Windows - A privacy nightmare

Microsoft just can't seem to shake the image that Windows is spying on you. And Microsoft's lack of transparency about Windows's privacy isn't doing much to dispel the notion.
At Windows's release, there have been numerous reports about how much personal information Microsoft collects.

1 - Shares your personal information with Microsoft by default

By default, Windows shares a lot of information about you with Microsoft. According to the company's privacy policy, Windows sends Microsoft everything you say to Cortana, Windows' Siri-like virtual assistant. It also collects lot of information.

Cortana can collect :

• - Your keystrokes, searches and mic input
• - Calendar data
• - Music you listen to
• - Purchases
• - Credit Card information
• ...

Microsoft can collect :

• - Your identity
• - Passwords
• - Interests and habits
• - Purchases
• - Contacts and relationships
• - Location data
• - Usage data
• - Demographics
• - Content like emails, instant messages, caller list, audio and video recordings
• ...

2 - Uses the bandwidth of your Internet connection

Windows will use your Internet connection to help other people download apps or update their computers.

If someone is having trouble connecting to Microsoft's servers, He might instead download that update or app from you, a complete stranger and It all happens in the background, without either of you ever knowing it.
It's a feature called Windows Update Delivery Optimization.

To stop downloading updates and apps from or sending updates and apps to other Windows devices on the Internet:

• 1 - Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced options.
• 2 - Select Delivery Optimization (or Choose how updates are delivered in earlier versions of Windows).
• 3 - Select PCs on my local network.

To stop downloading from or uploading to other PCs on the local network:

• 1 - Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced options.
• 2 - Select Delivery Optimization.
• 3 - Make sure Allow downloads from other PCs is turned Off. You'll get updates and apps directly from Windows Update and from Microsoft Store with Delivery Optimization; however, you won’t download from or upload to other PCs.

3 - Your data can be shared

When downloading Windows, you are authorizing Microsoft to share any of above-mentioned data with any third-party, with or without your consent.
Your system automatically syncs setting, services and data to Microsoft server, the data which is synced contains your browser history, the websites you are currently on, the saved apps, mobile and hotspot passwords along with Wifi SSID and passwords

4 - Will continue to send information to Microsoft after you disable data-sharing settings

If you went to all privacy pages and shut off all data sharing, you'll still share information with Microsoft.

For example, even with Cortana and searching the Web from the Start menu disabled, opening Start and typing will send a request to www.bing.com to request a file called threshold.appcache which appears to contain some Cortana information, even though Cortana is disabled. The request for this file appears to contain a random machine ID that persists across reboots.

5 - Search for illegal games

The Windows license agreement everyone agrees to (without reading) includes language that seems to allow the company to scan your computer for pirated games and disable them at will.

"We may automatically check your version of the software and download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices."

6 - How to protect yourself ?

You can use as many tools and disable as many options as you want Windows will always spy on you. The best way to avoid this is not to use Windows.
But there are some tools you can use to limit that tracking and telemetry.

- DisableWinTracking

DisableWinTracking is a helpful tool for privacy-concerned users to disable a part of the native tracking within Windows, exemple :

If you leave your machine for 8 hours, inactive Windows will send more than 5,500 connections to 93 different IP addresses, including nearly 4,000 to 51 different IP addresses belonging to Microsoft.
If you leave the machine for 30 hours, Windows has extended this connection to 113 non-private IP addresses, potentially allowing hackers to intercept this data.

check the options of your choice based on your preferences After this, the number was reduced to 2758 connections to 30 different IP addresses in the period of 30 hours.

Overview of Windows Privacy Tools :