I'm "paranoid" and "alarmist" for things like refusing to sign in to windows with a Microsoft account over privacy and control concerns, but then when this kind of shit happens my critics always conveniently forget that I told them so: https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/07/10/you-cant-fully-disable-microsofts-gdid-windows-11-tracker-but-these-settings-limit-what-it-captures/
@earthshine 1) GDID tracking doesn't depend on a Microsoft online account; it works with standard local accounts as well;
2) This feature isn't exclusive to Windows. For instance, Linux has an /etc/machine-id file, which Chrome (and many other programs) logs to its servers;
3) There's no easy solution for this problem: as long as you're using any proprietary software with its own auto-update mechanism, you'll always be tracked;
>2) This feature isn't exclusive to Windows. For instance, Linux has an /etc/machine-id file, which Chrome (and many other programs) logs to its servers;
That's why paranoiacs like me often use Tails ( https://tails.net ).
Each and every boot creates a new ’/etc/machine-id’ file
