Technology Tips – Published October 2021 in the Guide and Digest
By Don Trauger – Kennett
Having an antivirus program to protect your computer while online is important. However, your privacy settings are also an important feature that allows some information about your computer’s use to legally flow to Microsoft and elsewhere. Windows 10 allows you to set your desired privacy settings that can be more restrictive than that normally set by Microsoft.
Open Settings by clicking the Start icon in the lower left corner of the Desktop screen. Then click the “gear” icon which is the second icon up from the bottom on the left side. Next, click the Privacy icon to get started. The window will display the General privacy settings. Make sure they are all off. Speech and Inking and typing personalization items should also be turned off. The setting for Diagnostics feedback should be set to Required diagnostic data. Scroll down and turn off the next 3 items then click delete for Diagnostic data. Feedback frequency should be set to Never. Under Activity history the top 2 choices should never be selected. Below is where you can select the listed accounts to appear on the Timeline. The Timeline is not a privacy feature, but it does allow you to review previous documents that you were working on. Location can be a desired feature as it supplements a Google search when looking for local businesses, weather and other items that depend on your location for accurate search results. Camera and Microphone can be turned off, if you don’t use Zoom or other similar services. It’s much better than putting tape over the camera lens and leaving adhesive stuck to the lens should you need to use it. Notifications should be off. Contacts needs to be set On if you use Mail or the Calendar features. Phone calls should be turned off if not using this feature. Call history should be off. The Email setting needs to be on if you use Mail and Calendar. Tasks, Messaging, Radios and Other devices can be turned off if not used. Background apps should be reviewed and only turned on for what is needed. The ones that are turned on are also started and run in the background using computer resources. Alternatively they can be started, if necessary, by clicking a Desktop icon or clicking the item in the Program list. Windows security should be on, but the rest do not have to be on. App diagnostics can be turned off. Automatic file downloads needs to be on if you use Microsoft’s OneDrive for file storage or other similar online file storage providers. Documents, Pictures, Videos and File System should be turned on.
To complete your privacy, make sure to add an adblocker to your browser. Not only does it block ads it can block tracking of your various websites as you traverse the web. Read my previous article here: https://hersheysmill.org/?s=ad+blocker.
The PC Club has restarted and meets the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 7 PM in the Ardmore room of the Community Center