Windows 11 has the ability to help its users by giving suggestions at they type and showing different ads based off their online searches. But people feel these can be intrusive, especially if you don’t want someone looking into you recent online activity. If you want to keep Microsoft from looking at your online activity and secure your privacy, continue reading to learn some useful tips.
Turn off personalized advertising
Windows 11 offers a variety of different ads that are targeted suggestions, recommendations, and different tips made personally for you. This is how it works: The operating system customizes individual ads that a person sees based off of that users cookies and activity. There are definitely benefits to having personalized ads that lead a user to helpful content, however they can also be an obstacle to their productivity. To get rid of the distracting ads, you should do the following:
- Click Start > Settings > Privacy & security.
- Go to Diagnostics and feedback.
- Find the Tailored experiences menu, and toggle it off.
- Then, go back to Privacy & security and select General.
- From there, turn off the “Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID” option.
Here is another way to remove the notifications from Windows 11 ads:
- Go to Start > Settings > System.
- Select Notifications.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and disable the “Get tips and suggestions when it uses Windows” and “Offer suggestions on how I can set up my device options”.
Disable Cortana
Cortana is Microsoft’s personalized productivity assistant that allows users to set reminders, schedule events, send out emails, and many other tasks. The downside to this is, when you use Cortana, it gathers information about your activity, learns it, and then uses what is has learned in an attempt to improve user experience. Many find this feature too invasive and disable Cortana completely by doing the following steps:
- Go to Settings > Apps > Apps and Features.
- Find Cortana and open Advanced options by clicking on the three-dot icon.
- Turn off the Run at log-in option.
Change Microsoft’s Edge settings
The Microsoft Edge browser has a plethora of different features, such as web experience personalization and even typing prediction. These features collect data that is directed back to Microsoft and many users feel uncomfortable sharing a vast amount of personal data like this. Here is a way to turn it off:
- Open Edge and click on the menu icon (three dots) in the upper-right corner.
- Next, click on Settings > Privacy and services. Scroll down and switch on the “Send ‘Do Not Track’ requests” option.
There are also many other privacy and services settings that would be a good idea to disable. This includes location tracking, navigation error resolution, blocking potentially unwanted apps, and more.
For more tips on how to safeguard your security and privacy, drop us a line today. Our experts will be more than happy to help! Check out https://rj2t.com/ for more information from our team of experts!
