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The benefits of letting Windows invade your privacy
Windows offers a lot of great features, but sometimes the privacy concerns surrounding them can turn people away from the operating system. However, some of these features can be useful – and even worth Windows invading your privacy a little.
Table of Contents
- 1. Location services
- 2. Shared Experiences
- 3. Content Search and Content History
- 4. Windows Recall
- 5. Sharing diagnostic data
1. Location services
As you might guess, enabling location services on your Windows device has the same benefits as using them on your phone. People who travel a lot and like to check routes before leaving home will use Google Maps in their browser to check directions. Without location services, this feature would not be possible.
A more common scenario where your PC uses location services is to let apps and websites figure out what part of the world you're in without having to manually enter it every time. Content like movies, TV shows, or games can vary in availability depending on your region, and when apps have access to your location, they can automatically give you access to what's available.
Windows also uses your location data to power widgets and features spread across the operating system. Information like weather, time, and the Find My Device feature on Windows 11 also uses location services (along with Wi-Fi ) to locate your device in case you lose it.
2. Shared Experiences
Shared Experiences on Windows lets you transfer what you're doing on your computer to your phone. It also enables Nearby Share, remote controls, and other companion apps on your phone, like Phone Link .
Syncing content like email, notifications, etc. between devices requires logging in with an account, not to mention giving the sync service access to your data so it can transfer it between devices. This is both a privacy concern and a convenience.
Microsoft has admittedly used some shady tricks here, like enabling the feature by default in Windows 10 or hiding it in the app settings in Windows 11. But if you’re curious how well syncing between your Mac and iPhone works, this is the closest you’ll find to a similar feature in Windows.
3. Content Search and Content History
Have you ever wondered why files or folders you searched for in Windows appear so quickly the next time you search for them? Windows has a few neat tricks to help you quickly find what you're looking for, it just takes a few invasive steps to get that information.
In Windows 11, Content Search refers to your PC’s ability to search for files based on what they contain, rather than just the file name. As you might expect, this feature makes finding files like documents and spreadsheets incredibly easy. If you work with a lot of documents and aren’t great at naming or organizing them properly, this feature can come to your rescue.
Content History keeps track of what you're searching for on your PC. You can turn it off, but if you find yourself searching for the same file over and over again, it can be useful.
4. Windows Recall
Windows Recall is probably the most controversial feature Microsoft has released in a long time. While it’s annoying that your PC randomly takes screenshots of what you’re doing, it can be a huge help if you need to look something up and can’t quite remember what the full file or folder name is.
It works by periodically taking screenshots of what you're doing on your PC, then using CoPilot to search through them to help you find what you were doing. Recall is a privacy nightmare for some, but a convenience for others.
Recall was particularly controversial at first due to security flaws in its initial implementation that could potentially leak sensitive data it collected. However, Microsoft claims to have since fixed these flaws, making Recall a viable feature to use if you don't mind the method behind it.
5. Sharing diagnostic data
This may seem obvious, but like most products in the world, Microsoft collects feedback and data from users to help improve Windows for everyone. For most software products, this data is collected in the form of diagnostic data, which typically includes the make and model of your device, hardware specifications, the version of Windows you're running, as well as your name, email, and other personal information.
All this data is collected from millions of computers around the world running different versions of Windows, sent to Microsoft, and then used to improve Windows or Windows apps and features. Sure, it’s a bit of a pain to analyze. But Microsoft knows a lot about your PC. So while you can turn it off—and no one would blame you if you did—it can also help identify problems that Microsoft needs to fix.
This article is not suggesting that you hand over all your data to Microsoft just to make life easier. However, as AI products and services continue to integrate into our daily lives, data collection will only become more prevalent. A feature can be really convenient, but if that convenience comes at the cost of your privacy, you might as well get some of the benefits.
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