Microsoft: Windows 10 Core Telemetry Cannot be Disabled

When users first discovered that Windows 10 would be sending back data to Microsoft, many were not surprised. Features like Cortana require data collection and some hoped that data collection could be turned off eventually. Now it looks like we’re getting confirmation that Windows 10 probably won’t ever disable all of its data collection. According to VP Joe Belfiore, Microsoft needs the information to improve customer experience.

“And 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. And in the cases where we’ve not provided options, we feel that those things have to do with the health of the system, and are not personal information or are not related to privacy.”

It looks like consumers are going to be left behind as the Enterprise version of Windows 10 allows for a complete disabling of all telemetry and data collection. Even if the information is required for crashes and performance issues, private information will inevitably leak out. With the data collection integrated to such a deep level, it remains to be seen if third party applications will have any success in blocking the telemetry.

While Microsoft has been somewhat receptive to user complaints, the software giant is mostly choosing to ignore the issue. With ads popping up in the Start Menu and a very aggressive Windows 10 Upgrade policy, Microsoft really seems to want things done their way only.