Windows 8.1 Sends Local Searches (e.g., your harddrive) to Bing & Advertisers

[IOWA]

Yet another reason I won't be using Windows 8.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Microsoft Bing-bang-bungles local search - Computerworld

 

[zuben el genub]

I don't want 8 either, but I also would use a different firewall and ban Bing. It's banned on XP and 7.

Some one noticed that if you right click on a link in Thunderbird Mail, the search engine of choice is Bing! Yet FX seems to use Google. You can fix. Since I don't want to search from mail, I deleted the whole 9 yards. Same list of search engines in FX, minus Google.

 

[IOWA]

I don't want 8 either, but I also would use a different firewall and ban Bing. It's banned on XP and 7.

Some one noticed that if you right click on a link in Thunderbird Mail, the search engine of choice is Bing! Yet FX seems to use Google. You can fix. Since I don't want to search from mail, I deleted the whole 9 yards. Same list of search engines in FX, minus Google.

I still think it's rather shady that they leave this on by "default" though.. being the local searches being sent to bing.

 

[unnamedny]

It's already a practice of Google. Have you ever seen the banners with items similar to you just bought from Amazon? How do you think they do it? I can tell you more. Some Mac users get premium prices on hotels and merchandises, because research shows that Mac users don't really care as much about prices than PC users. Sites just track which computer they are using and give them the different price. It's also true for geographical position. Some users get better deals by being in different boroughs. They can easily charge someone in Manhattan, NY a lot more for a merchandise, than someone from Brooklyn, NY.

 

[IOWA]

It's already a practice of Google. Have you ever seen the banners with items similar to you just bought from Amazon? How do you think they do it? I can tell you more. Some Mac users get premium prices on hotels and merchandises, because research shows that Mac users don't really care as much about prices than PC users. Sites just track which computer they are using and give them the different price. It's also true for geographical position. Some users get better deals by being in different boroughs. They can easily charge someone in Manhattan, NY a lot more for a merchandise, than someone from Brooklyn, NY.

True enough, but on web browsing that can be somewhat expected. All activities in a web browser are being sent out to the internet.

It's different when you intend to search local files however, and the query ends up on the internet.

 

[mikedt]

It's already a practice of Google. Have you ever seen the banners with items similar to you just bought from Amazon? How do you think they do it? I can tell you more. Some Mac users get premium prices on hotels and merchandises, because research shows that Mac users don't really care as much about prices than PC users. Sites just track which computer they are using and give them the different price. It's also true for geographical position. Some users get better deals by being in different boroughs. They can easily charge someone in Manhattan, NY a lot more for a merchandise, than someone from Brooklyn, NY.

If one is searching just the HDD of Mac using Spotlight in OS X, those searches should NOT be going out onto the internet and to Apple. If you're searching using Safari, yeh that is on the internet are using Google or Bing or Baidu. What MS are doing is that your searches for local things on the HDD are being phoned home to MS.

 

[MoodyBlues]

What MS are doing is that your searches for local things on the HDD are being phoned home to MS.

Just one more reason for me to never, ever touch m$ products!

 

[DanishDevil]

After having the default settings being IE set to Do Not Track, why are they tracking your local searches? That's ridiculous!