Windows has a lot of settings hidden between layers of menus that you touch all the time. However, Windows isn't set up to be secure by default, which means there are some default settings you'll need to change.
10. Telemetry
Windows Telemetry is how Microsoft collects data about how you use your system. They claim to do this to improve the overall user experience, but it's not a good idea to have your computer constantly sending data about your app usage, system performance, and hardware configuration to Microsoft.
Luckily, turning this feature off is pretty simple. Just follow these steps:
9. Advertising ID
Windows creates a unique advertising ID for each user, which app developers and ad networks use to track you across apps. This works much like a browser cookie , allowing advertisers to serve you personalized ads based on your browsing history or app usage.
Follow these steps to turn off this feature:
8. Location Services
Location services on your computer aren't as accurate as those on your phone, but they serve the same purpose. This setting is turned on by default and can reveal sensitive information about your daily habits and activities.
Here's how to turn off location services on Windows:
Remember that location services are not the same as GPS. Even the NSA recommends turning it off on your device to limit the risk of location exposure.
7. Automatic app updates in Microsoft Store
Microsoft has permanently disabled automatic updates for apps and Windows. Now, you can only pause them for up to 5 weeks. Here's how you can take back control:
6. Windows Update Active Hours and Restart options
There's nothing more frustrating than Windows deciding to reboot to install an update in the middle of your workday. The default active hours are 8am to 5pm, which doesn't really fit with many people's actual usage habits.
How to change:
5. Untrusted font installation
Unfortunately, changing this setting requires the Group Policy editor. If you are not using Windows Pro or Enterprise, you can modify the registry to change this setting.
4. Share files and printers over a public network
Unless you know how network sharing works on Windows and have it enabled by default, you should never enable file and printer sharing on a public network.
Here's how to turn off file and printer sharing over a public network:
3. Automatically connect to suggested open hotspots
Even though Wi-Fi Sense has been discontinued in Windows 11 , it can still occasionally connect to random open Wi-Fi networks. You can't completely prevent this without modifying the registry, but you can protect your device by using random hardware addresses. Here's how:
2. Dynamic Lock
Dynamic Lock uses Bluetooth to detect when your paired phone moves away and automatically locks your computer. It's great, but only if you have reliable Bluetooth—a feature that, in my experience, is only available on high-end Windows laptops.
How to turn this feature off:
1. OneDrive Backup
Windows automatically turns on cloud backup to your OneDrive account during setup. This means your Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, and Videos folders are automatically backed up to OneDrive. However, you only get 5GB of free space—and it runs out faster than you think.
Turning this feature off is simple, just unlink OneDrive on your computer. Here's how:
Error code 0xc0000098 in Windows causes a blue screen error on startup. The ACPI.sys driver is often to blame, especially on unsupported versions of Windows 11 like 23H2 or 22H2 or Windows 10.
In some cases, sometimes you start your computer in Safe Mode and the computer freezes. So how to fix the error in this case, please refer to the article below of WebTech360.
Snipping Tool is a powerful photo and video capture tool on Windows. However, this tool sometimes has some errors, such as constantly displaying on the screen.
Every network has a router to access the Internet, but not everyone knows how to make the router work better. In this article, we will introduce some router tips to help speed up the wireless connection in the network.
If the results seem slower than expected, don't be too quick to blame your ISP - mistakes when performing the test can skew your numbers.
In the article below, we will introduce and guide you to learn about the concept of QoS - Quality of Service on router devices.
Windows has a built-in Credential Manager, but it's not what you think it is—and certainly not a replacement for a password manager.
Microsoft charges for its official codecs and doesn't include them in Windows 10. However, you can get them for free without pulling out your credit card and spending $0.99.
While having trouble accessing files and folders can be frustrating, don't panic—with a few simple tweaks, you can regain access to your system.
After creating a USB boot to install Windows, users should check the USB boot's performance to see if it was created successfully or not.
Although Windows Storage Sense efficiently deletes temporary files, some types of data are permanent and continue to accumulate.
You can turn off Windows 11 background apps to optimize performance, save battery and reduce RAM consumption.
When a computer, mobile device, or printer tries to connect to a Microsoft Windows computer over a network, for example, the error message network path was not found — Error 0x80070035 may appear.
We can block Internet access for any application or software on the computer, while other programs can still access the network. The following article will guide readers on how to disable Internet access for software and applications on Windows.
Instead of paying $30 for a year of security updates, keep Windows 10 safe until 2030 with this simple solution.
Error code 0xc0000098 in Windows causes a blue screen error on startup. The ACPI.sys driver is often to blame, especially on unsupported versions of Windows 11 like 23H2 or 22H2 or Windows 10.
In some cases, sometimes you start your computer in Safe Mode and the computer freezes. So how to fix the error in this case, please refer to the article below of WebTech360.
Snipping Tool is a powerful photo and video capture tool on Windows. However, this tool sometimes has some errors, such as constantly displaying on the screen.
Every network has a router to access the Internet, but not everyone knows how to make the router work better. In this article, we will introduce some router tips to help speed up the wireless connection in the network.
If the results seem slower than expected, don't be too quick to blame your ISP - mistakes when performing the test can skew your numbers.
In the article below, we will introduce and guide you to learn about the concept of QoS - Quality of Service on router devices.
Windows has a built-in Credential Manager, but it's not what you think it is—and certainly not a replacement for a password manager.
Microsoft charges for its official codecs and doesn't include them in Windows 10. However, you can get them for free without pulling out your credit card and spending $0.99.
While having trouble accessing files and folders can be frustrating, don't panic—with a few simple tweaks, you can regain access to your system.
After creating a USB boot to install Windows, users should check the USB boot's performance to see if it was created successfully or not.
Although Windows Storage Sense efficiently deletes temporary files, some types of data are permanent and continue to accumulate.
You can turn off Windows 11 background apps to optimize performance, save battery and reduce RAM consumption.
When a computer, mobile device, or printer tries to connect to a Microsoft Windows computer over a network, for example, the error message network path was not found — Error 0x80070035 may appear.
We can block Internet access for any application or software on the computer, while other programs can still access the network. The following article will guide readers on how to disable Internet access for software and applications on Windows.
Instead of paying $30 for a year of security updates, keep Windows 10 safe until 2030 with this simple solution.
