Windows 10: It looks like Microsoft is collecting more data than we initially thought

MICROSOFT is siphoning and tracking more data from Windows 10 users than previously thought, the latest statistics from Redmond suggest.

 

Microsoft is tracking Windows 10 users' habits – and the time they spend on the new OS

 

Microsoft recently confirmed reports that its latest operating system – Windows 10 – is now active on more than 200 million devices across the globe.

The US technology firm has named Windows 10 the fastest growing operating system to date, blitzing past its own Windows 8 and Windows 7.

But the latest Windows 10 statistics could cause concerns for privacy-minded users as they offer a glimpse into exactly what aspects of your life Microsoft is watching.

The privacy aspects of clever new features like talkative voice assistant Cortana is something flagged up in our definitive NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com review.

 

"People have spent over 11 billion hours on Windows 10 in December alone, spending more time on Windows than ever before," Microsoft wrote in an official blog post.

This is one of many new statistics on Windows 10 which offer a glimpse into the type – and amount – of user data Microsoft is actively monitoring. 

The news comes after Microsoft warned its customers against using Windows 7.

As well as the total number of hours spent on Windows 10, Microsoft also revealed the total number of photographs viewed in its new Photo Application.

 

On paper, Windows 10 appears to have systematically addressed the issues levelled at Windows 8.1

 

Corporate Vice President for Windows and Devices Group Yusuf Mehdi listed the figure in his blog post: "Over 82 billion photos viewed within the Windows 10 Photo app.

"Over 44.5 billion minutes spent in Microsoft Edge across Windows 10 devices in just the last month."

"Over 2.5 billion questions asked of Cortana since launch. Around 30 per cent more Bing search queries per Windows 10 device vs. prior versions of Windows."

It is not clear whether Microsoft is also monitoring the fine details of the 2.5 billion questions asked of Cortana, or what users are doing during their 44.5 billion minutes spent in Microsoft Edge.

 

Is Microsoft only keeping track of the number of photos viewed by its users – or the content of the photos as well?

Windows 10 Home Edition, installed with default settings, has the ability to send your hardware details and any subsequent changes you make to Microsoft, log your internet browser history, keystrokes, Cortana questions and requests, display advertisements within your Start Menu and even control your bandwidth usage.

Fortunately Microsoft does allow to you to disable some of the Big Brother-esque tracking within its Privacy Settings menu, but certain core data collection cannot be switched off. 

 

Users are unable to turn off all of the data collection baked into Windows 10

 

In a nutshell, if it relates to the health and performance of the Windows 10 operating system, Microsoft wants to know about it.

Microsoft Corporate Vice President Joe Belfiore has previously stated: "In the cases where we’ve not provided options, we feel that those things have to do with the health of the system.

"In the case of knowing that our system that we’ve created is crashing, or is having serious performance problems, we view that as so helpful to the ecosystem and so not an issue of personal privacy, that today we collect that data so that we make that experience better for everyone.

 

"We’re going to continue to listen to what the broad public says about these decisions, and ultimately our goal is to balance the right thing happening for the most people – really, for everyone – with complexity that comes with putting in a whole lot of control."

Windows 10 is currently a free operating system upgrade to customers running genuine versions of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

If you have managed to get your version of Windows 10 up and running smoothly – NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com has rounded up SEVEN top tips to master your new operating system.

And if you are feeling negative towards the new operating system, here are the WORST features Microsoft included in Windows 10.