Microsoft Windows Telemetry and Privacy

The data collecting activities of Microsoft in their Windows Operating System has been found to violate privacy laws in Europe. Microsoft Windows users are not clearly told that data will be collected in both Windows itself and Microsoft Edge. With Microsoft's web browser gathering data about every URL that's visited by users who have not opted out of telemetry, and Windows collecting detailed information about other software on the computer the owner is using, governments around the world are becoming concerned that users are not adequately informed or protected.

A Government report from the DPA of Europe states:

Microsoft does not clearly inform users about the type of data it uses, and for which purpose. Also, people cannot provide valid consent for the processing of their personal data, because of the approach used by Microsoft. The company does not clearly inform users that it continuously collects personal data about the usage of apps and web surfing behaviour through its web browser Edge, when the default settings are used.

Windows 10 has been built around spying on customers, data collection, and other forms of telemetry. However, previous versions going back to Windows 7 did not have this degree of privacy invasion. So Microsoft is now trying to sneak in the telemetry via Windows update. Since August 2015 Microsoft has been actively adding telemetry collection into Windows 7, Windows 8 and 8.1 via Windows Update.

Some telemetry can be disabled through settings. This can be done manually. There are also 3rd-party utilities such as Windows 10 Privacy Fixer and O&O ShutUp10 which fix these settings in Windows 10.

Disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP).

1. Start "Control Panel" > "Action Center" > "Change Action Center settings".
2. Click "Customer Experience Improvement Program settings".
3. Select "No, I don't want to participate in the program" then click "Save changes".
4. Start > "Control Panel" > "Administrative Tools" > "Task Scheduler".
5. In the Task Scheduler (Local) pane of the Task Scheduler dialog box, expand "Task Scheduler Library" > "Microsoft" > "Windows" and open the "Application Experience" folder.
6. Disable the "AITAgent" and "ProgramDataUpdater" tasks.
7. In "Task Scheduler Library" > "Microsoft" > "Windows", open the "Customer Experience Improvement Program" folder.
8. Disable the "Consolidator", "KernelCeipTask", and "UsbCeip" tasks.

There are some telemetry services that cannot be disabled through settings.

See the List of Windows Updates to Remove

Services that need to be stopped

Run cmd.exe as Administrator

sc stop DiagTrack
sc stop dmwappushservice
sc delete DiagTrack
sc delete dmwappushservice
echo "" > C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Diagnosis\ETLLogs\AutoLogger\AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener.etl

The Aegis script will also remove and block any prompts in Windows 7 and 8 about downloading and installing Windows 10.

• Configuring Automatic Updates by Editing the Registry
• Windows Security Page
• Windows 7 Updates to Avoid
• Annoyances of Windows Vista and Windows 7
• KB971033
• Microsoft Windows Telemetry and Privacy
• Windows Genuine Advantage

• Resources for Disabling Windows 7 / 8 / 10 Telemetry & Data-Collection