A Windows XP help forum. PCbanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » PCbanter forum » Windows 10 » Windows 10 Help Forum
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?



 
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
  #16  
Old June 3rd 18, 05:00 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Mark Lloyd[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,756
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

On 06/02/2018 02:51 PM, Paul wrote:

[snip]

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.

Â*Â* Paul


Your router may be able to block such requests, and as long as you
disable UPnP, Windows can't change that.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"No being is so important that he can usurp the rights of another" --
Picard to Data/Graves "The Schizoid Man"
Ads
  #17  
Old June 3rd 18, 05:01 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Mark Lloyd[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,756
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

On 06/02/2018 03:05 PM, Arlen Holder wrote:
On Sat, 2 Jun 2018 14:43:05 -0400, Wolf K wrote:

Use your browser and choice of search engine to find "disconnect cortana
from bing."


I had already done that and it didn't work.


It should work to set your router to block access to Bing, then use a
different search engine.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"No being is so important that he can usurp the rights of another" --
Picard to Data/Graves "The Schizoid Man"
  #18  
Old June 7th 18, 02:29 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Arlen Holder
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 466
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

On Sun, 03 Jun 2018 03:35:46 -0400, Paul wrote:

What hope do you think they have, against a determined adversary ?
Microsoft is a determined adversary, with the resources to counter
anything they throw at Windows.


I haven't posted because it took me DAYS to recover from using Spybot
Anti-Beacon because I couldn't log into my system after I tweaked the
settings in my attempt to disable Cortana-to-net access.

So I won't be touching Spybot Anti-Beacon ever again.
I'm sure it's good stuff - but it's like using a chainsaw in the registry.

Microsoft could also be "data mining" social media, including
USENET. So if you "discovered a way to block X", keep it to yourself
until you can hand it off to someone who can apply the info.


One thing I learned from all my attempts is that it seems you are correct
that Microsoft is blocking, one by one, all the methods it knows about to
disable the Cortana-to-Internet search.
  #19  
Old June 21st 18, 11:25 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Arlen Holder
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 466
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

On Sat, 2 Jun 2018 18:31:53 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

I just installed Windows 10 1803.

I like Cortana for finding things on my computer.
But I never want Cortana to run a Bing web search.

I don't want to use Cortana for finding things on the net.

For that, I can use my own browser set to my choice of search engine.

How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?
At the same time keeping Cortana's searches on my computer?


While I may try again, when I turned off Cortana's connection to Bing, it
bricked my system such that it wouldn't boot.

I had to re-install Windows and Ubuntu dual boot, which caused a different
set up completely unrelated problems since I moved to the newer Ubuntu
18.04 from 17.10 (which handled the dual-boot differently).

Gory details he
Why doesn't Ubuntu 18.04 ask to install next to Windows 10 Pro single HDD
as a dual boot?
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...ux/D7E7FQ1NLNk[1-25]

Where the main point is that I'm going to temporarily give up on trying to
disable Cortana's connection to Bing (even though Wolf K. seems to be the
only one who knows the answer to everything as he implied in this thread)
because Microsoft seems to have made it just too dangerous to do.
  #20  
Old June 21st 18, 11:46 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

Arlen Holder wrote:
On Sat, 2 Jun 2018 18:31:53 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

I just installed Windows 10 1803.

I like Cortana for finding things on my computer.
But I never want Cortana to run a Bing web search.

I don't want to use Cortana for finding things on the net.

For that, I can use my own browser set to my choice of search engine.

How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?
At the same time keeping Cortana's searches on my computer?


While I may try again, when I turned off Cortana's connection to Bing, it
bricked my system such that it wouldn't boot.

I had to re-install Windows and Ubuntu dual boot, which caused a different
set up completely unrelated problems since I moved to the newer Ubuntu
18.04 from 17.10 (which handled the dual-boot differently).

Gory details he
Why doesn't Ubuntu 18.04 ask to install next to Windows 10 Pro single HDD
as a dual boot?
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...ux/D7E7FQ1NLNk[1-25]

Where the main point is that I'm going to temporarily give up on trying to
disable Cortana's connection to Bing (even though Wolf K. seems to be the
only one who knows the answer to everything as he implied in this thread)
because Microsoft seems to have made it just too dangerous to do.


https://www.howtogeek.com/226638/mak...stead-of-bing/

Paul
  #21  
Old June 22nd 18, 04:36 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Arlen Holder
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 466
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

On Thu, 21 Jun 2018 06:46:39 -0400, Paul wrote:

https://www.howtogeek.com/226638/mak...stead-of-bing/


Hi Paul,
The original quest was to kill *all* the Internet searches from Cortana.
If I wanted to search, I'd search using a web browser of my choice.

I guess you're indicating that we *can* use a web browser of our choice,
where I'd choose Epic or Opera since they're already enabled with so-called
VPN (really a glorified proxy) which at least obfuscates the IP address,
and, where Epic uses an epic-specific search and where Opera can be told to
use DuckDuckGo as opposed to Google (which is as bad as Bing on privacy).

So if I ran that sequence, it would be to make Cortana go to Opera and
DuckDuckGo, or to Epic and Epicsearch if Opera didn't work out.

1) Download EdgeDeflector from here
https://github.com/da2x/EdgeDeflector/releases
Specifically:
https://github.com/da2x/EdgeDeflector/releases/download/v1.1.3.0/EdgeDeflector_install.exe
I saved it to C:\software\browser\http\ms_based\edge\edge_deflec tor\.
2) Doubleclick on the installer executable
It will want to go into C:\Program Files (x86)\EdgeDeflector\
I put it in C:\app\browser\http\ms_based\edge\edge_deflector\
Contrary to the instructions (why are instructions always wrong?) it asks:
"How do you want to open this?" where you're supposed to
Choose EdgeDeflector from the list and check "Always use this app."
But if you skip that popup, you'll get it again when you run a Cortana search.
3) I ran a Cortana search for "snafu" which brought up Opera to Bing.
At least that's half the victory, where it is very clear that Opera
is normally set to search using DuckDuckGo. So we're halfway there...

The article says we can redirect Bing searches to use Google instead with
an extension called Chrometana for Chrome or Bing-Google for Firefox.
Chrometana:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrometana-redirect-bing/kaicbfmipfpfpjmlbpejaoaflfdnabnc?hl=en
Bing-Google:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bing-google-1/

Since Opera is "chrome like", I tried that, but I couldn't get Chrometana
to install on Opera. The *only* options for the default browser are Opera
or Epic (due to the inherent built-in proxy), so I tried Epic next. But
Chrometana wouldn't install on Edge either. So that's a bust.

Nonetheless, at least now Edge is out of the picture on Cortana searches.
When I search with Cortana for "snafu", Opera comes up with the horridly
descriptive URL:
https://www.bing.com/search?q=snafu&form=YHBGYO&qs=SW&cvid=db79a3670dae 4fd0ae7ad819828956df&pq=snafu&cc=US&setlang=en-US&nclid=D6C76A80D5D19F03A43A998DD7E7BC4A&ts=15299 82513744&nclidts=1529982513&tsms=744
Which I'm sure carries with it a load of privacy-related personal
information.

I guess it's a separate thread to decode that privacy information.
  #22  
Old June 22nd 18, 05:03 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

Arlen Holder wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jun 2018 06:46:39 -0400, Paul wrote:

https://www.howtogeek.com/226638/mak...stead-of-bing/


Hi Paul,
The original quest was to kill *all* the Internet searches from Cortana.
If I wanted to search, I'd search using a web browser of my choice.

I guess you're indicating that we *can* use a web browser of our choice,
where I'd choose Epic or Opera since they're already enabled with so-called
VPN (really a glorified proxy) which at least obfuscates the IP address,
and, where Epic uses an epic-specific search and where Opera can be told to
use DuckDuckGo as opposed to Google (which is as bad as Bing on privacy).

So if I ran that sequence, it would be to make Cortana go to Opera and
DuckDuckGo, or to Epic and Epicsearch if Opera didn't work out.

1) Download EdgeDeflector from here
https://github.com/da2x/EdgeDeflector/releases
Specifically:
https://github.com/da2x/EdgeDeflector/releases/download/v1.1.3.0/EdgeDeflector_install.exe
I saved it to C:\software\browser\http\ms_based\edge\edge_deflec tor\.
2) Doubleclick on the installer executable
It will want to go into C:\Program Files (x86)\EdgeDeflector\
I put it in C:\app\browser\http\ms_based\edge\edge_deflector\
Contrary to the instructions (why are instructions always wrong?) it asks:
"How do you want to open this?" where you're supposed to
Choose EdgeDeflector from the list and check "Always use this app."
But if you skip that popup, you'll get it again when you run a Cortana search.
3) I ran a Cortana search for "snafu" which brought up Opera to Bing.
At least that's half the victory, where it is very clear that Opera
is normally set to search using DuckDuckGo. So we're halfway there...

The article says we can redirect Bing searches to use Google instead with
an extension called Chrometana for Chrome or Bing-Google for Firefox.
Chrometana:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrometana-redirect-bing/kaicbfmipfpfpjmlbpejaoaflfdnabnc?hl=en
Bing-Google:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bing-google-1/

Since Opera is "chrome like", I tried that, but I couldn't get Chrometana
to install on Opera. The *only* options for the default browser are Opera
or Epic (due to the inherent built-in proxy), so I tried Epic next. But
Chrometana wouldn't install on Edge either. So that's a bust.

Nonetheless, at least now Edge is out of the picture on Cortana searches.
When I search with Cortana for "snafu", Opera comes up with the horridly
descriptive URL:
https://www.bing.com/search?q=snafu&form=YHBGYO&qs=SW&cvid=db79a3670dae 4fd0ae7ad819828956df&pq=snafu&cc=US&setlang=en-US&nclid=D6C76A80D5D19F03A43A998DD7E7BC4A&ts=15299 82513744&nclidts=1529982513&tsms=744
Which I'm sure carries with it a load of privacy-related personal
information.

I guess it's a separate thread to decode that privacy information.


The closest thing to local info on the machine,
is the "Diagnostic Data Viewer". That installs from
the Store, and required time (a few days) to collect
a trace.

The events in there, a tossed salad of junk nobody cares
about, labels some of them with a "cv" number. Which might
be similar to the "cvid" in the Bing search.

Needless to say, anything typed in Cortana, can be labeled
and sent to Bing, as well as labeled and sent to Vortex,
so it could conceivably be recorded more than once.
But don't expect to find a web page explaining the
(varied on purpose) identifier strings they use.
It's not like you will find an "SSN-like" identifier
stamped on everything. That would be... too simple.

Paul
  #23  
Old June 22nd 18, 05:49 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Arlen Holder
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 466
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

On Fri, 22 Jun 2018 00:03:48 -0400, Paul wrote:

Needless to say, anything typed in Cortana, can be labeled
and sent to Bing, as well as labeled and sent to Vortex,
so it could conceivably be recorded more than once.
But don't expect to find a web page explaining the
(varied on purpose) identifier strings they use.
It's not like you will find an "SSN-like" identifier
stamped on everything. That would be... too simple.


Hi Paul,
Whatever that URL encodes, it's scary enough to want to eliminate it.
I ran a few Cortana searches, where *some* of the numbers are repeated.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=snafu
&form=WNSGPH&qs=SW&cvid=e2aa5a29f880494bad8d5252d1 6927ac&pq=snafu&cc=US&setlang=en-US&nclid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&ts=15296 38877237&nclidts=1529638877&tsms=158
&form=WNSGPH&qs=SW&cvid=55ba37aea02e455285a1a4fb64 14844e&pq=abcde&cc=US&setlang=en-US&nclid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&ts=15296 38939480&nclidts=1529638939&tsms=567
&form=WNSGPH&qs=SW&cvid=38c8ea81879748c6bc6ecd8a84 1028f2&pq=fghij&cc=US&setlang=en-US&nclid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&ts=15296 38980492&nclidts=1529638980&tsms=386
&form=WNSGPH&qs=SW&cvid=d1df059135a84a4cb4542a8edd 409a60&pq=klmno&cc=US&setlang=en-US&nclid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&ts=15296 42409972&nclidts=1529642409&tsms=897

Notice that the WNSGPH is some kind of browser keyword
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1094852
https://pastebin.com/REGm8FyV

And notice that the xxx'd-out identifier is the *same* on every search!
(My guess is that's a unique fingerprint for every single machine!)
  #24  
Old June 22nd 18, 06:02 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

Arlen Holder wrote:
On Fri, 22 Jun 2018 00:03:48 -0400, Paul wrote:

Needless to say, anything typed in Cortana, can be labeled
and sent to Bing, as well as labeled and sent to Vortex,
so it could conceivably be recorded more than once.
But don't expect to find a web page explaining the
(varied on purpose) identifier strings they use.
It's not like you will find an "SSN-like" identifier
stamped on everything. That would be... too simple.


Hi Paul,
Whatever that URL encodes, it's scary enough to want to eliminate it.
I ran a few Cortana searches, where *some* of the numbers are repeated.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=snafu
&form=WNSGPH&qs=SW&cvid=e2aa5a29f880494bad8d5252d1 6927ac&pq=snafu&cc=US&setlang=en-US&nclid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&ts=15296 38877237&nclidts=1529638877&tsms=158
&form=WNSGPH&qs=SW&cvid=55ba37aea02e455285a1a4fb64 14844e&pq=abcde&cc=US&setlang=en-US&nclid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&ts=15296 38939480&nclidts=1529638939&tsms=567
&form=WNSGPH&qs=SW&cvid=38c8ea81879748c6bc6ecd8a84 1028f2&pq=fghij&cc=US&setlang=en-US&nclid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&ts=15296 38980492&nclidts=1529638980&tsms=386
&form=WNSGPH&qs=SW&cvid=d1df059135a84a4cb4542a8edd 409a60&pq=klmno&cc=US&setlang=en-US&nclid=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&ts=15296 42409972&nclidts=1529642409&tsms=897

Notice that the WNSGPH is some kind of browser keyword
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1094852
https://pastebin.com/REGm8FyV

And notice that the xxx'd-out identifier is the *same* on every search!
(My guess is that's a unique fingerprint for every single machine!)


If you like numbers, in an Administrator Command Prompt try

slmgr /dlv

which gives the OS license status. In it, is a UniqueID for
the installation itself.

And for at least some of that info, they obfuscate the
format to make registry searches harder. For example, the
OS license key, isn't stored as 25 letters. There's a
kind of string compression scheme. Someone of course
figured it out, which is why there is MagicJellyBean and
so on. There was no crypto on that one.

So while you could try searching for some of those
strings in the /dlv output, don't be surprised if
you can't find them in Regedit.

Paul
  #25  
Old June 22nd 18, 08:31 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Arlen Holder
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 466
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

On Fri, 22 Jun 2018 01:02:30 -0400, Paul wrote:

If you like numbers, in an Administrator Command Prompt try

slmgr /dlv

which gives the OS license status. In it, is a UniqueID for
the installation itself.


Hi Paul,
Now why didn't you tell me this earlier!

You know I'm writing scores of tutorials for setting up a system, where
this should be part of the "snapshotting" step!
http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_setup002.jpg

I need to add this wonderful command to that snapshot repertoire!
* Software licensing service version: 10.0.17134.112
* Name: Windows(R), Professional edition
* Description: Windows(R) Operating System, RETAIL channel
* Activation ID: xxx
* Application ID: xxx
* Extended PID: xxx
* Product Key Channel: Retail
* Installation ID: xxx
* Use License URL: https://activation-v2.sls.microsoft....tension=Retail
* Validation URL: https://validation-v2.sls.microsoft....WGA/slwga.asmx
* Partial Product Key: 3V66T
* License Status: Licensed
* Remaining Windows rearm count: 1001
* Remaining SKU rearm count: 1001
* Trusted time: 6/22/2018 12:00:00 AM

So while you could try searching for some of those
strings in the /dlv output, don't be surprised if
you can't find them in Regedit.


I checked with the Bing URL and none of those numbers are exact matches.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=snafu&...s=xxx&tsms=090


  #26  
Old June 22nd 18, 06:38 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Arlen Holder
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 466
Default How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?

On Sat, 2 Jun 2018 18:31:53 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

How do I turn off Cortana's connection to Bing on the net?


For the tribal record archives, Paul suggested a workaround which
disconnects Edge but not Bing for me, but if you use more common browsers
like Chrome & Firefox, Pauls solution should adequately disconnect your
Cortana searches from Bing and Edge.

For everyone to benefit, here's a replay of the information posted in
another thread yesterday.

On Thu, 21 Jun 2018 06:46:39 -0400, Paul wrote:
https://www.howtogeek.com/226638/mak...stead-of-bing/


Hi Paul,
The original quest was to kill *all* the Internet searches from Cortana.
If I wanted to search, I'd search using a web browser of my choice.

I guess you're indicating that we *can* use a web browser of our choice,
where I'd choose Epic or Opera since they're already enabled with so-called
VPN (really a glorified proxy) which at least obfuscates the IP address,
and, where Epic uses an epic-specific search and where Opera can be told to
use DuckDuckGo as opposed to Google (which is as bad as Bing on privacy).

So if I ran that sequence, it would be to make Cortana go to Opera and
DuckDuckGo, or to Epic and Epicsearch if Opera didn't work out.

1) Download EdgeDeflector from here
https://github.com/da2x/EdgeDeflector/releases
Specifically:
https://github.com/da2x/EdgeDeflector/releases/download/v1.1.3.0/EdgeDeflector_install.exe
I saved it to C:\software\browser\http\ms_based\edge\edge_deflec tor\.
2) Doubleclick on the installer executable
It will want to go into C:\Program Files (x86)\EdgeDeflector\
I put it in C:\app\browser\http\ms_based\edge\edge_deflector\
Contrary to the instructions (why are instructions always wrong?) it asks:
"How do you want to open this?" where you're supposed to
Choose EdgeDeflector from the list and check "Always use this app."
But if you skip that popup, you'll get it again when you run a Cortana search.
3) I ran a Cortana search for "snafu" which brought up Opera to Bing.
At least that's half the victory, where it is very clear that Opera
is normally set to search using DuckDuckGo. So we're halfway there...

The article says we can redirect Bing searches to use Google instead with
an extension called Chrometana for Chrome or Bing-Google for Firefox.
Chrometana:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrometana-redirect-bing/kaicbfmipfpfpjmlbpejaoaflfdnabnc?hl=en
Bing-Google:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bing-google-1/

Since Opera is "chrome like", I tried that, but I couldn't get Chrometana
to install on Opera. The *only* options for the default browser are Opera
or Epic (due to the inherent built-in proxy), so I tried Epic next. But
Chrometana wouldn't install on Edge either. So that's a bust.

Nonetheless, at least now Edge is out of the picture on Cortana searches.
When I search with Cortana for "snafu", Opera comes up with a horridly
descriptive URL with fingerprinting numbers involved.
Which I'm sure carries with it a load of privacy-related personal
information.

I guess it's a separate thread to decode that privacy information.
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off






All times are GMT +1. The time now is 06:39 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 PCbanter.
The comments are property of their posters.