Is it possible that Windows may log keyboard input, including passwords when unlocking encrypted hard-drives.
I understand anything is possible, but that this may be extremely unlikely. I’d like to know more on the topic though, is it possible for us to know that they do not?
In short: no, Redmond doesn’t know your passwords. It works like a predictive text feature on mobile keyboards. It’s not actually a keylogger which sends every your keystroke to Microsoft’s servers and store it indefinitely.
I’m not sure if your no is in response to “is it possible that Windows may log keyboard input”, or “is it possible for us to know that they do not”.
and what is the “it” which “works like a predictive text feature”.
(excuse me, original post is messy with my use of word possible)
Your post is 100% understandable =)
I basically thought you refer to this feature (which is technically responsible for input logging, and which gets severely criticized very often, and there a lot of bullsh** sensationalist FUD articles about this feature):
This feature works the same as ‘predictive text’ on mobile keyboards (Gboard, Swiftkey).
It does so via the feature on the screenshot, and this feature can be disabled.
As it is a closed-source OS — no, it’s never 100% possible. But Microsoft doesn’t just slurp up everyone’s every keystroke (including sensitive data: passwords and so on) 24/7/31/365 either. Once you disable the feature on the screenshot, and set the Diagnostic data to Required — input logging should stop.
There’s this app which lets you see what Diagnostic data gets sent to Microsoft. It doesn’t let you view all the data, though — only the Diagnostics. Other data can be seen if you use Windows with a Microsoft account. Then log-in into your Microsoft account on their website, and there will be a Privacy Dashboard. There you can see some other data which gets sent to Microsoft. Last time I used a Microsoft account on my PC was, like, in 2016, so I have no idea what data this Privacy Dashboard will have (and for it to have typing-related data in the first place — on your Windows install you will need to turn on Inking & typing personalization), hence I can’t give any info on that.
Darn, I checked my old PC and found that box ticked. So back to your initial point that “it works like a predictive text feature on mobile keyboards. it’s not actually a keylogger”.
Could you expand on this please? Data is needed to make predictions. The more data, the better the predictions. Where is the evidence that this data does not include every keystroke?