Ancile: block spying on Windows 7 and 8
Ancile is a free program for Windows 7 and Windows 8 devices designed to block spying and forced upgrades on those devices.
Ancile is script driven, unlike most Windows privacy applications which offer a graphical user interface. While some may see that as a disadvantage, its script-nature makes it easy to check what the script is actually doing.
If you think you heard that before you are right, as it a fork of the popular Aegis script that was created for the same purpose. Aegis however has been discontinued and is no longer maintained.
Since Microsoft changes things around frequently, a maintained script is a must have to avoid spy or upgrade related issues in the future.
Update: Ancile was updated at the end of 2017 for the last time. It seems unsupported but may still be useful, but it is recommended that you back up systems before you install the software. End
Ancile: block spying on Windows 7 and 8
Ancile works pretty much like Aegis. It ships as a .cmd file that you may start on a system running Windows 7 or 8. Please note that you need to run it with elevated rights by right-clicking on ancile.bat and selecting "run as administrator" from the context menu.
The program performs various operations on start, all of which gather system information required for the program to operate correctly. It will also sync the time automatically with pool.ntp.org, and offers to create a system restore point prior to making any major changes to the system.
It is highly recommended to create a system restore point -- better a system back up -- prior to running Ancile so that you can go restore the system state should things turn out wrong.
Once done, all operations are carried out automatically without prompt or option to respond to any of the operations.
You may edit the main cmd file to block certain actions from being carried out. Open the file and locate the scripts section in it. You find calls for each major change the program makes listed there. Simply delete lines that you don't require (or add REM or :: in front) to prevent the commands from being executed.
You are probably wondering what Ancile does. The answer is that it does pretty much what Aegis did, only in updated form to take into account changes made after the final version of Aegis was released.
- Block unwanted hosts (mostly Microsoft hosts). You find the list of hosts under scripts/hosts/hostsdns.txt.
- Disable Remote Registry.
- Disable unwanted services (Microsoft Telemetry Reporting Service, Microsoft customer Experience Improvement Program, Microsoft Diagnostics Tracking, Microsoft WiFi Sense, Microsoft Spynet, Microsoft SkyDrive)
- Disable Scheduled Tasks (a total of 32 tasks are disabled, all by Microsoft). You find the list of tasks under scripts/tasks/tasks.txt.
- Disable Windows 10 Upgrade. Not sure if required anymore.
- Change Windows Update to check only and notify.
- Disable automatic delivery of Internet Explorer via Windows Update.
- Uninstall and hide unwanted updates.
971033 Update for Windows Activation Technologies
2882822 Update adds ITraceRelogger interface support to Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1, Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
2902907 [description not available, update was pulled by Microsoft]
2922324 [description not available, update was pulled by Microsoft]
2952664 Compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7
2966583 Improvements for the System Update Readiness Tool in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
2976978 Compatibility update for Windows 8.1 and Windows 8
2977759 Compatibility update for Windows 7 RTM
2990214 Update that enables you to upgrade from Windows 7 to a later version of Windows
3012973 Upgrade to windows 10
3014460 update for windows insider preview / upgrade to windows 10
3015249 [Upgrade that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7?]
3021917 Update to Windows 7 SP1 for performance improvements
3022345 Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry
3035583 Update installs Get Windows 10 app in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1
3042058 Microsoft security advisory: Update to default cipher suite priority order: May 12, 2015
3044374 Update that enables you to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10
3046480 Update helps to determine whether to migrate the .NET Framework 1.1 when you upgrade Windows 8.1 or Windows 7
3058168 Update: activate Windows 10 from Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2 KMS hosts
3064683 Windows 8.1 OOBE modifications to reserve Windows 10
3065987 Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: July 2015
3065988 Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: July 2015
3068708 Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry
3072318 Update for Windows 8.1 OOBE to upgrade to Windows 10
3074677 Compatibility update for upgrading to Windows 10
3075249 Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7
3075851 Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: August 2015
3075853 Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: August 2015
3080149 Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry
3081437 August 18, 2015, compatibility update for upgrading to Windows 10
3081454 September 8, 2015, compatibility update for upgrading to Windows 10
3081954 Update for Work Folders improvements in Windows 7 SP1
3083324 Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: September 2015
3083325 Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: September 2015
3083710 Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: October 2015
3083711 Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: October 2015
3086255 MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015
3088195 MS15-111: Description of the security update for Windows Kernel: October 13, 2015
3090045 Windows Update for reserved devices in Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 SP1
3093983 MS15-106: Security update for Internet Explorer: October 13, 2015
3102810 Installing and searching for updates is slow and high CPU usage occurs in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
3102812 Installing and searching for updates is slow and high CPU usage occurs in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2
3112336 Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: December 2015
3112343 Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: December 2015
3123862 Updated capabilities to upgrade Windows 8.1 and Windows 7
3135445 Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: February 2016
3135449 Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: February 2016
3138612 Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: March 2016
3138615 Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2: March 2016
3139929 MS16-023: Security update for Internet Explorer: March 8, 2016
3146449 Updated Internet Explorer 11 capabilities to upgrade Windows 8.1 and Windows 7
3150513 May 2016 Compatibility Update for Windows
3173040 Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1 end of free upgrade offer notification
Closing Words
Ancile automates the privacy hardening of a computer running Windows 7 or 8. It is certainly possible to use the data it provides as a blueprint to run select operations without running the script. This gives you even more control over the process, but may be best suites for experienced users who know how to edit the hosts file or uninstall Windows updates and hide them.
All in all though it is good to know that the Aegis project is not dead, as it lives on in Ancile.
@Martin Brinkmann: with all due respect, this is now such a basic function, esp. for people reading your articles, that this article is like explaining to the readers how to calculate 1+1.
Yes, I have to agree with this. I can’t imagine that there are many spreadsheet users who are computer literate enough to even casually read ghacks, but don’t know how to use a SUM function.
@Klass Vaak & Herman Cost
Ever thought that people might google it so this artice might show up in the search results. So..no it’s not useless. I think it’s a good strategy explaining stuff even if it’s just basic things. Every day there is a new user on the internet searching for this kind of tutorial.
@Malte: you make a good point, in principle. Nevertheless, nowadays telling people how to do a sum calculation, the simplest of the simple, in a spreadsheet is like teaching grandma to suck eggs.
If say an elderly person would be sitting in front of a spreadsheet wondering how to sum a number of cells, that person is unlikely to look it up on internet, but would ask one of her/his children.
And in any case, Ghacks is not a spreadsheet tricks and tips site, so it would not show up high in the ranking in a Google search.
I`m an elderly person. 71.
My experience in computers spans 50 years, focused on Unix internals, advanced degrees.
I look to the internet for answers, since my children hate me and wouldnt tell me “jack”, even if they knew the answer.
I dont know how to “suck eggs in principle”, or anything else for that matter. I’m retired and not interested in learning. Some other guy learned “the theory of sucking things.”
Never needed spreadsheets, always too darn busy. Thanks for this info. Now I know how to sum two cells.
Everyone starts somewhere.
I am an elderly person and I can use sum, sumif, sumifs and so on. My kids come to me for knowledge on how to use excel and other programs ;)
But then, I was in IT my entire career before I retired :)
There are basic sites, and there are advanced sites. GHacks used to be more for people with technical knowledge. You can’t be everything to everyone though that seems to be the trend these days. Since it’s all about clicks and click bait the wider the topics the more you can remain “relevant”…
However, that mentality tends to alienate the more technical people. I find myself spending less time here every month. It won’t be long before I stop coming here altogether.
I have no mobile or wireless technology.
Anything google or apple is insidious to me. And that accounts now for most of the content here.
As to this article. Avast, and all of their products are untrustworthy. There has been much controversy and negativity regarding their products. I would think a reputable site would be more careful in what they publish… err, sorry, advertise.
@Klaas Vaak: In Martin’s defense, it’s the day after Christmas, and some eggnog recipes pack a *real wallop*. Maybe we’re lucky he could type at all. ;-) More seriously, I don’t use Calc super-often, I typically type in the =SUM() function manually, and I’d actually *forgotten* where the Σ button is located in Calc. (The last time I was a heavy spreadsheet user, it was in an older version of Excel and I’m pretty sure the Σ button was somewhere on one of the “regular” toolbars.) So, the article actually did have a small payoff for me. Plus, there might be other intermediate or advanced users of other types of programs (graphics, audio, video, word-processing) who have never used a spreadsheet in their lives. It’s kind of hard to imagine, I know, but it’s possible.
You were not born with the knowledge you have now. You once had to learn too.
So get down off your high horse, grow up and show a little respect for others who need details.
Overall LO has become a good SW, what prevents me to use it is:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Development/Calc/XMLSource
“it will not store the information about the data source once the data is imported”
Until that functionality is implemented I’m forced to use M$ Office (2003).
@SpywareFan: an interesting alternative for M$ Office is Softmaker’s FreeOffice.
@Klaas Vaak
I have the Softmaker’s Free Office Suite in my computer – – and I LOVE IT!
intelligencia
In the FreeOffice manuals there is no reference to XML data mapping functions.
Another vote for Softmaker’s Free Office, a very nice alternative to MS Office.
Yes, I use functions in Calc: Average, Min and Max. I use the mouse to select the cells.
I don’t usually have to use Sum.
Thanks for the info, and could we have more tips for LibreOffice?
I find that the documentation does not keep up with the changes in LibreOffice.
Also, it is hard to find info in the help documentation.
Thanks Martin for all your great work you put in to make our live easier. Have a nice and healthy 2021.
To all those complaining about this being a simple ‘101’ function: it’s Martin’s blog, he can write a deep-dive review of Windows Calculator if he so wishes. Do you pay his salary or something?
@ShintoPlasm: yes, it is Martin’s blog, but it is a public blog with a comments section, which means he invites people to comment. And having been an avid reader for several years now, I am pretty sure Martin does not expect commenters to agree with him all the time.
You do not help him with agreeing with everything willy-nilly and “honouring” him with praise. Martin, like everyone else in the world, is not perfect, therefore he can only learn from constructive criticism.
Unfortunately you look at constructive criticism as a complaint. I do not agree with you on that and will keep making constructive criticism because I believe in keeping this website one of the best ones – refraining from constructive criticism won’t do that.
Absolutely. People could rather than leaving constructive criticism just stop visiting the site. How is that in the best interest of the site’s authors?
A new way to sum with the latest version is to place the cursor under the numbers to be summed, then press Alt-=, then ENTER.
The SUM function doesn’t work. It just keeps putting the same total no matter what figures I enter.
I would like to know how to make the sum function work. I know how it should work and it works in excel. But when I put the sum function in, it will not make changes when I edit and change the data, the total remains the same
Ditto, Marty. Everyone starts somewhere. Thanks.
Instead of being snarky, maybe you could be helpful. I’d like to add two numbers in a cell;
In Excel, it would be
=5+6
I try that in this piece of crap software, and get a message “Invalid value.”
I used Excel a lot when I was working. Retired now seven years. Excel was great, especially for macros. I now use LibreOffice, which works similarly but the macros are difficult in comparrison to Excel. I couldn’t find anything on macros for Free Office, which was disappointing, so I uninstalled it. I find Zoho to be the most similar to Excel but there you’re stuck with your spreadsheets in the cloud which I didn’t like.
Um… When was this article posted? The date says today (August 23, 2023), but I’m seeing comments from 3 years ago.
I was going to amuse myself and check out the comments for this Avast AV sponsored post since there were so many comments. I thought it funny since they have an article bashing the product in 2019.
What do I see when I go to the comments? Ghacks pulled an “Amazon” and replaced an article on Excel SUM functions with a sponsored post to make it look like a good article.
Anyone and everyone who even has a clue about tech knows that Avast is utter garbage and focuses on spying on you and spamming you with ads these days. Just check out the bad article from 2019 on this very site! If you run Windows 10/11, you already have better antivirus than Avast built-in to Windows.
@graham
surely more importantly is why an ad for dodgy anti-virus has the whole thread on office suites instead.. something in the db is messed up.
On a slight tangent, does foobar2000 have a built in lyrics plug in? I mostly used Linux and Deadbeef, the closest alternative to Foobar there has a very old(and kinda broke) plug in.
If you want news then add this line in uBlock Origin:
ghacks.net##.hentry,.home-posts,.home-category-post:not(:has-text(/Martin Brinkmann|Mike Turcotte|Ashwin/))
@News filter,
> ghacks.net##.hentry,.home-posts,.home-category-post:not(:has-text(/Martin Brinkmann|Mike Turcotte|Ashwin/))
Thanks for the useful information.
Added line to My filters in uBlock Origin.
Magnificently,
I was able to clean up “all articles” by other authors on the Ghacks site.
It’s refreshing to be able to see only useful articles (instead of being buried among inferior articles) by clearing out the obtrusive articles.
Important note: changing policies through the program doesn’t save them automatically. You need to hit Ctrl+S (or go to File > Sve Policies)
What silly click bait article. Even the actual article is ridiculous.
“The launch of HarmonyOS for PC could pose a serious threat to Windows.”
Who cares what people in China use.
Don’t do drugs before working maybe.
What’s next? Look up the biggest Android fork in China and write pointless long article about it how it’ll take over Google’s Android.
HarmonyOS and Excel comments are mixed up.
HarmonyOS is not an open-source OS, only partially components.
P.S.
What is happening with these comments from other articles?
this is funny. it looks like the same base article, comments and all has been repurposed and edited or something for 3 (or more) different articles.
started off as something for some office suite… and then it was some antivirus thing.. and now it’s some iffy os.
wtf is that writer doing? no one reads or comments on the ad articles and he has to reuse old ones to make it look like it’s getting traction? (though it shows up as 0 comments on the homepage, so that can’t be it?)
“HarmonyOS does not have Google. Huawei’s HarmonyOS is a proprietary operating system..”
vs
“HarmonyOS is open-source, which means that it can be customized by developers and manufacturers.”
Both are quotes from the article. So which one is it, open source or proprietary?
Without windows-based videogames able to run, it’ll stay niche.
Huawei better put serious money into a harmonyOS port of Wine, DXVK or Proton if it wants its machine being more than web browsing thin clients.
I won’t trust a foreign OS.
Deeply foreign, I meant. In so many ways.
“I won’t trust a foreign OS.”
You trust Microsoft Windows, Google Android and Apple operating systems just because they are from businesses in your country ? Talk about blind nationalism.
Do not forget also that there is a world outside of USA and that for most of human beings, your favorite operating systems are also of a foreign origin, and as hostile towards them as they are towards yourself.
HAHAHAHA – did you really say “it could pose a serious threat to Microsoft’s Windows operating system”?
It won’t run programs or real games, so it will be useless.
I mean, there are some people who apparently love using tablets and phones for everything, but mostly are people who will barely do anything with their brain in life.
I mean, even if Photoshop, and others are available for iPad, do people think iPad is a threat for windows? not really, maybe for useless consumers who will just, like with a phone, be happy and move on, but not for professional industries which are the ones who matter the most, because are the ones who generate more revenue, since they buy the most expensive hardware and software.
Nothing consumer computing related really makes much money, unless it is data from users that get sold for AI or Ads.
Who knows where this comment is going to wind up. It’s in response to the article about Huawei’s HarmonyOS (HOS) operating system.
Two places in the article it says HOS is open-source. One place the article says HOS is proprietary. Uh, I’m pretty sure it can’t be both. Which is it? If there’s some fine distinction, somebody needs to explain it.
After all of these issues with Ghacks articles and misplaced postings, I’m reminded of this
https://www.ghacks.net/2019/10/07/ghacks-has-a-new-owner-and-that-is-a-good-for-everyone/
@vanp,
Note: I replied to you on September 6, 2023 at Around 2:20 pm, but it was still remain blocked after more than half a day, so I replaced the quoted URI scheme: https:// with “>>” and reposted.
The current ghacks.net is owned by “Softonic International S.A.” (sold by Martin in October 2019), and due to the fate of M&A, ghacks.net has changed in quality.
>> ghacks.net/2023/09/02/microsoft-is-removing-wordpad-from-windows/#comment-4573130
Many Authors of bloggers and advertisers certified by Softonic have joined the site, and the site is full of articles aimed at advertising and clickbait.
>> ghacks.net/2023/08/31/in-windows-11-the-line-between-legitimate-and-adware-becomes-increasingly-blurred/#comment-4573117
As it stands, except for articles by Martin Brinkmann and Ashwin, they are low quality, unhelpful, and even vicious. It is better not to read those articles.
>> ghacks.net/2023/09/01/windows-11-development-overview-of-the-august-2023-changes/#comment-4573033
By the way, if you use an RSS reader, you can track exactly where your comments are (I’m an iPad user, so I use “Feedly Classic”, but for Windows I prefer the desktop app “RSS Guard”).
RSS Guard: Feed reader which supports RSS/ATOM/JSON and many web-based feed services.
>> github.com/martinrotter/rssguard#readme
Regarding “Huawei’s HarmonyOS” you asked about, the developer has stated that it is planning to open source, however the actual situation has been shelved (no such movement).
HarmonyOS – Wikipedia
>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS
Therefore, it is “proprietary software”.
Moreover, both the company and its production base are in China. China, Russia, Israel, etc. are “Authoritarian state” and products and companies based in those countries are under state control, and privacy policies can become “famous and innocent.” Those products should be avoided.
Correction of sentence
Before correction: “famous and innocent.”
After correction: “nominal name only titular.”
owl, thanks again for the great info.
HarmonyOS doesn’t run Windows apps. It is no threat to Windows.
I agree.. i bet it cant even run wallpaper engine, it probably has the worst compatibility with software.
iam vary satisfied this work
http://crackscoop.com
ah, wonderful, this message/article cross-posting hasn’t been fixed.
Ignore my comments.