This is from a post abbodi86 (from MSFN, WinCert, MDL, AskWoody, etc fame) made over at AskWoody - https://www.askwoody.com/forums/top...metry-sustain-win-7-8-1-monthly-rollup-model/ I KNOW THIS IS LONG, BUT THIS IS VERY MUCH WORTH THE READ, EVEN THE COMMENTS TO THE ORIGINAL POST. I HAVE INCLUDED WHAT I THOUGHT WAS MOST PERTINENT. In addition to the info below, I would prefer not having the Spectre/Meltdown updates installed, along with the usual updates we've always left out, but that's just me. =================================================================================== AKB 2000012: How To Neutralize Telemetry and Sustain Windows 7 and 8.1 Monthly Rollup Model by @abbodi86 Published September 24, 2018 | rev 1.0 # Background # Microsoft had backported two main parts of Windows 10 Telemetry system to Windows 7 and 8.1 1) Unified Telemetry Client – introduced in updates KB3068708/KB3080149, and became part of the Monthly Rollup since October 2016 preview rollup – represented by the Diagnostics Tracking Service (DiagTrack) and the event trace session (AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener) – handle the diagnosis tracking and logging, and the online telemetry reporting endpoints 2) Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser – introduced in KB2952664/KB2976978, and now become part of the Monthly Rollup staring September 2018 preview rollup – represented by the “Application Experience” schedule tasks (Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser, ProgramDataUpdater, AitAgent) – the actual telemetry controller and runner, handles the compatibility evaluation and collecting, and device inventory # Neutralization # Despite the infamous reputation and some exaggeration, these Telemetry components in Windows 7/8.1 updates are not deeply implemented into OS and can be easily disabled or eliminated this can be done officially with few manual steps, or a simple batch script (with exra little-aggressive setings) 1) W10Tel.cmd – copy or download the contents from this paste bin, and save as .cmd file https://pastebin.com/zeJFe08G Code: @echo off %windir%\system32\reg.exe query "HKU\S-1-5-19" 1>nul 2>nul || ( echo ==== ERROR ==== echo This script require administrator privileges. echo To do so, right click on this script and select 'Run as administrator' echo. echo Press any key to exit... pause >nul goto :eof ) for /f "tokens=6 delims=[]. " %%# in ('ver') do set winbuild=%%# if %winbuild% gtr 7601 goto :proceed :: ############################ :: # End Of Support KB4493132 # :: ############################ reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SipNotify /f /v DontRemindMe /t REG_DWORD /d 1 reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SipNotify /f /v DateModified /t REG_QWORD /d 0x0 reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SipNotify /f /v LastShown /t REG_QWORD /d 0x0 schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\End Of Support\Notify1" schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\End Of Support\Notify2" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\End Of Support\Notify1" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\End Of Support\Notify2" set hosts=%windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts findstr /i "RE2JgkA" %hosts% 1>nul 2>nul || ( attrib -r %hosts% echo 127.0.0.1 query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE2JgkA>>%hosts% attrib +r %hosts% attrib -a %hosts% ) :proceed :: ############################ :: # Unified Telemetry Client # :: ############################ sc.exe config DiagTrack start= disabled sc.exe stop DiagTrack reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Gwx /v DisableGwx /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate /v DisableOSUpgrade /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\OSUpgrade" /f reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\OSUpgrade /v AllowOSUpgrade /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection /f reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Diagnostics\DiagTrack /f reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Diagnostics\DiagTrack /v DiagTrackAuthorization /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\IE /v CEIPEnable /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\IE /v SqmLoggerRunning /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Reliability /v CEIPEnable /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Reliability /v SqmLoggerRunning /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows /v CEIPEnable /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows /v SqmLoggerRunning /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows /v DisableOptinExperience /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f reg delete HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\AutoLogger\AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener /f reg delete HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\AutoLogger\Diagtrack-Listener /f reg delete HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\AutoLogger\SQMLogger /f icacls "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Diagnosis" /grant:r *S-1-5-32-544:(OI)(CI)(IO)(F) /T /C del /f /q %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Diagnosis\*.rbs del /f /q /s %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Diagnosis\ETLLogs\* :: ##################################### :: # Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser # :: ##################################### reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Appraiser" /f reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Appraiser" /v HaveUploadedForTarget /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\AIT" /v AITEnable /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\ClientTelemetry" /f reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\ClientTelemetry" /v DontRetryOnError /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\ClientTelemetry" /v IsCensusDisabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\ClientTelemetry" /v TaskEnableRun /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f for %%i in (InstallInfoCheck,ARPInfoCheck,MediaInfoCheck,FileInfoCheck) do reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Compatibility Assistant\Tracing" /v %%i /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags" /v UpgradeEligible /f reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\TelemetryController" /f schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\SetupSQMTask" schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\BthSQM" schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\Consolidator" schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\KernelCeipTask" schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\TelTask" schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\UsbCeip" schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\AitAgent" schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\ProgramDataUpdater" schtasks /Change /DISABLE /TN "Microsoft\Windows\PerfTrack\BackgroundConfigSurveyor" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\SetupSQMTask" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\BthSQM" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\Consolidator" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\KernelCeipTask" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\TelTask" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\UsbCeip" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\ProgramDataUpdater" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\AitAgent" schtasks /Delete /F /TN "Microsoft\Windows\PerfTrack\BackgroundConfigSurveyor" echo. echo. echo Closing in 5 Seconds... timeout /t 5 >nul goto :eof – execute it after installing the Monthly Rollup and rebooting you only need to run it once, and to be safe, once after each new rollup installation – you can also use Task Scheduler to run the script with each system startup, e.g. copy the script to C:\Windows directory open command prompt as administrator, and execute: SCHTASKS /Create /F /RU "SYSTEM" /RL HIGHEST /SC ONSTART /TN W10Telemetry /TR "cmd /c %windir%\W10Tel.cmd" 2) Manual: the demonstration is done on Windows 7, same steps applies for Windows 8.1 too – DiagTrack service open Services from Task Manager or from Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services find Diagnostics Tracking Service, right-click and select Properties change Startup type to Disabled, then click on Stop button – WMI AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener right-click on Computer icon and select Manage (This PC in Windows 8.1) or from Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management expand to the node Performance > Data Collector Sets from Event Trace Sessions, right-click on AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener or Diagtrack-Listener and Stop it (you may also delete it afterwards) from Startup Event Trace Sessions, right-click on AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener and select Properties, then clear Enabled check from Trace Session tab (you may also delete it afterwards) you can also disable AITEventLog and SQMLogger too (those are already exist in the system, not added by updates) – Compatibility Appraiser tasks launch Task Scheduler from Start Menu or from Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler goto Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Application Experience disable all tasks (you may also delete them too) do the same with tasks in Customer Experience Improvement Program # Closure # Deleting schedule tasks or WMI logger is totally safe, and just to avoid being re-enabled unexpectedly they don’t affect the OS functions in any way Except the show stopper bugs and errors, Monthly Rollup does not need to be avoided for the sake of telemetry hustle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- September 24, 2018 at 11:06 pm Noel Carboni AskWoody_MVP Nice script. Only thing is that I tend more to disable jobs than delete them, though the point could be made that deleting a job does make it more difficult for the software to re-enable. -Noel --------------------------------------------------- September 25, 2018 at 6:31 am Microfix Da Boss There is exactly that scenario Noel (I’m covering all bases), from my POV the Diagtrack service was removed to make it more difficult for MS to re-introduce (unless a SFC repair is done). One has to wonder whether the Diagtrack service will be introduced into SQMR patches as well as kb3068708/ kb3080149? --------------------------------------------------- September 25, 2018 at 8:30 am Noel Carboni AskWoody_MVP For what it’s worth, this script doesn’t break serviceability as checked by SFC, so I wouldn’t think an SFC /SCANNOW would change anything back. DISM on the other hand, I don’t know. -Noel --------------------------------------------------- September 25, 2018 at 8:55 am Noel Carboni AskWoody_MVP @abbodi86, have you done performance testing to determine if not logging events gives back any machine performance? Long ago I had done all of what you described, except disabling the AutoLogger-Diagtrck-Listener trace logging. I can’t imagine it will do THAT much for performance, but hey, every little bit helps. I’ll report back after I get another run of nightly jobs tonight and can compare the times. Thank you for sharing your knowledge here! -Noel --------------------------------------------------- September 25, 2018 at 9:25 am abbodi86 AskWoody_MVP Not really, the idea of this block/disable tweaks is not for the sake of performance just to keep unnecessary addions away Compatibility Appraiser (CompatTelRunner.exe) will cunsume high amount of system resources during evaluation, specially first time --------------------------------------------------- September 25, 2018 at 11:31 pm Noel Carboni AskWoody_MVP By the way, my nightly product builds took no less time last night than the night prior, when I had not disabled the log. 55 minutes 14 seconds vs. 55 minutes 18 seconds. The builds vary more than that from night to night. -Noel --------------------------------------------------- October 10, 2018 at 1:53 am abbodi86 AskWoody_MVP Some updates cannot be totally superseded (from Windows Update POV) except with metadata and preview rollups cannot metadata-supersede important updates (KB2976978) in this case KB3080149 is not completely superseded for Windows 8.1 likewise WU client update KB3044374 --------------------------------------------------- October 18, 2018 at 10:33 am anonymous Thank you so much for the script! Just to clarify: Is there any functional difference between running this script after installing a rollup versus exclusively installing Security Only patches? In other words, does a Group A system where one installs the latest rollup and then runs the above script make any additional network connections than an identical system that has installed only Group B patches? Would there be any additional (telemetry related) CPU usage on the Group A version? If the answer is no, then it seems the reasons for going Group B are rapidly vanishing! --------------------------------------------------- October 18, 2018 at 2:12 pm abbodi86 AskWoody_MVP No, the script disable any backported telemetry activity i remember @mrbrian made a test to verify that, but i can’t find his post you are welcome to take my word or doing a test --------------------------------------------------- October 18, 2018 at 2:17 pm PKCano Da Boss Connections to @mrbrian ‘s tests may be under AKB2952664 in the Knowledge Base. --------------------------------------------------- March 31, 2019 at 9:11 am BobVila AskWoody Lounger I’ve been in group b since the beginning. The last time I updated though was the first important Service Stack update back in 05-26-2017 with KB4019264. I knew there was things I had to do to keep up with Security since then, but every time I would come here and try to figure out which I had to do the list was long and didn’t have the time to fuss, so I just kept procrastinating. Lately though I Knew it was time I had to do something. After spending a hour reading which ones I needed to install, and during that I came across Woody saying it’s just best now to just go to group and save yourself all the hassle of keeping up with group B… and then I found this post thread he by abbodi86 Thank heavens, I absolutely love it! So simple. I’ve now become Group A and I’ll just run this script. So I go to Windows update expecting to find all kinds things since I’ve been in group b for so long, but the only thing I saw needed (besides NET, Visual c++) was this 2019-03 monthly Quality Rollup for Win7 KB4489878 ..oddly though I did not see Service Stack Update KB4490628 that was suppose to be there, and I don’t have it installed either – why did the SSU not show up? ..because as I said the last SSU or any update I did was back in 2017! I did not want to install KB4490628 separately though since it was not listed so I just went ahead with KB4489878 ..hopefully since I assume it’s cumulative it contains everything I need? Anyway I installed it, quick and easy, and after reboot I ran abbodi86 telemetry cmd and here’s what it did: ..it was nice not to fuss with doing it all manually any more! I see there was some things in the script it says it did not do, and I assume that was because of obvious reasons? I changed the script to /t 30 ..only because I needed an extra moment to take the screenshot and I only had one chance to catch what it said, so I made sure I had time and gave it 30 secs Thank you abbodi86 --------------------------------------------------- March 31, 2019 at 9:12 am PKCano Da Boss BobVila wrote: So I go to Windows update expecting to find all kinds things since I’ve been in group b for so long, but the only thing I saw needed (besides NET, Visual c++) was this 2019-03 monthly Quality Rollup for Win7 KB4489878 ..oddly though I did not see Service Stack Update KB4490628 that was suppose to be there, and I don’t have it installed either – why did the SSU not show up? The Servicing Stack did not show up because it HAS to be installed exclusively (by itself). It does not show up in the Important Updates queue until there are no pending updates (checked or unchecked) in the update queue. The Servicing Stack is the update for the updating mechanism and is very important. You should install it. BobVila wrote: I see there was some things in the script it says it did not do, and I assume that was because of obvious reasons. The script needs to be run as “System,” not just from an eleveted command prompt. Along with the script, there is a command line in @abbodi86 ‘s AKB that sets up a Scheduled Task, run as “System” on bootup. To make it work, locate the script in the correct folder and run the command to create the Scheduled Task as per the instructions in the AKB. --------------------------------------------------- March 31, 2019 at 10:01 pm abbodi86 AskWoody_MVP Like @pkcano said, while it’s best to create/run Scheduled Task as “System”, there is no need to worry about those Access denied files, they don’t have an effect as long as DiagTrack service and WMI tracker are disabled, and the Appraiser tasks --------------------------------------------------- March 31, 2019 at 10:45 am BobVila AskWoody Lounger ""The Servicing Stack did not show up because it HAS to be installed exclusively (by itself). It does not show up in the Important Updates queue until there are no pending updates (checked or unchecked) in the update queue. The Servicing Stack is the update for the updating mechanism and is very important. You should install it."" Okay then, thank you. I created a partition image just before I started so I will just restore it and do it in the correct order this time with the SSU manually done first – if that would be best? I don’t mind restoring at all it’s easy, and actually prefer it if it’s the best thing to do here? ""The script needs to be run as “System,” not just from an eleveted command prompt. Along with the script, there is a command line in @abbodi86 ‘s AKB that sets up a Scheduled Task, run as “System” on bootup. To make it work, locate the script in the correct folder and run the command to create the Scheduled Task as per the instructions in the AKB."" Most things say succeeded, and I thought the few things listed in my screenshot that did not succeed was just because I already had all the tasks previously set disabled and in Services had the tracking disabled too. Most of his script worked and I see the things deleted out of the task scheduler now. PCKano you are saying not even if I right click and run as Admin it won’t work? I can set it up as a task but only want/need to run once, but reading it again abbodi86 says in the first post: ""– execute it after installing the Monthly Rollup and rebooting you only need to run it once, and to be safe, once after each new rollup installation"" …that’s what I did – does his first posts first method need to be re-worded again because I’m confused. It says just run it once each time you install a new rollup, and so it’s a cmd file and so I just ran it, even right click to run as admin. If there was more to his first method why is it not listed? ..thanks for your patience. --------------------------------------------------- March 31, 2019 at 11:18 am PKCano Da Boss The telemetry functionality of KB2952664 was built into the 2019-09 Preview Rollup and the subsequent Monthly Rollups starting with 2019-10 SQMR. That’s the reason to necessitate rerunning the script. The command creating the Scheduled Task sets it up to run as “System” on bootup. I guess if you have manually deleted the Diagtrack and CEIP related parts, you should be OK. But I don’t trust MS to not put them back next month, so I set mine up to automatically execute as a Scheduled Task. Maybe I’m just lazy! LOL (or my memory is failing in my old age) --------------------------------------------------- April 2, 2019 at 2:45 pm BobVila AskWoody Lounger Is there a script like this for Win10 to neutralize telemetry on Win10 too? I’ve seen some programs like O&O etc, but just wondering if someone is maintaining a script to do it like is done here, or if it’s not that easy since 10 is more complex, what is the best program to do it on Win10? --------------------------------------------------- April 2, 2019 at 5:56 pm abbodi86 AskWoody_MVP No Telemetry is deeply baked into Windows 10, disabling it completely is a lost cause disabling it mostly might break other things --------------------------------------------------- April 2, 2019 at 9:51 pm EP AskWoody_MVP not only that but (here’s the shocker) disabling telemetry completely in win10 “encourages” the win10 update assistant to upgrade any machine to the newest feature update available (unconditionally), regardless of windows update blocking settings, bypassing them [aka. “forced automatic upgrades”]. remember this old Computerworld article folks: https://www.computerworld.com/artic...pgrades-on-pcs-set-to-restrict-telemetry.html back then in that article, someone using O&O Shutup10 to disable telemetry completely (the diagnostic data set to 0) caused a Win10 machine to force upgrade to v1709. so in essence attempting to disable telemetry completely in win10 seems to make things worse, not better. --------------------------------------------------- July 24, 2019 at 12:12 pm EP AskWoody_MVP born is reporting about the KB4493132 update showing up again recently: https://borncity.com/win/2019/07/24/windows-7-new-notification-update-kb4493132-july-2019/ the enterprise and professional editions of Windows 7 will not be offered the KB4493132 update; only “consumer” editions of Windows 7 (home and ultimate) will have it offered --------------------------------------------------- July 31, 2019 at 7:45 pm abbodi86 AskWoody_MVP All the changes done by the script are system-wide (except the Win 7 EOS notification part (which you don’t need if you don’t install KB4493132) running it with the administrative user ID would be enough for all --------------------------------------------------- August 6, 2019 at 11:40 am TonyC AskWoody Lounger I ran W10Tel.cmd for the first time on my W7x64 (Home Premium) system today. It generated a number of error messages which are displayed on the screen shot of the command prompt window below. W10Tel2.cmd is W10Tel.cmd without the W7 EOS KB4493132 section (lines 15 to 31) – I don’t have KB4493132 installed. As can be seen, I redirected the normal output to a text file, but the error messages appeared in the command prompt window. I’m not expecting an explanation of what each error message means. But I would like to be reassured that such error messages are expected simply because every W7 system is different. --------------------------------------------------- August 6, 2019 at 12:37 pm abbodi86 AskWoody_MVP Such errors are expected, the script is straight forward, it try to remove the registry values and/or files without checking if they exist or not actually, running reg query will also output error, therefore, it will not make a difference to check or add so, just ignore the errors to redirect error output add 2>&1 after text file: W10Tel2.cmd W10Tel2.log 2>&1 ===================================================================================
WTF, Microsoft. WTF. Here's some more background info (from WinAero). I actually couldn't get onto the askwoody.com site because I have "advanced blocking in effect." ---------------------------------- Telemetry and Data Collection are coming to Windows 7 and Windows 8 too In the recently released Windows 10, Microsoft introduced new Telemetry and Data Collection features which will not give you the option to opt out. These services are collecting various information about the software installed on your PC and even personal data stored on your computer. Microsoft claims they may not be used to personally identify you but no one is comfortable with this kind of shady data collection. This change has had a very negative impression on the Windows 10 OS. Now Microsoft has brought similar Telemetry and Data Collection features mainstream directly to Windows 7 and Windows 8 family of operating systems. If you have Windows Update enabled in your Windows 7 or Windows 8, you might have noticed that a bunch of new updates are available for your operating system which add more telemetry and data collection services to your OS besides the one already present which you can opt out of. This is a notable change for all users who consider Windows versions prior to Windows 10 as relatively private and safe. Once these updates are installed, Windows 7 and Windows 8 will start sending collected data using the HTTPS protocol to the following Microsoft servers: Another thing that's out of your control is that the operating system ignores any lines you may have added to the HOSTS file, so you cannot block the IP addresses of those servers in the usual way. They are hardcoded into system files and cannot be turned off easily. The following updates bring more thorough telemetry and data collecting features to your older operating systems: kb3068708 kb3022345 kb3075249 kb3080149 If you don't wish to share any data whatsoever with Microsoft, you should not install these updates. Due to such radical changes made by Microsoft in recent months, I think it's not a bad idea to consider an alternative operating system for daily use. Personally, I already switched to Linux a few years ago after Microsoft started eliminating user choices from Windows. I have stuck with Arch Linux for a while. ----------------------------------
I was looking at Zorin OS 15 last month, installed it in a VM and I liked it. However, Windows is hard to leave behind for a number of reasons -- apps mostly, and I don't know what can actually run via WINE and what can't. I was thinking of installing Zorin on a separate drive, disabling the Win drive, as to make sure I don't mess anything up.
