Is there a list of all telemetry and privacy items to remove in Windows 10?

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Is there a list of all telemetry and privacy items to remove in Windows 10? I got pull into a test group and IT will be removing my Windows and install Windows 10. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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I’m afraid you have no choice in Win10 – it’s all rolled together Win10 patches, IE/Edge patches, .NET patches. Welcome to the chaos. Just be glad you have IT to take care of it for you (I hope).

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Ahhh. Noooo. I was afraid that was going to be the answers. I will see if I get a postpone the deployment until 2020. I do not like Windows 10. I like my privacy.

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Please use caution. You are anonymous, so I have no basis to know your relative worth within your working group / team / whatever they call it where you are. But it reads like you are not the decision maker, because you have to seek approval. Sorry if this reads harsh, but please do not mark yourself as the one who will not move forward. Future decisions on your career path may be made by someone two levels above your current supervisor. They will be isolated from knowing you personally and may be looking for one defining reason to choose between you and another candidate. This may not be the best issue to resist. Do not let Win7 EoL to become your end of contract.

My comment is significantly off topic for a technology blog. I felt compelled to give an opinion and hope it is received in a spirit of concern for your goals.

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If IT installs it, you might not get to choose what is enabled or not… But the good news may be if they have Enterprise version, they might tune it to more privacy than less if they know what they are doing. If you don’t have admin right on your computer, don’t even think about having any significant control on privacy aspects of your computer and hope your IT does good.

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Do not let Win7 EoL to become your end of contract.

I held out with Windows Xp until I was the last person in the whole company to get it. Only reason was the motherboard fired during a lighting strike to the building that took out a couple servers and computers.

If IT installs it, you might not get to choose what is enabled or not… But the good news may be if they have Enterprise version, they might tune it to more privacy than less if they know what they are doing. If you don’t have admin right on your computer, don’t even think about having any significant control on privacy aspects of your computer and hope your IT does good.

The admin rights is no problem. There are several ways around admin rights with bugs in the OS.

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Wow, “several ways around admin rights with bugs in the OS”?? I bet many people would be curious to know how you circumvent their professional protection, because if you can do things reserved for admins while being locked as standard user, lots of rogue software could too and I doubt Microsoft would leave that unfixed. Unless your company runs unpatched software.

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Wow, “several ways around admin rights with bugs in the OS”?? I bet many people would be curious to know how you circumvent their professional protection, because if you can do things reserved for admins while being locked as standard user, lots of rogue software could too and I doubt Microsoft would leave that unfixed. Unless your company runs unpatched software.

If MS is not aware of them, they can not fix them until they are made public or find them. Windows 7 had 9 ways (now 8 ways since schedule task was release to the public) ways around admin rights. Windows 10 has 12 ways (11 now) around admin rights. Most have been only discussed and posted on dark net and not in public sector like here or twitter, unless someone wants attention and send it out on twitter, which ruins it for everyone else.

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AlexEiffel

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https://gist.github.com/IntergalacticApps/675339c2b805b4c9c6e9a442e0121b1d

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If you do try this batch script, please make sure you image your system first should anything untoward happen later. @abbodi86, what’s your take on this?
Wow! a lot of work in there..
Perhaps one for the VM testers to try this first..

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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This script just shows how much of a loosing battle it is to try to tame Windows 10 completely. There are a lot of good ideas, things I do, and some stuff that surely break things, as you can see from the comments. And it is set in a specific time for a specific version of Windows. I noted it sets telemetry to 0, which is not allowed on Home and Pro version and in the past seemed to have been a trigger for Microsoft to force update by ignoring your deferral settings.

Definitely not for casual users to run without understanding what it does.

If you really know what you are doing, selectively disabling some things might make your Windows 10 experience better, but if it makes you think you have the upper hand on everything while assuring the stability of your system, I think that is not a reasonable assumption.

I prefer to stay as much as possible within the limits of what is supported configuration, using group policy and other means on Windows Pro, while suggesting to many people who don’t need Windows no more to simply abandon it and help them transition to something else. We can’t win at trying to outsmart the ever changing Windows OS.

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TJ, abbodi86, Microfix

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The batch file at the github site is one mighty beast, but I wouldn’t recommend it for “ordinary users” as it can be tricky to reverse bits if something doesn’t work afterwards – check the comments.

cheers, Paul

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BATcher, abbodi86, Microfix

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https://gist.github.com/IntergalacticApps/675339c2b805b4c9c6e9a442e0121b1d

Thanks for the link. It is older version from 2016. I was hoping for a newer version.

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IMO, telemetry is a lost cause in Windows 10

but that doesn’t mean we should not try to tame it

these programs seems promising
https://wpd.app/
https://www.getblackbird.net/

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TJ, Microfix

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When telemetry is done right — we know what it’s tracking – it alerts Microsoft to patching issues – it helps them to know we use our computers so they can make them better.

The problem IMHO is that what they are tracking still isn’t obvious using the telemetry data viewer they currently have.

On a computer I have at the office I have advanced threat protection enabled.  It allows me to see if (when) an attacker attacks and what they have access to.  This sort of telemetry is something we all would want.  We want telemetry when we trust the person we are giving it to.  We need to get Microsoft to prove they are trustworthy of our trust in their telemetry.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

5 users thanked author for this post.

TJ, BobbyB, AlexEiffel, ch100, satrow

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A company that doesn’t give me an opt-out for collecting data about me doesn’t deserve my trust.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Elly

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The only reliable way is to use firewalls and leave the system to do its own thing.
Even so, some of the blocked traffic may cause problems with the good functioning of the OS, but it is realistically the only way to avoid communication back home.
I do not tend to agree much with Noel Carboni in terms of the method applied, but on this one he is right on the money! 🙂

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AlexEiffel

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I actually prefer WPD over anything else I’ve tried (W7/8 and 10). Interface is slick and easy to use with the added bonus of being able to revert back to defaults with Privacy/Telemetry settings. Updates to circumvent MS intrusion seem regular (monthly) and without a hitch.

WPD FTW!

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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TJ

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Hi everyone 72yr old new boy here. Retired, at home, so scared M$ might much up my W10pro PC it never goes on line !

My W7pro does all the hard work, but has never been updated since June 2017, why has M$ turned me into someone so scared of their products I have become paraniod.

Big problem now is that even if I wanted to update I cannot find a difinitive list of what is , or not, a safe KB.

Ho Hum, cheers all keep up the good work, I can build my pc’s I just fix them when they go wrong !!

Terrified Amateur

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Welcome to the blog site/ forum BOAC 🙂

Do you currently update W7 via Windows Update (cumulative) or the MS Catalog (Security Only non cumulative)?
Something that may interest you if updates are done using the MS Catalog, is Canadian Tech’s outlook on W7 here: Canadian Tech-188268
As long as you have got an up-to-date AV and browser with MS telemetry patches removed, this may help your patching paranoia. I’ve followed his procedure and found no issues on W7x64. (albeit up to Dec2017 with Security Only patches from MS catalog, no optional patches other than Sept 2017 .Net 4.52)

As for W10, well, how long is a piece of fuse-wire?

It may be in your interest to start a new W10 topic W10 Section stating:
Is your OS 32bit or 64bit?
What version of W10 is currently on your PC? guessing 1703..
Do you wish to upgrade this to 1803 or 1809?(when available)
Whether you get your patches via WU (AskWoody Group A) or the MS catalog? (AskWoody Group B)

Hope this helps.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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BOAC

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There is no mention (as far as I can see!) of the O&O program with the forthright name ShutUp10 which offers myriad options for turning off Windows 10 settings that you might not wish to be set.  Among these are a number of Telemetry options.

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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BATcher wrote:

There is no mention (as far as I can see!) of the O&O program with the forthright name ShutUp10 which offers myriad options for turning off Windows 10 settings that you might not wish to be set. Among these are a number of Telemetry options.

I also use O&O ShutUp10 to turn off the personal telemetry, but I leave the AV telemetry and similar telemetry active.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Another ShutUp10 user here—it’s very easy to use, so suitable to recommend to non-tech users.

I haven’t used any of the other apps mentioned in this thread so far. Are they better than ShutUp10?

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

1 user thanked author for this post.

TJ

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