USING A LOCAL LOGIN

Windows 8 introduced the ability to log in to your system with a Microsoft account, much the same way that Google does on mobiles. This has its conveniences — it automatically logs you into a bunch of Microsoft services like OneDrive, Skype and Outlook Mail. But it also allows Microsoft to monitor your activity and link it to a specific account in ways that an old-style local login does not. That includes keeping a log of system searches and login locations. You can, however, switch back to a local login and still use a Microsoft account for specific services. Go to ‘Settings > Accounts’ and click on the ‘Sign in with a local account instead’. You’ll be asked to enter your Microsoft password, and then create a new username and password. After that, you’ll log in to Windows with this new password.

KILLING CORTANA

By default, whenever you use the search bar in Windows 10, you’re also using Bing/Cortana, since that’s where it draws it web search results from. That means anything you search for in that bar also sends a request to Microsoft — which can then be logged and that info attached to your account if you’re logged in. If you primarily just use the search bar for local searches (like finding documents on your system), you can turn this .

Unfortunately, the Anniversary Update of Win 10 late 2016 actually made it quite hard to do this.

Fire up regedit and go to: HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\ Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search

If you don’t have a Windows Search key, you’ll have to create one by right clicking on Windows and selecting ‘New > Key’, just as if you were creating a new directory.

Then you have to create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value called ‘AllowCortana’. Right click on the Windows Search key you just created and select ‘New > DWORD (32-bit) Value’ and name it AllowCortana. Its value should be 0 (the default). Once you