Over the last year, consumers and businesses who used Windows 10 had concerns about their data privacy. Listening to the feedback, Microsoft has been working on addressing the privacy issues on Windows 10.
Microsoft has confirmed that it will offer more and improved privacy for users with easier access to privacy setup with the upcoming Windows 10 Creators update. Microsoft is planning to introduce a new setup experience on Windows 10, which will have the most important privacy settings in one place.
During a fresh install or setting up a new PC, users will be able to control the privacy settings they want, which include Location, Speech Recognition, Diagnostics, Tips, and Ads. However, pop-ups will appear if you disable any option in the privacy settings. For example, if you disable Speech Recognition, you won’t be able to talk to Cortana.
As shown in the above screenshot by Windows Latest, Microsoft now lets you choose how much data you want to share with Microsoft:
- Location (Off): Apps and Windows can’t use your location to give you local info like weather and directions.
- Speech recognition (Off): You can’t talk to Cortana or use voice commands in apps.
- Diagnostics (Basic): You send less data to Microsoft, which might make it harder for them to fix issues on your device.
- Tailored experiences with diagnostic data (Off): Tips and recommendations will be more generic and less personalized.
- Relevant ads (Off): Ads won’t change in number, but they may be less relevant to you.
Click “Learn more” to get detailed info about these settings, or click “Accept” to save your choices.
In a blog post, Microsoft confirmed it plans to give users better control over their privacy on the web.
The company will launch a new privacy dashboard for its users, which will allow them to control their Microsoft Account’s privacy settings via a central dashboard. Users will be able to delete the browser history, search queries, location data, and Data provided to Cortana for its Notebook via the new privacy dashboard.
These new privacy settings updates will be available to all Windows 10 users with the new Windows 10 Creators Update, which is supposed to be available in April 2017. However, the Insiders on Fast Ring will be able to access the privacy settings much earlier than other users on Windows 10.
Will the new Privacy Settings help provide more security to Windows 10 users once they are available with the Creators Update? Let us know in the comments below.
