Improve Windows 10 Privacy With O&O ShutUp10
Windows: While a typical Windows 10 installation is usually not that difficult to manage, there is probably a lot under the hood of your operating system that annoys you. It might be one or two features that you would like to turn off, or it might bother you about what data Microsoft collects about what you do on your computer, or where it is located.
You may not even know what parameters you can adjust (or turn off) in your operating system, and it is here that you to help come the app with a smart name About & About ShutUp10 . It’s a simple app that makes it incredibly easy to customize various aspects of Windows 10 that are usually hidden or otherwise inaccessible to the common people. More importantly, the app comes with some helpful warnings so you don’t accidentally disable things you shouldn’t (like automatic updates).
To get started, all you need to do is download the application and launch it. That’s all. There is nothing to talk about here, which already makes me delighted. When the application loads, it will look like this:
You will see many different options that you can turn on and off (some of which may already be turned on), as well as a handy “recommend” column that gives you a little more advice on whether or not you should actually mess with this parameter. … What I love about O&O ShutUp10 is that you can get even more information about what each parameter means by simply hovering over each line and clicking, for example:
While you probably shouldn’t just go through and include everything that is recommended en masse , I would use this little green checkmark as a guide when exploring the application. Turn on any related settings and you’re probably fine. However, once you start falling into the yellow “restricted” category, it gets a little tricky. For example, you might not want to turn off all apps’ access to your microphone or camera – or maybe you will. Just remember that you toggle this option the next time you are about to join a video conference.
Likewise, disabling an app’s ability to access your location might seem like good privacy until the app starts serving you content in a different language because it doesn’t know where you really are. However, you can prevent Windows Update from downloading third-party hardware drivers, assuming you are aware of these things and get the latest drivers for your components directly from their manufacturers.
As for the dreaded red exclamation mark “no”, I would leave it. Running apps in the background of your system is useful and good, as are Windows Updates – I suppose, unless you really want to see if others have any issues with a major incoming Windows update before you install it.
If you feel uneasy, you can use the app to help you create a system restore point (via the Actions drop-down menu) if you need a little protection before making any changes. You can also click to quickly undo any changes you made to the app and return to your normal Windows 10 experience.