{"id":6470,"date":"2019-05-21T09:45:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T14:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/?p=6470"},"modified":"2019-05-10T16:56:43","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T21:56:43","slug":"protecting-your-privacy-in-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/protecting-your-privacy-in-windows-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Your Privacy in Windows 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Des Nnochiri<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Justifiably or not, Microsoft\u2019s Windows 10 has gained the reputation as an operating system that doesn\u2019t respect your privacy as much as it should. If you or your organization are Windows 10 users, this guide will assist you in protecting your privacy during day-to-day operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Turn Off Your Advertising ID<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Like mobile platforms and social media operators, targeted advertising is a revenue stream for Microsoft. For privacy advocates, it\u2019s one of the more annoying aspects of Windows 10.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The way it\u2019s governed is through the creation of an advertising ID for each user. This collates personal information with data from your past and present activities to present ads relevant to your interests or current task. The data collected also includes information from your web browsing and your use of Windows 10 apps.<\/span><\/p>\n

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To turn off your advertising ID, click the Start button at the lower left corner of your screen, click the Settings gear icon, then choose Privacy > General. Under the \u201cChange privacy options\u201d listing, you can move the first slider to Off, disabling your advertising ID. Note that this will prevent your interests from being tracked and stop the targeted ads, but it won\u2019t stop ads entirely. You\u2019ll still be presented with general interest advertising.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image source: <\/span>Computerworld<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Disable Location Tracking<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Location tracking enables applications such as news and weather services to determine your whereabouts and deliver relevant reports. But it can be seen as an intrusion, especially if you\u2019re doing something personal or business related where you\u2019d prefer that your location remains unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Start > Settings > Privacy > Location will take you to the \u201cAllow access to location on this device\u201d option, which you can change by moving the slider to Off. This will disable location tracking for every user on your PC.<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image source: <\/span>Computerworld<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you\u2019d prefer to have location tracking on for selected applications, there\u2019s a way you can specify this. Leave location tracking on, but scroll down to the \u201cChoose apps that can use your precise location\u201d option. Turn the slider off for each app that you don\u2019t want to have access to your movements. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Clear Your Location History<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Windows 10 retains a log of where you\u2019ve been in the past, so you\u2019ll need to scroll down to \u201cLocation History\u201d and click Clear to delete this information. Remember to do this regularly if you\u2019ve left location tracking on for certain programs, as your location history builds up and refreshes itself on a daily basis.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Disrupt Your Timeline<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Beginning with the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, the operating system has a Timeline feature which lets you review and then resume your previous activities or open files that you were working on before. This applies to your local machine and any other devices that are linked to it or synchronize files.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Settings > Privacy > Activity history will take you to a menu with \u201cStore my activity history on this device\u201d and \u201cSend my activity history to Microsoft\u201d options. Uncheck both of these to disrupt your timeline.<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image source: <\/span>Computerworld<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

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As with location tracking, Windows 10 keeps an activity log. To delete this history and clear your Timeline, go to the \u201cClear activity history\u201d section of the screen and click \u201cManage my Microsoft account activity data.\u201d This will take you to Microsoft\u2019s Privacy Dashboard (which we\u2019ll be discussing later) and options to clear your Timeline.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Limit Cortana\u2019s Assistance<\/span><\/h2>\n

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In order to do its job more effectively, Microsoft\u2019s Cortana digital assistant prefers to gather a wealth of information on you, your habits, and your activities. As this data can include things like your home address, work place, and travel routes, you might want to limit the amount of data access given to Cortana.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Under Settings, Cortana (click the gear icon), select Permissions & History. To \u201cManage the information Cortana can access from this device,\u201d you can turn off \u201cLocation,\u201d \u201cBrowsing history,\u201d and \u201cContacts, email, calendar & communication history.\u201d The Cortana\u2019s Notebook section of the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard offers further options for fine-tuning how Cortana handles your information. <\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image source: <\/span>Computerworld<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Switch to a Local Account<\/span><\/h2>\n

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If you go to Settings > Accounts and select \u201cSign in with a local account instead,\u201d your Windows 10 sessions won\u2019t automatically send data to Microsoft or allow the syncing of operations between your Microsoft-registered devices.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Note that once you complete the wizard and sign in locally, you\u2019ll no longer have access to Microsoft\u2019s OneDrive storage or be able to download and install paid apps from the Windows Store. Free apps will still be available, however.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tweak Your App Permissions<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Speaking of apps, you\u2019ll probably want to disable information access for software that uses your camera, microphone, location, pictures, or videos.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Settings > Apps > \u201cApps & features\u201d will display a list of your installed applications. Click \u201cAdvanced options\u201d on each app you wish to configure and set the permission sliders to On or Off as required. This approach only works for apps that have an \u201cAdvanced options\u201d setting.<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image source: <\/span>Computerworld<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

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To configure app permissions more generally, go to Settings, Privacy, then the \u201cApp permissions\u201d section on the left of the screen. Here you\u2019ll see a list of your Windows 10 hardware (Microphone, Camera, etc.) and all the apps with access to these devices. Click on the device heading, and you\u2019ll be able to turn application access On or Off on an individual basis.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Filter Your Windows 10 Diagnostic Data<\/span><\/h2>\n

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As a way of improving the operating system and optimizing the user experience, Microsoft collects information about your hardware and what you do when you use Windows 10. You can regulate this flow of information by choosing Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback. <\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image source: <\/span>Computerworld<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Diagnostic data section offers two levels of data-gathering: Basic and Full. For privacy protection purposes, you should select the Basic option, which only sends information to Microsoft \u201cabout your device, its settings and capabilities, and whether it is performing properly.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Use the Privacy Dashboard<\/span><\/h2>\n

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The <\/span>Microsoft Privacy Dashboard<\/span><\/a> enables users to track and delete a lot of the information that Microsoft collects. For example, it provides a greater level of control over your advertising ID if you sign into your Microsoft account and go to the Ad Settings section. Here, you can turn off the \u201cSee ads that interest you\u201d option or disable the \u201cSee personalized ads in your browser\u201d feature for each Microsoft browser you use.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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(Image source: <\/span>Computerworld<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Rely on the Operating System<\/span><\/h2>\n

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With all the configuration in the world, Windows 10 won\u2019t successfully protect your privacy\u2014nor will any other operating system\u2014if you don\u2019t make a good job of privacy protection yourself. While on this subject, be careful about system updates and patches, as enabling Windows 10 updates by default can reverse any changes you\u2019ve made or add new ones, granting more access to your data. <\/span><\/p>\n

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More generally, you should exercise restraint in the amount of information about yourself that you put out there. This applies to personal data, financial\/transactional information, and comments and observations you make on websites and social media.<\/span><\/p>\n

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You should also practice due diligence in researching the people and organizations that you deal with, the sites and online platforms you visit, and the various tools that you use.<\/span><\/p>\n

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With this approach and a properly-configured Windows 10 installation, you can protect your privacy in a proactive and sustainable manner.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Des Nnochiri \u00a0 Justifiably or not, Microsoft\u2019s Windows 10 has gained the reputation as an operating system that doesn\u2019t respect your privacy as much as it should. If you or your organization are Windows 10 users, this guide will assist you in protecting your privacy during day-to-day operations. \u00a0 Turn Off Your Advertising ID […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":6487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13,42,8],"tags":[712,708,715,295,103,713,23,717,471,709,106,252,714,718,134,99,62,469,711,716,707,710,706],"class_list":["post-6470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-it","category-pc-security","category-security","category-windows","tag-activity-log","tag-advertising-id","tag-app-permissions","tag-app-security","tag-apps","tag-cortana","tag-data","tag-diagnostic-data","tag-information-privacy","tag-location-history","tag-location-tracking","tag-microsoft","tag-microsoft-cortana","tag-microsoft-privacy-dashboard","tag-pc-security","tag-privacy","tag-windows","tag-windows-10","tag-windows-10-activity-log","tag-windows-10-diagnostic-data","tag-windows-10-privacy","tag-windows-10-timeline","tag-windows-privacy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6470"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6492,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6470\/revisions\/6492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}