[blind-philly-comp] How to protect your privacy in Windows 10

From: David Goldfield <david.goldfield@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "blind-philly-comp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <blind-philly-comp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2019 21:33:13 +0000

Computerworld - Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at 6:00 AM

How to protect your privacy in Windows 10

There has been some concern that Windows 10 gathers too much private
information from users. Whether you think Microsoft's operating system crosses
the privacy line or just want to make sure you protect as much of your personal
life as possible, we're here to help. Here's how to protect your privacy in
just a few minutes.

Note: This story has been updated for the Windows 10 October 2018
Update<https://www.computerworld.com/article/3307851/review-windows-10-october-2018-update-delivers-modest-but-useful-tweaks.html>,
a.k.a. version 1809. If you have an earlier release of Windows 10, some things
may be different.

Turn off ad tracking

At the top of many people's privacy concerns is what data is being gathered
about them as they browse the web. That information creates a profile of a
person's interests that is used by a variety of companies to target ads.
Windows 10 does this with the use of an advertising
ID<https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/general-privacy-settings-in-windows-10>.
The ID doesn't just gather information about you when you browse the web, but
also when you use Windows 10 apps.

You can turn that advertising ID off if you want. Launch the Windows 10
Settings app (by clicking on the Start button at the lower left corner of your
screen and then clicking the Settings icon, which looks like a gear) and go to
Privacy > General. There you'll see a list of choices under the title "Change
privacy options"; the first controls the advertising ID. Move the slider from
On to Off. You'll still get ads delivered to you, but they'll be generic ones
rather than targeted ones, and your interests won't be tracked.

[win10 privacy advertising
id]<https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2019/04/win10_privacy_advertising_id-100792859-orig.jpg>
IDG

You can turn off Windows 10's advertising ID if you want. You'll still get ads,
but they'll be generic ones. (Click any image in this story to enlarge it.)

To make absolutely sure you're not tracked online when you use Windows 10, and
to turn off any other ways Microsoft will use information about you to target
ads, head to the Ad Settings section of Microsoft’s Privacy
Dashboard<https://choice.microsoft.com/en-us/opt-out>. Sign into your Microsoft
account at the top of the page. Then go to the “See ads that interest you”
section at the top of the page and move the slider from On to Off. After that,
scroll down to the “See personalized ads in your browser” section and move the
slider from On to Off. Note that you need to go to every browser you use and
make sure the slider for “See personalized ads in your browser” is set to Off.

Turn off location tracking

Wherever you go, Windows 10 knows you're there. Some people don't mind this,
because it helps the operating system give you relevant information, such as
your local weather, what restaurants are nearby and so on. But if you don't
want Windows 10 to track your location, you can tell it to stop.

Launch the Settings app and go to Privacy > Location. Underneath “Allow access
to location on this device,” click Change and, on the screen that appears, move
the slider from On to Off. Doing that turns off all location tracking for every
user on the PC.

[win10 privacy location
tracking]<https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2019/04/win10_privacy_location_tracking-100792860-orig.jpg>
IDG

If you click the Change button, you can turn off location tracking for every
user on the Windows 10 device.

This doesn't have to be all or nothing affair — you can turn off location
tracking on an app-by-app basis. If you want your location to be used only for
some apps and not others, make sure location tracking is turned on, then scroll
down to the "Choose apps that can use your precise location" section. You'll
see a list of every app that can use your location. Move the slider to On for
the apps you want to allow to use your location — for example, Weather or News
— and to Off for the apps you don't.

When you turn off location tracking, Windows 10 will still keep a record of
your past location history. To clear your location history, scroll to "Location
History" and click Clear. Even if you use location tracking, you might want to
clear your history regularly; there's no automated way to have it cleared.

Turn off Timeline

The Windows 10 April 2018 Update introduced a new feature called Timeline that
lets you review and then resume activities and open files you’ve started on
your Windows 10 PC, as well as any other Windows PCs and devices you have. So,
for example, you’ll be able to switch between a desktop and laptop and from
each machine resume activities you’ve started on either PC.

In order to do that, Windows needs to gather information about all your
activities on each of your machines. If that worries you, it’s easy to turn
Timeline off. To do it, go to Settings > Privacy > Activity History and uncheck
the boxes next to “Store my activity history on this device” and “Send my
activity history to Microsoft.”

[win10 privacy activity
history]<https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2019/04/win10_privacy_activity_history-100792856-orig.jpg>
IDG

Here’s how to turn off Timeline so that Microsoft doesn’t gather information
about your activities on your PC.

At that point, Windows 10 no longer gathers information about your activities.
However, it still keeps information about your old activities and shows them in
your Timeline on all your PCs. To get rid of that old information, in the
“Clear activity history” section of the screen, click “Manage my Microsoft
account activity data.” You’ll be sent to Microsoft’s Privacy Dashboard, where
you can clear your data. See the section later in this article on how to use
the privacy dashboard to do that.

Note that you’ll have to take these steps on all of your PCs to turn off the
tracking of your activities.

Curb Cortana

Cortana<https://www.computerworld.com/article/3043552/microsoft-windows/windows-10-quick-tips-get-the-most-out-of-cortana.html>
is a very useful digital assistant, but there's a tradeoff in using it: To do
its job well, it needs to know things about you such as your home location,
place of work and the times and route you take to commute there. If you’re
worried it will invade your privacy by doing that, there are a number of things
you can do to limit the information Cortana gathers about you.

Start by opening Cortana settings: place your cursor in the Windows search box
and click the Cortana settings icon (it looks like a gear) that appears in the
left pane. On the screen that appears, select Permissions & History. Click
“Manage the information Cortana can access from this device,” and on the screen
that appears, turn off Location so that Cortana won’t track and store your
location.

Then turn off “Contacts, email, calendar & communication history.” That will
stop the assistant from gathering information about your meetings, travel
plans, contacts and more. But it will also turn off Cortana’s ability to do
things such as remind you about meetings and upcoming flights. Towards the
bottom of the screen, turn off “Browsing history” so that Cortana won’t keep
your browsing history.

To stop Cortana from gathering other types of information, head to the
Cortana’s Notebook section<https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/cortana> of
Microsoft's Privacy Dashboard. You’ll see a variety of personal content,
ranging from finance to flights, news, sports, and much more. Click the content
you want Cortana to stop tracking, then follow the instructions for deleting it.

If you want to delete all the data Cortana has gathered about you, click “Clear
Cortana data” on the right side of the screen.

[Windows 10 privacy clear Cortana
data]<https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2018/08/win10_privacy_clear_cortana_data-100768298-orig.jpg>
IDG

Here’s how to delete all the information Cortana has gathered about you.

There’s some bad news for those who want to ditch Cortana completely: Back when
the Windows 10 Anniversary Update was released in August 2016, the easy On/Off
setting for turning it off was taken away. However, that doesn't mean you can't
turn Cortana off — it just takes more work.

If you use any version of Windows 10 other than the Home version, you can use
the Group Policy Editor to turn it off. Launch the Group Policy Editor by
typing gpedit.msc into the search box. Then navigate to Computer Configuration

Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search > Allow Cortana. Set

it to “disabled.”

If you have the Home version, you'll have to muck around in the Registry.
Before doing that, though, create a Restore
Point<https://www.pcworld.com/article/2955023/windows/how-to-turn-on-system-restore-in-windows-10-to-protect-against-bad-updates.html>,
so that you can recover if anything goes wrong. Once you've done that:

1. Type regedit into the search box and press Enter to run the Registry Editor.

2. Go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows
Search.

(If the Windows Search key doesn't appear in the Registry Editor, go to HKEY
_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows. Right-click the key and
select New > Key. It will be given a name such as New Key #1. Right-click it,
select Rename, and then type Windows Search into the box.)

3. Create the DWORD value AllowCortana by right-clicking Windows Search and
selecting New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Type AllowCortana in the Name field.

4. Double-click the AllowCortana value. Type 0 in the Value data box.

5. Click OK. You'll have to sign out of your Windows account and sign back in
again (or restart Windows) to make the setting take effect.

Ditch a Microsoft account for a local account

When you use your Microsoft account to log into Windows 10, you’re able to sync
your settings with all Windows devices. So, for example, when you make changes
to your settings on a desktop PC, those changes will also be made on your
laptop the next time you log in.

But maybe you don’t want Microsoft to store that information about you. And
maybe you want to cut your ties as much as possible to anything Microsoft
stores about you. If that’s the case, your best bet is to stop using your
Microsoft account and instead use a local account.

It’s simple to do. Go to Settings > Accounts and select “Sign in with a local
account instead.” A wizard launches. Follow its instructions to create and use
a local account. Keep in mind that when you do this, you won’t be able to use
Microsoft’s OneDrive storage or download and install for-pay apps from the
Windows Store. You can, however, download and install free apps from the
Windows Store.

Change your app permissions

Windows apps have the potential to invade your privacy — they can have access
to your camera, microphone, location, pictures and videos.

But you can decide, in a very granular way, what kind of access each app can
have.

To do this, go to Settings > Apps. Below “Apps & features” you’ll see a list of
your installed apps. Click the app whose permissions you want to control, then
click Advanced options and set the app's permissions by toggling them either on
or off.

[win10 privacy app permissions
1809]<https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2019/04/win10_privacy_app_permissions_1809-100792857-orig.jpg>
IDG

Setting permissions for the Fitbit app.

Note, though, that very few apps have an “Advanced options” link. And of those
that do, not all let you customize your app permissions.

However, there’s another way to change app permissions. To do it, go to
Settings > Privacy and look under the “App permissions” section on the
left-hand side of the page. You’ll see a list of all of Windows’ hardware,
capabilities and features that apps can access if they’re given permission —
location, camera, microphone, notifications, account info, contacts and so on.

Click any of the listed items — for example, Microphone. At the top of the page
that appears, you can turn off access to the microphone for all apps. Below
that you’ll see a listing of all the apps with access to the microphone, where
you can control access on an app-by-app basis. Any app with access has a slider
that is On. To stop any app from having access, move the slider to Off.

Control and delete diagnostic data

As you use Windows 10, data is gathered about your hardware and what you do
when you use Windows. Microsoft says that it collects this data as a way to
continually improve Windows and to offer you customized advice on how to best
use Windows.

That makes plenty of people uncomfortable. If you’re one of them, you can to a
certain extent control what kind of diagnostic data is gathered about you. To
do it, head to Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & Feedback. In the Diagnostic
data section, you can choose between two levels of diagnostic data to be
gathered. Note that there’s no way to stop Microsoft from gathering diagnostic
data entirely. Here are your two choices:

  *   Basic: This sends information to Microsoft “about your device, its
settings and capabilities, and whether it is performing properly.” If you’re
worried about your privacy, this is the setting to choose.
  *   Full: This sends the whole nine yards to Microsoft: “all Basic diagnostic
data, along with info about the websites you browse and how you use apps and
features, plus additional info about device health, device usage, and enhanced
error reporting.” If you’re worried about your privacy, don’t make this choice.

[win10 privacy diagnostic
data]<https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2019/04/win10_privacy_diagnostic_data-100792858-orig.jpg>
IDG

Go here to control what diagnostic data Windows 10 gathers.

Next, scroll down to the “Tailored experiences” section and move the slider to
Off. This won’t affect the data Microsoft gathers, but it will turn off
targeted ads and tips that are based on that information. So while it won’t
enhance your privacy, you’ll at least cut down on the annoyance factor.

Now scroll a bit further down and in the “Delete diagnostic data” section,
click Delete. That will delete all the diagnostic data Microsoft has gathered
about you. However, after you delete it, Microsoft will start gathering the
data again.

Finally on this screen, consider scrolling up to the “Improve inking & typing
recognition” section and moving the slider to Off. That will stop Windows 10
from sending to Microsoft the words you input using the keyboard and inking.

One final note about diagnostic data. You may have heard about a tool Microsoft
has been hyping, called the Diagnostic Data Viewer, which you can download from
the Microsoft Store. Microsoft claims it lets you see exactly what kind of
diagnostic data Microsoft gathers about you. Don’t believe it. It’s something
only a programmer could love — or understand. You won’t be able to use it to
clearly see the diagnostic data Microsoft collects. Instead, you’ll scroll or
search through incomprehensible headings such as
“TelClientSynthetic.PdcNetworkActivation_4” and
“Microsoft.Windows.App.Browser.IEFrameProcessAttached” with no explanation of
what it means. Click any heading, and you’ll find even more incomprehensible
data.

Use Microsoft’s Privacy Dashboard

Microsoft has built an excellent, little-known web tool called the Privacy
Dashboard that lets you track and delete a lot of information Microsoft gathers
about you. To get to it, go to https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/.

As covered earlier in this story, here you can turn off ad targeting and limit
the data gathered in Cortana’s Notebook. You can also view and delete your
browsing history, search history, location activity, voice activity, media
activity, LinkedIn activity, and a lot more. (Note that for you browsing and
search history, it only tracks your activity when you use Microsoft Edge or
Internet Explorer. It doesn’t track data when you use other browsers, like
Chrome or Firefox. And it only tracks your location history when you’re using
Microsoft devices, not those that use iOS or Android.)

[Microsoft privacy
dashboard]<https://images.idgesg.net/images/article/2018/08/win10_microsoft_privacy_dashboard-100768296-orig.jpg>
IDG

Microsoft’s little-known Privacy Dashboard is a great place to delete much of
the information Microsoft gathers about you.

Using it is a breeze. Simply head to the information you want to view and
clear, then click the “View and Clear…” button. You’ll see all your activity in
that category, and be able to delete individual instances (such as a single web
search, for example), or all of it at once.

Get granular in the Settings app

All this shouldn't take that long and will do a great deal to protect your
privacy. However, if you want to dig even deeper into privacy protections,
there's something else you can do.

Launch the Settings app and click Privacy. On the left-hand side of the screen,
you'll see the various areas where you can get even more granular about privacy
— for example, in the Windows permissions section you can change your global
privacy options for things such as speech recognition and inking. And here’s
where you’ll get access to all app permissions, as outlined earlier in this
article.

These steps can take you a long way towards making sure that Windows 10 doesn't
cross the line into gathering data you'd prefer remain private.

This article was originally published in January 2016 and most recently updated
in April 2019.

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3025709/how-to-protect-your-privacy-in-windows-10.html#tk.rss_all

     David Goldfield
Assistive Technology Specialist

Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.info<http://WWW.DavidGoldfield.info>

[blind-philly-comp] How to protect your privacy in Windows 10

Other related posts: