


Unfortunately, unlike O&O’s ShutUp10, there’s no detail on what you’re disabling, and no way to toggle individual settings: it’s strictly all or nothing.
HOW TO USE W10PRIVACY WINDOWS
Just launching the program displays the current status of 10 “problem” areas: Telemetry Hosts/ Services/ Group Policy, Consumer Experience Improvement Program Group Policy/ Scheduled Tasks, Application Impact Telemetry, Steps Recorder, WiFi Sense, “Apps use advertising ID” and P2P Windows Updates.ĭisabling everything is as simple as hitting the “Immunize” button, and if that gets you into trouble then an “Undo” option restores your original settings.Īnti-Beacon makes it easy to turn off every telemetry setting – but there’s very little fine control
HOW TO USE W10PRIVACY WINDOWS 10
Spybot is a long-established brand in security software and among the tools on offer from developer Safer Networking is Spybot Anti-Beacon – another portable free tool that makes it easy to disable a host of Windows 10 tracking technologies.

Give it a try, if you’re interested – or just wait a week or two, there will probably be something similar along very soon.
HOW TO USE W10PRIVACY FOR WINDOWS 10
The interface is simple and straightforward, and as it’s just a single 279KB executable, AntiSpy is easy to carry around.Īshampoo AntiSpy for Windows 10 isn’t exactly revolutionary, but it’s a good example of the type, which offers plenty of control over your settings, and can help you recover if you accidentally disable something important. Safety features include a prompt to create a System Restore point before you start, and an option to restore the default Windows settings if everything goes wrong. There’s support for tweaking 40-plus options covering browsing, updates, location features, webcam/ microphone access, Cortana, Contacts and Calendar, and assorted telemetry settings.Įxperts can toggle each setting individually, and there are also options to disable everything, or all but a few core technologies. Ashampoo AntiSpyįrom another well-known German developer, Ashampoo AntiSpy for Windows 10 is yet another free tool for tweaking Windows 10’s many privacy and security settings. O&O ShutUp10 is a 109KB freeware application for Windows 10. There’s also a separate option to restore Windows 10’s default privacy settings, which might be useful if they’re generally messed up and you’d like to start again. This kind of batch tweakery is always risky, but ShutUp10 does offer to create a system restore point before it does anything, handy if you need to undo your changes later. But if you know what you’re doing, you can turn off everything, or configure items individually. ShutUp10 can apply its “recommended” tweaks in a couple of clicks, disabling the worst offenders while leaving Windows updates, SmartScreen and other technologies you might actually need.

O&O ShutUp10 (pictured above) is a tiny portable tool from well-known Berlin-based O&O Software for controlling Windows 10’s many privacy-related settings.Īmong its near 50 tweaks are options to disable telemetry, Wi-Fi sense, key app permissions, peer-to-peer updates, automatic Windows updates and more. We will not share your details with third parties. I have read and accept the privacy policy and terms and conditions and by submitting my email address I agree to receive the Business IT newsletter and receive special offers on behalf of Business IT, nextmedia and its valued partners.
