How to Stop Sending Data to Microsoft on Windows 10

Do you think Windows 10 is evil and Microsoft shouldn’t know or get any information about how you use your computer?

Do you want to stop all the “spying” services and block them from sending usage data to Microsoft?

Well my friend, I have spent hours looking for all the tips and tricks on how you can prevent Microsoft from “cheating” on your activity in Windows 10.

If you think that Microsoft have the right to collect data in order to improve the operating system that’s OK. And we are free to choose what to do in those kind of circumstances.

Some of us want to have complete control over their computer and data. This tutorial was made for them.

You have to keep in mind that those services (Telemetry, Autologger, Connected User Experience, …) are enabled by default and there is no way to disable them from the Settings app of Windows 10.

It’s true that you can always go to “Settings app” (Win+I) > “Privacy” > “Feedback and Diagnostics” to choose which kind of usage data to send to Microsoft (Basic, Enhanced or Full) but you can’t disable it in the same place.

The truth about this data is that is may contain the following:

• What is installed on your device,
• Most used apps and features,
• Memory and peripherals state,
• Informations about crashes and time,
• Access personal files and typed keys.

If you wish to completely turn off or disable sending data to Microsoft, here is how you can do it by tweaking the registry. This tutorial will work on both Windows 10 Pro and Home. And some of the tricks may also work on Windows 7-8-8.1.

1. Disable Telemetry and Data collection Using Registry Editor

Open the Run command prompt using the Win+R key combination. Type in the command regedit and hit “OK“.

Please follow the following path in the Registry Editor:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection

Here you need to create a new 32-bit DWORD called AllowTelemetry.

Double-click on the newly created DWORD Value “AllowTelemetry” and change its value to 0. Click “OK“.

Close the Registry editor.

2. Disable Telemetry and Tracking Services

Access Services by typing the command services.msc in Run (Win+R). Click “OK“.

Look for the services “Connected User Experiences and Telemetry“, go to properties and disable them.

For example here I had to click “Stop” to end the service current session, and change “Startup type:” to “Disabled” to prevent it from running in the future. Click “OK“.

Please note that the service “Connected User Experiences and Telemetry” used to be called “Diagnostics tracking service” in previous builds and older versions of Windows.

You can also disable theses services using the Command Prompt. Open the command prompt from Start menu (search CMD).

Or type CMD in Start menu or Run (Win+R).

Then run the following commands in your Command Prompt:

sc delete diagtrack

3. Disable Telemetry Services Using PowerShell

Alternatively you disable these services using the PowerShell. You will need to run PowerShell as administrator, either from Start menu by searching for it and right-clicking “Run as administrator” or using the Task Manager.

Type in the following commands and hit Enter key:

Get-Service DiagTrack | Set-Service -StartupType Disabled
Get-Service dmwappushservice | Set-Service -StartupType Disabled

4. Disable the AutoLogger in Windows 10

Disable the AutoLogger Using the Registry Editor

Open the Registry Editor using the command regedit in Run (Win+R).

Go to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\WMI\AutoLogger\AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener

You will find the DWORD Value Start in the right-side, double-click it!

Put on the value 0 and click “OK“.

Disable the AutoLogger Using CMD

Open the Command Prompt with administrative privileges.

Paste the following commands and hit Enter for the last one to run:

cd C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Diagnosis\ETLLogs\AutoLogger
echo "" > AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener.etl
cacls  AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener.etl  /d SYSTEM

5. Disconnect from All Telemetry Servers

Open Notepad as administrator from the Start menu.

Go to “File” > “Open“.

Find the file host inside the following path:

C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\

And add the following lines:

127.0.0.1 redir.metaservices.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 vortex-win.data.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
127.0.0.1 oca.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 vortex.data.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 oca.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
127.0.0.1 sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
127.0.0.1 watson.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 watson.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
127.0.0.1 choice.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 choice.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
127.0.0.1 reports.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 services.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 df.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 sqm.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 watson.ppe.telemetry.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 telemetry.appex.bing.net
127.0.0.1 vortex-sandbox.data.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 telemetry.urs.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 telemetry.appex.bing.net:443
127.0.0.1 settings-sandbox.data.microsoft.com

Once done, restart your Windows 10 PC!

From now on, all your data on how you use your computer are kept safe and not even recorded.

Feel free to share this post with your beloved ones and geeks around you. Thanks a lot!