Upon installation, Windows 10 defaults to some pretty serious privacy
invasions. Here are some steps you can take to keep your personal data
private.
Since the July 29 release of Windows 10, the tech world has been
talking about the latest OS update from Microsoft. A mere 24 hours after
its release, more than 14 million users had downloaded Windows 10.
The
quick ramp up was due, in part, to Microsoft releasing the update as a
free download for existing Windows users. Windows 10 also came with a
new service model as Windows will be releasing service packs every few
months to users.
The model itself got some backlash, especially
from organizations that don't want to upgrade their system that
frequently. More recently, though, some criticism has arisen over
privacy concerns brought on by the new OS.
The first issue is that
Windows 10 automatically assigns an advertising ID to each user on a
device tied to the email address that's on file. Using that ID, the
company can tailor ads for web-browsing and using certain applications.
The
next concern is that much of users' personal data is synced with
Microsoft's servers. Some of this information, like your Wi-Fi password,
can then be encrypted and shared with your contacts, using a feature
called Wi-Fi sense. Although, some have argued that this isn't a security risk, because the user must choose to share the network.
Additionally, Microsoft's personal assistant, Cortana,
must collect data as well to provide the kind of service it does, but it
is likely not better or worse than its Apple and Google contemporaries.
One of the biggest worries, though, is Microsoft's policy on
disclosing or sharing your personal information. The following is an
excerpt from the privacy policy:
"We will access, disclose and
preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of
your emails, other private communications or files in private folders),
when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to protect
our customers or enforce the terms governing the use of the services."
The problem is that many users want personalized services, but
it's difficult to draw the line at what data should be collected.
Forrester's Tyler Shields said that instead of making these features
default, Microsoft could have allowed users to opt-in later if they
wanted to enable them.
"This is more of a privacy-friendly stance
that may have been palatable to the general public," Shields said.
"However, Microsoft would have had less adoption to its value added
services had it made them opt-in, thus lessening the potential success
of the Windows 10 launch."
So, how do you protect yourself from
these issues? Here are some steps you can take to opt-on or disable some
of the problematic features.
The first thing to note is that,
if you haven't yet installed Windows 10 but you plan on doing so, make
sure you that you do a custom install so you'll be able to pick and
choose what is enabled at the onset. But, if you installed Windows 10
using Express settings, you can still disable some of the default
privacy settings.
From the start button, click "Settings" and then
click "Privacy" and click the "General" tab on the left sidebar. Under
that tab you'll see a few sliders where you can toggle certain features
on or off.
The top toggle button is the most important as it
disables the advertising ID for each user. But, if you want to cover
your bases, you should go ahead disable the rest of the options as well.
After
turning off the options under the general tab, you can jump down to the
next tab down, "Location," and turn off location data for all apps or
specific ones. That's not necessarily new to WIndows 10, but it's
something that many security-conscious folks like to do.
Next,
you'll want to head down to the tab labeled "Speech, inking, and
typing." Here you can disable Cortana from gathering information about
you by clicking the "Stop getting to know me" button towards the middle
of the screen.
Keep in mind, clicking this will also disable Cortana and dictation.
Moving
on, click the "Other devices" tab at the bottom of the list. Under this
tab you'll be able to turn off the "Sync with devices" feature. In the
example given by Microsoft, this could be used for connecting with
beacons, which are typically used for advertising purposes.
If
you want to kill this feature, slide the first button to the off
position. If you want, you can also turn off syncing for trusted devices
as well.
Now,
back out to the general settings and click "Network and internet." In
that window click "Manage Wi-Fi settings" toward the middle of the
screen.
Here
you'll be able to customize your setting for the Wi-Fi Sense feature.
If you want to keep everything private, click all the sliders until the
read "off" and uncheck the boxes on the page. If not, you can select
which features to turn off individually.
One
of the final security checks you can do is to opt out of the
personalized ads while browsing in Microsoft Edge. Click the following
link or paste it into your browser: https://choice.microsoft.com/en-gb/opt-out
Click
the Xs next to the options to turn off "Personalised ads in this
browser" and "Personalised ads wherever I use my Microsoft account."
This
isn't a comprehensive security checklist, but hopefully it helps you
take care of some of the potential privacy issues in Windows 10.
What do you think?
What other security measures should Windows 10 users take? Tell us in the comments.
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