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

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?

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?

If you use TCPView, you'll find connections to raw IP
addresses (the OS didn't get those by using DNS lookup,
the IP numbers were recorded in the OS). Doing a
reverse translation on one of those, by using a DNS lookup
web site, you'll notice the node name on the Internet is
"Vortex", which is the Microsoft information collection server.

You may deny Bing access to the search string, but Vortex
is going to be receiving all sorts of text strings you've
been typing. Think of it, as you've patching two holes
in a bucket with twenty holes in it, and are congratulating
yourself on the great quantity of water you're saving :-/
There are eighteen more holes to go.

Everything you type into Cortana, no matter where it's
destined, is going to get logged and transmitted to MSFT.

Disconnecting the network cable... assures a great
deal of privacy.

It's the one toggle switch that really works on Windows 10.

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.

Paul

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

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?

If you use TCPView, you'll find connections to raw IP
addresses (the OS didn't get those by using DNS lookup,
the IP numbers were recorded in the OS). Doing a
reverse translation on one of those, by using a DNS lookup
web site, you'll notice the node name on the Internet is
"Vortex", which is the Microsoft information collection server.

You may deny Bing access to the search string, but Vortex
is going to be receiving all sorts of text strings you've
been typing. Think of it, as you've patching two holes
in a bucket with twenty holes in it, and are congratulating
yourself on the great quantity of water you're saving :-/
There are eighteen more holes to go.

Everything you type into Cortana, no matter where it's
destined, is going to get logged and transmitted to MSFT.

Disconnecting the network cable... assures a great
deal of privacy.

It's the one toggle switch that really works on Windows 10.

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.

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

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?
If you use TCPView, you'll find connections to raw IP
addresses (the OS didn't get those by using DNS lookup,
the IP numbers were recorded in the OS). Doing a
reverse translation on one of those, by using a DNS lookup
web site, you'll notice the node name on the Internet is
"Vortex", which is the Microsoft information collection server.

You may deny Bing access to the search string, but Vortex
is going to be receiving all sorts of text strings you've
been typing. Think of it, as you've patching two holes
in a bucket with twenty holes in it, and are congratulating
yourself on the great quantity of water you're saving :-/
There are eighteen more holes to go.

Everything you type into Cortana, no matter where it's
destined, is going to get logged and transmitted to MSFT.

Disconnecting the network cable... assures a great
deal of privacy.

It's the one toggle switch that really works on Windows 10.

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.

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

Paul

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

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

It seems that Microsoft keeps breaking everything that was working (one
more reason not to update except on your own schedule).

For example, this article explains how to turn it off:
http://techdows.com/2016/08/complete...ry-update.html

Which ways to run gpedit.msc and navigate to
Computer Configuration Administrative Tools Windows Components Search
On the right, double click on Allow Cortana and set it to "Disabled".

That all sounds well and good, but on my 1709 Windows 10 Pro, that option
doesn't even exist but something similar does:
Computer Configuration Administrative Templates Windows Components
Search
On the right, double click on Allow Cortana and set it to "Disabled".

This still didn't disable Cortana to bring up Bing.
http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?i...nadisabled.jpg

Maybe I did something wrong?

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.

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"

On 2018-06-02, 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.

On every Windows 10 system I touch, I install Spybot Anti-Beacon
and disable Cortana's web search with that. Then instead of full-blown
Cortana you get a local search. (There are more complete Windows 10
privacy utilities but I've found Spybot works OK for turning off
the most obnoxious stuff without causing problems.)

I also install Classic Shell (classicshell.net) since I really don't
like the new start menu, but that's obviously a matter of personal
preference.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roger Blake (Posts from Google Groups killfiled due to excess spam.)

NSA sedition and treason -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
Don't talk to cops! -- http://www.DontTalkToCops.com
Badges don't grant extra rights -- http://www.CopBlock.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Sun, 3 Jun 2018 03:35:04 -0000 (UTC), Roger Blake wrote:

On every Windows 10 system I touch, I install Spybot Anti-Beacon
and disable Cortana's web search with that. Then instead of full-blown
Cortana you get a local search.

Thank you for suggesting that interesting alternative solution to turning
off the Bing search of Cortana.

Spybot Anti-Beacon seems to be located here.
https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/
"Simply clicking "Immunize" on the main screen of Anti-Beacon will
immediately disable any known tracking features included by Microsoft in
the operating system."

Supported OS: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10.
When you install, it has checked
[x] Refresh immunization after each system restart

When you launch Spybot Anti-Beacon, it defaults to 3 of 61 anti-telemetry
protections for
[x] Telemetry Hosts
[x] Telemetry Group Policy
[x] Consumer Experience Improvement Program Group Policy
[x] Consumer Experience Improvement Program Scheduled Tasks
[x] Application Impact Telemetry Group Policy
[x] Steps Recorder Group Policy
[x] Wifi Sense Hotspot Sharing Group Policy
[x] Apps use advertising ID
[x] P2P Windows Updates outside local network
[x] Sensors
[x] Handwriting Data Sharing

When you hit the "immunize" button, all of those (all 61) are enabled.
http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_spybot.jpg

And then there were optional settings:
[ ] Web Search Group Policy
[ ] Cortana Gropu Policy
[ ] OneDrive Service
[ ] OneDrivce Group Policy
[ ] Remote Registry Service
[ ] Bing IPs
[ ] Telemetry Hosts (extensive list)
[ ] Office 15 (2013) Telemetry Group Policy
[ ] Office 15 (2013) Telemetry Scheduled Tasks
[ ] Office 16 (2016) Telemetry Group Policy
[ ] Office 16 (2016) Telemetry Scheduled Tasks

I set them all (even the optional stuff), but, when I typed something
nonsensical into the Cortana search box, that search *still* brought up
Bing on Windows 1709 (16299.248).

I realize Wolf K is the only one here who knows the answer to everything,
but for the rest of you, since Wolf K is suspiciously silent when the
answer isn't "google"...

Any idea why Spybot Anti-Beacon didn't work as expected on Win10 1709?

Arlen Holder wrote:
On Sun, 3 Jun 2018 03:35:04 -0000 (UTC), Roger Blake wrote:

On every Windows 10 system I touch, I install Spybot Anti-Beacon
and disable Cortana's web search with that. Then instead of full-blown
Cortana you get a local search.

Thank you for suggesting that interesting alternative solution to turning
off the Bing search of Cortana.

Spybot Anti-Beacon seems to be located here.
https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/
"Simply clicking "Immunize" on the main screen of Anti-Beacon will
immediately disable any known tracking features included by Microsoft in
the operating system."

Supported OS: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10.
When you install, it has checked
[x] Refresh immunization after each system restart

When you launch Spybot Anti-Beacon, it defaults to 3 of 61 anti-telemetry
protections for
[x] Telemetry Hosts
[x] Telemetry Group Policy
[x] Consumer Experience Improvement Program Group Policy
[x] Consumer Experience Improvement Program Scheduled Tasks
[x] Application Impact Telemetry Group Policy
[x] Steps Recorder Group Policy
[x] Wifi Sense Hotspot Sharing Group Policy
[x] Apps use advertising ID
[x] P2P Windows Updates outside local network
[x] Sensors
[x] Handwriting Data Sharing

When you hit the "immunize" button, all of those (all 61) are enabled.
http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_spybot.jpg

And then there were optional settings:
[ ] Web Search Group Policy
[ ] Cortana Gropu Policy
[ ] OneDrive Service
[ ] OneDrivce Group Policy
[ ] Remote Registry Service
[ ] Bing IPs
[ ] Telemetry Hosts (extensive list)
[ ] Office 15 (2013) Telemetry Group Policy
[ ] Office 15 (2013) Telemetry Scheduled Tasks
[ ] Office 16 (2016) Telemetry Group Policy
[ ] Office 16 (2016) Telemetry Scheduled Tasks

I set them all (even the optional stuff), but, when I typed something
nonsensical into the Cortana search box, that search *still* brought up
Bing on Windows 1709 (16299.248).

I realize Wolf K is the only one here who knows the answer to everything,
but for the rest of you, since Wolf K is suspiciously silent when the
answer isn't "google"...

Any idea why Spybot Anti-Beacon didn't work as expected on Win10 1709?

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.

https://forums.spybot.info/showthrea...dows-10/page28

I get the impression, that the staff don't want to waste too much
time answering questions on a freebie. I think they are likely
reviewing the posts with diagnostic info presented ("stuff that
isn't working"), but they aren't making the thread exactly
interactive. You can't tell if anyone is really reading this
stuff. But they do seem to release new versions occasionally,
which implies they're still interested.

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. I'm not
convinced that the Feedback Hub is the only source of feedback
Microsoft is using for Windows 10 work.

This is one of the reasons MDL went "half-dark". (Some of the postings
at MDL can only be read by members. That doesn't prevent someone from
getting an account, but it prevents casual data mining.)

Paul

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.

On 2018-06-03, Arlen Holder wrote:
Any idea why Spybot Anti-Beacon didn't work as expected on Win10 1709?

I haven't seen that problem yet but I don't work with Windows 10 on a
daily basis. Microsoft is determined to keep their invasive "features"
working so this may be the result of an update. (Spybot Anti-Beacon has
not been updated in some time now.)

Another similar progam you can try is O&O "Shutup 10":

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

It has more options than Spybot and has been updated more frequently.
(Most recent version was released about a month ago.)

If you really want to get into it, there is Blackbird:

https://www.getblackbird.net/

Lots of options to play with but some may cause problems.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roger Blake (Posts from Google Groups killfiled due to excess spam.)

NSA sedition and treason -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
Don't talk to cops! -- http://www.DontTalkToCops.com
Badges don't grant extra rights -- http://www.CopBlock.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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?

Perhaps this helps:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-d...-10-start-menu

It's certainly possible to limit the Cortana search to local files,
that's what happens here on my machine - no Bing web search results
to be seen on the search results from the Start menu. No fiddling
with TCP/IP settings, host files or proxies either. I can't provide
simple step by step instructions, no idea what are the critical
settings to enable this. Win10 ver 1803 and using Start10 on this
machine.

I shut up Win 10 by turning off the laptop and placing in a dark corner
of my walk-in closet where I will never be able to find it !

Good night M$ and sweet dreams until the battery dies.

What a waste of my money !

My four Win XP Pro laptops are humming along just fine.

On Sun, 3 Jun 2018 07:50:46 -0700, freeof10 "freeof10
wrote:

I shut up Win 10 by turning off the laptop and placing in a dark corner
of my walk-in closet where I will never be able to find it !

Good night M$ and sweet dreams until the battery dies.

What a waste of my money !

If drivers are available, maybe you can upgrade to a previous Windows
version.

My four Win XP Pro laptops are humming along just fine.

I have XP and 98SE in VMs, just for the fun of it. I use XP to play a
16-bit Checkers game from PC Magazine in 1996.