Those who have not upgraded to Windows 10 because they are concerned about their privacy issues and are using Windows 7 or 8 should know that Microsoft has released a series of updates that essentially replicate Windows 10 monitoring. Microsoft describes its telemetry services (i.e. data collection technology) in Windows as a diagnostic monitor on the functional problems of the system.
This data is collected on the computers where the user has accepted the software usage analysis program called CEIP or, in Italian, software usage analysis .
Microsoft receives information about Microsoft products and more limited information about third-party applications that interact with Microsoft products.
Microsoft uses this data to troubleshoot and improve its products which is something known to many software developers.
Further details are described in the privacy policy on the analysis of software use.
Since April, Microsoft has released four optional Windows updates to include diagnostic telemetry services on Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.
The updates are:
- KB3080149 (replaced KB3022345) - Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry
- KB3075249 - Update that adds telemetry points to Consent.exe on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7
These updates only affect those who have joined the data collection program.
The problem is that joining the CEIP program may have been unaware.
In fact, it was enough to install any other Microsoft program, such as Office, to join the data collection.
In reality what Microsoft does is not spying on users (while in Windows 10 with the keylogger it might seem), but only knowing how they use the programs.
Microsoft does not collect any contact information or data that could be used to identify the registered user.
Put simply, each user is identified with an anonymous ID number.
If you are still doubtful and you want to deny consent to the collection of software usage data, you can disable any participation in CEIP by going to the Control Panel> Operations Center> Software Usage Analysis Settings .
If it is not found, in Windows 7, 8 and also Windows 10, look for CEIP on the start menu and open the found setting.
You can completely disable CEIP by going to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Scheduler, expand the folder tree on the left side by going to Microsoft> Windows> Application Experience .
On the right side, disable AITAgent or AppRaiser and ProgramDataUpdater .
Before closing, go to the Customer Experience folder, always under Windows, to disable the Consolidator, KernelCeipTask, and UsbCeip operations .
Although we have never authorized Microsoft's data collection, the update that governs it, the number KB3068708, remains installed on Windows 8.1.
Follow the guide to uninstall Windows updates if you want to delete.
