Last week, an Ars Technica investigation found Windows computers sending data back to Microsoft servers even after services like Cortana and OneDrive had been disabled, in one case even sending back a message as soon as users hit the Start button.

It's a telling change for Microsoft — the last major tech company built on self-contained software — and it's set off a string of related worries. If any Microsoft users had been scared off by data collection from Google and Apple, they now have nowhere to turn. Reached by Ars Technica, the company was quick to defend itself, saying, "No query or search usage data is sent to Microsoft, in accordance with the customer's chosen privacy settings." Most of the data is anonymized usage logging, not inherently a privacy concern, but the fact remains: using Windows 10 requires constant access to Microsoft's remote servers, and that access goes both ways.