Windows 10 has filled the pages of the tech press and has been mentioned here more than once because of the data collection and telemetry practices of the Redmond giant. Over the months, tools have surfaced that reduce the blocking process to a couple of clicks, but the reality is that Windows 7 and 8.x are not particularly immune to that data harvesting. Ancile is a script focused on executing other scripts that either disable or uninstall telemetry features on both operating systems.
Microsoft's strategy is not hard to understand: Windows everywhere, software as a service. However, the wishes of the average user seem to have collided head-on with the company's interests. Windows 10 is one of the most documented cases, and despite giving the operating system away for a full year, market numbers show it stuck just below 23 percent. In the mobile space, Windows is nearly insignificant: 0.7 percent globally, and within that number, only 14 percent are running Windows 10 Mobile. So where are the users? Basically, spread across the 57 percent of the market that remains firmly on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. The problem is that those operating systems seem to have inherited the "taste" of their older sibling for telemetry, but just like with Windows 10, it is not hard to find dedicated solutions.
What is Ancile?
One of those solutions is Ancile, developed by Matthew Linton. From a technical point of view, Ancile is a script that calls other scripts to clean, block, disable, or uninstall multiple elements in Windows 7 and Windows 8.x related to data collection. Ancile is a fork of another famous script known as Aegis-voat, although here we find a more solid update frequency. The fact that Ancile is a chain of scripts allows us to study each of its steps with tools like Notepad++, and know exactly what it does. First, it sets the system clock to the correct time, then offers a restore point (highly recommended), takes control of several registry entries, disables services (remote registry, CEIP, diagnostics tracking, etc.), deletes scheduled tasks, blocks Internet Explorer updates, and uninstalls a group of hotfixes, finally adding dozens of entries to the HOSTS file to prevent communication between the operating system and Microsoft's servers.
On one hand, I must admit that all of Ancile's scripts look very clean, and there are no unusual calls or executions of strange processes. The problem is that with Ancile, the user accepts the developer's suggestions without asking questions. Microsoft's tactic of combining telemetry services with security patches does not make things easier; however, all scripts can be edited. Personally, I have not found any erratic behavior after the "cleaning", but it will be up to each user to decide whether Ancile is a viable alternative or not.
