Windows Guides: How Windows Knows Where You Are
By Rich Robinson for Windows Guides
Enable or Disable Location Sensors in Windows 7
The location sensors in Windows 7 enable your operating system and other software to adapt to your current geographical location. Of course, your computer must have a location sensor supporting hardware e.g., a GPS device, wireless WAN radios or other cellular triangulation technologies. Using these location sensors, your applications can know exactly where you are and provide you with relevant information and content. For example, some twitter clients in Windows can use the location sensors and can automatically post your geographical location along with your tweets.
Most of the modern laptops and desktops are coming with some sort of GPS device installed inside them to take advantage of this location sensor feature in Windows. But even if your computer does not have such a location sensor hardware device, you can install a software emulation of such devices. Geosense for Windows is such a software based location sensor for Windows 7 which uses Google Location API to find your present location.
By default, Windows 7 does not enable the location sensors for any user. If you want to make use of location sensor feature in Windows, then you can enable them from the Control Panel in Windows 7. Here is how:
This excerpt appears with the permission of Windows Guides.
Update: Windows 8 will include this same technology
In Windows 8 Release Preview, the built-in Windows Location Provider supplies apps with location data based on Wi-Fi triangulation and IP address data.–microsoft.com
More information on this topic:
Makeuseof.com: Geosense and Windows 7 Location Sensors
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I do not authorize my location being broadcast without my explicit consent, but since I use Win XP this really doesn't apply to me anyways. If I upgrade in the future, I will NOT be using this feature.
It’s ironic that yesterday I found the Geosense program on my PC and deleted it. I’m not sure how it got there, but I have a feeling it may of hitched a ride on the back of something else I was downloading. I am normally careful about stuff like that, and always choose custom install whenever I download some software.
However this Geosense program got on my system, I inadvertently found it and dispatched it forthwith. I don’t want useless, innate and sinister crap like that on my pc. Thanks but no thanks!
The very fact that it sneaked past me onto my system is cause for concern in and of itself. There is a chance, however, that it was there all along, and that I have only just noticed it…but I think the first scenario is the more likely of the two as I always examine the factory installed programs whenever I get a new PC, and the first thing I do before I even load any programs onto it, is get rid of the crapware. I’m sure I would have spotted it beforehand.
I might like that. My computer's default location is about 200 miles from where I actually am. I reset it all the time but my weather, and shopping all pop up wrong.
all you need to do is go to the site and log in, I have had no problems with this site on my vista or windows 7 pc's
I don’t have a sensor installed on mine and I have Windows 7 so there is nothing to disable
@Laurie W: I bet you do…you just haven’t looked hard enough!
Yes, Big Brother is ALWAYS WATCHING, be careful…
My Toshiba laptop was recently stolen.
I would like to locate the current user
who is (probably) accessing the internet
via public WiFi.
Is there a way I can locate my laptop
when the thief is using a public WiFi?
Windows 8 is weird, though. Not using wireless, going through a VPN tunnel (private IP) to Seattle public IP (work network). All other GeoIP services show Seattle. Windows 8 shows true location. Kinda cool, but creepy.
Thanks for the post!