Don’t use OneDrive, or any other MS’ cloud products on it. Ultimate step: If you want to go rogue, just sign out of the Microsoft Account on the PC. But you can look into disabling Speech, inking and typing if you want along with microphone and camera access to certain apps. This tracks every URL you visit and checks it against a malicious site. Another feature you might consider is the SmartScreen Filter. Go to Settings -> Advanced Settings and disable Cortana access. But some default settings are set up to track your usage around the web.
But if you want to disable Cortana completely and switch back to local Windows Search, here’s our guide on it.Įdge: Edge is the brand new browser for Windows 10. If you don’t want Microsoft to monitor everywhere you take your laptop, disable this option.Ĭortana: To serve you best, Cortana needs access to what you type in or speak as well as your location, contacts, calendar and more. Location Tracking: For some people this might be in the “spying” category. Just disable this option and you’ll now only see generic ads. This setting lets Microsoft snoop on your browsing habits and create one big log file that would then help them serve you better ads. Go to Settings and click on Privacy to get started.Īdvertising ID: This is the big one. I’m only going to highlight the most important settings that you should turn off and present you with third party tools that will make the process easier. Right now, we’re not going to go into that much detail. Or read up on Lifehacker’s excellent explanation of what each and every setting means. If you have the time, go through it all, one by one.
Just the Privacy section in Windows 10 settings has 13 sub-sections, which then have multiple settings to choose from. The problem is that there are lots of such settings in Windows 10. That said, there really are some settings here that a privacy conscious individual would want to disable. You should try to integrate it in your day-to-day life. It can be used for everything from launching apps to looking for documents and files. Get better at search: Windows 10 has an amazing search tool. So for instance, if you don’t want MS to record and analyze your voice, you shouldn’t use Cortana and so on. Now, you should know that disabling some of the settings will disable corresponding products. When you choose Windows 10’s Express Settings, you’re letting MS create a special Advertising ID for you, track your location, track your usage around the web to serve you better ads and you let Microsoft use what you say or type to Cortana. While that’s not as bad as spying, it’s still pretty bad. Encrypting your file before sending it to a cloud storage system (not with BitLocker though) will help as well. Also, either don’t use cloud hosting or use a P2P based solution like BitTorrent Sync. Microsoft uses this information to identify problems and develop fixes.”įor those concerned for their privacy, take a look at SpiderOak, which has secured cloud hosting. To effectively provide Windows as a service, Microsoft gathers some performance, diagnostic and usage information that helps keep Windows and apps running properly. “Windows does not collect personal information without your consent. Microsoft later clarified on their stance. Our Windows 10 coverage: Still confused about the many different aspects of Windows 10? Follow our Windows 10 tag for new stories. What this means is that if a government agency has enough cause to look into your cloud files, Microsoft will let them. When you store files in OneDrive, you’re basically saving files on Microsoft’s servers (which are nothing but super powerful computers). This part of the policy refers specifically to OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage services. WHAT? Microsoft has access to my personal files? Cried the Internet. The scariest part was “files in private folders”. “We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to.” The quote, first pointed out by Rock Paper Shotgun was as below.