Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Clogs Up Networks to Push Vista 10 Spyware Into PCs, Even Without Users' Consent

Using PCs and networks as skylines, just like Sky(pe)net, which is basically an intrusive, parasitic, large-scale botnet

Manchester Airport
Manchester Airport



Summary: The Microsoft botnet (using people's PCs as nodes and relays) is shamelessly and without users' consent clogging up whole networks by passing around spyware (in executable binary blob form)

THERE are many negative things to be said about Vista 10, including criminal aspects of it. A lot of it began in its predecessor, Vista 8, which used so-called Dark Patterns ("User Interfaces Designed to Trick People") in order to seduce people into violating their own principles and accepting unacceptable things, clearly against their will.



"If you remotely download a keylogger onto people's PCs without their consent, you may end up in prison. Microsoft does the same and it's framed as benign, or "business as usual"."According to a growing number of reports, Microsoft is still operated by anti-competitive thugs, who even without users' consent take over Windows (prior versions, not Vista 10) and secretly download gigabytes of data for business reasons alone. Dumping Windows becomes imperative now, even versions prior to Vista 10. They're all part of a botnet and Microsoft commandeers this botnet to do just about anything it wishes. It's truly a menace, let alone a national security threat.

As Geek.com put it, "Microsoft may be pushing the [Vista 10] install files onto your system" even if you did not consent to that. Some people are paying for their bandwidth, so what Microsoft does here is abusive and it can, as already reported elsewhere, cause severe issues to corporate and home networks (not just reduction in productivity but also something akin to DDOS). Quoting the original report from The Inquirer:

MICROSOFT HAS CONFIRMED that Windows 10 is being downloaded to computers whether or not users have opted in.

An INQUIRER reader pointed out to us that, despite not having 'reserved' a copy of Windows 10, he had found that the ~BT folder, which has been the home of images of the new operating system since before rollout began, had appeared on his system. He had no plans to upgrade and had not put in a reservation request.

He told us: "The symptoms are repeated failed 'Upgrade to Windows 10' in the WU update history and a huge 3.5GB to 6GB hidden folder labelled '$Windows.~BT'. I thought Microsoft [said] this 'upgrade' was optional. If so, why is it being pushed out to so many computers where it wasn't reserved, and why does it try to install over and over again?


If you remotely download a keylogger onto people's PCs without their consent, you may end up in prison. Microsoft does the same and it's framed as benign, or "business as usual".

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM Misleads and Gaslights Investors With Slop Sold as "AI" (the Business is Waning, Mass Layoffs Continue)
People who do this are dishonest. They should not be put in charge.
Submit Your Suggestions for EU's Embrace of Software Freedom by Tomorrow
Time to leave GAFAM (US) hegemony behind
Slopless Weekend
This is not sustainable
 
Microsoft Lost 20% of Its Money in the Past 6 Months
Microsoft is hiding what's really happening while mocking critics
Great News, IBM 'Gained' Almost 10% in "Goodwill" Value After Firing Tens of Thousands in 2025
"goodwill" will be inflated despite IBM staff getting sick of IBM
Americans Move to GNU/Linux
some of the biggest American populations
I Still Like Drawing and Various Other Arts (They Help My Activism and Journalism), Slop is an Enemy of Creative People
Recognise that slop isn't intelligence; it's a generational excuse for plagiarism and privatisation of not only the Commons but also proprietary knowledge (without authorisation)
Carmen-Lisandrette Maris (Mission:Libre) Explains to Adolescents and Young Adults How Free Software Improves Privacy
Based on what we've seen and read, Mission:Libre has a solid grasp of Software Freedom
Chatbots Didn't Do Any Good for Microsoft
Google "AI" = search + copypasta
Links 02/02/2026: Cultural Cleansing by China and 'Living Behind Firewalls" in Iran
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Measured at More Than 4% in Russia
growing adoption of GNU/Linux in Russia
Gemini Links 02/02/2026: Stages of Age, Workflows, and Counting Capsules
Links for the day
Oracle's Debt Rose Over 20 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months
Is "hey hi" becoming a synonym for debt?
Oligarchs' 'Speech Zones' Are Not the "Public Square"
The apologists of social control media, including press that got "addicted" to such fake "media", are helping dictators and oligarchs grab the public attention away from the real press
Links 02/02/2026: 'Melania' a Horror Movie "Will They Inherit Our Blogs?"
Links for the day
Doing More Detailed Series (Long-Form Works)
Long readings or book-like reading binges are only possible when parts are suitably labeled (name and numbers) if not interlinked
Mobbing at the European Patent Office (EPO) - Part II - Racism, Cocaine Use and White-Collar Corruption
When you hire people illegally, to work for cocaine users and keep quite about the cocaine use, what will be the impact on the reputation of an institution?
A Can of WORMS - Part II - Darkening the Name of RMS, Associating It With Crime
Beware projection tactics
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 01, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, February 01, 2026
Gemini Links 01/02/2026: Fossil Heating Installations and Some FOSDEM Coverage
Links for the day
The State of Memory Leaks in GNU/Linux
The issue won't be solved by adding more memory
Links 01/02/2026: Nvidia's Jensen Talks Down Microsoft 'Open' 'Hey Hi' and Britain's Starmer Makes Friends With China, Japan
Links for the day
Why Microsoft Accenture Has So Many Layoffs in Recent Years
The debt of Accenture doubled a year ago
Links 01/02/2026: Public TV Gutted by Cheeto, Billionaires Fund a Cheeto Propaganda Movie in 'Documentary' Clothing
Links for the day
The New Site ("New Techrights", SSG Since 2023) Exceeds the Old Site in Requests
The "New Techrights" gets about twice as many requests as the "old" (WordPress) "Techrights", the site of 2006-2023
20 Years Ago
Some time soon all this slop frenzy will become like yesterday's "blockchain" or "metaverse"
Gemini Links 01/02/2026: Zdzisław Beksiński and Disconnected Git Workflow
Links for the day
Talks About Nadella's Microsoft Exit After Chatter About Tim Crook Leaving Apple (Years Ahead of Retirement Age)
Mass layoffs and record debt do not represent a company's health.
We Still Cover the Same Problems We Spoke of 20 Years Ago
We're not easily seduced by "novelty" (new things), we try to judge them critically
Patents Standing in the Way
They also cause environmental harm
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 31, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, January 31, 2026
IBM, a Microsoft Company
Microsoft and IBM as a pair go a long way back
A Lot Less GAFAM in Scandinavia
Are they reacting to geopolitics and risks from the US?
IBM Kills Companies It Bought (Neudesic Seems Like Latest Casualty)
Why isn't even a single publisher investigating those things?
Fake "Linux" Articles
Just because some platform has "Linux" in the domain name and/or site name does not imply that it is a news/Linux site
Gemini Links 31/01/2026: "Proof Without Content" and "Technology Connections"
Links for the day
Links 31/01/2026: Microsoft "OpenAI Representatives Are Going to Critics’ Houses With Threats and Demands", Its Proprietary Chaffbot Faces More Lawsuits
Links for the day
Links 31/01/2026: "Introducing Encrypt It Already" and "Huge Cache of Epstein"
Links for the day
A Can of WORMS - Part I - Trying to Throw RMS Under the Bus at MIT and Everywhere Else
This series won't give air to online 'trolls'
Mobbing at the European Patent Office (EPO) - Part I - An Introduction
When the series ends, some time around the second or third EPO strike of this year, we'll contact the relevant authorities and plead for intervention
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Delusion - Part I - Who Regulates This Regulator? (Only Itself!)
We won't self-censor or prematurely terminate this series
Norway Almost Trusts Russia More Than the Bill Gates (Sleeping With Young Russian Girls) Company, Microsoft
Microsoft represents crime
Riddle Us This... (Jim Zemlin and Bill Gates)
Do these people even understand the literal meaning of "safe space"?
Is "Nobel Prize for Peace" a Sick Person's 'Code Word' for Gangbanging Now? Ask Bill Gates.
Watch all the Gates apologists getting all silenced/silent
BBC Gaslights Women Sexually Exploited (Many Under Legal Age) for Its Rich Sponsor, Bill Epsteingate (Gates)
Is this a national broadcaster or a propaganda tool "For Rent"?
Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' Reportedly About to Become Bankrupt, Seeking Emergency Cash Infusion (Loans)
the money promised to Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' failed to arrive
Gemini Links 31/01/2026: Deep Ice and Slide Rules
Links for the day
Writing About Abuse
Never ever allow misogynists to get their way if you strive to live in a decent society
MIT DEDP MicroMasters online learner's blog post about cover-up linked to resignation of Swiss financial regulator
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Salary Erosion Procedure (SAP) as the Primary Reason for EPO Strikes
They focus on financials, as the corruption aspects are un-sayable or unspeakable, except in private
IBM Bluewashing: Feels Like IBM is Scuttling Neudesic (and Some of Red Hat)
We recently saw some Red Hat staff joining a Microsoft proxy
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, January 30, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, January 30, 2026
Microsoft Stock Collapsing Due to the Slop Bubble and Microsoft is Hiding Budget 'Black Holes'
Microsoft does not perform like it tells "the media" and "the market"