Windows 10 Privacy Settings

Telemetry

“Telemetry is an automated communications process by which measurements are made and other data collected at remote or inaccessible points and transmitted to receiving equipment for monitoring”

You can’t have a discussion on the internet without hearing the word “telemetry” tossed about. In the case of Windows 10 (and now7/8/8.1) Microsoft says, “Windows uses telemetry information to analyze and fix software problems. It also helps Microsoft improve its software and provide updates that enhance the security and reliability of devices within your organization.” In Windows default settings it collects info about your PC hardware, crashes, “personalization data” like what sport team you follow, and, well, anything beyond that would be speculation on my part…

I’m not going to rewrite what Microsoft has already written. They show you how to set the registry levels via regedit. I’ve quoted the important stuff below.

Easiest way: Right-click on Start and choose Command Prompt (Admin) then copy/paste the text below and press Enter:

reg add “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection” /v AllowTelemetry /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

or

You can copy/paste the text between the lines into notepad, save it as telemetry.reg, and double-click to apply.

– – – – – – – – – –

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection]

“AllowTelemetry”=dword:00000000

– – – – – – – – – –

Use Registry Editor to set the telemetry level

Use Registry Editor to manually set the registry level on each device in your organization, or write a script to edit the registry.

If a management policy already exists (from Group Policy, MDM, or Windows Provisioning), it will override this registry setting.

Open Registry Editor, and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\DataCollection.

Right-click DataCollection, click New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Type AllowTelemetry, and then press ENTER.

Double-click AllowTelemetry and set the value to one of the following levels, and the click OK.

0. This setting maps to the Security level.

1. This setting maps to the Basic level.

2. This setting maps to the Enhanced level

3. This setting maps to the Full level.

Click File > Export, and then save the file as a .reg file, such as C:\AllowTelemetry.reg. You can run this file from a script on each device in your organization.

Telemetry levels

This section explains the different telemetry levels in Windows 10.

– Security. Information that’s required to help keep Windows secure, including info about telemetry client settings, the Malicious Software Removal Tool, and Windows Defender. This level is available only on Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education, and IoT Core.

– Basic. Basic device info, including: quality-related info, app compat, and info from the Security level.

– Enhanced Additional insights, including: how Windows and Windows apps are used, how they perform, advanced reliability info, and info from both the Basic and the Security levels.

– Full. All info necessary to identify and help to fix problems, plus info from the Security, Basic, and Enhanced levels.

Finished? HaHaHaHaHaHa…

Cortana

Block Cortana Web Search
Copy and paste the text between lines. Save it as blockcortanawebsearch.reg , double click to apply and reboot.
You can download it here: block_cortana_web.reg or block_cortana_web.txt
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search]
“AllowSearchToUseLocation”=dword:00000000
“BingSearchEnabled”=dword:00000000
“CortanaConsent”=dword:00000000

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Switch Cortana Web Search Engine

Switch Firefox or Google Chrome to default browser.

Settings > System > Default Apps > Click on whatever is under Web browser > choose Firefox or Google Chrome.

Firefox

Hamburger menu > Options > Search > change Default Search Engine to one of the non-Microsoft options, ensure Use this search engine for searches from Windows is checked.

Chrome

You need an extension.

To switch to DuckDuckGo, Google, or Yahoo install Chrometana extension here (open in Chrome): https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrometana-redirect-bing/kaicbfmipfpfpjmlbpejaoaflfdnabnc

On install it will offer to switch search engine.

To just switch to Chrome install Bing2Google extension here (open in Chrome): https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bing2google/mgoehlfmhfafaiepckjikpphoklijedl

No configuration necessary.

Turn Off Cortana Web Search, Alerts, and Such

*note – This does NOT disable Cortana completely. If you do that you will have NO search capabilities. Might as well go back to Windows 7 or use Linux.

Click on in the Search Windows box > choose Gear icon > Turn everything OFF.

Remove Cortana From Taskbar

Right-click on Taskbar > choose Cortana > Hidden