Antichrist
Expedition Leader
I came across some more info that may be of interest to some.
A couple of articles about all the data Win10 sends to MS.
http://localghost.org/posts/a-traffic-analysis-of-windows-10
This one has some comments along the lines of:
"The source article isn't very trustworthy. The website is quite obviously an "alternative news" (read: "we post edgy bull**** to stroke our insane ideologies and to get lots of clicks") website, and an anonymous one on top of that."
However, I also found an article stating that the Win10 preview did in fact do this, so it's not unreasonable to think the product still does it, particularly given the stated product design.
Another one that raises some questions.
http://arstechnica.com/information-...ndows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-microsoft/
If you encrypt your drive it's very easy to inadvertently provide your bitlocker key to MS for storage.
I haven't looked at it yet, but if it works the same as in Win 7, aside from privacy concerns, you should be very careful storing the key on a MS server.
There are a number of things that can cause your system to boot up to the bitlocker recovery screen (some of which people commonly do):
1: Changing the BIOS boot order to boot another drive in advance of the hard drive.
2: Having the CD or DVD drive before the hard drive in the BIOS boot order and then inserting or removing a CD or DVD.
3: Failing to boot from a network drive before booting from the hard drive.
4: Docking or undocking a portable computer. In some instances (depending on the computer manufacturer and the BIOS), the docking condition of the portable computer is part of the system measurement and must be consistent to validate the system status and unlock BitLocker. This means that if a portable computer is connected to its docking station when BitLocker is turned on, then it might also need to be connected to the docking station when it is unlocked. Conversely, if a portable computer is not connected to its docking station when BitLocker is turned on, then it might need to be disconnected from the docking station when it is unlocked.
5: Changes to the NTFS partition table on the disk including creating, deleting, or resizing a primary partition.
6: Entering the personal identification number (PIN) incorrectly too many times so that the anti-hammering logic of the TPM is activated. Anti-hammering logic is software or hardware methods that increase the difficulty and cost of a brute force attack on a PIN by not accepting PIN entries until after a certain amount of time has passed.
7: Turning off the BIOS support for reading the USB device in the pre-boot environment if you are using USB-based keys instead of a TPM.
8: Turning off, disabling, deactivating, or clearing the TPM.
9: Upgrading critical early startup components, such as a BIOS upgrade, causing the BIOS measurements to change.
10: Forgetting the PIN when PIN authentication has been enabled.
11: Updating option ROM firmware.
12: Upgrading TPM firmware.
13: Adding or removing hardware. For example, inserting a new card in the computer, including some PCMIA wireless cards.
14: Removing, inserting, or completely depleting the charge on a smart battery on a portable computer.
15: Changes to the master boot record on the disk.
16: Changes to the boot manager on the disk.
17: Hiding the TPM from the operating system. Some BIOS settings can be used to prevent the enumeration of the TPM to the operating system. When implemented, this option can make the TPM hidden from the operating system. When the TPM is hidden, BIOS secure startup is disabled, and the TPM does not respond to commands from any software.
18: Using a different keyboard that does not correctly enter the PIN or whose keyboard map does not match the keyboard map assumed by the pre-boot environment. This can prevent the entry of enhanced PINs.
19: Modifying the Platform Configuration Registers (PCRs) used by the TPM validation profile. For example, including PCR[1] would result in most changes to BIOS settings, causing BitLocker to enter recovery mode.
20: Moving the BitLocker-protected drive into a new computer.
21: Upgrading the motherboard to a new one with a new TPM.
22: Losing the USB flash drive containing the startup key when startup key authentication has been enabled.
23: Failing the TPM self test.
24: Having a BIOS or an option ROM component that is not compliant with the relevant Trusted Computing Group standards for a client computer. For example, a non-compliant implementation may record volatile data (such as time) in the TPM measurements, causing different measurements on each startup and causing BitLocker to start in recovery mode.
25: Changing the usage authorization for the storage root key of the TPM to a non-zero value.
26: Disabling the code integrity check or enabling test signing on Windows Boot Manager (Bootmgr).
27: Pressing the F8 or F10 key during the boot process.
28: Adding or removing add-in cards (such as video or network cards), or upgrading firmware on add-in cards.
29: Using a BIOS hot key during the boot process to change the boot order to something other than the hard drive.
30. Sudden power loss
Once at that screen there's no way to access your hard drive, or even boot your computer (if you encrypted all your drives), without your bitlocker key. If, for some reason, you can't access the internet, you can't boot your computer.
A couple of articles about all the data Win10 sends to MS.
http://localghost.org/posts/a-traffic-analysis-of-windows-10
This one has some comments along the lines of:
"The source article isn't very trustworthy. The website is quite obviously an "alternative news" (read: "we post edgy bull**** to stroke our insane ideologies and to get lots of clicks") website, and an anonymous one on top of that."
However, I also found an article stating that the Win10 preview did in fact do this, so it's not unreasonable to think the product still does it, particularly given the stated product design.
Another one that raises some questions.
http://arstechnica.com/information-...ndows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-microsoft/
If you encrypt your drive it's very easy to inadvertently provide your bitlocker key to MS for storage.
I haven't looked at it yet, but if it works the same as in Win 7, aside from privacy concerns, you should be very careful storing the key on a MS server.
There are a number of things that can cause your system to boot up to the bitlocker recovery screen (some of which people commonly do):
1: Changing the BIOS boot order to boot another drive in advance of the hard drive.
2: Having the CD or DVD drive before the hard drive in the BIOS boot order and then inserting or removing a CD or DVD.
3: Failing to boot from a network drive before booting from the hard drive.
4: Docking or undocking a portable computer. In some instances (depending on the computer manufacturer and the BIOS), the docking condition of the portable computer is part of the system measurement and must be consistent to validate the system status and unlock BitLocker. This means that if a portable computer is connected to its docking station when BitLocker is turned on, then it might also need to be connected to the docking station when it is unlocked. Conversely, if a portable computer is not connected to its docking station when BitLocker is turned on, then it might need to be disconnected from the docking station when it is unlocked.
5: Changes to the NTFS partition table on the disk including creating, deleting, or resizing a primary partition.
6: Entering the personal identification number (PIN) incorrectly too many times so that the anti-hammering logic of the TPM is activated. Anti-hammering logic is software or hardware methods that increase the difficulty and cost of a brute force attack on a PIN by not accepting PIN entries until after a certain amount of time has passed.
7: Turning off the BIOS support for reading the USB device in the pre-boot environment if you are using USB-based keys instead of a TPM.
8: Turning off, disabling, deactivating, or clearing the TPM.
9: Upgrading critical early startup components, such as a BIOS upgrade, causing the BIOS measurements to change.
10: Forgetting the PIN when PIN authentication has been enabled.
11: Updating option ROM firmware.
12: Upgrading TPM firmware.
13: Adding or removing hardware. For example, inserting a new card in the computer, including some PCMIA wireless cards.
14: Removing, inserting, or completely depleting the charge on a smart battery on a portable computer.
15: Changes to the master boot record on the disk.
16: Changes to the boot manager on the disk.
17: Hiding the TPM from the operating system. Some BIOS settings can be used to prevent the enumeration of the TPM to the operating system. When implemented, this option can make the TPM hidden from the operating system. When the TPM is hidden, BIOS secure startup is disabled, and the TPM does not respond to commands from any software.
18: Using a different keyboard that does not correctly enter the PIN or whose keyboard map does not match the keyboard map assumed by the pre-boot environment. This can prevent the entry of enhanced PINs.
19: Modifying the Platform Configuration Registers (PCRs) used by the TPM validation profile. For example, including PCR[1] would result in most changes to BIOS settings, causing BitLocker to enter recovery mode.
20: Moving the BitLocker-protected drive into a new computer.
21: Upgrading the motherboard to a new one with a new TPM.
22: Losing the USB flash drive containing the startup key when startup key authentication has been enabled.
23: Failing the TPM self test.
24: Having a BIOS or an option ROM component that is not compliant with the relevant Trusted Computing Group standards for a client computer. For example, a non-compliant implementation may record volatile data (such as time) in the TPM measurements, causing different measurements on each startup and causing BitLocker to start in recovery mode.
25: Changing the usage authorization for the storage root key of the TPM to a non-zero value.
26: Disabling the code integrity check or enabling test signing on Windows Boot Manager (Bootmgr).
27: Pressing the F8 or F10 key during the boot process.
28: Adding or removing add-in cards (such as video or network cards), or upgrading firmware on add-in cards.
29: Using a BIOS hot key during the boot process to change the boot order to something other than the hard drive.
30. Sudden power loss
Once at that screen there's no way to access your hard drive, or even boot your computer (if you encrypted all your drives), without your bitlocker key. If, for some reason, you can't access the internet, you can't boot your computer.