Majority of people send full diagnostic data back to Microsoft
Pretty much the bigger part of Windows 10 computers with the Creators Update installed sends full diagnostics data to Microsoft, according to a blog on the Microsoft website. Under pressure of several privacy watchdogs Microsoft decided to add new privacy setting screen to the installation process.
Users now have to confirm several privacy settings during the installation, this includes the diagnostic data that Windows 10 collects and sends to Microsoft reports myce today:
Previous Windows 10 versions used 3 different levels, which has been brought back to 2 levels with the Creators Update. These two are ‘Full’ and ‘Basic’. Microsoft has stated to use the collected diagnostic data to resolve issues and to improve its products.
When the ‘Basic’ level is set, Windows 10 will send device, connectivity and configuration data to Microsoft, and also limited error reports. When the full level is selected, the basic data is sent and also additional information about the device, connectivity and configuration, but also app and browser usage, fragments of hand typed text and more extensive error reports.
During the installation of the Creators Update users have to confirm which level they want to use on the privacy setting screen. The installation uses the previously chosen privacy settings but allows the user to change them.
Microsoft today announced that 71% of all Windows 10 computers with the Creators Update sends full diagnostic data to the company.
It’s not unlikely that this number is so high because the full level is enabled by default in case users never changed the privacy settings after the initial installation of Windows 10.
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Senior Member
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Just tin hat stuff again, there is no way they would or could record mic, from one person sure? but you're telling me they're recording millions and millions of peoples mics a day? thats hundreds of TB of data a day, they don't have that kind of hardware nor would they have the people to even go through them and find anything out... just more tin hat stuff, microsoft cannot check what everyone is doing in the world its physically impossible
Senior Member
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Joined: 2010-04-21
Don't think it was ever suggested it was a constant thing, from what I remember it was first use of apps that used camera / mic that would send a small amount of audio / image back to MS for that apps telemetry, which included a snapshot of the first image of the camera, and probably a second or two of audio to confirm the app was working as intended
It was all exposed and discussed back in 2015 when 10 RTM'd
Amazon's Alexa box thing supposedly listens and records 24/7, there was a murder case where the audio was requested from Amazon that Alexa had heard during the crime, so not impossible
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/murder-case-tests-alexas-devotion-privacy/
Also iirc facebook was criticised for enabling the mics on phones so they could "Hear what music the user was listening to"
Senior Member
Posts: 2599
Joined: 2006-09-02
good point, facebook page says he is working in version 1.0, but here are some alternatives http://alternativeto.net/software/blackbird/
edit: i recommend this cos its open source https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking/releases/
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You might want to check out W10Privacy.
Senior Member
Posts: 19562
Joined: 2010-04-21
Good, as it helps prevent a lot of potential issues with this sort of data gathering, which in the end improves the overall experience for everyone.
Anyone that actually has something to hide, or like me simply wants to disable all of those services, can do that as easily.
I tweaked settings, and used two other softwares to fully delete those services.
I think the problem is a lot of the data being gathered does nothing to improve the users experience, but just to improve MS's intelligence on it's users and their own bank balance, anyone who thinks companies only collect data for the good of the end-user is extremely naive IMO, it almost always mainly benefits the company
If it didn't, companies like Google, Facebook etc wouldn't exist, ot at least wouldn't be anywhere near as wealthy / powerful