Identify potential Microsoft surveillance on Windows 7++ and take steps to block it.
Identify potential Microsoft surveillance on Windows 7++ and take steps to block it.
Hi, I'm looking for ways to detect any Microsoft surveillance on Windows 7++ and ways to block it. Privacy matters a lot to me. Please let me know if you can assist. Thanks!
You need the Enterprise edition to get much done. Others let you tweak settings, but they still gather your info. I remain wary of Microsoft on that version. Still, you might give it a shot. A forum user shared a script named mPurge that helps a bit. I haven’t used it myself, but I checked the code. It removes OneDrive, hides Microsoft data collection in the hosts file, turns off Customer Experience Improvement Program, and tweaks the registry. I’d also add PeerBlock for Spyware, Education, Ads, and Microsoft domains—blocking connections in those ranges. TinyWall works well too; it acts as a front for Windows Firewall, filtering out unwanted connections. These tools can cause issues, so you’ll need to experiment. There are more options I think, but I don’t recall them all. The safest choice seems to be switching to Linux, since even with privacy steps on Windows, it’s still a closed product and you can’t be sure it’s effective.