Windows 10 Pro Telemetry - Disable

Ada01 · 14 Mar 2016

I have gone through seemingly endless forums and posts about getting Microsoft out of my data and it seems that nothing is a true solution - by the time the computer starts up again, it is back to factory "steal my data" settings.

I consult on a wide range of projects, and as such, I am in charge of a large amount of confidential information. Security settings and crash reports should be at my choice.

Is there any way whatsoever to set my computer from Win7-Win10 to not send any information out to Microsoft.

I understand that there is a "Limited" amount of data being sent when set to "basic" however, the interpretation of the user agreement by various organizations and firms is variable to what that actually means. Due to the vagueness of the agreement the Microsoft group has chosen to put out there, i am not comfortable with what I have and will continue to need to do on my PC with Windows 10 doing what can only be described as nosily tracking me.

Thanks

dalchina · 14 Mar 2016

Hi, two free programs have been designed aimed at changing settings to minimise reporting:
O&O shutup
Spybot Anti-beacon

These only change settings you can change manually.

Note one side-effect of changing some of the privacy settings is you may find a red message
'Some settings are managed by your organisation'
which is confusing and some find disconcerting.
(E.g. when in Settings, Privacy, General)

Sometimes this also means you come across a feature or setting that no longer works.

However these programs also have the means to change things back to default, so are relatively safe.

I would suggest
a. Turn system restore on (it's off by default in Win 10)
b. set a restore point before using them (they may prompt for this anyway, I can't recall)
c. don't change all settings at once; change some, check everything's ok for a while, then continue.

Note much has been written about the significance of non-personal reporting to MS, as you will be aware.

Edwin · 14 Mar 2016

Ada01 said:

I have gone through seemingly endless forums and posts about getting Microsoft out of my data and it seems that nothing is a true solution - by the time the computer starts up again, it is back to factory "steal my data" settings.

I consult on a wide range of projects, and as such, I am in charge of a large amount of confidential information. Security settings and crash reports should be at my choice.

Is there any way whatsoever to set my computer from Win7-Win10 to not send any information out to Microsoft.

I understand that there is a "Limited" amount of data being sent when set to "basic" however, the interpretation of the user agreement by various organizations and firms is variable to what that actually means. Due to the vagueness of the agreement the Microsoft group has chosen to put out there, i am not comfortable with what I have and will continue to need to do on my PC with Windows 10 doing what can only be described as nosily tracking me.

Thanks

Hi @Ada01, welcome to tenforums.com! :)

The whole 'privacy' issue in Windows 10 is still quite vague, so...
First, be sure you are running an RTM Version of Windows 10 and not an evaluation version, (Insider Preview),
second, running Windows 10 Enterprise would probably be a wiser choice, (0 Telemetry).
If that criteria is met, I don't think you'll need to worry about MS breaching your confidential data.