It's something nobody really needs

Like probably 99% of things in life - you don't really NEED much of anything so lets not follow this bullshit reasoning, eh?

but it has huge privacy/security concerns.

Why? Why precisely does talking to your PC have these concerns?

They are indeed bloatware that not only needlessly burn disk space (this is becoming significant again with SSDs) but also system resources such as RAM and CPU.

1TB SSD drives are now becoming affordable; space is a non-issue for what will amount to a few meg of space taken up.
RAM won't be used if the feature isn't switched on, will not be used if the feature isn't in use. (You know about how things are paged out, right?) and in multi-gig systems you aren't using most of your ram anyway beyond a bit of cache.
CPU usage - not on. no usage.

Similar to the builtin spyware that drives the login screen.

What are you on about?
OR is this the same bullshit line of reasoning which made you call the update program 'malware'?

It just isn't possible that this thingie tells you to try this and that feature which you haven't used yet unless it is being tracked every time you use a feature (or worse, every time you use any kind of program?). Ignoring privacy, that's code that runs repeatedly all the time and consumes resources but does nothing useful at all (on the contrary).

Wait.. it is a privacy concern because your PC remembers what you have and haven't used?
Really?
THAT is your reasoning? Because something has decided to keep track of feature usage on your PC this is a privacy concern?
OMG! When you save things to your hard drive it will know you have saved it! QUICK BURN EVERYTHING!

Yes, Google and Facebook and the like have their privacy/security concerns as well. But you opt in using these, and it's your own fault if you do.

Apart from the things they turn on after the fact and all the things people don't read when they agree to them and, even when they do get up in arms, just carry on using them anyway...

... not that you've shown anything here is on the same scale of 'privacy concern' as these data recording and tracking systems which other companies use... no, instead, you wave around the words 'privacy concern' with nothing to back it up and even less logic in use, simply because.. I dunno... you don't like MS or something I guess? Maybe rampant paranoia?

Cortana and XBox integration are OS features. It's pretty hard to cast that as 'bloatware'.

I think the reason people want to uninstall them (including myself) is because we see "Windows" as the same old OS. Windows 10 isn't entirely that, it's a new thing, though it's understandable many of us misunderstood as there has been a lot of talk about it "fixing what 8 did wrong", naturally leading to a lot of people expecting it to be 7 again.

So having realized that (after actually trying to make 10 reasonably usable in the previews), I'll simply stick to 7 for a year and re-evaluate then, not because I don't think this new thing is cool but because I don't need a new thing, I can already do anything I've ever wanted on my computer with minimal distraction from things I don't need or want.

To me 10 is slightly worse than 8 at the moment (I actually don't mind 8 very much anymore, if it has Classic Shell it's reasonable). This might remedy itself as I get used to Win10 in a virtual machine over time, that's what happened with 8, though to be honest it's not the UI that's the problem anymore, it's the "always-connected" and auto-updates.

I actually tried Win10 just a couple of days ago last time, on a physical machine not virtual. After having replaced a graphics card it failed to boot at all (hanged on startup). I finally managed to boot into safe mode (not an easy task anymore, need to create a boot-disk from the install to even enable that when Windows doesn't start), and managed to uninstall the old graphics driver for the removed card which let Windows start.

Once back in Windows I made sure to remove everything from NVidia in the Programs and Features and rebooted Then everything worked fine for 30 minutes, until I was notified of auto-updates.

Apparently forced updates aren't just for Windows, but for other software as well, and the old driver I had painfully managed to removed wanted to reinstall itself. No buttons to deselect it, no options to install Windows updates without the NVidia driver, just one simple message that my system would update itself including the driver for a graphics card no longer installed.

So I erased the SSD, ending that failed experiment.

I've started using Linux virtually as well, hoping to get used enough to that to find a reasonable alternative in the future. I expect that to be 2-3 years at least though, but long-term I really can't see Windows as the preferable solution anymore in the direction it's going.

Why? Why precisely does talking to your PC have these concerns?

Because to be able to answer it needs allot of information.

In the following text there are also ways to disable the service.

Location services.

Cortana regularly collects and uses your current location and location history to give you the most relevant notices and results and to make suggestions that help save you time, such as traffic and location based reminders. Cortana can only work if location services are on, so if you turn them off, Cortana will be disabled.

Text messages and email.

Cortana accesses your messages to do a variety of things such as: allowing you to add events to your calendar, apprising you of important messages, and keeping you up to date on events or other things that are important to you, like package or flight tracking. Cortana also uses your messages to help you with planning around your events and offers other helpful suggestions and recommendations.

Speech and Input Personalization.

To help Cortana better understand the way you speak and your voice commands, speech data is sent to Microsoft to build personalized speech models and improve speech recognition. On Windows devices, Cortana can only work if Input Personalization is on, so if you turn it off, Cortana will be disabled. See the Windows Input Personalization section for more information.

Apps and services.

Cortana uses data collected through other Microsoft services to provide personalized suggestions. For example, Cortana uses data collected by the MSN Sports app so it can automatically display information about the teams you follow. It also learns your favorite places from Microsoft's Maps app so it can offer better suggestions. Your interests in Cortana's Notebook can be used by other Microsoft services, such as Bing or MSN Apps, to customize your interests, preferences, and favorites in those experiences as well. Cortana also allows you to connect to third-party services for additional personalized experiences based upon information you shared with the third-party service. For example, choosing to sign into Facebook within Cortana allows Microsoft to access certain Facebook information so that Cortana and Bing can give you more personalized recommendations.

Browsing history. If you choose to send your full browsing history to Microsoft in Microsoft Edge (see the Microsoft Edge description in the Windows section of this statement), Cortana can provide suggestions based on the sites you visit in Microsoft Edge. Cortana won't collect information about sites you visit in InPrivate tabs.

Search history. Your Bing search queries - even if Cortana does the searching for you - are treated like any other Bing search queries and are used as described in the Bing section.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx

It's something nobody really needs

Like probably 99% of things in life - you don't really NEED much of anything so lets not follow this bullshit reasoning, eh?

but it has huge privacy/security concerns.

Why? Why precisely does talking to your PC have these concerns?

They are indeed bloatware that not only needlessly burn disk space (this is becoming significant again with SSDs) but also system resources such as RAM and CPU.

1TB SSD drives are now becoming affordable; space is a non-issue for what will amount to a few meg of space taken up.
RAM won't be used if the feature isn't switched on, will not be used if the feature isn't in use. (You know about how things are paged out, right?) and in multi-gig systems you aren't using most of your ram anyway beyond a bit of cache.
CPU usage - not on. no usage.

Similar to the builtin spyware that drives the login screen.

What are you on about?
OR is this the same bullshit line of reasoning which made you call the update program 'malware'?

It just isn't possible that this thingie tells you to try this and that feature which you haven't used yet unless it is being tracked every time you use a feature (or worse, every time you use any kind of program?). Ignoring privacy, that's code that runs repeatedly all the time and consumes resources but does nothing useful at all (on the contrary).

Wait.. it is a privacy concern because your PC remembers what you have and haven't used?
Really?
THAT is your reasoning? Because something has decided to keep track of feature usage on your PC this is a privacy concern?
OMG! When you save things to your hard drive it will know you have saved it! QUICK BURN EVERYTHING!

Yes, Google and Facebook and the like have their privacy/security concerns as well. But you opt in using these, and it's your own fault if you do.

Apart from the things they turn on after the fact and all the things people don't read when they agree to them and, even when they do get up in arms, just carry on using them anyway...

... not that you've shown anything here is on the same scale of 'privacy concern' as these data recording and tracking systems which other companies use... no, instead, you wave around the words 'privacy concern' with nothing to back it up and even less logic in use, simply because.. I dunno... you don't like MS or something I guess? Maybe rampant paranoia?

His concern's aren't 'bullshit'. Requiring you to log into a MS account just to access a desktop is an invasion of privacy. I know when I go online and use a 'free' service that its my info they are using, but when its fully integrated into the OS, that's a whole new level. And yes, many of us don't (and rightfully so given their past actions) trust corporations with any and all data, and are quite precise and careful with what and who we give information to.

But regardless of your personal feelings, I would expect a lot more professional and realistic response from a moderator. That response was just nothing but vitriolic hyperbole.

Requiring you to log into a MS account just to access a desktop is an invasion of privacy.

So I guess you don't use a modern mobile phone?
Because guess what you are doing the same god damn thing.

More to the point - don't like it?
Don't use the god damn OS.
No one is forcing you, gun to head, to use it.
Go use Linux.
Go use OSX.
Go write your own or whatever... but blah blah blah 'invasion of privacy'.. no.. you use it. you signed up to it. deal with it or bugger off.

As for the tone... people in hell want ice water.. got a problem, complain... I've been on the verge of quiting for some time so whatever... I'm sick of the unthinking hyperbolic bullshit which passes for thinking and journalism in this day and age... so.. whatever, fuck it, I really don't care.

So I guess you don't use a modern mobile phone?
Because guess what you are doing the same god damn thing.

To start with: no, I do not. For various reasons, but mostly actual utility vs cost. Privacy issues are part of that list though.

I also don't use Facebook (privacy is a dealbreaker but even without that issue I do not see the point). Or tweet.

More to the point - don't like it?
Don't use the god damn OS.
No one is forcing you, gun to head, to use it.
Go use Linux.
Go use OSX.
Go write your own or whatever... but blah blah blah 'invasion of privacy'.. no.. you use it. you signed up to it. deal with it or bugger off.

As for the tone... people in hell want ice water.. got a problem, complain... I've been on the verge of quiting for some time so whatever... I'm sick of the unthinking hyperbolic bullshit which passes for thinking and journalism in this day and age... so.. whatever, fuck it, I really don't care.

This is, to my knowledge still a discussion forum and that includes the process of evaluating software (like Windows 10) under various constraints. And while there may have been some hyperbole and misinformation going around other sources (like Jooseppi's) suggest on casual inspection that there are very legitimate reasons to have a strong objection to various Windows 10 components.
As such, asking questions like "How I can turn this off?" or "Can I get rid of it completely?" are very valid, whether you accept the reasoning or not. Of course the answer might be "no, not really". In which case people are free to draw their conclusions given that situation. Whether that is "Hello Linux", "I'll stick with Windows 7 as long as I can then", "I'll have to use it despite reservations" or "that seems reasonable, where do I click to install?" is everyone's personal decision then.

That said, I have seen samoth in several threads and while he can be reasonable and knowledgeable in the purely technical discussions in threads like this I have often noticed he is several bits short of a byte.

Wow. Much panic. Such misinformation.

Reminds me of the Windows <insert version here> days

Been using it for a few days now and really like it. Had a few minor hiccups during the upgrade, and one program currently isn't happy, but otherwise it's been working great. (And I can shake out the rest of the issues this weekend most likely, just haven't had time to devote to fixing it yet)

Changing the scaling makes everything huge and blurry, where in Windows 7 I could change just the text size.

Broken DPI scaling is the fault of the program, not the OS. MS has provided DPI scaling APIs for years. Tell your program creator to get with the program (as it were).

I still haven't figured out how to turn off Windows Defender without modding the registry.

Install a different antivirus program and it'll disable itself. Don't know why you'd want to run a computer unprotected anyway.

I can't seem to uninstall one-note or xbox whatever.

Right-click icon, select "Uninstall". Modern apps are uninstalled just by that method rather than having to dig into a control panel. Unlike regular Windows apps, they won't leave anything behind either, because they're self-contained packages.

I actually tried Win10 just a couple of days ago last time, on a physical machine not virtual. After having replaced a graphics card it failed to boot at all (hanged on startup). I finally managed to boot into safe mode (not an easy task anymore, need to create a boot-disk from the install to even enable that when Windows doesn't start), and managed to uninstall the old graphics driver for the removed card which let Windows start.
Once back in Windows I made sure to remove everything from NVidia in the Programs and Features and rebooted Then everything worked fine for 30 minutes, until I was notified of auto-updates.
Apparently forced updates aren't just for Windows, but for other software as well, and the old driver I had painfully managed to removed wanted to reinstall itself. No buttons to deselect it, no options to install Windows updates without the NVidia driver, just one simple message that my system would update itself including the driver for a graphics card no longer installed.
So I erased the SSD, ending that failed experiment.

Windows 10 Home edition will not let you opt out of updates. Windows will also update drivers. It will not update other software on your machine. If you want to opt-out, get the Pro version. (Though I think you can opt-out of driver updates in both versions, I don't have my Win10 machine in front of me at the moment)

NVidia's drivers a month or so ago were messed up on Windows 10, their newest ones that came out for launch seem to work fine.

Honestly I'm happy about this change. Unpatched software is the leading cause of botnets. The more automated we can make updates for non-computer-savvy people, the better. Too bad Adobe and Oracle still make it a giant pain in the rear to update...

Requiring you to log into a MS account just to access a desktop is an invasion of privacy.

You're not required to use a MS account. I use my own local machine account on my Windows 10 box without issue.

All that being said, it's probably not the best idea to get version 1 of anything on day 1 Heck, you've got a year for them to patch things up before the free offer goes away.

"bullshit"

I started writing a long, long reply to that.

However, about half way down, I realized that no matter what, you'll call anything that goes against anything Microsoft "bullshit" anyway, so it's not really worth it.

If you absolutely do not want to see the issues with Windows 10, that's fine. But that doesn't mean they are not there.