Still on the topic of your privacy, boost your privacy on your windows 10 Change these 5 settings to secure your data and privacy

Previously I covered how to boost your privacy online; Now we are going to look at 5 things to change on your windows 10 device to boost your privacy even more and improve your device performance and stop annoying pop up ads.

And yes these Operating system companies like windows track your device and push targeted suggested ads via notifications.

The good news is that these settings only take a few minutes to either to adjust or turn them off completely. Here are five settings that are turned on by default that you can disable in Windows 10 right away.

Start menu ads (Boost privacy on Windows10)

Occasionally you will see random windows app store ads on your start up menu. These apps most times you never need or will ever use but they show up as if anticipating you might download them. This is Microsoft pushing its app store apps on you the consumer which is sometimes based on what you have accessed from the app store in the past but more often than not they are random apps.

You can turn off these ads by going to Settings > Personalization > Start > Show suggestions occasionally in Start.

Third-party Targeted apps

Not only does your browser keep tabs on you, OS like Microsoft also tracks your browsing history. One of the ways they do this is through your Microsoft account unique advertising ID built specifically to send targeted ads your way.

Third party companies obtain these data from Microsoft for a fee and that is why you also see these third party apps show up randomly on your start up page.

You can turn this off by going to Settings > Privacy > General > Let apps use advertising ID to make ads more interesting to you based on your app activity (Turning this off will reset your ID).

Notifications (Boost privacy on Windows10)

Notifications are great for when you have a windows 10 update that needs installing or any other important application on your device. But there are notifications that you do not need to see or have turned on your device. The last thing you want is too many notifications popping up and taking up processing power and RAM space on your device.

Keep your notifications in check by going to Settings > System > Notifications & actions and turning off things like Get tips, tricks and suggestions when you use Windows or Show me the Windows welcome experience after updates and occasionally when I sign in to highlight what’s new and suggested, and individual app notifications.

Cortana

Cortana when turned on, begins collecting information about from your typing habits to speech and handwriting. Just like other voice assist technology out there, Cortana is constantly listening for that trigger word to activate it.

Put an end to this by going to Settings > Privacy > Inking & typing and toggle the option off.

Delivery Optimisation – File-sharing updates

What is the delivery optimisation? It is a feature in Windows 10 which lets you download updates from other Windows 10 computers over the Internet (not just from Microsoft’s servers). Of course for this work your device will also have to be part of this sharing network for others to download updates from your device. Simply put this as a peer to peer network almost. This is definitely not something many people would want on their devices regardless of how safe Microsoft claim it to be.

Unfortunately this feature is turned on by default, but you can turn it off by going to Settings > Update & security > Advanced options > Delivery optimization, and toggle Allow downloads from other PCs off.

Check out the How to boost your privacy online, change these browser settings