Windows 10 is a great operating system but has some privacy concerns. One of these concerns is the telemetry feature, which sends data back to Microsoft about how you use your computer. This data includes information about your usage habits and other personal information. If you're uncomfortable with Microsoft collecting this data, you can disable telemetry on Windows 10. This blog post will show you how to do just that!

What is Telemetry

Telemetry is a Windows 10 feature that allows Microsoft to collect data and learn how users use their system. Data collected includes details about how long it takes apps to start, which programs are used most often, and many other performance metrics. This information is beneficial for improving the quality of Windows 10, making it faster and more efficient.

How to Disable Telemetry

While the benefits of telemetry are clear, many people prefer to keep their computer usage private and opt out of data collection. Luckily, it's easy to do so using one of the methods below!

There are two main ways to turn off telemetry on Windows 10:

Disabling Telemetry Using Group Policy Editor

To Use this method:

  • Open the Group Policy Editor by searching for "gpedit.msc" in your Start menu.

  • In the window that appears, navigate to:

    Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Data Collection and Preview Builds.

  • Double-click the Allow Telemetry policy and set it to Disabled. Click Okay, and you're all done!

Disabling Telemetry Using Registry Editor

For the second method, we are using the Registry Editor.

Before making any changes to the registry, it is always advisable to back up the registry. Learn how to do so in this article.

https://www.geekbits.io/how-to-backup-the-windows-registry/

Start by:

  • Opening up the Registry Editor by searching for "regedit" in your Start menu.

  • In the window that appears, navigate to:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Policies > Microsoft > Windows.

  • Find a key (folder) with the name DataCollection.

  • If it is not there, right-click the Windows folder and select New > Key. Name this new key as DataCollection.

  • Select this new DataCollection key, right-click in the right pane, and create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value.

  • Name it AllowTelemetry.

    Registry-Editor

  • Double-click it and set its value to 0 and you are done.

Enabling Telemetry

You can reverse these steps if you change your mind about wanting telemetry on Windows 10.

  • For the case of Group Policy Editor, go back to the same location and set Allow Telemetry to Enabled, then click Okay.
  • For the Registry Editor, navigate to the key DataCollection. Double-click on "AllowTelemetry" and set the value to 1.

Ending ...

You can disable telemetry on Windows 10 using the Group Policy or Registry Editor tools. Both methods are fairly straightforward, although it is important to be careful when making changes in the Registry Editor, as any errors could cause system instability. That is why you should consider backing up the registry before making any changes. Find out how to back up the registry editor in this article.

https://www.geekbits.io/how-to-backup-the-windows-registry/

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