How to protect your privacy on Windows 10

So, you have decided to switch to Windows 10, but you heard that the new OS is a veritable vacuum for user data, which it sends back to Microsoft.

Fear not! While most of the capabilities and permissions to slurp the data are on by default, they can be switched on and revoked.

You can do this either during the installation process or after. Go here or here to discover how.

If you value your privacy, reading Microsoft’s Privacy Statement is also a must.

The statement was recently rewritten to eliminate ambiguities, and is now definitely more understandable to users. It took effect on August 1, 2015

By the by, Microsoft Health and HealthVault are not covered by the Microsoft Services Agreement and the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Finally, there is also an open source application that can help you to disable some services and tracking in Windows 10:

DisableWinTracking was developed by and is available for download on GitHub.

According to the developer, the app is meant for inexperienced users “who don’t want to have to fiddle with the registry and don’t want to take the chance of messing up something.”

He explained his goals and reasonings on Reddit, and his release spurred others to offer their solutions.

UPDATE:
“We strongly suggest customers do not install applications of this nature,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Help Net Security. “These types of third-party apps can alter the way the system operates, creating future problems and changing important settings and features.”