In the past, I have been the biggest fanless of Windows 10. Some of my most popular articles gave me to talk about how Windows 10 invades your privacy and why you shouldn’t upgrade. I upgraded to Windows 10, though (part of the scope of work if you’re a techie, really), and I’m sure many you have over time, too.
So once you’re here, you might want to know how to increase your security and privacy even when you’re using Windows 10.
Disable Cortana
Before diving into this tutorial, you’ll want to open Settings. Open the Start Menu and click “Settings” will take you to this screen from where you can navigate anything you may need.
First, we’ll direct you to turn off Cortana. While Cortana offers a great set of features, especially in Microsoft Edge, Cortana can also be intimidating and overbearing for some. If you want to disable it, here’s how.
First, click Security. After you do that, selecting ” Speech, inking & typing ” will bring you to this screen.
Now that you’re here, all you need to do is click on “Stop getting to know me”, and you’ve pretty much done it.
Disable Microsoft’s Data Collections
Most of my early reviews of Windows 10 were data collections. I’m still not sure how much they can disable, but from what I’ve heard, this configuration should set your Windows 10 settings on even with the one you run on July 7 or 8.
First, go to “General” under Privacy and disable the options above. I have SmartScreen enabled, however, since there’s no real harm in it in terms of privacy.
Next, change ” Send your device data to Microsoft ” to Basic, as seen above. This feature can’t be turned off entirely outside of Windows 10 Enterprise, but the primary data collection here is what you’re sending to Microsoft. Feedback can be set up to whatever you like, too.
Then, go to Start and type Control Panel. After you open the Control Panel, type Customer Experience. Click on ” Change Customer Experience Improvement Settings. “This is a hidden program in Windows 10 that you might have enabled if you didn’t disable it during setup. If you did, it should look like this.
Disable Microsoft’s Targeted Advertising
This is quite simple. All you need to do is uncheck Personalized ads on both ” in this browser ” and ” wherever I use my Microsoft account. “This will keep MS targeted ads out of your life.
Use a program for it!
Finally, you can always use one program to disable tracking on your entire Windows 10 installation. Available as an open-source project on GitHub, doing as it implies – it undermines most, if not all, of tracking in Windows 10.
That aside, there’s not much to say about. You can also disable Microphone, Location, and Camera in your settings if you want, but also disabling those for the programs you use can also be a pain.
Other instructions might recommend disabling specific Windows Defender features, but I don’t. There’s a difference between securing your privacy and making you vulnerable to truly malicious apps.
In this modern age, there’s a real reason to care about privacy. If this guide isn’t enough for you, you might not want to run Windows 10 at all, but you’ll have to sacrifice features as we move forward in technology.
