The Windows 10 Review: The Old & New Face of Windows
by Brett Howse on August 25, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Operating Systems
- Microsoft
- Windows 10
Windows 10 Privacy
There has been an enormous amount of talk lately about Windows 10’s privacy settings, and what this means for people who use Windows 10. Yes, Windows 10 does do more with your data than any previous version of Windows, but that is not always a bad thing.
Many of the services which are designed to help you are going to require access to your information in order to function. Cortana can’t let you know about an upcoming event if it doesn’t have access to your calendar. The state of the world in 2015 is that in order for these types of services to work, you have to let them have access to your information. Cortana, as an example, does not live in a vacuum, and these same types of features are certainly prevalent on other operating systems too. Google Now is a great example of a service which people have come to really appreciate, and the very things they appreciate are based on the fact that it has a lot of access to your personal information.
Any person that is concerned about what Microsoft is collecting and how they are using it should really start by reading their Privacy Statement and getting an understanding about what is collected and what it is used for. Some of this is obvious, like Microsoft needs to provide access to your information if requested by a court order. Microsoft is not above the law. Some of it is not as obvious though, like what is your advertising ID.
Windows 10 is a free upgrade, but regardless of Windows 10 many of the services which are associated with it are free as well, such as outlook.com. Microsoft is paying for these services with advertising much like many other web services. In order to provide you with more relevant ads, you have an advertising ID associated with your account. Some people may not like this, and the privacy settings to turn this off can be found in Settings under the Privacy header. There are also more settings within Edge which let you enable Do Not Track requests and more.
Edge Privacy Settings
Search Privacy Settings
A lot of the discussion about privacy is how so much of this is on be default, and that is certainly true. If you choose Express Settings during setup, a lot of this is enabled. You can also choose Custom and choose what you want turned on during setup. Other services like Cortana are Opt-In, and will prompt you for consent the first time you try to access it. If you don’t want Cortana to access your information, please turn Cortana off.
For people that would like to read more about the individual features of Windows 10 and their privacy concerns, Microsoft has a Windows 10 Privacy FAQ page which you can take a look at. This goes over all of the features, what they do, and how you can turn them off. I really encourage users that are concerned to read this over.
Let’s be honest here for a minute though. The privacy concerns are certainly not overblown, but for most people, they will make the trade-off of less privacy if it means an improved experience. The textbook example here is advertising, where in order to deliver relevant ads to the user (or rather not serve them useless ads) the ad service must be able to learn something about the user and their preferences. Microsoft is certainly not the first company to do this, and Windows 10 is not even the first version of Windows where this is an issue. Many of these same concerns could be had with Windows 8 as well. But I think services like Cortana that are so proactive can touch a nerve with the privacy conscious and that is 100% fine. If you are concerned, the best thing to do is to read the privacy statement and adjust your settings accordingly.
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Brett Howse - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
Thanks for the catch on that one :)abhaxus - Wednesday, August 26, 2015 - link
Had a full screen takeover/scrolling ad when trying to read this article. Similar to the Tom's Hardware ads. I don't read that website anymore, and I will stop reading this one if it continues to happen.Anne Druide - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
Only 30 minutes in and it is obvious to me that Microsoft has dropped the ball it had picked up with Windows 8.1. (1) Microsoft's efforts at fixing Windows continue to be APITA (a pain you know where)! WHY did they have to completely obliterate the Charms? Why not just have left them along the right side of the new Action Center? I mean really? Did that NOT cross any of the brilliant minds at MS? WHY remove such a distinctive and unique feature of 8.1. Why not integrate it into 10? (2) Furthermore, just as 8.1 had swung maybe (maybe not) too far towards the tiles, 10 has swung WAY too far towards the desktop. Now, to get to the Metro Tiles Menu it takes TWO steps! Why in the world does pressing the offscreen Window button bring up the Start Menu INSTEAD of the Metro Menu? The Start Menu ALREADY has its own Window icon! And what's a TOTAL WASTE is that pressing on the offscreen Windows button while in Tablet mode and on the Metro Menu does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! It does not even bring up the Start Menu which would have been a great idea! Duh! (3) Finally, I feel that MS has lied about BRINGING BACK THE START BUTTON! Clicking on the Windows button located where the Start button was in Windows 7 does NOT bring anything up even remotely close to what we had in Windows 7! When I press the Start button I DON'T wanna see tiles; I wanna see all the practical functionality of what came up in Windows 7 when I pressed Start! INSTEAD, I get a very confusing flotsam and jetsam mish-mash of everything under the sun instead of quick access to the Control Panel and Task Bar content and...OMG there's no longer any user control of Windows Update?!!! All in all, my first 30 minutes with Windows 10 has been, as you can tell, VERY disappointing! WHY is it SO HARD for MS to JUST GET IT RIGHT! This is NOT even close to what Windows 10 SHOULD be. This is a limping Windows 9 with the 10 thrown in JUST not to look light years behind Apple's OS X whose TEN has been a thorn in the side of MS for how many years now?!mapesdhs - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
Still looks to me like MS wants people to have a phone interface on a desktop, which is stupid. So many things once again look incredibly unprofessional, and the lack of configurability is just ridiculous. It makes the coding of this latest release look so amateurish. The smiley in the very first review image is typical. I could make a list of everything else which is stupid (eg. no Save As from right-button), but who has the time, and I'm sure the 22 pages of comments have covered them all already.I don't want to use an OS that looks like a phone interface. I'll keep using Win7 until MS offers something sensible.
straighttalk - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
Totally useless review. No content, just a lot of opinion. Where's the beef? What are the issues? What problems are people who upgrade having?SteelRing - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
WiFi Sense is the antithesis of privacy and security, you should allow it if you are naive or an MS worshipper or both. Should you upgrade from Win8(.1)? For sure... Should you upgrade from Win7? I'd say if it aint broke dont fix it. I'm personally glad that Win10 finally allows me to buy laptop again, laptop that works and not just a toy. I want a keyboard and a mouse with my computer and Win10 finally lets me have it again. People who want to smear their screens with their fingers seem to be happy with Win10 too, none of my business though. If Win10 had not come out I'd be scavanging refurb laptops with Win7, thank goodness I don't have to.Oxford Guy - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
Microsoft is apparently doing its best to make sure it is broken. Here is a list I found of patches to avoid, due to things like added in "telemetry" (spying) or bug introduction:KB3075249, KB3080149, KB2505438, KB2670838, KB2952664, KB2976978 (8 only), KB3021917, KB3035583, KB3075249
Notmyusualid - Saturday, August 29, 2015 - link
Thanks, but cleared out a couple of those already.Zak - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
"for most people, they will make the trade-off of less privacy if it means an improved experience. The textbook example here is advertising, where in order to deliver relevant ads to the user (or rather not serve them useless ads) the ad service must be able to learn something about the user and their preferences" -- Are you out of your mind??? Trade my privacy for relevant ads? You ought to be on drugs or MS is paying you to post this drivel. Nobody likes to be blasted with ads, relevant or not. If they system really wants to learn something it is this: NOBODY LIKES ADS.jameskatt - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
The absolutely WORSE thing about Windows 10 is now much it is tracking you - tracking the websites you read, the apps you use, tracking how much time you spend on a web page, etc. And you cannot turn this tracking off. It is totally creepy that Windows includes so much spying.Some parents may love this in that they get a monthly report from Microsoft of every webpage and app their children use.
But for the vast majority of users and parents, this is simply unacceptable.
Someone has to give us a privacy utility to block Microsoft from tracking us so heavily.