Thanks to Microsoft's free upgrade, a fair few of us that were previously on Windows 7 or 8 are now using Windows 10. But if you're security conscious, you might want to turn a few of their default settings off - permanently.
If you head to settings and hit the privacy button, you'll have four options in front of you. The third of which is a little 'on' button, which says, 'Send Microsoft info about how I write to help us improve writing and typing in the future.' This is a fairly broad statement, and exactly what information they're gathering is open to discussion - but turning this off won't affect your experience at all.
While we're here, click speech, inking and typing in the left hand column and you'll come across a ''lovely'' little page called, 'Getting to know you'. This lets you know that Windows and Cortana can 'get to know your voice and writing to make better suggestions for you'. The gentle language might feel comforting, but if you feel like an intimate relationship with Windows isn't one of your priorities, turn this off.
Underneath this section there's a heading which reads, 'Manage cloud info'. Click the first link, 'Go to Bing and manage personal info for all your devices'. This will open a page in your browser. Scroll to the bottom and you'll find, 'Other Cortana Data and Personalized Speech, Inking and Typing'. If you want to be thorough in erasing the data that Cortana has been collecting, click 'Clear'.
Turning off these features will not affect your experience of Windows 10. If you'd rather leave them on there's nothing too worrying here, but if the vague language is enough to get you worried, opt out. We're sure that Cortana will understand.
If you need help with Windows 10, give us a call on 0191 482 0444
