SuperFly48 Loc: NE ILLINOIS

Got a deal at Best Buy on a new laptop, I have been searching on and off for a while now. I had simple requirements....that it be fairly lightweight, that it have an SSD internal drive, that it have a nice display for checking my digital shots on the road after a day of shooting. I started to do the set up, it runs Windows 10 (Grrrrrrrr...!!!!), and during the set up it asks me about some settings. That began to raise all kinds of red flags, especially when it asked about enabling "someone/somewhere" the ability to locate the laptop in the event it gets lost or is stolen. REALLY? Am I paranoid or does this smack of BIG BROTHER spying? Even though I declined the setting, how do I know there is not something embedded in the system that is broadcasting the laptop's location regardless of MY wishes? I am very much ANTI social networking, am a Baby Boomer who believes social networking is having lunch with friends, NOT sending tweets and text messages.

rcarol

It probably pays to be paranoid but I would have enabled that feature. I did just that with my phone.

genocolo Loc: Vail and Gasparilla Island

Paranoid, I think. Whenever I think about the subject, I come back to the question, “why would anybody be interested in tracking me?” I’m not important except to advertisers!

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I agree with both of these. First, if someone takes my laptop or phone it's nice to be able to track it and wipe it if it falls into the wrong hands. This is technology that I like. I'm not paranoid enough to think anyone, even the government, would want to track little old me. I have nothing to hide so have at it. I do have an ap on my phone that will allow me to see it's position on a map if it walks off, and to wipe the entire system remotely. I think this, along with a thumb print and security code, keeps me and my data more secure.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

Your location is also important if you like junk mail. As is your internet surfing history. Cookies keep the information that you fill into online forms. It was suggested that Win3 had as standard a programmer's 'Doom' settings. I do know that windows 10 has nearly every Pizza restaurant map location automatically downloaded and constantly updated. Not a lot of use in the UK..!and it makes auto updates foe a whole host of information programmes I do not use or need.
The internet has its uses and its abuses...as well as its abusers. It used to be said that Linux had less hacking. However most Linux programmes have the same search engines and sites as Windows and Mac. If Facebook can sell your info, then so can all the rest.
You can turn off a lot of stuff - but then the next update will likely turn it back on...
Moral of the story is .......Big Brother is a nosey git !!!!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Some things to consider -
https://www.wired.com/2015/08/windows-10-security-settings-need-know/
https://heimdalsecurity.com/en/windows-10-security-guide/privacy#toc
http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/windows-10-security-settings,1-3665.html

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Just because you are paranoid it doesn't mean everyone isn't against you. VBG

1Feathercrest Loc: NEPA

Sorry to burst your naive bubble, but the government DOES track everything you do. You have a soc.sec.number, don't you? That is one way of tracking everything you use it for. By the way, that SSN was NEVER supposed to be for anything but Social Security I.D. Instead everyone and their brother ask you for it now.

Country Boy Loc: Beckley, WV

I believe you passed on a feature you could someday need. Every time a PC connects to the network it has an IP address and you could have set it up so that you could get the GPS location of that IP address should someone take your PC and be on line with it somewhere else. Lots of IPhones and PCs have been recovered this way. The person taking the equipment does not know it is being tracked.

SuperFly48 Loc: NE ILLINOIS

No one is "bursting my bubble" on anything; it's that more entities than the government know way too much about my habits then they ought to. And the government is watching with more than my SS number. I work with a guy who used to set up and hard wire land line locations/hubs, some of those locations had no windows...for reasons. The Internet experience today is the new junk mail arena; I can no longer just research and read without getting bombarded with so many freakin' ads that I just want to punch the screen at times! I am learning quickly why so many seniors are crabby!!!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If I ever get to the condition where I can't find my desktop computer, Windows will be the least of my problems.

oregon don

I DREAM UP A NUMBER AS I GO ALONG, HOW DID IT GET CHANGED THAT IT WAS OK TO ASK FOR THE NUMBER IN A BROTHEL?

gerdog

Look at the bright side. It asked for your permission first. Does point out the need to read all documentation and agreements more thoroughly though.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

No bubble to burst here. I know what SSN was originally used for and what they do with it now. But like I said, I have nothing to hide. I'm a legal citizen of the US, I'm free, and I'm over 21. No problems here. The government isn't tracking my laptop nor are they tracking my cell phone. But if I gave them a reason to do so, then I'd probably be deserving of it.

Just yesterday I heard of a guy with the last name Mayor that was arrested for soliciting sex with a minor boy. Yes, he was tracked via his computer through an internet chat site where he befriended what he thought was a 14 year old boy. 5 days later he was to meet this boy for sex and instead he was met by police detectives. This guy, Mayor, was a middle school upper management person whose office was at a middle school where he had contact with this age group of children all the time. I, for one, am glad the government was looking at this predator and caught him before he actually did the deed. Although, the police are trying to see if he has targeted any other children and are asking people, especially children, to come forward if they have had any sexual advances from this alleged predator.

So, as you can see, they aren't tracking everything "I" do, but they can track some people that need tracking. If they track me, they'd have a very boring time of it.