Microsoft promises to implement full Windows 10 data tracking controls

Microsoft informed Forbes recently that it plans to release updates later this year that puts users of the company's new operating system Windows 10 in full control over data sharing and telemetry, if they so desire.

Update: According to Ed Bott, Microsoft has no plans to implement these changes this year or anytime in the future.

Microsoft has been criticized heavily on many tech sites and forums on the Internet for how it handles privacy in Windows 10.

While it makes available preferences to turn off some features that users may find privacy-invasive, no version of Windows 10 ships with a full turn-off option to disable all data tracking and telemetry.

Even tools designed to turn off these invasive features are not blocking connections to Microsoft server completely.

Microsoft told Forbes recently that it will implement those controls this year. While it did not mention exactly how it plans to do so, it appears that there will be an option to turn of data tracking and telemetry completely according to Forbes.

In the worst case scenario, it will simply enable the Windows 10 Enterprise only option to turn off Telemetry completely.

Provided that the changes will indeed plug any data connections to Microsoft that are not required to run the operating system, like Windows Update checks if the operating system is configured to make those, it could convince opponents of Windows 10 to give the operating system a try.

It is likely that the defaults won't change, and that Microsoft will implement new controls to turn off data collecting much like it provides options currently to reduce the telemetry data that is collected and shared by the Windows 10 operating system.

It is a win for consumers and a surprising change of events. While we don't know why Microsoft made the decision to implement these controls, it is likely the bad publicity that it received ever since the first public release of Windows 10 in regards to the operating system's privacy-invasive features that made it realize that it may be better to implement these controls.

If you check comments here on Ghacks in regards to Windows 10 for instance, you will notice that the majority of negative comments is about the operating system's data hunger and the lack of options to block the collection and transfer of these data sets.

Closing Words

The change is an important one, if done right. Microsoft would reduce the bad press that its operating system receives significantly, and users would get full control over the operating system's data collecting.

Now You: Would you try Windows 10 if you could turn off all data collecting?