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How To Keep Microsoft's Nose Out of Your Personal Data In Windows 10

Posted by samzenpus on from the and-stay-out dept.

MojoKid writes: Amid the privacy concerns and arguably invasive nature of Microsoft's Windows 10 regarding user information, it's no surprise that details on how to minimize leaks as much as possible are often requested by users who have recently made the jump to the new operating system. If you are using Windows 10, or plan to upgrade soon, it's worth bearing in mind a number of privacy-related options that are available, even during the installation/upgrade. If you are already running the OS and forgot to turn them off during installation (or didn't even see them), they can be accessed via the Settings menu on the start menu, and then selecting Privacy from the pop-up menu. Among these menus are a plethora of options regarding what data can be gathered about you. It's worth noting, however, that changing any of these options may disable various OS related services, namely Cortana, as Microsoft's digital assistant has it tendrils buried deep.

3 of 426 comments (clear)

  1. Re:HOSTS file by SuricouRaven · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've been doing it by IP range, watching a fresh Windows 10 install to see what it contacts.

    65.52.108.0/14 #update.microsoft.com, licensing.md.mp.microsoft.com, v10.vortex-win.data.microsoft.com. Update has an alternate in another range.
    104.40.0.0/13
    204.79.196.0/23 #Start menu searches.
    23.93.0.0/13
    157.54.0.0/15
    157.60.0.0/16
    191.236.0.0/14
    207.46.0.0/16
    131.253.62.0/23
    131.253.64.0/18
    131.253.61.0/24 #login.live.com
    131.253.128.0/17
    191.232.0.0/14 #settings-win.data.microsoft.com
    #Do not block these, required for updates:
    #157.56.0.0/14 #sls.update.microsoft.com
    #191.232.0.0/14 #windowsupdate.microsoft.com

    I also had to block all subdomains for appex.bing.com, appex-rf.msn.com and cms.msn.com. Can't IP-block those as they are CDNs.

  2. Re:HOSTS file by rastos1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Citation, please?

    KB3068708
    KB3022345
    KB3075249
    KB2976978
    KB3021917

  3. Re:What pissed me off... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Informative

    When you logged in to the app store you were asked if you wanted to convert your account to a Microsoft online account, or just log in to the app store. You must have ignored that question and blindly clicked through it, and hence your account was converted (unfortunately that is the default).

    http://www.guidingtech.com/ass...

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC