Privacy along with security are two elements that are most important and of most concern to users when they use their computer. And if Windows 10 has been criticized for something, it is for the large amount of data it collects from the system, to (according to Microsoft) improve our experience of use. Although over time, Windows has decreased its telemetry so that it allows us to choose what data is collected. To recover and control all our privacy in Windows, we can choose a program like WPD.
Microsoft has always argued that data collection is always carried out anonymously and always aimed at correcting Windows 10 bugs and improving the operating system experience in later versions. For users who do not agree with these privacy policies, Microsoft offers us the possibility of configuring some aspects, something that for many users is not enough.
To help control our privacy in Windows 10, we can also use third-party programs, such as WPD, which we will talk about next and that will help us disable many privacy options that Windows does not let us modify, and it is where its greatest utility lies.
Customize Windows 10 privacy with WPD
WPD (Windows Privacy Dashboard) is a software with many options to recover privacy and block Windows telemetry . This program is compatible with all versions of Windows 10, even the latest ones. In addition, it comes in Spanish so we will fully understand all the options available to select what we want to keep and what to disable.
It is a small but tremendously powerful and useful portable tool that works through the Windows API , with which we can customize all the settings related to privacy in Windows.
It is also possible to run it on the command line without the need of the graphical interface, in case we want to create our custom scripts with the options that we want to disable. In addition, it allows us to restore the default settings in case something goes wrong or we have made a mistake. Although it is a tremendously useful program, it is not intended for inexperienced users, since the changes that the changes made can negatively affect the system.
Main features
- Privacy Management : Allows you to customize the group policy, services, tasks, and other settings responsible for data collection and transmission.
- IP blocker : we can block telemetry IP addresses using the repository rules
- Appx Uninstaller – Allows us to easily remove pre-installed apps from Microsoft Store or any other app.
Take control of privacy
Once we execute the WPD portable file, its main menu appears where we find the 3 main options available to this software: Privacy (for privacy management), Blocker (to block Windows telemetry IP addresses) and Applications (to uninstall applications from the Windows Store).
Privacy
If we select the privacy option , we will find an infinity of basic privacy settings such as disabling telemetry, Windows error reporting, or the Windows client experience improvement program, among many others.
If we want to disable all of them at the same time, we will not need to disable each of the options manually, since by scrolling down to the bottom of the program there is an option to disable everything with a simple button.
Also, WPD includes many more advanced options that can all be disabled by clicking the check box to include all advanced settings. This option will require restarting Windows to apply all the changes. If we select the privacy option we will find an infinity of basic privacy settings such as disabling telemetry, reporting Windows errors, or the customer experience improvement program Windows among many others.
Blocker
WPD has a blocker that is in charge of blocking all the espionage functions that are included with Windows 10 and all the telemetry that it collects. The list of blocking IP addresses is provided by a GitHub project developed by crazy-max. It also has an option to block additional Microsoft applications such as Skype and OneDrive. It also allows you to block Windows updates and disable the firewall. Once the options we select are applied, they appear with a green tick so that we know that we have already carried out those actions.
Applications
Last but not least, WPD has the option to uninstall applications from the Windows Store. In this way, we can remove all the applications included in Windows 10, as well as the store itself. These changes will affect all users of the computer, so if the Windows Store is uninstalled, no other user will be able to download software from there.
WPD requirements and download
WPD is a portable and free application that we can download from the developer’s page . We only have to download the .ZIP file and run the portable file. This tool does not require installation and takes up less than 1 MB and does not contain ads or publicity of any kind.
To be able to run WPD requires one of the compatible operating systems (Windows 10, 8 and 7) and the .NET Framework 4.5 or higher . Its latest available version is 1.3.1532 dated May 8, 2020, so it speaks of the good support and update that the application has from its developers.
Alternatives to WPD
If we are concerned about our privacy in Windows 10, we propose some applications that can serve as an alternative to WPD:
BlackBird
It is a program that will avoid us having to spend a lot of time deactivating Windows features that it considers anti-privacy. The application acts as a script, with which you can make all changes automatically. It supports 32 and 64 bit versions and can be downloaded for free from its website.
O&O ShutUp10
With this tool we can get rid of everything we don’t like about Windows 10. It allows us to choose exactly which functions we want to keep active and which we want to eliminate, showing the active functions in red and the ones we have deactivated in green. It is a portable and free application that we can download from the developer’s website .