14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has been continuously looking into ways to improve the privacy controls offered to Windows 10 users, and now it appears that the upcoming Redstone 4 update will bring more improvements in this regard.
In addition to new options that would restrict app access to photo, video, and document libraries, it looks like Microsoft is also planning new tools to allow users view the data it collects from their Windows 10 computers.
Microsoft has often been criticized for what many described as “spying on users,” though the company explained on every occasion that the information it collects from Windows 10 systems is nothing more than telemetry data that it needs to fix bugs and improve the performance of the operating system.
View diagnostic data
In Windows 10 Redstone 4, Microsoft plans to introduce two new options called Diagnostic data viewer and Delete diagnostic data, both of them available under a new section titled Diagnostics & feedback.
As you can easily figure out from their names, the first option will allow users to view the telemetry data that’s been collected and which is supposed to be transmitted to Microsoft, while the second one lets them delete it before being sent.
As ZDNet reports, these options are currently just placeholders in Windows 10 Insider Preview builds 17063 and 17074, but they’re likely to go live before the Redstone 4 update launches in the spring.
Additionally, it looks like Microsoft is also experimenting with other privacy options in Windows 10 Redstone 4, including what appears to be access to the dictionary generated by Microsoft after tracking the words you typed on your PC. Users could thus be able to clear this dictionary and view every item that was recorded.
More information on all these changes is likely to be offered with the release of the next Windows 10 Redstone 4 preview builds, as Microsoft already appears to be in an advanced development stage for these new privacy controls. Redstone 4 is projected to be finalized in March and launched in April.