How to Stop Windows 10 From Logging Personal Data

The Windows operating system is easily one of the most extensive and prevalent pieces of software developed, and so are Windows 10 data logging practices. In the PC industry’s early days, Windows and Apple were the two largest competitors, and just about everyone has heard the names, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

While Apple took the approach of trying to create the highest quality software possible, Microsoft’s strategy was to “mass produce” software, that would make it available on more systems.

As such, Windows is frequently thought of as an inferior operating system — that’s riddled with bugs and viruses. Though there are fair arguments regarding the advantages of either operating system, there is a grain of truth to the idea that Windows is inferior.

Windows 10 Data Logging — Flaws and Drawbacks

First of all, who hasn’t ever heard of the fact that a Windows system fails every time it’s exposed to an:

• Virus
• Adware
• Malware
• Trojan

And other malicious code (the majority of which is written for Windows), compared to other operating systems. But viruses aren’t the largest problem.

Believe it or not, many versions of Windows contain default settings, intentionally hidden from the average user, that are designed to harvest boatloads of personal data.

There seems to be a lot of speculation as to why these settings exist in the first place; Microsoft claims data collection helps improve the user experience, I, however, remain a skeptic about this claim.

Though MS frequently claims they collect personal information to improve their software or a service, the more likely cause is Microsoft’s involvement and cooperation with the NSA.

Many of these settings were likely injected into the code at the NSA’s behest, as part of their wiretapping scandal (PRISM) which created back-doors into:

• Microsoft
• Google
• Apple

Windows 10 is the worst invader of privacy yet, and has been designed to steal more personal information, than any other previous version of Windows. The types of data it collects will appall and astound you, and it’s prudent to shutdown and mitigate these settings to protect your privacy.

Increasing Privacy During Installation

The easiest way to prevent Windows 10 from collecting data is to disable these offending settings from the start. Unfortunately, many of them are enabled by default, so you’ll need to customize the installation process, and opt out of the Express setup option.

Microsoft is banking on the fact that a lot of users don’t have a clue about the differences between:

• Customized installation
• Express setup

And since most people are lazy, they take the path of least resistance. The good news is it doesn’t take a lot of technical know-how to disable the invasive settings, which even includes files stored using Microsoft’s OneDrive service.

Also, Windows 10 will collect:

• Contact data
• Touch input
• Calendar information
• Browsing activities
• Location data
• Keyboard strokes
• Wi-Fi data

However, understand that a few of the settings trade functionality for privacy and security. In my humble opinion, these trade-offs are minimal, and won’t significantly impact your user experience.

As an added perk, disabling some of these settings, increases operating system performance, by shutting down background processes which would otherwise gobble up memory and CPU power.

If you’ve already installed Windows 10, don’t worry – we’ll go through the manual procedure as well. Furthermore, even after disabling the default settings during installation, it’s necessary to verify that they are disabled indeed.

Once Windows 10’s installation media is loaded, the first screen will provide one of two options:

Express Setup or the option to Customize Settings.

In the blue screen’s lower left-hand corner, search for the “Customize settings” option.

On the next screen, you will be presented with a page that contains four on/off options. Each setting should be set to “on” by default, but we want to disable all four, making sure that they are set to “off.”

The most troublesome of these settings, in my opinion, is the location data. It simply isn’t any of their business where I am using my Windows 10 computer! Why on Earth would they need that information?

Click “next” to proceed with the installation.

On the following page, there are several other settings that you may want to disable.

I recommend disabling all of them, but use your own judgment and discretion. In particular, I’d advise disabling the following for increased security:

• Predictive web browsing
• Wi-Fi sense
• Automatically connecting to open Wi-Fi

Linking Your Windows 10 Installation to a Microsoft Account

Click “next” to enter the following stage of the installation. Now you have a choice: use a local user account or sign-in with a new or existing Microsoft account. Again, there’s a bit of a trade-off here, but it’s much more secure to use a local user account.

Unfortunately, using a local account will disable the ability to sync Microsoft-specific settings and data among Windows devices. There are many third-party services, such as SugarSync, that will provide the same features – a few of which are even free.

If you wish to setup a local user, click on “Create a new account” instead of typing in your existing username and password.

Also, make sure to select the option labeled “ Sign-in without a Microsoft account.” The Microsoft account is the last setting we needed to disable during installation, but we’re far from finished. Proceed with the installation process and log in to your new Windows 10 system.

Disabling Cortana

Cortana is a Windows version of Apple’s Siri, and her name comes from a character in the Halo video game series. Unfortunately, Cortana is also a security threat, which will send a lot of private information back to Microsoft’s servers.

Again, use your discretion, but I’d recommend shutting her down.

To turn off Cortana, click the Windows button and type some text to pull up the search window. A settings icon will appear, which contains Cortana’s settings. Alternatively, you can choose to limit Cortana’s functionality, instead of completely shutting her down.

Feedback Options

There is also the bothersome Feedback Options setting. On home versions of Windows 10, this setting cannot be entirely disabled, only limited.

When set to the most basic setting, it will only transfer limited information to Microsoft anonymously. Unfortunately, only Enterprise and Server editions have the ability to disable this feature.

Here’s how to disable it:

Windows Updates

By default, Windows 10 uses a P2P system for updates. I think that’s quite smart on Microsoft’s part because it decreases the burden imposed on their update servers.

But it’s also quite insecure because a hacker could try to hoodwink your system into downloading a malicious update. Plus, other users can see your IP address in the P2P swarm.

To disable this feature and only download updates from verified Windows servers, navigate to the settings menu again and browse through:

If you wish, it’s possible to download P2P updates from computers connected to the local LAN, which is suitable for a home network with other Windows 10 installations.

However, this method could be dangerous on public Internet connections — such as Wi-Fi at a local coffee shop.

Disabling OneDrive

OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage solution, and it is notoriously insecure due to security flaws and NSA involvement. We have a dedicated guide on how to disable OneDrive in Windows 10, but we’ll give you a quick recap here.

Click on the system tray’s up arrow, then click on OneDrive, and finally Settings.

Consider disabling the following settings:

• “Let me use OneDrive to fetch any of my files on this PC”
• “Start OneDrive automatically when I sign in to Windows”
• “Use Office to work on files with other people at the same time.”

For one reason or another, if you simply cannot part with OneDrive, it’s fine to leave it enabled. However, using OneDrive could mean personal data ends up in an NSA database — deep within the bowels of Ft. Meade.

In Summary…

As older versions of Windows become outdated and lose support, more users are being forced to upgrade to Windows 10.

But the multitude of background processes and settings that traffic people’s personal information back to Microsoft servers, which then potentially ends up in the hands of government agencies like the NSA, needs to stop.

The best way to increase security and privacy is to disable the Windows 10 data logging settings during installation, but they can also be disabled manually after an upgrade or Express setup.

Most Internet services have already moved to the cloud, but not all cloud services are secure. OneDrive, though it does have merits, is probably one of the least safest options — because of privacy threats from the NSA.

After all, you never know who might be eavesdropping!