Windows 11 collects a significant amount of diagnostic data, usage telemetry, location information, advertising identifiers, and activity history by default — most of it enabled through settings accepted during setup without reading. Adjusting your Windows privacy settings reduces the volume of data Microsoft and third-party applications collect, improves control over which apps access your microphone, camera, and location, and removes the advertising ID that links your device to ad targeting across Windows and Microsoft services. We go deeper on the whole subject in our Complete Guide to Security and Privacy.
The privacy settings menu is more comprehensive than most users realise, and the settings are distributed across a dozen categories — not a single toggle. A complete review requires visiting each category deliberately. This guide covers them all in order of impact, with the recommended setting and why it matters.
General and advertising controls — start here
Settings → Privacy & security → General controls four behaviours affecting advertising and cross-app tracking:
- Advertising ID — the most important setting to disable. This unique device identifier is used by advertisers to track activity across Windows apps. Disabling it (toggle off “Let apps show me personalised ads by using my advertising ID”) stops cross-app tracking without affecting any app functionality. Change takes effect immediately.
- “Let websites show me locally relevant content” — allows Windows to share your location for web content personalisation, operating independently of your browser’s location permission. Disable it.
- “Let Windows track app launches to improve Start and search results” — collects usage data feeding Microsoft’s personalisation model. Disable; Windows Search continues normally using the search index rather than usage history.
- “Tailored experiences” — uses diagnostic data to show personalised tips and recommendations. Disable.
Settings → Privacy & security → Diagnostics & feedback: set diagnostic data to “Required” — the minimum level available on Windows 11 Home and Pro. Also disable “Improve inking and typing” (sends typing samples to Microsoft for language model training). Click “Delete” under the diagnostic data viewing section to remove previously sent data.
App permissions — the full category review
App permission settings are found at Settings → Privacy & security → App permissions. Each category has a master toggle for the system and per-app toggles below it. The principle: grant access only to applications with a genuine functional need for it.
| Permission category | What to allow | What to disable |
| Location | Maps/navigation, weather apps, delivery tracking | Social media, most communication apps, productivity apps, games |
| Camera | Video calling apps, photo editing apps | All apps without a clear camera function |
| Microphone | Video calling, voice assistants you actively use, voice recording apps | All apps without communication/recording function |
| Voice activation | Off entirely unless actively using a voice assistant | Prevents background always-on microphone listening for wake words |
| Contacts, Calendar, Email | Dedicated email and calendar apps only | All other apps |
| Account info | Apps that genuinely need your name/picture for their function | All others |
| Notifications | Essential apps only | Apps you’re not actively monitoring |
| Background apps | Apps that need real-time updates (messaging) | Disable background for non-essential apps to reduce resource use and data collection |
Windows 11’s privacy indicator — the orange dot (microphone in use) and green dot (camera in use) appearing in the taskbar — helps verify which apps are accessing hardware during normal use. If an unexpected app is using these resources according to the indicator, the permission review for that app is overdue.
All settings — a complete reference table
| Privacy setting | What it controls | Recommended action |
| Advertising ID | Cross-app ad tracking identifier | Disable (Settings → Privacy → General) |
| Diagnostics level | Telemetry data sent to Microsoft | Set to Required (minimum) |
| Activity history | Timeline and cross-device activity sync | Disable and clear existing history |
| Location | GPS and network location for apps | Disable for most apps; keep for maps/weather |
| Camera | Camera access for apps | Disable for all non-video apps |
| Microphone | Microphone access for apps | Disable for all non-communication apps |
| Voice activation | Always-on mic listening for voice assistants | Disable unless actively using a voice assistant |
| Account info | Name, picture, account details shared with apps | Restrict to apps that need account info |
| Contacts/Calendar/Email | Personal data access for apps | Grant only to dedicated email/calendar apps |
| Search history on this device | Local record of Windows searches | Disable (Settings → Privacy → Search permissions) |
| Activity history stored | Timeline of files, sites, apps used | Disable and clear history |
The step-by-step review sequence
- Settings → Privacy & security → General — disable Advertising ID, Personalised language list, Tailored experiences, Track app launches
- Settings → Privacy & security → Diagnostics & feedback — set to Required; disable Improve inking and typing; delete existing diagnostic data
- Settings → Privacy & security → Activity history — uncheck “Store my activity history on this device”; click “Clear history”; uncheck “Send my activity history to Microsoft”
- Settings → Privacy & security → Location — review per-app list; disable location for every app without a clear location-based function
- Settings → Privacy & security → Camera — disable for every app that doesn’t use camera as its core function
- Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone — disable for all apps without communication or recording function; disable Voice activation entirely
- Settings → Privacy & security → Search permissions — disable “Search history on this device”
- privacy.microsoft.com — clear Bing search history, Edge browsing history, Cortana interactions, and location activity stored at the account level (separate from device-level settings)
This sequence takes 20–30 minutes the first time and produces a meaningfully less data-hungry Windows experience without affecting any functionality. Disabling the Advertising ID is the single highest-impact change — it’s the tracking identifier that links your device to ad targeting across Windows and Microsoft services, and disabling it has zero functional consequences.
Beyond the privacy menu
Several important settings exist outside the Privacy & security section:
- Cortana and search data: Settings → Search → Search history on this device → disable if you don’t want Windows maintaining a local search record
- Windows Hello biometric data: Settings → Accounts → Sign-in options → Face recognition / Fingerprint recognition — biometric data is stored locally on the device (not in the cloud), but the menu provides an option to remove stored biometric data if you stop using biometric login
- Microsoft account activity at privacy.microsoft.com: separate from device-level settings — clear cloud-stored records of Bing search history, Edge browsing history, Cortana interactions, and voice recordings. This ensures data minimisation at the device level is matched by removal of already-collected data at the account level.
For users who want comprehensive settings adjustment beyond what Microsoft surfaces in the standard interface: O&O ShutUp10++ is a widely-used free tool that applies privacy settings and telemetry hardening beyond the built-in Settings UI, with clear descriptions of each setting and a “Apply all recommended settings” option. No registry editing required.
Our guide on securing your browser covers the complementary privacy settings within the browser — together, the OS-level and browser-level reviews address the complete picture of Windows data collection. For Windows Pro and Enterprise users wanting Group Policy-level telemetry control more durable than the Settings UI, Microsoft’s Windows privacy documentation covers the Group Policy keys controlling each telemetry and data collection category.
After major Windows updates — recheck these settings
Windows 11 feature updates (the semi-annual updates that change the OS version number) occasionally reset specific privacy settings to defaults. After any major Windows update, recheck:
- Advertising ID (General privacy settings) — frequently affected by resets
- Diagnostic data level — sometimes reset to Optional from Required
- App permissions — new apps installed during updates may have received permissions
Microsoft notifies users when privacy settings are changed during updates, but the notification is easy to miss. A two-minute check of the General privacy settings and diagnostics level after each major update confirms whether any deliberate configuration was silently reversed. Building this into the post-update routine takes less time than the initial setup and ensures the reduced telemetry posture is maintained.
Per-account note: Windows 11 privacy settings are per-user account. Changes made in your account don’t affect other accounts on the same machine. If multiple family members use the same Windows PC, each person should review their own settings — particularly the Advertising ID, location access, and camera/microphone permissions, which are per-user rather than system-wide.
Windows privacy settings for specific use cases
The recommended settings above represent a good balance for most home users. Some scenarios warrant different approaches:
Shared household/family computer: the most important additional setting is ensuring that the Guest account or Standard user accounts for family members cannot override settings you’ve configured as the administrator. Standard user accounts cannot change system-wide settings, but per-user settings (Advertising ID, app permissions) are still individually configurable per account. Each family member’s account should be reviewed independently.
Work/home laptop with employer monitoring: if the laptop is an employer-provided device, Windows privacy settings may be managed by the employer through Group Policy or Microsoft Intune. Settings you attempt to change may revert to employer-configured values. This is intentional — employer monitoring software operates at a level below the user Settings interface. Personal privacy settings adjustments are best made on a personal device for work, rather than on an employer-provided device where policy management overrides individual settings.
Windows Sandbox and Hyper-V users: virtual machine environments created through Hyper-V or Windows Sandbox each have their own independent Windows privacy settings. Virtual machines used for testing, development, or sensitive browsing can have privacy settings configured independently of the host machine’s settings — this allows stricter privacy settings in the VM environment where potentially untrusted software is run.
Verifying what Windows is actually sending
For users who want to verify what data Windows is transmitting rather than trusting that settings changes are effective: the Windows Diagnostic Data Viewer app (installable from the Microsoft Store, then enabled in Settings → Privacy → Diagnostics & feedback → View diagnostic data → Turn on the Diagnostics data viewer) shows the actual diagnostic events Windows generates. This is primarily useful for technically curious users and IT administrators; the viewer confirms that setting diagnostic data to “Required” does meaningfully reduce the number and types of events generated compared to “Optional.” Related: Privacy by Design.
Third-party network monitoring tools (GlassWire, Little Snitch for Mac, or Wireshark for packet-level analysis) can observe actual network traffic from Windows to Microsoft servers, providing an independent confirmation that the telemetry-reduction settings are reducing outbound connections. This level of verification isn’t necessary for most users but is worth knowing exists for anyone with a strong interest in confirming that settings changes produce observable network-level effects. If this sounds familiar, Protect Your Privacy on Social Media is worth a look.
Windows privacy settings, thoroughly reviewed, produce a Windows environment that collects substantially less data than factory defaults while maintaining full functionality. The investment is a 20-30 minute one-time setup, a brief post-update check after major Windows updates, and the ongoing benefit of a more privacy-respecting OS configuration that requires no further active management once properly configured. Our guide on macOS Security Settings covers an adjacent issue.
