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Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern"

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On Wed, 3/5/2025 8:13 AM, John C. wrote:
> ...Every   ...single   ...day, some issue rears its ugly head in Windows
> 10 and I wind up wasting time trying to deal with it. I absolutely
> detest Windows 10 and all the associated bullshit that this crappy OS
> requires in order to spy on me and cause me problems. The continual
> feature degradation and regressions in functionality as well.
> 
> Unlike a lot of other people, I turn my cable modem and router off
> whenever I don't need to be on the internet. Today I noticed for the
> second day in a row, that there is a Microsoft executable named
> DeviceCensus.exe which runs briefly whenever I start up those two devices.
> 
> So what is this "DeviceCensus.exe" executable (file path is
> C:\Windows\System32\DeviceCensus.exe, at least on my system)? The
> internet says:
> 
> "DeviceCensus.exe is a legitimate system file in Windows 10, signed by
> Microsoft. It is part of the Telemetry Framework and is located in the
> System32 folder. Its primary function is to collect data on your
> device's hardware usage, _including webcam usage_, and report it back to
> Microsoft. This helps Microsoft optimize Windows for future updates and
> fix any bugs.
>   If you notice that DeviceCensus.exe is using a lot of CPU or accessing
> your webcam, it is generally safe to keep it running. However, if you
> want to disable it temporarily, you can do so through the Task Scheduler.
>   If you have any concerns about privacy or security, it's always a good
> idea to run a thorough antivirus scan to ensure that your system is not
> infected with malware."
> 
> "Legitimate" in whose eyes? And how, exactly, does monitoring my webcam
> usage serve any purpose in determining which future version of Windows
> 10 I need?
> 
> I went into the Task Scheduler and disabled the piece of shit:
> 
> Open Task Scheduler
>   Click on the carat next to "Task Scheduler Library"
>     Same on "Microsoft"
>       Same on "Windows"
>         Left click on "Device Information"
>           Right click on "Device" in the right hand upper pane
>             Select "Disable".
> If there's another task named "Device User" under "Device" do the same
> to it as well.
> 
> Telemetry is just a euphemism for "Spyware" IMO.
> 
> Microsoft: "Your privacy is important to us"
> 
> Sure it is. As in "it's important that we rape your privacy as much as
> possible."
> 

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/device-census-in-windows-10

These descriptions are a bit on the funny side.

It could be accessing the webcam, to collect PNP info, but
that story is weak sauce. Unless the device has firmware
it loads each time, and there are likely better ways to determine
what firmware is being used, without probing the device.

The device has already been probed as part of hardware enumeration.
And that effort should be all that is needed. If Microsoft
wanted to use their command line version of Device Manager to
dump the hardware details, they could do that, and then the
webcam would never be blocked.

This all started with FrameServe, a subsystem that has no reason
to exist. I caught a thread a couple weeks ago, which mentioned
that two video conferencing softwares did not work, because
"FrameServe does NOT serve frames" :-) which I thought was
a hilarious declaration. The Device Census, would be part of
identifying new webcams, and also for preparing the "generic"
hardware support that replaces the custom driver your
webcam manufacturer provided.

My webcam never worked properly, after FrameServe came out.
When I want to use my webcam, I use it in Windows 7. It
stays *disconnected* in W10/W11, because it's really useless
to me. The custom software had digital pan and zoon, and in a
conference with my doctor, I could "center myself" in the picture
before the session started. So I would not look like I was slouching
in my chair or whatever. I can't do that in W10/W11. Feature is not there
in the generic driver.

I don't think enabling or disabling that, is going to make
that much difference to the operation of the machine. No magical
fairy is going to repair your webcam, based on a hundred million
broken webcam reports landing on some schmucks desk at Microsoft.

*******

For the longest while, I did not pick up the pattern. Each "Improvement"
had a different back story, throwing me off the path. What they're doing,
is Microsoft *wants to write all the drivers for everything*. They are
replacing the drivers. They don't want to allow the RealTek jumbo sound
driver to install. Instead, they install their lame version of a driver
with less features. That's the actual plan. So it wasn't "FrameServe"
after all, it was "break their existing drivers, feed them dreck
to replace it". That was the plan.

   Paul

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Thread

Today's "Windows 10 concern" "John C." <r9jmg0@yahoo.com> - 2025-03-05 05:13 -0800
  Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" Mr Xi Ji Ping <ping@china.cn> - 2025-03-05 18:00 +0000
  Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-03-05 15:18 -0500
    Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> - 2025-03-06 10:33 +0000
    Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" "John C." <r9jmg0@yahoo.com> - 2025-03-06 17:40 -0800
      Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-03-07 08:31 -0500
        Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-03-07 19:04 -0500
        Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" The Car <arriving@dawn.com> - 2025-03-08 10:39 -0800
          Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-03-08 14:36 -0500
  Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> - 2025-03-06 18:45 -0500
    Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-03-06 20:15 -0500
    Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" ...w¡ñ§±¤ñ  <winstonmvp@gmail.com> - 2025-03-07 01:02 -0700
      Re: Today's "Windows 10 concern" micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> - 2025-03-08 00:11 -0500

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