Ramblings of an old Doc
Published on August 21, 2016 By DrJBHL In Personal Computing

 

It's no secret that W10 shares 'anonymized' data with MS. It's also not a secret that this bugs not a few people, for various reasons.

MS has said that the user cannot shut off all data sharing:

"Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 10 data collection is something that cannot be stopped. This report comes days after Microsoft announced that it will aggressively push Windows 10 to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users in the future. In an interview with PC World, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Joe Belfiore stated that Windows 10 is continuously tracking how it operates on every computer around the world. He claims that this is for the sole purpose of knowing the health of the operating system in order for Microsoft to ensure a better experience for all." - TheWindowsClub

Well, ShutUp10 supposedly does just that...or allows you to choose which data to share.

"The program gives the user the option to turn off around 50 items. Each item is grouped into several categories, and these include –

  1. Security
  2. Privacy
  3. Location services
  4. User behavior
  5. Windows Update.

To make sure things never go off the rails, the program includes the ability to create a restore point. Doing this is recommended to make sure that if something goes wrong, the operating system can be restored to a point before it happened." - ibid 

For the folks who don't understand (and/or don't have the time to learn everything involved), this is a great tool. It does the job quickly and efficiently.

Just one thing: Make sure to make that restore point, and after "updates", redeploy the tool. After all, settings frequently 'change' after updates.

 

 

Sources:

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/shutup10-privacy-tool

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-telemetry

 

 



Comments
on Aug 21, 2016

Methinks I'll wait till someone uses it before checking it out. Call me paranoid but with the way MS is going I put little faith in 3rd party apps actually working. SD apps not included of course plus those I do have. Not want to go squish. Lol

on Aug 21, 2016

Uvah...your waiting is done. Downloaded it and deployed it...made sure to make the restore point. Worked, no problems, no muss, no fuss.

 

on Aug 21, 2016

Ok.

No fuss, no muss. Dl'd and done. Thanks Doc. 

on Aug 21, 2016

Thanks, Doc, despite other tools I use this one was able to "fix" those issues that the others couldn't.  

on Aug 21, 2016

Glad to hear that, Avatar137. 

on Aug 22, 2016

Thanks, sounds like a great little proggie!

on Aug 22, 2016

Now MS is telling everyone that you have to share the data because if you don't, Update won't work correctly and your security will be compromised.

Seriously?

This is outrageous! Or should we be asking how much data Vista/W7 "shared"? Windows update worked with those OSs without any control over data sharing...and please, MS...don't tell me there wasn't data sharing.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/22/12582622/eff-microsoft-windows-10-privacy-concerns