Microsoft has admitted that their latest operating system, Windows 10, is harvesting more user data than any other of their operating systems. In their official blog post, they have provided links to complete details of all the data they collect at the basic level. Sure enough, they provide options to toggle off some of the features and services when you start your Windows 10 PC for the very first time and go through the various setup steps. But if you want a quicker way to stop all these processes, services and other features from dialing back home to Microsoft then you can use the free Win.Privacy tool.
Win.Privacy is a tool that can stop the data harvesting being carried out by Microsoft in Windows 10. It is a portable tool and you can launch it on any Windows 10 PC without installing anything. In the Win.Privacy window, you can see the basic system information such as the Windows version, system directory path and whether the operating system is 64-bit or 32-bit. You have to click on the Fix Privacy Issue button to make changes to the Windows system so that all the spying and data collection by Microsoft can be stopped.
There are some other Windows 10 features that this tool does not stop by default and leaves the decision to the user. You can access these options by clicking on More Options. You can disable or enable Windows Updates, hibernation, location service, disable Cortana, set the diagnostics and usage data to “basic” and so on.
If you click on the Services button, then you will also be able to toggle on or off some of the services in Windows. These services may or may not be needed by you and before disabling them you should find more information about them. You can search the internet to find more details about these services.
Verdict: Win.Privacy can make changes to Windows 10 in order to prevent user data collection by Microsoft. But it should be used only by advanced users as it leaves many critical decisions to be made by the user.
You can download Win.Privacy from https://www.thecoffeeaddict.net/win.privacy.html.