Microsoft privacy dashboard gives you control over your data
The company is also improving privacy in Windows 10.
Microsoft has been accused of overstepping privacy boundaries with Windows 10, but it's ready to try and regain some of that broken trust. It's launching a web-based account privacy dashboard that lets you monitor and control the information Microsoft services use. You can view and wipe your Bing search history, Edge browsing history and your location activity. And if you're worried about what Cortana Notebook and Microsoft Health are doing, you can edit your data for those services.
The company is also promising that Windows 10 Creators Update will have a better privacy experience from the start. You'll walk through a new setup process that clarifies your privacy choices, whether you're starting fresh with Windows 10 or already have it installed. Microsoft will also streamline its diagnostic data collection options to two (Basic and Full), and it'll collect less data at that Basic level.
Will these address all the privacy concerns that have surfaced since Windows 10 arrived? Probably not. Microsoft promises that this is just a "first step," however, and that you'll have more control over your data in the long run. This isn't a purely selfless gesture on Redmond's part when it's facing regulatory scrutiny over Windows 10 tracking, but it's a welcome move all the same.
