Windows 10 and Calendar / Contact Privacy

For those of you who have upgraded to Windows 10 (and if you had Windows 8 this was a no-brainer), you HAVE to read:  Windows 10 is spying on almost everything you do – here’s how to opt out and Windows 10 defaults to keylogging, harvesting browser history, purchases, and covert listening and Digging into and Understanding Windows 10’s Privacy Settings. 

The most sober reading I've seen comes from Lifehacker.

Now since we're calendar geeks, we're going to show you how to keep your calendar and contacts private, which should be the default in the first place, but is not.

You do not have many choices in your Calendar.  If you want to use Cortona to set your appointments, it needs to check your calendar.  If you are worried Cortona is a nosy rhymes-with-witch who is ratting you out at every opportunity, then turn this off.

You have more choices in your Contacts -- but what "App connector" and "Windows Shell Experience" are is 1.) unclear 2.) why these are options for contacts but not calendar and 3.) WTF?  Microsoft support ducks the question not only about what they are but why they need specific access.

Short answer: beats the heck out of me -- but I dialed my privacy settings to the max.

My main previously unanswered question:  I'm happy with Windows 7 on my desktop.  How do I get rid of the Microsoft annoyanceware in my lower left hand corner?

Simple.

Click that nearly invisible "Up" triangle:

Then select: GWX "Hide icon and notifications"

Yeah!  I get to keep Windows 7!!!!!  And NOT be badgered about it!!!!!!

Our conversion server for Meeting Maker to Exchange still runs Windows XP.  I needed to take the darned thing off the network to make sure Microsoft / Java / Whoever didn't "improve" it by making it unusable with an automatic update.