Just wanna take a moment to let people know about a very, very good and reputable tool for privacy and windows. I personally think it should be recommended on the main Privacy Guides site if you use windows. This is not a substitute for using Linux, however.
Linux is better, but if you have to use Windows, the Chris Titus Tech tool is quite easy to use, extremely powerful, and has been actively developed for a long time. You can set power-user privacy options easily, massively debloat your windows installation, install programs, and easily set your update settings to security only, if that is what you want.
https://christitus.com/windows-tool/
Just wondering about the communty’s and mod’s thoughts (like Jonah). I’ve used the tool for a long time and I am always impressed with it, especially as it comes from somebody who has a sterling reputation on computer and Linux know-how
This is…not the best idea, imo. If I had to guess, I would say that it is attempting to disable diagnostic data by setting a registry key — only on Windows Home or Pro, that’s ineffective and doesn’t have any extra benefit compared to just disabling optional telemetry in the settings app. It also seems to pointlessly duplicate things the user already has control of (why does there need to be a toggle for Hyper V and Windows Subsystem Linux?) Last I checked they were pretty simple enough to turn on and off in the base system. Same goes for stuff such as Location Tracking and Activity History, which I’m fairly sure are literally already in the privacy settings.
Attempting to do large scale “debloating” will inevitably lead to system breakage and things not working. Start Menu shortcuts? They’re one click away from being uninstalled. OEM Bloat such as random third party antiviruses? You should be doing a clean install to get rid of those. Apps such as Cortana?
winget uninstall. You also don’t need a third party program to manage your app updates, that’s literally whatwinget upgrade --allis for.That’s not how it works, actually. Its more sophisticated. The point is to provide easy access to options for a user that doesn’t want to root through the guts of a system
And no, it is more robust than that. This tool doesn’t lead to breakage. IT admins use this tool.
And finally, your last suggestions are beyond the ability of the average user
While I can see what the author was going for, I still don’t think it’s worth it to give yet another third party app admin access in order to make managing settings slightly easier.
How does it work then?
A sysadmin would usually use group policies to manage settings and install apps automatically, especially since they would likely be using Windows Pro or Enterprise in a work environment.