HACK WINDOWS 10’S SECRET SETTINGS
Stop Microsoft spying on you
The whole time you’re using Windows, you’re generating feedback. This is sent back to Microsoft for several reasons, including benign ones such as making sure its apps and operating system work smoothly. Some, however, are more questionable: targeting you with ads and services based on your previous activity.
In its defence, Microsoft has recently started being a lot more open about the data it collects and what it uses it for. In October 2017, for example, it posted a document giving extensive details, perhaps in an effort to both allay users’ suspicions and discourage them from switching off or blocking essential services (see pcpro.link/280diag).
If you’d rather not be used as a marketing tool, there are several steps you can take to restrict what’s being sent to HQ. Click Settings, then Privacy. You’ll see four On/Off options, with the top one controlling personalisation of ads. Opting for Off blocks Windows from gathering data based on your activities and deletes what’s already stored on your PC.
There’s no reason why you shouldn’t trust Microsoft to comply with your wishes, but if you’re of a suspicious nature, you might want to consider blocking Windows’ connection to the collection servers. Traditionally, blocking a server is a simple case of editing the “HOSTS” file to redirect its IP address to an alternative location, but this method doesn’t work where the analytics engine is concerned.
Instead, check out O&O Software’s free ShutUp10 ( oo-software.com/en/
shutup10), which lets you adapt your security settings, blocks user data and diagnostics and gives you control over location services and Windows Update. The full range of tools that it disables is an eye-opener, including Microsoft’s ability to remotely change settings on your device to “test” certain configurations.
Finally, open Settings and navigate through Privacy to “Feedback & diagnostics”. Switch off the tailored experiences option, and, if you wish, set feedback request to Never.
Pause automatic updates
We wouldn’t generally recommend pausing updates. They’re automatic for a very good reason: if they were manual, we’d forget. Nonetheless, Microsoft lets you defer non-essential updates for up to five days. You can only do this once before downloading a full update, at which point you can delay again. To activate a temporary hold, open Settings, click through “Update & Security” to “Restart options”and choose a day and time.
If you need to pause updates for more than five days, there is a work-around for Windows 10 Home users. Tell it you’re on a metered connection and Windows will hold off until you connect to a different network. Open Settings, click through “Network & Internet”, pick Wi-Fi from the sidebar and click “Manage known networks”. Select your network, click Properties and toggle the switch to “Set as metered connection”.
Neither of these options affect Windows Defender or any third-party anti-malware tools, which will still download their own updates.
Disable P2P downloads
Windows uses peer-to-peer networking to download updates from other users’ machines where possible, reducing the load on Microsoft’s own servers. In theory, this should mean your updates download more quickly, but the payoff is that your own machine will serve up data for other users around the world. If you’re on an unmetered connection, this shouldn’t be a problem, but you can turn it off if it’s likely to take you close to a data cap.
Open Settings and pick “Update & Security” then “Advanced options”. Click Delivery Optimization. If you’re running several machines on the same site, check “PCs on my local network”, but make sure the second option, to roll in PCs on the internet, is cleared. Clicking on “Advanced options” will also allow you to set bandwidth and upload limits.
Reveal the hidden Start menu
Assuming you haven’t installed Classic Shell ( see
p36), right-click the Windows icon to reveal a second Start menu, which majors on direct links to utilities and diagnostics tools, including Device Manager, PowerShell and Task Manager. Pre-Creators Update, there was a direct link to the
full Control Panel, but after upgrading this was replaced by an alias for the dumbed-down Settings centre.
Create a God folder
It looks like Microsoft wanted to keep this one quiet – but create a new folder with the extension “folder name. {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C99712043E01C}”.
Whatever you use before the dot will be adopted as the folder’s actual name, with the part in curly braces disappearing. It will take the Control Panel icon, and with good reason: open it and you’ll find direct links to over 200 settings, including playing media automatically, managing BitLocker and changing advanced colour management settings. It’s officially known as the Windows Master Control Panel and, as you can search it from the Explorer toolbar, it’s handy to keep close by as it lets you jump straight to the option you want to tweak, rather than having to find it through Settings or Control Panel. You can also right-click any action’s name to create a direct shortcut, which can be saved to the desktop or another folder.