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Last edit: Dec. 7, 2022
Blackbird Changelog
> Plain text (.TXT)
v1.0.85.3 - Latest
- Supports Windows 10 v22H2 update.
- Added
- Disabled Network Connection Broker service.
- Disabled all "Flighting" scheduled tasks:
- Disabled WDigest clear-text credential revealing.
- Fixed Blackbird getting stuck at service recovery when restoring from a backup file under some rare conditions.
- Added
/J switch; Disable/enable application access to local devices.- Disabled Network Connection Broker service.
- Disabled all "Flighting" scheduled tasks:
ReconcileFeatures, UsageDataFlushing, UsageDataReporting- Disabled WDigest clear-text credential revealing.
- Fixed Blackbird getting stuck at service recovery when restoring from a backup file under some rare conditions.
v1.0.85.2
- Disabled Hiberboot/"FastStartup"/That-session-saving-half-ass-non-reboot-bullshit.- Disabled Windows 11 OS Upgrade.
- Disabled OneCore speech collecting.
- Disabled services:
fdPHost, FDResPub- Disabled scheduled tasks:
LocalUserSyncDataAvailable, MouseSyncDataAvailable, PenSyncDataAvailable, TouchpadUserSyncDataAvailable, RecommendedTroubleshootingScanner, WiFiTask- Fixed diagnostic Tenant/Heartbeat registry key not properly set.
- Fixed Blackbird not starting due to insufficient user rights even when running as admin in some rare cases.
- Fixed host blocker still setting incorrect metric values when using an external list.
- Fixed
/i switch description not shown properly when executed.v1.0.85.1
- Supports Windows 10 v20H2, v2009, v21H2 updates.- Added a shitload of new hosts to blacklist
- Performance optimizations made to host blocker and startup scanner.
- Blackbird is no longer limited to a maximum of 9 switches at runtime.
- Disabled browser notifications, tips, site suggestions and geolocation (Edge/Chrome).
- Disabled MS Troubleshooter and patched associated MSDT URL vulnerability (CVE-2022-30190).
- Disabled ads and search suggestions in Explorer.
- Disabled Shared Experience.
- Disabled Activity Feed.
- Disabled scheduled tasks:
Device User, Logon, Cellular, CDSSync, USO tasks- Disabled Intel Telemetry service.
- Fixed DeliveryOptimization regkey set to wrong value.
- Fixed host blocker not obtaining correct network metric values when multiple physical NICs are present.
- Fixed
/i switch not properly restoring notifications/"Action center" on Windows 10.v1.0.80.2
- Reupload due to Google giving us shit.- Changed compiler.
v1.0.80.1
- Supports Windows 10 v2004 update.- Added more hosts to blacklist
- Changed the way Blackbird scans for installed KB updates and blocked hosts for performance reasons (still testing).
- Disabled End-of-Servicing notification tasks on Windows 7.
- Disabled scheduled task:
Agent Activation Runtime, PcaPatchDbTask- Fixed "ConfigureAppInstallControlEnabled" regkey set to wrong value.
*- Fixed Blackbird not recognizing OS version when running on Windows 10 v1909.
- Fixed Blackbird not backing up a few network interface settings.
- Fixed App Manager sometimes not properly restoring a previously blocked system application.
- Fixed App Manager not being able to block the latest Edge-Chromium browser.
- Fixed "Access denied" error appearing for some users when Blackbird failed to start with admin rights.
- Fixed
/i switch service conflicts. * NOTE:Special thanks to rsoyxihnark for the tip.
v1.0.79.3
- Added more hosts to blacklist *- Fixed "
Service_-DSN- not found" errors when restoring a backup file on Windows 10. * NOTE:Special thanks to Bejsu for the tip.
v1.0.79.2
- Blackbird is now forced to always run with Administrator rights (still testing this).- Added more hosts to blacklist
- Disabled scheduled task:
SQM Data Sender- The
/I switch will now also enable changing the user account picture on Windows 10.- Fixed another bug that may cause Blackbird to crash when restoring a backup file.
v1.0.79.1
- Fixed Blackbird crashing when restoring a backup file. Feel bad about this one, no idea how I managed to miss it during testing.- Fixed scheduled tasks sometimes not getting properly disabled.
- Fixed hosts always reported as blocked regardless of actual state.
v1.0.79
- Added more hosts to blacklist- Added basic syntax notations to the backup file.
- Fixed "
GetRegForce not found" errors on 32bit version.- Fixed Nvidia Telemetry service still getting removed if Geforce Experience is installed.
- Fixed a few SettingsSync/DeviceAccess registry keys not getting modified properly on Windows 10.
- Fixed a small number of registry keys not getting backed up.
v1.0.78
- Fixed a major, long-standing bug, where Blackbird failed to obtain proper service states on some system localizations.*- Fixed
/I switch not enabling all device options on some Windows 10 versions (Add Printer should now work correctly).- Fixed
/G switch not executing properly from the console and incorrect success/fail messages after usage.- Fixed "invalid key name" errors shown in some cases when creating a backup file.
- Fixed "line too long" errors sometimes appearing during a full system scan.
* NOTE:Special thanks goes out to WeSt|K for doing a ton of testing.
v1.0.75
- Blackbird 32bit may no longer disable all Autologgers on Windows 10 v1903+ due to security limitations.64bit version is not affected.
- Nvidia telemetry is no longer removed if Geforce Experience is installed due to pissed off gamers.
- Fixed App Manager showing a failed message when configuring folder permissions when it shouldn't.
- Fixed Blackbird failing to restore default service states on some Windows 10 versions.
- Fixed Outlook Exchange sometimes not working on Windows 10 after using the
/L switch.* * NOTE:Special thanks goes out to Dr.Crunch for finding the solution.
v1.0.7
- Added/G switch: Disable/enable Games Explorer (gameux.dll; injects into games at startup and connects to MS servers)- Added an update to blacklist:
KB4493132 (Windows 7 end-of-support nagware)- Added more hosts to blacklist
- Disabled additional Nvidia telemetry tasks and registry keys.
- Disabled scheduled tasks:
Metadata Refresh, Notify1/Notify2 (Win7 end-of-support)- Fixed username not getting defined in some rare cases, resulting in a fatal error.
- Fixed the weird file-deletion bug for reals this time.
* Turns out I was the dumbass all along! Never saw it coming.Boring Tech Details(tm): In some rare cases an undefined variable caused Blackbird to delete, apparently randomly-selected, contents of the root drive instead of removing temporary Blackbird files.
* NOTE:Special thanks goes out to LainUnchained for actually finding where the problem is.
v1.0.6
- Full Windows 10 v1903 support (April/May 2019 update) *- Added new hosts to blacklist
- Added some old KB updates to blacklist;
KB2876229, KB3074677, KB3081954- Disabled scheduled tasks;
HypervisorFlightingTask, USO_RebootDisplay, USO_WnfDisplay, USO_UxBroker_WnfDisplay, WiFiTask- Disabled services;
AarSvc, CredentialEnrollmentManagerUserSvc, DeviceAssociationBrokerSvc, DeviceAssociationService, InstallService, PushToInstall, WcncSvc, WinRM, XboxGipSvc- Disabled additional SubscribedContent, BITS peer/server-caching, and IE-CEIP registry keys.
- App Manager can now block multiple apps by range (entering
1-10 blocks apps from 1 to 10.) - The
/I switch now also enables Device Settings, Focus/Assist and user notifications on Windows 10.- The
/X switch now also enables/disables the Windows Live ID service (wlidsvc).- Improved STD reliability when disabling or removing tasks.
- An attempt to fix a weird recursion bug that can cause read/write permission conflicts resulting in partitions disappearing for some users.
- Fixed "reg key not found" errors appearing in the main menu under some conditions.
* NOTE:With Windows 10 v1903 MS has upped their game a bit, as expected. Consequently we had to resort to using more "blackhat-ish" methods to bypass it all. Expect AV software to not like this version.
Will deal with it if it becomes too much of a problem.
v1.0.52
- Fixed boot problems caused by disabling UPFC.exe on older versions of Windows 10. My bad, shit happens :/- Fixed Xbox services not properly enabled when using the /X switch.
- Fixed some services not getting turned back on when using Blackbird's Recovery mode to restore default settings.
v1.0.5
- Added/Color switch - Alternative color scheme for my color-blind folk. Changes green to blue, red to yellow.- Host blocker now attempts to use ICMP pings to grab IP addresses if DNS resolving fails.
- Date/time stamps are now ISO 8601 compliant.
- Disabled removable drive indexing.
- Disabled UPFC.exe running in the background on Windows 10.
- Fixed a stubborn service dependency bug that caused network connectivity problems to sometimes still be present after using the /L switch.
- Fixed Blackbird pausing if a fatal error is encountered even when using silent/script mode (/S switch).
- Fixed
/ShowHost switch displaying and counting the same blocked address if multiple network interfaces are active.- Fixed
/ASLR and /NoUpdate switches not working correctly in some cases.- Fixed services sometimes reported as 'Not secure' when they shouldn't.
- Fixed crashing when the local username contained various special characters (hopefully).
- Fixed progress bar acting weird when using an external HOSTS.TXT file with 400+ listed addresses.
- Fixed registry key values not getting properly backed up if they contain empty spaces.
- Fixed various errors and alerts when creating/restoring a backup file (something,something,hex-code parsing,nerd-stuff,etc.)
- Small UI tweaks, more code optimizing because maximum effort.
v1.0.4
- Improved OS version detection.(Boring tech details: Now reads the version as a numeral 'value' instead of a 'string', which was admittedly dumb in the first place. This should prevent any weird compatibility issues popping up in the future when running Blackbird on newer/updated or unsupported Windows versions.)
- Added new switch
/ShowHost - displays all active host blocks set by Blackbird (IPv4/IPv6 addresses).- Added new hosts to blacklist
- Disabled more services;
DiagSvc, LxpSvc, ShpamSvc, SmsRouter, WaaSMedicSvc, WerCplSupport, WiSvc, WlidSvc - Disabled more scheduled tasks;
Notifications (Location Activity), NvTmMon/NvTmRep (Nvidia), RefreshCache (OneSettings), Installation/ReconcileLanguageResources (LanguageComponents), PerformRemediation- Disabled 'Timeline' user activity publishing/tracking/uploading.
- Fixed host blocker not working correctly when using some system languages/localizations. Should be much more robust overall as it no longer checks server replies for hardcoded strings.
- Fixed recovering to defaults getting stuck at restoring services when ran on Windows 10.
- Fixed various compatibility issues with the latest Windows 10 version (v1809); Errors shown during backup, scan, etc.
- Fixed App Manager failing to disable apps when ran from a non-admin user account on Windows 10.
- Fixed Autologgers sometimes not getting disabled due to registry permission conflicts on Windows 10.
- Fixed "reg key not found" errors appearing on some Windows 7/8 versions during the startup scan.
- Fixed UI glitches when running Blackbird in a console with screen size buffer width set to 290 or more.
- Fixed multiple bugs that sometimes caused switches and/or menu-options to not run as expected.
- Code optimizations resulting in small speed increases and reduced executable size.
v1.0.3
- Full Windows 10 v1809 support (October 2018 update)- Disabled more services;
BcastDVRUserService, BluetoothUserService, CaptureService, cbdhsvc, ConsentUxUserSvc, DevicePickerUserSvc, PrintWorkflowUserSvc- Disabled more scheduled tasks;
Schedule Scan Static Task, USO_UxBroker- Disabled Clipboard history & cross-device logging.
- Disabled Edge silent background startup.
- Disabled SmartScreen startup app control.
- Disabled all "AI Insights/SwiftKey" keylogging-text-prediction bullshit.
- Fixed unresponsive W-key option (enable/disable Task View) when selected in the main menu.
- Fixed /U switch not disabling automatic updates on Windows 10 in some cases.
- Fixed the 'Current User' Ad-ID token not getting removed properly.
- Fixed "Invalid console session size" error appearing for some users even when running with 80+ columns width.
- Fixed KB update hiding script not getting properly generated and executed when it's filepath contains whitespaces, causing syntax errors.
- Fixed temporary files not getting created under some circumstances, causing Blackbird to quit due to a fatal error.
- Fixed the 'loopback' bug that caused Blackbird to re-apply itself when running Verbose Mode (/v) with any other switches.
- Fixed a bug in versions 1.0.27/28 that caused scheduled task states to sometimes not get properly backed up.
- Another attempt to fix the /L switch not restoring LAN connectivity in some cases. Shut up.
- Added system speaker beeps support. Currently only used if fatal errors are encountered.
- Added support for partial Blackbird execution by starting with the following switches;
/updates = Only secure/remove KB updates./tasks = Only secure/disable scheduled tasks. /services = Only secure/disable services./registry = Only secure registry./hostblock = Only run IP/host blocker.v1.0.28
- Fixed App Manager failing to disable apps that have been restored during a Windows update.- Added more hosts to blacklist
v1.0.27
- Improved STD mode; Now users have the option to confirm or skip force removal of any found task.- Added new switch /W - Enable/disable Task View on Windows 10 (virtual desktops).
- Added new hosts to blacklist.
- Disabled 'PushToInstall' login/registration scheduled tasks.
- Fixed 'Network Connectivity Assistant' service not getting disabled properly, causing Event Viewer error entries.
- Fixed a localization issue that caused invalid scheduled task states for some users.
- Fixed unavailable keyboard accessibility features after applying Blackbird (ctfmon.exe not loading).
- Fixed /B switch (Enable/disable Runtime Broker) not doing anything.
- Fixed /O switch not enabling OneDrive.
- Fixed the fucking /L switch not restoring LAN/NAS/DLNA connectivity, for reals this time. Only took 2 years, FUCK.
v1.0.15
- Minor scanning speed optimizations (Scan Mode/startup).- Fixed various crashes and glitches when using certain system languages/localizations.
- Fixed menu selection sometimes not responding correctly to user input.
- Fixed WiFi connection breaking for some users after applying Blackbird.
v1.0.11
- Fixed the "Invalid column size" startup error experienced by some users.v1.0.1
- Fixed network/LAN connectivity (incl.NAS/SMB/DLNA) not working after using the /L switch.- Fixed Blackbird crashing at startup in some cases aka. "The 80 Error".
- Fixed small OS detection bugs when using non-english localization/language in Windows.
- Fixed no warning shown when ran on an unknown/unsupported Windows version.
v1.0 - Complete rewrite
- Improved Scan Mode/startup scanner; Now properly detects all problems instead of checking for hardcoded values.- Improved scheduled task handling; Now properly reports changes and any errors encountered when ran in Verbose mode.
- Improved service handling; Should be much faster with proper verbose info and the ability to block low-level driver services.
- Improved autologger handling; Now detects all active system autologgers instead of relying on a static list.
- Improved OS version detection
- Improved general file/folder operations in regards to permission/access manipulation.
- Improved host blocker; Now supports multiple network interfaces and can block a broader range of IP's.
- Improved -U switch (Disable/enable automatic Windows Updates) to allow Windows 10 users to disable updates
- Improved -D switch (Disable/enable Defender) to fully support newer Windows 10 versions.
- Added Backup Mode functionality (blackbird -bak switch); Saves current system state to an external file.
- Added App Manager for Windows 10; User-friendly system app blocking.
- Added Enable/Disable Address Space Layout Randomization switch (blackbird -aslr)
- Added prompts at startup so users can access certain features directly from the menu (Backup/Recovery, Scan,..)
- Added support for custom external KB updates list
- Added notice at startup if running on an unsupported Windows version.
- Added support for console window size detection and UI resizing
- Added new hosts to blacklist
- Added new updates to blacklist
- Added -I switch to fix Bluetooth connectivity issues (hopefully)
- Now reports WSUS policy anomalies and unauthorized proxy servers on Windows Vista/7/8.
- Now attempts to hide blacklisted KB updates to prevent automatic re-installation (64bit version only).
- Updated STD definitions
- Disabled more services; Now removes NVTelemetryContainer, HPTouchpointAnalytics, VisualDiscovery/VDWFP.
- Disabled more scheduled tasks
- Disabled the 'Advertsing.Xaml' system app on Windows 10
- Disabled Suggested Apps & Tips advertising
- Disabled Teredo/IPv6-tunneling
- Disabled SMBv1 by default for security reasons
- Disabled GameDVR
- Disabled Remote Assistance
- Disabled additional application access to Account Information, Radios and "Unspecified" on updated Windows 10 versions.
- Fixed custom HOSTS.txt file not being detected when running Blackbird from the command line
- Fixed Remote Desktop not working after using Blackbird (is now available after using the -L 'Fix network/LAN connectivity issues" switch)
- Fixed issue with slow network speeds in some browsers
- Fixed improper extended service name resolving, in some cases causing constant disk usage when applied to certain Windows 10 versions.
- Fixed problems when running under non-administrator user accounts when authentication is used.
- Fixed Blackbird defaulting to a Windows 7/8 policy template when ran on an unknown/updated Windows 10 system.
- Fixed -X switch not restoring all Xbox scheduled tasks and user not receiving session notifications such as game invites.
- Fixed -L switch (Fix network/LAN connectivity issues) not fixing LAN connectivity for some users.
- Fixed small STD detection bugs
- Changes to switch system:
- /S Silent Mode can now be used with other switches without applying Blackbird to allow proper scripting.
- /V Verbose Mode now reports all current states and changes correctly, like it should have in the first place.
- Most switches are now Enable/Disable. For example, if OneDrive is currently enabled it will be disabled when running -O switch and vice-versa. The user is notified of the current state.
- All switches are now executed properly when also applying Blackbird and are not overwritten.
- Only switches and functions supported on the local system are now available to the user (depending on Windows version).
Special thanks goes out to Roman from Ukraine for his dedicated and uncompromising bug hunting.
v0.9.98
- Added a switch to fix LAN connectivity problems after running Blackbird v0.9.97 or later (blackbird -l)- Fixed Recovery mode not properly restoring some registry keys
- Fixed startup scanner sometimes not detecting autologgers as disabled
- Fixed most used apps not displaying in start menu after using Blackbird on older Windows 10 versions
- Fixed Blackbird 32bit version inconsistencies (reupload)
Special thanks to our users who helped us track down the problems very quickly.
v0.9.97
- Full Windows 10 Anniversary/Redstone support- Disabled several new scheduled tasks
- Disabled several new services
- Disabled new Autologgers
- Disabled settings syncing on Windows 10
- Disabled telemetry uploading on Windows 7 and changed the authorized proxy to localhost (due to October Rollup update - KB3192403)
- Disabled network auto-tuning (speed tweak)
- Patched Windows SMB user crendentials leak
- Patched Web Proxy Auto Discovery
- Patched Smart Multi-Homed Name Resolution
- Patched Link-local Multicast Name Resolution
- Added new hosts to blacklist
- Added switch to disable SmartScreen application checking (
blackbird -a)- Added switch to disable all default Background Access Applications on Windows 10 (
blackbird -c)- Added switch to kill all System Apps on Windows 10 (
blackbird -kall)- Added switch to kill Lockscreen on Windows 10 (
blackbird -kl)- Added switch to enable the Diagnostic Policy Service (
blackbird -p)- Added switch to disable SMB over NetBIOS and close listening port 445 (
blackbird -e)- Changed /f switch and default Blackbird behaviour to not disable Start menu most-used apps list
- Changed folder cache rebuilding to no longer get disabled on Windows 10
- Updated STD definitions
- Improved registry editing by getting proper SID of current user, better 64bit and extended ControlSet support
- Improved disabling of Windows Defender on Windows 10 (
blackbird -d switch)- Multiple small improvements and fixes (too many to list)
- Fixed progress bar bug that caused multiple bars & file-not-found errors to appear during usage. Bad devs.
- Fixed System Apps unable to be killed again when Windows updates revive them (backup issue)
- Fixed duplicated STD output bugs when removing/disabling tasks
- Fixed some temporary files not getting properly removed
- Fixed some scheduled tasks not getting disabled
- Fixed OneDrive background app not getting removed from startup
- Fixed Defender file reviewing/uploading not getting properly disabled
- Fixed Recovery mode not restoring DPS service
- Fixed Diagnosis folder-not-found errors
- Fixed Scan mode not detecting some registry strings correctly
v0.9.95
- New, more awesome logo and icon- Reduced binary size significantly
- Added support for up to 9 simultaneous command line switches
(Excluding: -r, -std, -scan ; Currently these modes can only be executed one at a time for stability reasons)
- Added full system scan switch (
blackbird -scan)- Added switch to skip update removal (
blackbird -noupdate)- Added switch to skip host blocking (
blackbird -nohost)- Added switch to skip system optimization/speed tweaks,etc. (
blackbird -nospeed) - Added new hosts to blacklist
- Added new update to blacklist (KB3173040)
- Additional P2P-UpdateSharing & WiFiSense registry keys disabled, just for kicks
- Additional Office 2015/16 logging/telemetry disabled
- Disabled Scripted Diagnostics remote server query on all Windows versions
- Disabled Scheduled Diagnostics on Windows 10
- Disabled Error Reporting completely on Windows Home editions and reset consent to zero
- Disabled unattended execution of CEIP and Error Reporting on Windows 10
- Disabled Cloud Experience Host ETW logging on Windows 10
- Disabled Peernet on all Windows versions
- Defender, MRT, CEIP data-leaks are now also patched on pre-Windows 10 versions
- Using external hosts.txt file now skips the internal blacklist (easier management)
- Better registry handling when keys are added dependent on system architecture (32/64bit)
- Improved setting of Diagnosis folder permissions on all Windows versions
- Fixed an issue with IPv6 addresses not getting blocked properly in some cases
- Fixed SpyTask Destroyer output errors when removing tasks
- Fixed Windows Defender data-leaks not getting patched properly
- Fixed duplicate entries in host blocker
- Fixed switches being case-sensitive
- Fixed progress bar errors when removing multiple Windows updates
- Attempt to fix an issue with Blackbird getting stuck at 99% for some users
- Small UI fixes
- Removed -e switch ("eMule LowID fix"), couldn't verify it helps anything
v0.9.93
- Added "alpha build" automatic Lenovo/Dell "Superfish" removal (certificates, registry, files,..)- Added switches to kill Windows 10 system apps:
blackbird -kc (Kills Cortana, previously was -k)
blackbird -ke (Kills Microsoft Edge)
blackbird -kf (Kills Windows Feedback/ContactSupport)
- Added new hosts to blacklist
- All blocked hosts are now set as metric=1
- Turned UPX compression back on for both 64 & 32bit versions. Let's see what happens.
- Better switch/exit handling (returns to prompt instead of closing window)
- Disabled "Cloud Consumer Experience Features" on Windows 10
- Disabled additional scheduled tasks on Windows 10
- Fixed Error Reporting registry keys not getting set properly
- Fixed OneDrive not getting removed from Explorer in some cases
v0.9.92
- Added support for external hosts file (see ReadMe for more details)- Added beta version of Blackbird STD (SpyTask Destroyer). See ReadMe for more information
- Added 'Enable OneDrive' switch (blackbird -o)
- Added 'Enable Sensors' switch (blackbird -t) to re-enable auto screen-rotation on tablets
- Added 'Disable Runtime Broker' switch (blackbird -b)
- Added 'Remove Blackbird Network Blocks' switch (blackbird -n)
- Added new KB update to blacklist (KB3150513)
- Disabled folder-cache rebuilding
- Disabled auto-reboot after installing updates on Windows 7/8
- Disabled additional scheduled tasks
- Disabled 'Program Compatibility Assistant' service on Windows 10
- New registry tweaks for Windows 10
- Now alerts the user if automatic updates are turned on (but does not disable them by default)
- Minor Verbose mode verbosity upgrades
- Fixed host blocker not resolving hostnames to IP addresses when DNS queries fail
- Fixed CloudServiceSync registry key unintentionally set to enabled
- Fixed a small output error in Verbose-mode when removing updates
- Fixed several GWX-trigger tasks not getting properly disabled
- Fixed a few scheduled tasks not getting properly restored when using Recovery-mode
- Attempt at fixing localization issues causing Blackbird scanner to report false information
v0.9.89
- Disabled Windows 7/8 "Recommended updates received the same way as important updates" to prevent Windows 10 silent download- Disabled Windows 10 LockScreen ads
- Added new KB updates to blacklist
v0.9.88
- Partial rewrite/restructure:AV false-positives should be less of a problem,
Removed KB update-hiding script for the time being (worked only on critical updates anyway).
- Host-blocker changes:
No temporary files created,
Should be a bit faster.
- Verbose-mode changes:
Fixed some updates not getting removed,
Fixed minor output errors,
Displays IP data of resolved host,
Scheduled tasks and hostnames now display in realtime as they're being disabled/blocked.
- Improved progress bar accuracy
- Small UI cosmetic tweaks
- Fixed Administrators-group permission bug when attempting to claim Diagnosis folder
- Fixed startup scanner bug that caused inaccurate Windows updates info to be shown
- Fixed UI scaling errors on Windows 10
- Fixed 'Kill Cortana' switch not closing processes properly
- Fixed Office 2016 telemetry not getting fully disabled
v0.9.85
- Added checks at startup to prevent Blackbird applying to Redstone builds as they are not currently supported and may damage your OS- Added network tweak (ecn capability)
- Added new KB updates to blacklist
- Added experimental "eMule LowID fix" switch (blackbird -e)
- Added "Show frequently used apps at Start menu" switch (blackbird -f)
- Added "Enable Xbox Live services" switch (blackbird -x)
- Fixed multiple Recovery mode bugs (biggest of which caused most used apps to not show in Start menu after recovery)
- Another attempt at fixing the W10 startup scan bug for realsies this time
v0.9.82
- Switches can now be ran independently without applying Blackbird (excluding Verbose and Silent mode)- Made some additional attempts at Skype ad blocking
- Dropped UPX compression (making the exe a little bigger) to evade AV false-positives
- Fixed (hopefully) a startup scan bug on Windows 10 that caused "reg key not found" errors to be shown in some cases
v0.9.8
- Disabled additional AIT agents on Windows 7/8- Disabled all currently known GWX triggers
- Added new servers to blacklist
- Added new KB updates to blacklist
- Disabled additional startup scheduled tasks
- Disabled additional global device access applications
- Multiple Recovery mode optimizations
- Fixed startup scanner bug that caused inaccurate Windows Updates info to be shown when running on Windows 8/8.1
- Fixed a scary bug that caused unresponsive start-menu on Windows 10 in some cases
v0.9.7
- Added new servers to blacklist (Lenovo spyware included)- Added disable hibernation switch (-h)
- Fixed some variables in IPv6 blocker (version 0.9.6 users should not be affected by this bug)
v0.9.6
- Full IPv6 support (all interfaces;wifi/eth)- Added new KB updates to blacklist
- Added removal of Windows 10 Upgrade pre-install files/folders on older Windows versions
- Fixed backgroundtaskhost.exe not getting temporarily killed on Windows 10 Home
- Fixed cleanup issue where in some cases not all Blackbird temporary files get deleted at exit
- Fixed some updates not properly hidden as of version 0.9
- Fixed security scanner not finding proper privacy keys causing "not found" errors on Windows 10 if custom settings where applied at Windows 10 setup
v0.9.1
- Fixed "Telemetry = Not blocked" startup scan bug appearing in some cases, even if telemetry is properly blockedv0.9 - "The UI Update"
- User interface overhaul- Threshold 2 ready
- Added basic security scan at Blackbird startup
- Added '-m' switch for disabling Malicious Removal Tool updates
- Added new hosts to blacklist
- Added new KB updates to blacklist
- Disabled AutoLoggers on all Windows versions
- Fixed Windows Defender SpyNet reporting not getting disabled
- Fixed Internet Explorer privacy settings not applied correctly on pre-10 Windows versions
- Fixed WGA removal crashing Blackbird in some cases
- WGA is now removed automatically as we consider it rootkit-like software
- Code cleanup / re-structure (because Windows Defender does not seem to like us anymore)
- Various small bug-fixes
v0.89.3
- All system AutoLoggers disabled- Fixed Autologger-diagtrack-listener.etl not clearing properly
- Fixed Error Reporting Service not getting disabled on Windows 10
- Fixed spelling error in host blocker
- Various bug-fixes
v0.89 - "The Website Update"
- New logo,icon,website- Full support for all Windows editions
- Speed optimizations; Blackbird should be much faster overall
- Host block addressing optimizations
- Explorer,Edge/IE,Defender,MRT data leaks patched
- WGA removal is now optional, user is prompted to attempt removal if WGA is found.
- Prevents user:SYSTEM read access to diagnostic data
- Additional network tweaks
- Additional Windows10-specific privacy tweaks
- Better service handling
- More services disabled
- More servers added to blacklist (+bonus blocked Skype, Youtube & Facebook ads)
- More KB updates added to blacklist
- Added '-k' switch to kill Cortana completely (prevents searchUI.exe from loading)
- Added '-r' switch. Restores all changes made by Blackbird to default Microsoft values
- Added '-v' switch for extra info/troubleshooting (verbose)
- Added '-u' switch to disable automatic installation of updates
- Added a help menu (-?)
- Windows Defender can now only be disabled with the -d switch
- Removed '-a' switch (alternative host blocking) as it was just hogging space and was not as effective.
- Various bug-fixes
v0.7
- Full Windows 10 support; more spyware removed- Removes WGA (user should re-run blackbird after rebooting to finalize WGA removal)
- Tracking servers now blocked by IP-range, using new embedded hostname resolver.
- Added '-s' switch for silently running blackbird with no user interaction required.
- Added '-a' switch to use an alternate host blocking method.
v0.5
- More scheduled tasks disabled/removed- More Microsoft data tracking servers blocked
- Added removal of Windows keylogging data stored locally
- DNS cache is now flushed for security reasons
- Added automatic hiding of critical KB updates to prevent re-installation.
- Disabled Windows network throttling.
- Cleaned up interface
v0.3.1
- fixed parsing errorv0.3
- public release