How to block in Windows10 Telemetry with pfsense

[robi]

You can find equivalent programs under Linux for most of the daily tasks. No to little effort is required to switch over.
There could be though very special industrial apps which were made for Windows-only, that's true. But for the regular home user, Linux is a perfect alternative.

[KOM]

I've been adminning Linux boxes for more than a decade so I'm generally aware of what's available.  For me, the showstoppers were always a decent money-management app (eg. Quicken, MS Money), a good Usenet browser (eg. Newsleecher, Forte Agent) and a decent RSS reader (eg. Feeddemon, QuiteRSS).  Nowadays I don't use a money app, Usenet indexers have removed the need for an NNTP browser, and there are several decent RSS readers for Linux.  I really should have thought of this 2 weeks ago before I spent a weekend doing the Windows 10 thing.

[foresthus]

@KOM:

A centralized solution would be best.  If you're going to go local, why not just use one of the many utils already out there?

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

http://pxc-coding.com/portfolio/donotspy10/

Do not use that, you cannot go back without using a " restore point".

[n3by]

have a look here:

https://github.com/WindowsLies/BlockWindows

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/28/microsoft-intensifies-data-collection-on-windows-7-and-8-systems/

[KOM]

Do not use that, you cannot go back without using a "  restore point".

ShutUp10 will prompt you to let it create one before it applies its changes.  I didn't bother as I can't see any scenario where I would need to undo that stuff.

[Sea Monkey]

Please forgive me.  I'm a bit of a noob.  Do these look right?


[n3by]

yes it looks ok.

[KOM]

Your pass rule isn't required unless you've really locked down your LAN.  By default, LAN has full access out to everywhere.

[n3by]

yes it is required because other way update destinations will be blocked from Blocked rule that have these destinations included in case you don't want to allow update.

[KOM]

yes it is required because other way update destinations will be blocked from Blocked rule that have these destinations included in case you don't want to allow update.

Huh?  Windows Update domains shouldn't be included in your telemetry alias.

[n3by]

some people want to block everyhing because MS can deliver an "security update" that will install telemetry and also use update hosts to get data from computer so this way is better, at least for me to have updates (allow only updates-block everything).

[KOM]

I still don't see how this is a good solution.  Are you literally whitelisting every destination address you want access to and blocking everything else on the Internet?  Because MS can spin up a zillion new domains on a whim.

[n3by]

MS can do whatever they want, but they must be able to make your computer to talk with any new domains ( and they can do this only with an allowed to install update ).
If now you block the telemetry C&C servers, there is no other way your computer will know to talk with new domains until you will install that update.

This is what we have for now, if we have another better way please elaborate ( except unplug the cable, stop using MS OS… ).

[robi]

@n3by:

yes it looks ok.

It's not ok as per your description, because it's a pass rule, not a block rule.

[robi]

@KOM:

yes it is required because other way update destinations will be blocked from Blocked rule that have these destinations included in case you don't want to allow update.

Huh?  Windows Update domains shouldn't be included in your telemetry alias.

Which are the Windows Update domains, btw?

I found these:

windowsupdate.microsoft.com	 
update.microsoft.com	 
windowsupdate.com	 
download.windowsupdate.com	 
wustat.windows.com	 
ntservicepack.microsoft.com	 

Are there any others?

[Sea Monkey]

@robi:

@n3by:

yes it looks ok.

It's not ok as per your description, because it's a pass rule, not a block rule.

It's two rules.

[Harvy66]

Setup a WSUS server, whitelist that to talk to Microsoft, and block all clients?

I'm torn between Linux and FreeBSD. Linux has better Steam support, but a lot of stuff is being done in FreeBSD to increase comparability. ZFS and Jails are very attractive, even on a desktop.

[2chemlud]

Whenever I have the choice, M$-shyt has been replaced by opensuse or PC-BSD (the later has a steeper learning curve and is not so well supported, but is free of systemd). Big plus: you can both run with KDE desktop, which made it much easier to switch between these two, and btw the handling is not sooo far away from Windows xp/7…

[2chemlud]

PS: Here

http://techne.alaya.net/?p=12499

you can find a long list of IPs and host names to block for Windows telemetry.

[2chemlud]

…just for the record:

I uninstalled on Win 7 pro 64/32 (various computers) the following KBs:

97 1033
290 2907
295 2664
299 0214
302 1917
302 2345
303 5583
304 4374
305 0265
306 2345
306 5987
306 8708
307 5249
307 5851
308 0149
308 3325

and in addition I set up a block rule with loggin for an alias containing all the IPs and host names listed here

http://techne.alaya.net/?p=12499

As you might expect, the firewall log is full of blocked "MS telemetry" this morning.