Important Problem: How To Prevent App From Calling Home?

NiceAndShy said:

Instead of using OpenOffice for this, is there another app people can recommend that will ensure the security of my personal notes?
I just want something that's ironclad.

Comodo Free Firewall seems to be the best choice for you. Aside from an included sandbox, it contains HIPS, which prevents apps from leaking/bypassing firewall by injecting to allowed processes.

Comodo Internet Security Setup/configuration thread (Setting Only) | MalwareTips.com

This page is a little outdated, because most people do not care, but the results are still valid.

Results and comments - www.matousec.com

You could also run a virtual machine without network and run OpenOffice from there. :)

Unfortunately not, Windows uses sandboxing, but only for some system processes.

You need a third party app like Sandboxie or a virtual machine like Oracle VM VirtualBox.

Microsoft is using algorithms to actively scan their cloud storage for illegal content, several users haven been arrested for it, so no data posted online is really private, unless it is encrypted.

NiceAndShy said:

I really hope I'm not being a nuisance but this is a really serious issue for me.

That is understandable, there are countries, in which you can be arrested or even killed for an "inappropriate" content. Bad posts in China can lower user's government score.

TairikuOkami said:

Microsoft is using algorithms to actively scan their cloud storage for illegal content, several users haven been arrested for it, so no data posted online is really private, unless it is encrypted.

Wow, really?

I don't have anything illegal on my PC, but that's very scary.

EDIT:

I forgot to ask: How does encrypting the data make it private?

If the data is encrypted and is stored in a cloud service like Microsoft's OneDrive, does that mean the data cannot be read by even Microsoft???

Latest supported OS for Virtual PC is Windows 7. MS gave up on it, because 3rd party alternatives are better.