With data being the new currency of the digital age, Windows 10 collects various telemetric data, such as how you use the system, whether programs are working properly, or to display personalized ads based on your activity or installed apps.
If you're concerned about how Windows 10 tracks your activity, here are two tools that let you take full control of the operating system's privacy settings.
O&O Shutup10
O&O Shutup10 is an easy-to-use tool that allows you to change a wide range of Windows 10 privacy settings, from telemetry data to usage data collection in Microsoft Edge.
Shutup10 lists each privacy setting, whether it is recommended to disable it, and potential issues that disabling it may cause.
Next to each setting is a toggle switch that allows you to easily turn each setting.
To provide more information about the risks of disabling a setting, a “Recommended” column will tell you if a setting:
- it is recommended to disable it,
- may cause the Windows 10 feature to not work properly,
- or would affect the functionality of the operating system and its security.
To see a description of what a setting does, you can click on the text and a box with more information.
To try O&O Shutup10, you can download it for free from its website.
Privatezilla
Privatezilla is a Windows 10 privacy tweaking tool released last month by the company Builtbybel (previously called Mirinsoft).
Builtbybel created it from scratch to release as an open source tool called Privatezilla.
Like Shutup10, Privatezilla offers complete control over Windows 10 privacy settings, including disabling telemetry, app permissions, and other features that could allow Microsoft to collect your data.
To use Privatezilla, simply select the various options you want to disable or enable. When you are ready, you can click “Apply selected” to apply the changes.
To see how each option affects Windows 10 privacy, you can “mouse over” the option to see a brief description, as shown below.
If you encounter problems with the changes you made, you can always click the “Revert selected” button to return to the default Windows 10 settings.
To try Privatezilla, you can download the program directly from the GitHub.
