Windows 10: Is MS spying on us in Windows 10

Hi All,
Wondering if anyone else happen to discover this.
I upgraded the laptop first on July 30th and then on 31st I upgraded my desktop. Today wife was browsing Windows 10 on the laptop to get familiar and found a pic in the 'Photo" folder that was taken from the desktop with the Lifetime Cinema cam attached to the desktop on 07/31/2015.
I done a search on the desktop and the win_20150731_10_005_00_pro.jpg cannot be found. So the pic was not taken by either of us on this desktop.
So if the camera took a pic of us at this (the desktop) computer (me sitting in chair and my wife standing next to me in the room where the desktop is located) and placed it on the laptop...how did it happen and leave no trace of it on the desktop from which it was taken apparently?
This is very scary to say the least. Do I have to unplug my cam to be safe from now on?
Does MS take pics from consumers computers and not leave a trace on the computer that it was taken from?
How many of us are being spied on by MS if that is so?
Would like to know if anyone else experienced this after upgrading several computers in their home. Please take a moment and check the photo folder for pics similar to what I found.
Greatly appreciate any replies.

cheers

:)

 

I DONT want windows 10 - how do i get rid of the annoying reserve an upgrade notification!?!?!

I had to reinstall all of windows 8 then install the 8.1 update,, and I think that included the spy attemts, but I stopped at installing all of every other insecurity update and all the new ones, I don't use MS's internet explorer as that is just **** and
use other browsers that insist on privacy and rejecting cookies.

WINDOWS 10 REJECTED.

I don't have a problem with running my computer without all of MS's insisted updates, that seem to do nothing at most times, but patch their own insecurity or possibly update their way of spying on people.

 

WIndows 10 spying

Is Windows 10 really spying on us? I saw an article today that mentioned "spying on us". Is that true?

 

I would love this to be a true instance of some bizarre 'spying' behaviour from MS. Sadly, I don't think it is.

I guess the pic got on the laptop due to some sync setting you have on and/or allowing apps access to the cam. And the snap was triggered, unknowingly, by you.

If MS were interested in you and your wife they've done a pretty amateur surveillance job by tipping you off about it.

 

It is quite horrifying to think that people with the right know-how can access your webcam. This is particularly true of laptop cams which are built in so generally are on all the time.

Here is a BBC article from 2013 about it: Webcams taken over by hackers, charity warns - BBC News. Still relevant today. If your on a desktop, unplug the webcam if your not using it.

 

^^^^^
Oh yeah, that's also a possibility if your PC is insecure.

 

Thanks for the replies.
I did have sync on in Win 8.1 I guess before I upgraded to Windows 10 but deleted all the data and disabled it a few days ago before I found this pic.
Yes I have the webcam turned facing the wall now lol.
I have been lucky so far in regards to getting hacked. I used Zonealarm years ago and seemed to have blocked all intrusions when my friends had viruses on theirs. And now been using ESET Smart Security for quite a long time and (knock on wood) been virus free.
There are no attempts that I can see in ESET to indicate of possible intrusions. I felt safe up to now lol.

 

Wouldn't you think that if Microsoft was using your web cam to "spy" on you, they did a pretty poor job? If they are spying, they would want the picture. Putting it on your computer doesn't help them very much, not to mention that it would be pretty dumb of them. It's pretty simple. Some apps need to use your web cam to function properly (ie Skype if you want to make video calls). If you don't want the apps to be able to use your web cam, turn it off. You can elect to turn your web cam off, or select which apps can use it. Pretty simple. And, that's not spying.

 

MS may not be spying on you but they have that ability, they did in 7 as well. The NSA did not help with the development of 7 for fun...

 

Hi there

1) Too much paranoia here -- If the UK needs 7 (yes SEVEN !!) police forces currently to spend time on wondering whether the Late Mr Edward Heath ( a "Tory" Unmarried and possibly "Gay" Prime minister in the UK in around the early 1970's) was abusing young kids -- (I'm sure in most countries a SERVING PM / First Minister / President is always surrounded by a Posse of security staff etc - so even if he WANTED to do things like that he wouldn't have had anywhere to perpetrate those vile crimes) - I doubt whether Ms has any mechanisms to analyse in any great detail the sort of data it may or may not be collecting by users of W10.

2) Google is far more intrusive -- if you switch on DEBUG mode on Chrome or IE11 and do a Google search you might be HORRIFIED at the number of organisations details of your Search are passed to. I always laugh out loud when people rabbit on about "Efficiency of Browsers" or "Browser speed"

Any efficiency in the code will be negated by the 10 - 15 sites your search is being passed to --quite unknown by you of course.

-- Hands up here Peep's if you didn't realise what happens when you enter a Google search - and ever wondered where that "Targeted" spam / advertising junk comes from.

I'd advise people to enable Browser debug -- now let the complaints really fly.

Cheers
jimbo

 

I agree with you on point 1 Jim. This whole historical sex thing is going to far. I think if they ever accused Mr Churchill, there would be a national uproar. Anyway off topic *Biggrin

 

I know that Skype and other applications are there and I admit that I don't know much about how they are instructed to work. We click on them and use them. It's just that this is the first time it ever happened to me. This pic was never taken by anyone here. That's the part that bugs me and no trace of it ever being on this computer.
Thank you all for the replies.

cheers

 

This has been going on since the 1960's. This I can verify as fact as I am a former employee of one of those 3 Alphabet Agency's. After 9.11.2011 some of this was necessary and still is.

 

The default settings in W-10 allow all Apps to access your camera if one is present. The user can change that in Privacy Settings.