Privacy Settings Windows 10 to be deactivated and changed immediately

Microsoft has been quite transparent about the data it collects from PCs with Windows 10 and even if users hardly think about it, the Windows 10 privacy settings are very detailed and can be configured in a personalized way to decide what to share with the Microsoft company and other external apps.
From the Start menu, you can press Settings and then Privacy to see all the options to be changed to protect the privacy of data on the PC . They are organized into various categories, with almost all switches activated by default. While some settings are practically mandatory for the use of the PC without limitations, others should definitely be disabled to avoid sharing private data and information regarding the way we use the computer and the Windows 10 apps.

Microsoft Privacy Policy for Windows 10

Before talking about specific settings, we can summarize Microsoft's privacy policy in 6 points:

• Microsoft creates an ID for each ad user and this can be turned off in the general Windows 10 Privacy settings.
• What is spoken orally using the Windows 10 Cortana service and what is written using the spelling correction tool can be recorded by Microsoft .
• Windows supports a location service that allows applications and services to know our position in the world.
• Microsoft automatically synchronizes some Windows settings when you log in with a Microsoft account. This is done to provide users with a personalized and integrated experience if you use multiple Windows 10 PCs and smartphones. The data that is synchronized includes the installed applications and their settings, the history of the Edge web browser and favorites, passwords, wireless network names and shared printers.
• Microsoft collects other user data on computer use, installed software, configuration data, network and connection data.
• Microsoft may access, disclose and retain our personal data, including the content of these (such as the content of emails or files in private private folders), when necessary in the event of violation of the terms governing the use of the services.

Privacy settings to disable

To open the privacy settings of Windows 10 you can go through the Start menu or the notification menu (by pressing the message button at the bottom right near the clock). There are at least five essential Windows 10 privacy settings that need to be changed to reduce the amount of data that Microsoft collects while using your PC.

Data collection for advertisements

In the general settings, under the Privacy Settings you can disable the Ads ID, under the option " Allow apps to use the Ads ID to make ads more interesting for you based on the use of the apps ".
If you disable this option, Microsoft resets the advertising ID and clears previously collected data.
In this same section of the general tab, you can disable the options without problems.

Location data and location access

You can disable location access if you don't want Microsoft to find out where our PC is. To do this, go to Privacy Settings, scroll down the right column and under App Permissions press on Location . Then press the Edit button under " Allow location access on this device " to disable location access for this device .
In the same menu, you can also check whether the apps installed in Windows 10 have access to location data or not and you can disable this access by turning off the switch: " Allow apps to access your location ".
Once done, scroll down this screen to find the list of all the apps and enable localization to the apps that really need it such as the Weather app and Maps.

Cortana

Most people don't use Cortana's voice assistant on a PC, so it's not clear why this should remain active anyway, since it's also quite invasive of privacy.
In Windows 10 Privacy Settings, go to the section dedicated to Voice Commands and disable all settings. Under the Microphone section (scroll down the left column), disable access to the Microphone for Cortana. In Voice Activation, disable all options. In you see the Cortana section, here disable the access to the microphone, the keyboard shortcut to recall the assistant, access to the lock screen and all other options. Under the Messaging section, disable Cortana.

Search settings

In Settings, go to the Search section to be able to configure Permissions and history and disable cloud search (unless you use this service), device history and search history.

Typing privacy settings

One of the most glaring Windows 10 privacy issues is the fact that Microsoft maintains a typing history that would be helpful in improving its automatic correction system. This data collection has been highly criticized, even thinking that there is a Microsoft keylogger on Windows 10. In Settings> Privacy> Pen input and typing customization it is therefore convenient to disable the option under About you .

Windows Feedback and diagnostics

Microsoft periodically collects diagnostic and feedback data from its system which are used, according to what is said by Microsoft, to keep Windows 10 safe and updated. There is no possibility to completely disable this setting, but the diagnostic data that Microsoft registers on the PC can be limited significantly. To do this, go to Privacy Settings > Feedback and diagnostics and disable all options on the screen (including Customized experience and Improve input and typing ), putting a Basic collection instead of the complete collection to Diagnostic data .
In the same menu, you can also view the collected diagnostic data and completely delete them with a button.
It's not over, scrolling down the left column of the privacy settings, press on App diagnostics and disable the option.

Other Windows 10 Privacy settings

Staying in Privacy Settings, we briefly see the other options that you can customize and disable.

• Access to the camera (which is also the webcam) and the microphone are useful for certain photo and video chat apps so you don't need to disable it. However, you can choose which applications the camera can use and which the microphone can use and disable it for unused apps. Keep in mind that we always talk about Windows applications, those that can be downloaded from the store and not normal desktop programs.
• Activity history is a useful function in Windows 10 as seen in another article, but if the PC is shared with other people, perhaps it is better to disable it from the Privacy Settings menu.
• Account Info is a privacy option that can be turned off if you don't want Windows 10 applications to know our name and access our photo or other account information.
• Calendar, Messaging, Email, Phone Calls, Activities and Contacts are options in which applications can allow or deny access to this information. Since they are specific to apps such as mail or calendar, it is better not to disable these switches.
• Radios refer to the use of Bluetooth by applications to send and receive data on the device.
• The Other devices category is used to decide which other wireless devices to synchronize application data with. If you don't have a Windows Phone smartphone, Android (with the use of Microsoft apps) or an XBox you can also disable everything.
• Here you can disable background applications in Windows 10, as explained in another article.
• Documents, Images, Videos and File System are options to remove the authorization for apps to view computer files, but they should not be touched in order not to prevent these applications from working.

After changing the settings mentioned above, Microsoft will not collect sensitive data about us, but it is still possible to limit the sharing of information sent from the PC in use in an almost absolute way by using automatic tools to prevent the collection of data in Windows 10 (to be used with caution though, because some options are vital for the operation of some apps).