Windows 10: settings that will increase the privacy and security of your PC

Microsoft products are not known for privacy, and Windows 10 is no exception and has security and user privacy issues.

Microsoft may track your activities to improve the quality of its products and to provide you with personalized advertising.

If this scenario does not suit you, you should make the following changes to your OS settings.

Safety

In the following, we’ll walk you through important OS settings that will help you improve the security of your Windows 10 device.

Potentially unwanted applications

Windows 10 has an option with which you can protect yourself from potentially unwanted applications (PUA). As the name suggests, this setting allows the system to detect potentially unwanted applications using Windows Defender.

Potentially unwanted applications can cause problems with Windows and other installed applications. Moreover, they slow down the device itself. These unwanted applications cannot be called viruses or malware, but there is a popular belief that they can change web browser settings and perform other actions without the user’s permission.

To activate protection against unwanted applications in Windows 10, follow these steps:

1. Open "Settings".
2. Go to the " App/Browser Management " section (you can also just type the name of the section into the "Search").
3. Look for another section called " Reputation based protection ".

To enable this option, select the ” Block " option. If you want to configure this setting differently, you should open the ” Reputation-based protection settings ” menu .

In it you will have access to the following settings:

• checking applications and files;
• SmartScreen для Microsoft Edge;
• SmartScreen for apps from the Microsoft Store.

Memory integrity

Windows 10 has another great option called " Kernel Isolation ", which is related to protecting your device from malware and hacker attacks. This option isolates computer processes from software and hardware and gives you an extra layer of protection during complex attacks.

Memory Integrity, which is part of kernel isolation, uses hardware virtualization and Hyper-V to prevent malware attempts to inject and run on Windows 10.

To enable this option, follow these steps:

1. Open "Settings".
2. Navigate to the Windows Security section .
3. Open the Device Security menu .
4. In the Kernel Isolation section, enable the Memory Integrity option .
5. Restart Windows for the changes to take effect.

Controlled folder access

Another interesting security feature in Windows 10 is " Controlled Folder Access ". This setting allows you to prevent unauthorized access to certain folders.

With this option, you have full control over confidential folders to prevent extortion or any attempt to gain unauthorized access to your secret documents, images and other files.

1. Navigate to the Windows Security section .
2. Open the Virus & Threat Protection menu .
3. Navigate to the Ransomware Protection section .
4. Locate the Controlled Folder Access option and activate it.

1. Next, look for the Protected Folders option .

1. Specify here all the folders to which you want to restrict access.

Network Scan

Network scanning as a feature is part of the powers of Windows Defender. With this option you can scan network files. However, this feature is disabled by default. The user needs to enable it manually using PowerShell.

To enable this option, do the following:

1. Open Search in Windows.
2. Find PowerShell and run the program as an administrator.
3. Enter the following command:

Set-MpPreference -DisableScanningNetworkFiles 0

1. Press the " Enter " key to enable network file scanning.

By following the steps above, you will be able to use Windows Defender to scan network files. If you want to disable this feature, enter the following command in PowerShell:

Set-MpPreference -DisableScanningNetworkFiles 1

Windows 10 settings that will increase your privacy

If you are concerned about your privacy and how your data is used by Microsoft, you should make the following changes to improve your privacy in Windows 10.

Turn off ads and track your activity

All consumer-facing versions of Windows 10 show ads to their users by default. Microsoft creates a special advertising ID for your account. It is associated with your activity in the system and is used to show recommendations or ads.

Luckily, in Windows 10, you can turn off the ads you see on the Start menu and other Microsoft apps.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open "Settings".
2. Go to the " Privacy Options " menu .
3. In the Change privacy settings section, disable the following options:

• "Allow apps to use the ad ID to make ads more interesting to you based on your in-app activities"
• "Allow Windows to track app launches to improve the Start menu and search results"
• "Show recommended content in the Settings app"

When you’re done, your settings should look like this:

Disable start menu recommendations and promotions

As mentioned above, Microsoft uses the Start menu to show suggestions and recommendations for downloading apps and services from the Microsoft Store.

To turn off such suggestions, open the Start menu options and turn off the ” Sometimes show suggestions in the Start menu” option .

Limit Data Diagnostics

Windows 10 regularly collects hardware and software diagnostic data to help improve the way the OS works on your device. Data collection cannot be completely turned off, but you can take control of what information Microsoft collects about you, your applications, and your PC.

To manage data diagnostics, go to the Diagnostics and Feedback section.

You will see two types of diagnostic data: required and optional.

To reduce the collection of information about your device, select the first option (” required diagnostic data “). As such, Microsoft will only record and collect basic information about your device, including installed settings, feature set, and overall OS performance.

Control permissions for location tracking, microphone and camera activation

In System Settings, you can also manage permissions for PC hardware features such as location tracking, turning the microphone and camera on or off. To turn off access to your location in Windows, you need to open Settings and go to the Location section. There, disable the " Access location " option.

In the same way, you can open the pages with permissions to access your microphone and camera and disable them.

Disable the Timeline Option in Windows ("Activity Log")

Windows 10 has a built-in activity history recording feature called " Timeline ". This option gives you the option to go back in time to resume your old activity. It also syncs the activities you do on your PC, Microsoft Edge, and Android phone.

This option collects data about your activity, which for many users is too much of a risk to their privacy. Luckily, there is a way to turn off activity history recording completely.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open "Settings".
2. Go to the " Privacy Options " section .
3. Open the Activity Log menu .
4. Uncheck the " Keep my activity log on this device " option.

1. Disable your Microsoft account in the Show activities from these accounts section.

At the end, click on the " Clear " button to delete your activity history.

Application Permissions

Like Android and iOS, Windows 10 has a dedicated settings page for managing app permissions.

To manage them, you need to open the menu " Installed applications " and select those applications whose capabilities you want to limit.

Based on materials from Bleeping Computer.