How Disable Telemetry in Windows 10

dalchina said:

What benefit do you hope to gain by doing so?

What are you afraid of?

How do you think MS gets data on patterns of failure to upgrade so it can set up Safeguard holds to protect customers, for example? Or data on usage so it knows how to shape the product to meet market requirements?

I wouldn't say that I'm afraid of anything necessarily, I just know that I paid for the pro version of Windows 10, which includes GPO, and I just want to take advantage of the product that I purchased.

pepanee said:

Yea, I've noticed that option re-enables itself all the time. Honestly, I don't care about disabling Telemetry anymore. I used to be strict about the idea of businesses/services to "spam" me with things that I may have interest for. This option would slightly fall into that category, in my opinion. But as of today, my name and email address is everywhere to where I get so much spam about things that it doesn't even matter anymore. Give yourself a break and don't stress about this idea of privacy anymore.

I guess to this, I would say that Microsoft should remove the section in GPO that has this option if it doesn't do anything.

Call it solved and say MS wins.

[QUOTE=MikeMecanic;2294548]@TONPumper

TONPumper said:

I wouldn't say that I'm afraid of anything necessarily, I just know that I paid for the pro version of Windows 10, which includes GPO, and I just want to take advantage of the product that I purchased./QUOTE]

MS doesn't want you to play there, thus why it is reset default. The parameter must be forced to zero and there are other examples in Gpedit that require extra tweaks. This is what the Pro edition is all about.

The parameter << Allow Telemetry>> means 1000 + IP's links and this is a complex area for adminstrators and/or advanced users only.

It implies firewall rules, regedit, related services, task scheduler, a third party AV not to have Defender and all privacy settings including the installer.


The least and safest things is to force it to zero via regedit and to stop the daily activity feed:

Code:

reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection" /v "AllowTelemetry" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f

Code:

reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System" /v "EnableActivityFeed" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f

Code:

reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection" /v "DoNotShowFeedbackNotifications" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f

This tweak enables privacy by closing Timeline and Diagnotics and Feedback in settings. Your daily habits won't go out for a walk anymore. The rest is not affected.

All the best,

Thanks! I was under the impression that GPO replaced regedit and is a more permanent solution. That's why we have tutorials on this site that give options in GPO and regedit; because home users don't have GPO, so they are forced to use regedit, but pro users do have GPO and can use GPO as a regedit fix.

Does Windows-7 have this same problem?

Mike Lynch said:

Does Windows-7 have this same problem?

Yes, but it is easier to stop Telemetry in Windows 7. Use the Registry, Services and Task Scheduler methods to stop Telemetry. Be careful when you are in the Registry. You can damage your Windows 7 install.

My understanding is it is difficult to impossible to stop Telemetry in Windows 10. Luckily, when Windows 10 goes end of life in 2025, people will be able to switch to Linux.

Make all modifications at your own risk.

TONPumper said:

Thanks! I was under the impression that GPO replaced regedit and is a more permanent solution. That's why we have tutorials on this site that give options in GPO and regedit; because home users don't have GPO, so they are forced to use regedit, but pro users do have GPO and can use GPO as a regedit fix.

The Local Group Policy Editor isn't a replacement. It's just a front-end to the 'Policy' sections within HKLM (system) and HKCU (user) registry hives in the same way as RegEdit is a front end to the entire registry. Don't forget - the registry is just a repository, a record of settings, not a change agent in itself per se (even though many registry changes are dynamic).

Where group policy has an advantage is that it can force a refresh of the policy sections so the OS is aware of changed settings, either locally in a workstation environment or across an entire organisation in a domain environment using gpupdate... something that the registry can't do itself without a reboot to read the registry back in again in its entirety.

It's this ability to force recognition of changed registry settings without a reboot that makes Group Policy more powerful in comparison to RegEdit... but they're still both only front-ends.

MikeMecanic said:

The least and safest things is to force it to zero via regedit and to stop the daily activity feed:

Code:

reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection" /v "AllowTelemetry" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f

Note that setting AllowTelemetry to 0 does nothing in Windows 10 Pro... which actually treats it as 1. The 0 setting only works in Enterprise and Education editions.

Hope this helps...

If you really want to disable telemetry and the spyware in windows, and i mean completly disable it.
Privacy is sexy 🍑🍆 - Enforce privacy & security on Windows and macOS
Safing Portmaster - Easy Privacy

dalchina said:

What benefit do you hope to gain by doing so?

What are you afraid of?

How do you think MS gets data on patterns of failure to upgrade so it can set up Safeguard holds to protect customers, for example? Or data on usage so it knows how to shape the product to meet market requirements?

Have you given it a thought what you commented here?? I find your statement very disturbing!

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.
It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.
--Benjamin Franklin