Windows 10 Spies and can’t be stopped.
It seems Microsoft’s current strategy is to make impossible the ability to disable all data
collection practices of Windows 10 Home Edition. As Gordon Kelly Forbes Contributor writes,
“Speaking to PC World, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Joe Belfiore explained that Windows 10 is constantly tracking how it operates and how you are using it and sending that information back to Microsoft by default. More importantly he also confirmed that, despite offering some options to turn elements of tracking off, core data collection simply cannot be stopped:”
By default Windows 10 Home is allowed
tocontrol your bandwidth usage, install software it wants whenever it wants (without providing detailed information on what these updates do), display ads in the Start Menu (currently it has been limited to app ads), send hardware details and changes you make to Microsoft and even log your browser history and keystrokes which the Windows End User License Agreement (EULA) states you allow Microsoft to use for analysis.
The good news: even if Belfiore states you cannot switch off everything, editing your privacy settings will disable the worst of these. To find them open the Start menu > Settings > Privacy.
Bill Hess over at Pixel Privacy has an excellent and comprehensive article on the privacy options and settings of Windows 10
The data collection and the forced Windows Updates Service or WUS found with Windows 10 Home Edition won’t be a problem if you are running Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise Versions. With these version of Windows 10 you have the ability to turn of all data collection and op-out of the WUS or Windows Update Service.
For around $99.00 for the upgrade to Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise might not be a bad investment even if your a home user but don’t like being data mined.
Remember if something is free than more often than not you are the product and Windows 10 Home is a free upgrade for qualified operating systems.
