Windows collects and uses a lot of your private information to provide you with some of its cool default features. While these features have proven to be of great utility, concerns about data privacy and security have also been rising recently. If you are someone who hates being watched over and would rather trade-off those features for your data privacy, this article will take you through a series of steps and methods that you can follow to prevent Windows from accessing your personal data by disabling some or all features that you can survive without.
Khubaza ukuqokelelwa kwedatha kwi-Windows 10 (Khusela uBucala bakho)
Qinisekisa ukwenza indawo yokubuyisela nje ukuba kukho into engahambi kakuhle.
Method – 1: Turn Off Location Tracking
So most of us know about this piece of private information which is out in the open. Windows gathers your location-related information to provide you with information that can be useful to you like your nearby places, weather forecasts, etc. But all of this at the cost of Windows knowing everywhere you go might not be very favourable. To Disable Data Collection in Windows 10, you need to turn off location tracking,
1. Cofa kwi Qala iqhosha kwibar yomsebenzi wakho.
2. Cofa kwi icon ye gear above it to open Izicwangciso.
3. Ngoku, cofa ku 'Ukuba bucala'kwaye ukhethe'Indawo' ukusuka kwipheyini yasekhohlo.
4. Ukuya turn off location tracking for your account, cima i 'apps access to your location.'
5. Ukuba you have multiple accounts on the same device, you can turn off location tracking for all of them by clicking on ‘utshintsho'
While doing this will disable location tracking in the future, your past location records can still be accessed by Windows. To clear your location records, click on ‘Cacileyo'phantsi'Imbali yendawo’ section on the same page.
In case you want some particular apps to be able to access your location,
1. Keep your ‘Inkonzo yendawo' KUVULWE.
2. Scroll down to ‘Khetha usetyenziso olunokusebenzisa indawo yakho echanekileyo'kwaye turn on/off the switch for apps as you require.
3. Hence, you will able to allow location access to only the apps of your choice.
Indlela - 2: Turn Off Personalized Advertisements
Have you ever noticed that the ads you see are related to that one particular item you were searching on the web for? Of course! Windows provides you with tailored advertisements by spying on your cookies and gathering your web browsing information. To prevent this sensitive information from being accessed by Windows,
1. Cofa iSitshixo seWindows + I ukuvula iiSetingi uze ucofe ku Ukuba bucala icon.
2. Now make sure to select ‘ngokubanzi’ from the left window pane.
3. Here, it would help if you switched off 'Let apps use my advertising ID for experience across apps (turning this off will reset your ID)'
4. Note that this doesn’t stop ads from appearing. You will still see ads, but they will only be general and not personalized.
Further, to prevent Microsoft from being able to access or use this information in any way,
- Kwibrawuza yakho yewebhu, yiya ku microsoft.com/en-us/opt-out.
- Ngena kwiakhawunti yakho yeMicrosoft ukuba ufuna.
- Ngoku, Cima “Personalized ads wherever I use my Microsoft account” and “Personalized ads in this browser.”
Indlela - 3: Prevent Cortana From Using Information or Disable Cortana Completely
Cortana is Microsoft’s virtual assistant created for Windows 10. Cortana is designed to provide answers to the users, using the Bing search engine and can perform basic tasks like recognizing natural voice to set reminders, manage calendars, fetch weather or news updates, search for files and documents, etc. For this, Cortana uses your personal information like your voice, writing, location, contacts, calendars, etc. that you may not want to share with it. Now to Disable Data Collection in Windows 10,, you need to prevent Cortana from using your personal information,
1. In the search field located on your taskbar, search for ‘Cortana Permission’ and open it.
2. Tshintshela kwi 'Izimvume’ settings from the left pane.
3. Cofa ku “Manage the information Cortana can access from this device".
4. Ngoku Cima 'Indawo','Contacts, email, calendar & communication history'kwaye'Ukukhangela imbali’. Note that by disabling the permissions, Cortana will not be able to do things that require it to have these permissions.
To further stop Cortana from collecting your personal information,
1. Yiya ku 'izicwangciso’ on your computer and click on ‘Ukuba bucala'
2. Cofa ku 'Speech, inking & typing' ukusuka kwipheyini yasekhohlo.
3. Ngoku, cofa ku 'Turn off speech services and typing suggestions’ to stop Cortana from getting to know you.
4. Oku kuya kuba njalo delete collected data stored on your PC, and it also turns off dictation functionality.
To further erase any data that Cortana may have gathered about you,
1. Press Windows Key + I to open Settings then click on ‘Cortana'
2. Open ‘Imvume kunye neMbali' ukusuka kwipheyini yasekhohlo.
3. Scroll down to ‘History’ and konqakrazo kwi'Clear my device history'
Further, login to your Microsoft account on your web browser and move on to Cortana’s notebook section on the privacy dashboard. Disable the content that you want to from the list provided.
Cofa kwi 'Clear Cortana data’ on the right side of the page to delete all information that Cortana has about you.
If you don’t like Cortana or don’t want to use it because of privacy reasons, you can permanently disable Cortana on Windows 10.
Indlela - 4: Khubaza i-WiFi Sense
With Wi-Fi Sense, users can optionally have their device automatically connect to suggested open hotspots, and share their home network’s password with contacts (on Skype, Facebook, etc.) so they may automatically connect to the network on a Windows 10 device without needing to enter its password manually. To turn off Wi-Fi Sense,
1. Cofa iSitshixo seWindows + I ukuvula iiSetingi uze ucofe ku Inethiwekhi kunye ne-Intanethi.
2. Ngoku cofa apha Wi-Fi ukusuka kwipheyini yefestile esekhohlo kwaye uqiniseke ukuba Khubaza yonke into phantsi kwe-Wi-Fi Sense.
3. Also, make sure to disable Uthungelwano lwe-Hotspot 2.0 kunye neenkonzo ze-Wi-Fi eziHlawulweyo.
Method – 5: Stop Sharing System Files
Windows 10 shares your system files and updates with other users and from other users to you. So it would help if you stopped sharing system files to Disable Data Collection in Windows 10 to protect your privacy:
1. Yiya e izicwangciso kwaye ucofe ku 'Uhlaziyo kunye nokhuseleko'
2. Khetha 'Uhlaziyo lweWindows’ from the left pane and click on ‘Izinketho eziphambili'
3. Cofa ku 'Ukuhanjiswa nokwenza'
By default, ‘Allow download from other PCs’ is ON. You can turn it off entirely, or decide to choose between ‘Ii-PC zenethiwekhi yam yendawo'okanye'PCs on my local network and PCs on the Internet'
Method – 6: Disable OneDrive
To stop Windows from storing any of your data on Microsoft’s OneDrive,
1. In the notification area of your taskbar, nqakraza on OneDrive icon and select ‘izilungiselelo'
2. Deselect all three of the following options: ‘Qala i-OneDrive ngokuzenzekelayo xa ndingena kwi-Windows','Ndisebenzise i-OneDrive ukulanda nayiphi na ifayile yam kule PC'kwaye'Use Office work on files with other people at the same time'.
Method – 7: Turn Off Microsoft Edge
Microsoft’s web browser, Edge, might also be sending your data to Microsoft for its features and predictions. To prevent it from sharing your data,
1. Open Edge then clicks on the Imenyu enamachaphaza amathathu on the top right corner of the window and select ‘izicwangciso'
2. Cofa ku 'Jonga izicwangciso eziphambili'
3. Kwi 'Ubumfihlo kunye Neenkonzo’ section, turn off everything you want to like save passwords, Cortana assist, search suggestions, search history, etc.
You can also completely Uninstall Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 if you use Google Chrome or some other browser.
Method – 8: Turn Off Windows SmartScreen
SmartScreen is a esekelwe kwifu ulwaphulo-mthetho kwaye anti-malware component that helps protect users against attacks. To provide this feature, Microsoft collects information about your downloaded and installed programs. While this is a recommended feature, but to disable data collection in Windows 10 you need to turn off Windows SmartScreen filter:
1. In the search field located on your taskbar, type ‘Iphaneli yokulawula’ and open it with the given shortcut.
2. Cofa ku 'INkqubo kunye noKhuseleko’ and then click on ‘Khu seleko kunye noNondlo'
3. Khetha 'Change Windows SmartScreen settings’ from the left pane.
4. Khetha 'Don’t do anything’ option and click on OK to confirm.
Method – 9: Disable Sync From Settings
To prevent sharing your data to Microsoft for syncing purposes,
1. vula izicwangciso ngokunqakraza kwi gear icon kwi Qalisa imenyu.
2. Cofa ku 'Akhawunti’ from the Settings window.
3. Khetha 'Vumelanisa izicwangciso zakho' ukusuka kwipheyini yasekhohlo.
4. Turn ‘Ngqamanisa useto' slider off.
There is another SmartScreen filter for Windows Store apps. To turn it off,
- Press Windows Key + I to open Icwangcisas then click on ‘Ukuba bucala'
- Khetha 'General’ ukusuka kwinqanaba lasekhohlo.
- ngoku Cima i 'Turn on SmartScreen Filter to check web content (URLs) that Windows Store apps use‘ switch.
Method – 10: Manage Diagnostic Data
Microsoft uses diagnostic data to keep Windows secure and up to date, troubleshoot problems, and make product improvements. This data is transmitted to Microsoft and stored with unique identifiers that help them recognize an individual user on an individual device and understand its service issues and use patterns. While you can’t entirely stop it from gathering diagnostic data, these are the two options that Microsoft provides:
- BASIC: This is information about your device, its settings and capabilities, and whether it performs properly.
- NGOKUGCWELE: This includes all data collected with Basic, along with information about the websites you browse, how you use apps and features, plus additional information about device health, device activity (sometimes referred to as usage), and enhanced error reporting, including others.
To set these settings,
1. Cofa iSitshixo seWindows + I ukuvula iiSetingi uze ucofe ku 'Ukuba bucala'
2. Khetha 'Diagnostics and feedback’ from the left pane and select your desired option.
If you need to know more about these settings then you can read one of our previous posts: Change Diagnostic and Usage Data Settings in Windows 10
Method – 11: Use a Local Account Instead of Microsoft Account
Not just Windows, your personal information is used by Microsoft too. Microsoft uses your account settings and some other information to sync your data and settings over all of your devices. If you do not want Microsoft to use your information, you can stop using your Microsoft account and use a local account instead and this way you can completely disable data collection in Windows 10. For this,
1. Cofa kwi Qala iqhosha kwibar yomsebenzi wakho.
2. Okulandelayo, cofa kwi icon ye gear above it to open izicwangciso.
3. Cofa ku 'Akhawunti'kwaye ukhethe'Ulwazi lwakho' ukusuka kwipheyini yasekhohlo.
4. Khetha 'Sayina ungene ngeakhawunti yendawo endaweni yoko’ and follow the instructions.
These were the steps you can take to prevent Windows from invading your privacy and gathering your personal data.
Ithethelelwe:
I hope this article was helpful. Now you can easily Disable Data Collection in Windows 10 to Protect Your Privacy, but if you still have any questions regarding this tutorial, please feel free to ask them in the comment’s section.