From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Tue, 1/13/2026 7:53 AM, VanguardLH wrote:   
   > Windows 10 has its location service, but I'm wondering why enable it.   
   > It was disabled, I tried enabling it, but it doesn't help finding my   
   > location.  As a test, and after enabling location, I went to Google Maps   
   > and entered a restaurant some 10 miles away.  When I clicked on   
   > Directions to specify start and end locations, there was a circle icon   
   > to "Use your location".  Clicked on that, and got a prompt "Google Maps   
   > wants to use your location".  In permissions, location is set to Ask.  I   
   > click "Just this time", but the starting point was way way off from   
   > where I am.   
   >   
   > Because my location was so far off, I have to wonder just how Microsoft   
   > finds my location other than IP geolocation which doesn't require a site   
   > to use Windows location services.  This is on a desktop PC.  No cellular   
   > radio to connect to a tower.  No GPS radio.  Just how is Windows   
   > location going to determine my location?  Doesn't seem it has anything   
   > with which to determine my location other than by IP geolocation.   
   >   
   > https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-location-s   
   rvice-and-privacy-3a8eee0a-5b0b-dc07-eede-2a5ca1c49088   
   >   
   > Timezone.  Really?  That's going to track my location?  A dozen a-bombs   
   > could land in the same timezone and never hit me.   
   >   
   > Find my device.  Start -> Settings -> Update & Security -> Find my   
   > device.  Other than IP geolocation, how is that going to work on desktop   
   > PC with no cellular or GPS radios?   
   >   
   > With location and find my device enabled, I go to:   
   >   
   > https://account.microsoft.com/devices   
   >   
   > which says "Unknown - Location data isn't available".   
   >   
   > GPS. No GPS radio in my desktop PC.   
   >   
   > Nearby wireless access points.  I have some wifi devices connected to my   
   > wifi cable modem, but not my desktop PC.   
   >   
   > Cell towers.  It's a desktop PC, not a smartphone.   
   >   
   > IP address.  Yep, they can use that, but it highly inaccurate.  What a   
   > site would see is the WAN-side IP address specified by my ISP's DHCP   
   > server for the cable modem which uses a NAT router.  With Windows   
   > location disabled, my IP address is still known. When I use several IP   
   > geolocation sites, each gives a different location resulting in a span   
   > of about a 15-mile radius, or an area of 706 square miles.   
   >   
   > Some folks are paranoid about revealing their location to web sites that   
   > want it for a service they provide, or to track them.  However, for a   
   > desktop PC, there is no difference when Windows location is enabled, or   
   > not.   
   >   
   > Seems superfluous to waste CPU cycles on a feature that is ineffective,   
   > so I disabled it again.   
   >   
      
   There was a paper some years ago, where measuring time of flight from   
   a large number of test nodes, can narrow your location to around   
   two city blocks.   
      
   You can also start doing Bing searches for Joes Pizza, or start   
   reading articles off your city hall website, or use the bus schedule   
   service at your bus company, and you might (gradually) find they   
   have narrowed your location. This is one reason they try to snag   
   as many URLs as they can to vortex.microsoft.com , for location reasons.   
      
   Turn on News and Interests and check the Weather widget. It should   
   display that it knows where you are. That uses a different location   
   implementation than the generic service used by/for apps.   
      
   And sure, if a GPS is plugged into the computer, Microsoft will read   
   out one of the NMEA messages to get a precise location. This is why   
   my GPS has only been plugged in on Win7 and Linux. I only intended the   
   GPS to be used for the time service.   
      
      Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)