What is privacy? Do you have any idea about that? Privacy from the perspective of a Windows user is the control of your personal information when using a Windows device. By default, Windows has some features to manage privacy preferences. If you go to “Privacy & settings” of your Windows system you will be able to manage location history, browsing history, advertising data, your language preferences, etc.
There is an “App permissions” section under “Privacy & Security” settings. There you can control which apps have access to your location, camera, microphone, account information, emails, and more. You can go through each and every item and set which apps have access to enhance your privacy and security.
Here we are not going to discuss the default options provided by Windows to enhance your privacy and security. By default, Windows has built-in features to send your usage information and other data to their services that you can’t disable. Here we are using the Optimizer app to enhance the privacy of Windows further.
Enhance the Privacy of Windows with Optimizer
First download and install the latest version of Optimizer. Then open the Optimizer app with administrative privileges. You will see a bunch of settings categorized as “General”, “Windows 11”, “UWP Apps”, “Cleaner”, etc. However, we need “General” and “Windows 11” settings to enhance the privacy of Windows.
Click on the “General” section. You will list the settings under different categories. Select all the settings that have “Telemetry” in the name. Telemetry services are used to send usage reports to their servers. For example, Office Telemetry sends your usage information about Microsoft Office applications to Microsoft. This was done to identify problems faced by MS Office users to provide a better user experience. But it compromises your privacy. Select to disable all those telemetry services.
Select “Disable Error Reporting” settings too. All the Windows errors that occurred due to user errors, etc. will stay on your device. That’s all in the “general” section.
This is for “Windows 11” users. Select the “Windows 11” section to reveal all available settings for Windows 11 users to enhance privacy. There is a separate category for privacy under the “Windows 11” section. It has options to disable Windows 11 Telemetry services, Cortana, enhance privacy, and disable Windows Start menu ads. Select and disable all those features.
It is important to disable Windows assistance programs like Cortana. Because those applications require user information to perform well. If you are using Cortana or co-pilot in newer versions uncheck it.
After completing Optimizer settings make sure to click the “Restart to apply changes” button on the top of the Optimizer app. The Optimizer app requires Windows restart to apply changes you made.