14 DAY TRIAL // The privacy issue in Windows 10 is still far from being resolved, but Microsoft is apparently looking into methods to involve users more in the way their data is collected and sent to the company, so build 10568, which has recently got leaked, comes with some changes in this regard.
As Twitter user @gus33000 has spotted, now, when you download some files and Windows Defender is running on your system (this means that you didn’t disable its service and no third-party security app was installed), the operating system prompts you to send file information to Microsoft for scanning.
Previously, malware data detected by Windows Defender was submitted automatically to Microsoft to help protect other Windows 10 systems, so the company might be working on some changes that would let users decide if they want to send this information or not.
Options to disable automatic sample submission and configure Windows Defender in Windows 10 are already available in the Settings screen, but this is the first time such prompts show up, which clearly gives users more control over their files.
No private data sent to Microsoft
Terry Myerson, head of the Windows division at Microsoft, explained in late September that, while Windows 10 indeed sent some information to the company, none of these details were actually personal.
Error data, anonymous device ID and type are indeed submitted for further analyzing, but names, email addresses, and account IDs stay right there on your PC.
“We collect a limited amount of information to help us provide a secure and reliable experience. Our enterprise feature updates later this year will enable enterprise customers the option to disable this telemetry, but we strongly recommend against this,” Myerson went on to say.
For the moment, Microsoft is still tweaking privacy settings in Windows 10, so expect more changes to occur in the coming builds before the next big update for the OS sees daylight in November.