd:dd:dd:dd:dd:dd
etc

The problem with the spoofing is that it requires editing the registry.

And there's been lots of investigation
into Microsoft's spyware on Win10

I'm not qualified to even begin to spoof Microsoft so I won't.
It's just the machine name and hostname that I'm qualified to spoof.
I just wanted an easier way than manual.

I don't allow svchost through the firewall.)

Process Hacker shows a bunch of this thing you call svchost.
How do I block it going through the firewall?

I'm a firewall noob though.
So if it's complex, it will be too hard for me.
All I have now on Win10 is something called "glasswire 1.2."

I doubt Microsoft analytics was fooled.
Lots of people write down that they are born on 1/1/1900
(where we're getting close to having 1/1/2000 being over 18).

No. I give out fake email addresses when they're
demanded for no reason at sites.

I found a lot of fake email addresses won't work all the time because they
have to be real, and a throwaway email is often blocked but I did find out
by accident that if you combine a throwaway email with a mail redirector,
then you get to use the mail redirector as your mail address.

That trick alone has saved me tons of spam!

This fails:
throwaway-mail == web-forum-mailfield
This works:
throwaway-mail == redirector-mail == web-forum-mailfield

It's easy to find throwaway mail sites but it's hard to find redirector
sites, so if you know of good ones, tell me!

But you might be the only person who thinks that
changing computer and user name is a good privacy
strategy online. In any case, that's your business.

That makes me curious what people would answer to these two basic
questions.

1st: Does your machinename or usename give out personal information?
2nd: How often do you change your machinename or username on Windows?

/nIn , John
wrote:

I'm doing something about it (by spoofing that information randomly).

Personally I see that as wasted effort but each to his own.
Your machines have numbers hard-wired into the hardware. Those are
slightly more difficult to spoof. It seems to me (and I'm well
prepared to accept being wrong - again) that not sending data is
better than sending slightly bogussed data.
But it's your machine. You know more than I ever will about your
situation.

Your point is well taken and I apologize for coming down hard on you.
You seem reasonable (a lot of people aren't, so I again apologize).

I agree with your point, which was well made, that STOPPING the data
transfer to the corporate office is important and I do that in some ways
that I can, not the least of which is choosing programs wisely as you do.

I also turn off every privacy setting I can find in any program.
And I have a firewall but I don't use it all that effectively yet.
It basically just tells me when something happened already, which is
already too late.

But firewalls would expand this thread further than I intended since I just
wanted to change the username and hostname with a script.

While every one of your arguments were valid, it STILL doesn't hurt (I say)
to change some of the variables that CAN be transmitted without you knowing
it.

On a corporate machine, I can see that you have to use your real name.
But on a home machine, what does a real name buy you?

For example, would you name your machine with your real name?
Would you put your real name into the username field?

"Joe Scotch" wrote

I don't allow svchost through the firewall.)

| Process Hacker shows a bunch of this thing you call svchost.
| How do I block it going through the firewall?

With a firewall. But it may not be possible on win10.
They tell you straight up that they intend to spy on
you and that you have no choice. Even on Win7,
blocking svchost requires not needing certain networking
functions. For instance, DHCP wants access to get an
IP address from the router, so it's necessary to use
a fixed IP address.


| I'm a firewall noob though.

It's not so much hard as confusing. I use Online Armor
on XP and Private Firewall on Win7. I like the former better.
But it's not enough to just find a good one because they
keep changing and being bought out. Zone Alarm was once
the best. Then it seemed to be the worst. Then I heard it
was good again. It's hard to keep up. This page is
a popular reference:

http://www.matousec.com/projects/pro...oduct-list.php

But the list is outdated. Also, he doesn't differentiate
between firewalls and AV. Likewise, a lot of AV products
have got into firewall functionality. The result is
typically extreme complexity and bloat. So I don't know
what the best choice is these days for Win10. It should
be something that allows you to easily block outgoing
on a per-process basis, and preferably allow control by
ports. I'm not certain that Microsoft even allows so much
control on win10 by 3rd-party software.
Online Armor will always let me know if something
tries to go out and I can see what IP it's trying to reach.
I can then block it.

Maybe someone here will have a good recommendation.
But many people don't really care about privacy and can
be quite irritable about even the idea that it might matter.
So you need a recommendation from someone who discerns
the relative merits of different firewalls.
(Note how Wolf K, for example, always equates caring
about privacy with "paranoia". He's not alone. People
don't like to be shaken out of their comfort zone. So those
people are likely to think it's obsessive to figure out the best
firewall to use, and try to discourage the effort.)

| It's easy to find throwaway mail sites but it's hard to find redirector
| sites, so if you know of good ones, tell me!

I haven't really used those. The cases where I have
to offer an email address are typically cases where I
don't need to have a valid address where they'll send
some kind of ID number. So I use nonsense. It usually
works. They just use a script that tests for @, .com,
..org, or .net, etc. It checks the format.

But you might be the only person who thinks that
changing computer and user name is a good privacy
strategy online. In any case, that's your business.

| That makes me curious what people would answer
| to these two basic questions.

| 1st: Does your machinename or usename
| give out personal information?

Mine doesn't, except in being slightly unique.
But as noted, no one gets them, anyway.

| 2nd: How often do you change your machinename or username on Windows?

Never. Again, if you care about privacy you want a
firewall, a HOSTS file, and attention to browser
settings. I don't think most people change username or
computer name either way. I've never heard of it. Anything
that can call home with your usename can also call home
with a list of your files, content of your email, or anything
else they care to look for.

But I do discourage friends who I help from using a real
name, like Sylvia or MichaelWilson as a username. Those are
slight privacy intrusions and serve no purpose for most
people.

Some software will look up in the Registry and try to use
the user name in their software setup. But it's not only the
user name. For instance, I have a user and company value in

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MS Setup (ACME)\User Info\

I think Visual Studio put it there. Other installers sometimes
retrieve that and puts it into their "registration" window,
suggesting that I use the same values for their software.

That's another thing to be aware of. Company name. I
have a brother who once got Photoshop 4 with a scanner.
He entered his name and the company he worked for in
the setup window, not giving it any thought. When he
wanted to buy a v. 5 update Adobe refused, claiming it
belonged to his company! He had to go back to his former
employer and get a letter saying that he owned the software
himself. So always put "none" or leave blank any company
field. It's designed for corporate situations and it's none of
their business, anyway.

/nIn news wrote:

| It's easy to find throwaway mail sites but it's hard to find redirector
| sites, so if you know of good ones, tell me!

I haven't really used those. The cases where I have
to offer an email address are typically cases where I
don't need to have a valid address where they'll send
some kind of ID number. So I use nonsense. It usually
works. They just use a script that tests for @, .com,
.org, or .net, etc. It checks the format.

Nonsense email addresses won't work if the signup site requires a
confirmation email to be clicked on.

Throwaway email addresses usually don't work because the signup site knows
them all.

The trick I came up with works, but I can't be the smartest cookie here, so
I would love to know what trick others use to get around the requirement
for a valid unique email address to sign up to some web sites.

On Sun, 23 Jul 2017 02:15:39 -0000 (UTC), Joe Scotch
wrote:

/nIn , John
wrote:

I'm doing something about it (by spoofing that information randomly).

Personally I see that as wasted effort but each to his own.
Your machines have numbers hard-wired into the hardware. Those are
slightly more difficult to spoof. It seems to me (and I'm well
prepared to accept being wrong - again) that not sending data is
better than sending slightly bogussed data.
But it's your machine. You know more than I ever will about your
situation.

Your point is well taken and I apologize for coming down hard on you.

No worry, pal. I'm easy.

You seem reasonable

Huh! You haven't talked to anyone who knows me, have you? True, I do
*seem* reasonable ... sometimes, when I can be bothered.

(a lot of people aren't, so I again apologize).

It's all cool.


I agree with your point, which was well made, that STOPPING the data
transfer to the corporate office is important and I do that in some ways
that I can, not the least of which is choosing programs wisely as you do.

Yes, I rather expected that from you. You ain't stupid. Inexperienced
in some areas, maybe, but you show every sign of being willing to
learn.
This is a *VERY* good thing of which you should be very proud.



I also turn off every privacy setting I can find in any program.

A very good start. Not everyone bothers. (Yes, sister, I'm talking
about you.)

And I have a firewall but I don't use it all that effectively yet.
It basically just tells me when something happened already, which is
already too late.

Often, yes, but even then you can stop it happening again. What that
may be worth to you again depends on your circumstances.


But firewalls would expand this thread further than I intended since I just
wanted to change the username and hostname with a script.

That, unfortunately, is the nature of Usenet. It is a legacy of a
conversation in a Students' Union Bar between experts and those
needing help. Thread drift is inevitable.
As is thread proliferation, schisming, where the simple act of asking
a simple question spawns a thousand threads that never, ever die.
Such is life.


While every one of your arguments were valid, it STILL doesn't hurt (I say)
to change some of the variables that CAN be transmitted without you knowing
it.

Probably not. I don't do it but I'm me and I'm a lazy ******* at the
best of times. Once I have a solution, I apply it until it doesn't
work or becomes invalid. I don't bother making work for myself if I
don't need to.
You are not me and you find different solutions to problems, you
might even see different problems. That's a sign of intelligence.




On a corporate machine, I can see that you have to use your real name.

That depends. I once used an alias for years at a job for a variety
of obscure reasons. It was really their fault, though.


But on a home machine, what does a real name buy you?

Laziness, inertia, lack of work. I *like* those.
I have more than one box and they are linked. Networking is easier if
I leave everything static as much as I can.
And I have firewalls.



For example, would you name your machine with your real name?

**** *NO*! I don't even name *me* with my real name if I can avoid
it.

Would you put your real name into the username field?

Not in this universe, no.
Though that probably acts as a very short fence. I'm not stupid
enough to think I'm foiling the super-spooks in Langley or Cheltenham
or wherever but I *am* blocking casual script kiddies and those who
see me as too small a target to be worth working on.
I'm in the bracket where if it takes more than ten minutes to hack me
you are taking a loss. Less than one minute and you may break even.
Maybe, if you do it right.
I doubt many of us can do much better.
If you can and do, I'm happy for you.

I hope you find what you are looking for and I am truly sorry I can't
help much.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/ms376608.aspx
Microsoft does keep online technical tutorials. Technet stuff. Maybe
those would help?
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/.../bb978526.aspx
Powershell might be the way to go. We can do pretty much anything
with that. There are vast libraries of scripts. Github has lots.
https://github.com/PowerShell
I'd start by enlisting Paul's help with deciphering that lot. Well,
*I* wouldn't because I'm a professional and I like a challenge but I'd
advise most people to get a tutor.
http://powershelltutorial.net/ or an online course.
https://blog.varonis.com/top-10-powe...ls-on-the-web/
https://www.lynda.com/PowerShell-tra...ls/5779-0.html

N.B. I don't recommend anything above. Some of it I have used, some
not but documentation and tutorials are of extremely variable quality
and some are totally crap. Contrary to legend, Microsoft's are usually
bloody brilliant and well-written, but that's only my view.
Your tastes may vary.

Good luck and take care, and thank you for your nice, friendly
answers.
J.

On Sun, 23 Jul 2017 21:50:57 -0000 (UTC), Joe Scotch
wrote:

/nIn news wrote:

| It's easy to find throwaway mail sites but it's hard to find redirector
| sites, so if you know of good ones, tell me!

I haven't really used those. The cases where I have
to offer an email address are typically cases where I
don't need to have a valid address where they'll send
some kind of ID number. So I use nonsense. It usually
works. They just use a script that tests for @, .com,
.org, or .net, etc. It checks the format.

Nonsense email addresses won't work if the signup site requires a
confirmation email to be clicked on.

Throwaway email addresses usually don't work because the signup site knows
them all.

Bugmenot sometimes works where others do not. Also Hushmail and
Mailinator.


The trick I came up with works, but I can't be the smartest cookie here, so
I would love to know what trick others use to get around the requirement
for a valid unique email address to sign up to some web sites.

AOL. Yes, you end up with hundreds of bogus AOL email addys such as
"supermarket01" and the like but if you keep a list it can work. Do
remember to lie, extensively, about your name, address, phone number
and mother's maiden names. My MMN changes with every service that
requires it. So far, she's had loads.

Hotmail used to be useful but Microsoft ****ed that over the same way
it is doing Skype.
https://protonmail.com/ is said to work very well.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/anonymous-email-providers/

http://www.trustedreviews.com/how-to...-email-account
a couple of reviewed lists of providers.

http://www.sendanonymousemail.net/
http://www.anonymous.to/ a couple more providers.

I don't work for any of them, nor do I have shares in the companies.


J.

In article , , Joe Scotch
says...

/nIn news wrote:

| It's easy to find throwaway mail sites but it's hard to find redirector
| sites, so if you know of good ones, tell me!

I haven't really used those. The cases where I have
to offer an email address are typically cases where I
don't need to have a valid address where they'll send
some kind of ID number. So I use nonsense. It usually
works. They just use a script that tests for @, .com,
.org, or .net, etc. It checks the format.

Nonsense email addresses won't work if the signup site requires a
confirmation email to be clicked on.

Throwaway email addresses usually don't work because the signup site knows
them all.

The trick I came up with works, but I can't be the smartest cookie here, so
I would love to know what trick others use to get around the requirement
for a valid unique email address to sign up to some web sites.

Use a Gmail address. When you sign up, *don't* put in an
alternative/ISP/other email address - it is *not* a *requirement* (it is
optional).


--
Duncan.

/nIn , John
wrote:

Though that probably acts as a very short fence. I'm not stupid
enough to think I'm foiling the super-spooks in Langley or Cheltenham
or wherever but I *am* blocking casual script kiddies and those who
see me as too small a target to be worth working on.

The way I see it, the "super spooks" as you call it, or the "state
sponsored adversaries" as I call it, would be impossible to foil given I
could do lots with millions of dollars, whereas they have billions and much
smarter people than I.

They vacuum up everything, and I'm sure even this conversation is being
saved (likely as we type it!) so that they can grep through it whenever
they glean a snippet of "intelligence" which they then compare to
everything known out there.

It is sad though, that I used to click on the button to send crash reports
back to the mother ship, but now that I know the super spooks especially
fantasize about such things, I never send any diagnostic material back to
the mother ship anymore as a direct result of their spying on every one of
us, innocent and guilty alike.

I'm in the bracket where if it takes more than ten minutes to hack me
you are taking a loss. Less than one minute and you may break even.
Maybe, if you do it right.

Again, the super spooks (aka big brother) already has every one of us
already. I doubt posting to Usenet is even remotely anonymous to them.

They tap every fiber out there so they have the original feed at all times.

They fly helicopters over NYC to vaccuum up hundreds of thousands of
conversations at a time.

You'd have to be a genius to foil them, and even then you wouldn't.
Just look at history and you'll see that they broke the most sophisticated
codes during wartime, when the fate of entire countries were at stake.

If they break that stuff routinely, any one of us hiding being a fake aol
address isn't going to get more than a millimeter high fence between us and
the super spooks.

I doubt many of us can do much better.
If you can and do, I'm happy for you.

The main point about privacy is that it's like keeping your body clean.
You have billions of bacteria but you still wash under your arms.
You still brush your teeth even though one drop contains millions.
And you trim your fingernails even though they keep growing.

To me, privacy is like basic hygiene. It's something that you do forever
and never win outright, but you keep the parasites at bay as best you can.

In the end, they win, because they outnumber you a billion to one.
All you can do is stave them off for as long as you can.

It's basic computer hygiene.

I consider those who don't practice basic computer hygiene to be like
people who don't brush their teeth and wash under their armpits or cut
their nails.

/nIn , Dave Doe
wrote:

Use a Gmail address. When you sign up, *don't* put in an
alternative/ISP/other email address - it is *not* a *requirement* (it is
optional).

Gmail is particularly finicky if you give it neither an email address nor a
mobile phone number.

How do you manage to keep a gmail address alive without ever giving it
either a phone number nor a mobile hone number for the verification string?