How to make Windows 11 more private

Windows 11 is a great operating system, and it’s always getting updated with new features thanks to updates like Windows 11 version 23H2. However, many users are uncomfortable with the lack of privacy on Windows 11. Thankfully, there are a few Windows 11 settings you can adjust to make the operating system more private.

The key to making Windows 11 more private involves heading to the “Privacy and Security” section of the “Settings” app to tweak a lot of different options and permissions that will cut back on the data Windows 11 gathers about you. There are many options here, starting with the ability to remove your Microsoft account from Windows 11.

Remove your Microsoft account from Windows 11

One of the biggest things you can do for privacy is to remove your Microsoft account from Windows 11. Microsoft requires you to sign in with an online account when you first set up your PC, but you can remove it after the fact. Here’s how:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Choose Accounts from the menu on the left.
3. Click Your info.

4. Under Account settings, click Sign in with a local account instead.

5. You’ll be prompted to back up your encryption key if you’ve encrypted your drive with BitLocker. Your encryption key will remain accessible through your Microsoft account, so you can click Skip this step unless you plan to delete the account altogether.

6. Click Next.

7. Enter your password or PIN to verify your identity before removing the account.

8. Enter a new username and password for your local account.

9. Click Sign out and finish.

You’ll now be able to sign back into your PC using a local account. However, it’s important to note here that many built-in Windows 11 apps will still use your account, so you will need to sign out of them separately if you want to.

Turn off ad tracking and other personalization options

From here on out, we’ll be talking about all the options in the “Privacy & Security” section of the “Settings” app. First off, we suggest turning off ad tracking, as it tracks your online activities and behaviors so websites can show you targeted ads.

1. Open the Start menu, then launch the Settings app.
2. Select Privacy & security.
3. Under Windows permissions, click on General.

4. In the new tab, set the following to Off:

• Let apps show me personalized ads
• Let websites show me locally relevant content
• Let Windows improve Start and Search
• Show me suggested content in the Settings app

Turning these settings off will reduce the chance that Windows and apps will show you ads based on the content you’re browsing. If you’re bilingual, it’ll also help reduce ads and other content based on the language you’ve selected to use in Windows.

Turn off online speech recognition

Windows computers have “speech recognition” functionality, which is ideal for people with limited finger dexterity or suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome. However, some users might not like the idea of letting Microsoft have access to your voice clips, so you can turn off Windows 11’s speech recognition.

1. Open the Start menu, then open Settings.
2. Click on Privacy.
3. Open the Speech tab, then toggle Online speech recognition to Off.

If you disable this option, you’ll still be able to use the “Windows Speech Recognition” app (with potentially worse recognition) and other speech services, as long as they’re not from Microsoft.

Reduce your inking and typing personalization

When you’re typing, Windows examines your inputs and keeps an eye on any custom names and unique words that you like to write. The OS saves these words, so they show up whenever you use a Microsoft product. This usually helps reduce typos and other mistakes you might make in apps like “Microsoft Edge” and other system apps. If you don’t want Windows 11 keeping tabs on you like this, you have to deactivate the functionality.

1. Open the Start menu, then select Settings.
2. Select Privacy & security.
3. Click on Inking and typing personalization.
4. Switch Custom inking and typing word list to Off.

If you turn this setting option off, Microsoft won’t save your typing history or handwriting inputs to create a more personal dictionary for you. However, doing so could impact the suggestions you see in autocorrect.

Tweak diagnostic and feedback settings

In order to keep computers running in tip-top shape, each copy of Windows 11 monitors its systems and sends the data to Microsoft. This data might help keep computers secure and optimized, but it can still contain info some users might want to keep personal. While you can’t deactivate this feature since it helps Microsoft code security updates, you can choose what data your computer sends.

1. Open the Start menu, then select Settings.
2. Click on Privacy, then Diagnostics & feedback
3. Deactivate Improve inking and typing here if you don’t want Windows 11 to improve its language recognition and suggestion capabilities.
4. Turn off Tailored experiences if you don’t want Microsoft to use diagnostic data to show you personalized tips and ads.
5. Toggle which data you want Microsoft to receive. These include:

• Required diagnostic data. This data only includes information on your computer’s capabilities and if it is functioning properly.
• Optional diagnostic data. This data includes the Required diagnostic data but also adds more info on what websites and apps you use, your computer’s health, and computer errors.

Changing these settings reduces the information Microsoft collects about the way you use your PC. Turn off as much as you like but remember that you can’t completely cut off Microsoft from diagnostic data; nor should you, if you want your computer to keep functioning properly.

Turn off activity history

In the next settings section, you will want to turn off your “activity history”. This tracks what apps, services, websites, and files users, well, use.

1. Open the Start menu, then open the Settings app.
2. Open Privacy & security.
3. Under Windows permissions, click on Activity history.
4. Toggle Store my activity history on this device off.
5. Click on Clear activity history for this account to delete all activity Windows 11 has already recorded.

Once off, the information about websites you visit and apps you launch won’t be stored on your device, let alone be uploaded to your Microsoft Account. This was useful for the timeline feature in Windows 10, but in Windows 11, you can disable it without any drawbacks.

Turn off cloud content search and search history

Next, you might want to turn off Windows 11’s “cloud content search and search history”. This feature helps personalize search results by implementing content gleaned from your cloud saves on services such as “OneDrive”, “SharePoint”, “Outlook”, and “Bing”. However, many people might consider that a step too far and would prefer to do without the feature.

1. Open the Start menu, then select Settings.
2. Click on Search permissions.
3. Turn the toggle under History to Off.
4. Toggle the options under Cloud content search to Off. These can include:

• Microsoft Account. This option lets Windows Search provide results that include apps and services tied to your Microsoft account.
• Work or School account. This option lets Windows Search provide results that include apps and services tied to dedicated work and school Microsoft accounts.

By dealing with Windows 11’s “Cloud Content Search”, you effectively hamper your computer’s search permissions, thus giving it fewer options to keep tabs on your search history. While you’re at it, you might as well also erase what little search history Windows 11 has on you. Picking up from the above instructions, just click the button “Clear device search history.”

Again, like a lot of things we’ve gone through so far, this setting helps reduce the personalization on Windows. Turning off the search history, meanwhile, will stop Windows from storing what you’ve searched for locally, like a specific file or document. This also has the benefit of deactivating the “Taskbar” search bar’s animated icon.

Turn off OneDrive

On the surface, “OneDrive” sounds like a godsend since it backs up all of your files. If your computer crashes or becomes the target of ransomware, you can rest easy knowing all your documents are safe and sound. But on the flip side, using “OneDrive” means if anyone breaks into the wrong Microsoft servers, they could access anything you’ve saved to the cloud. If you would rather back up your files your own way, you will need to turn off “OneDrive”.

1. Click on the OneDrive icon in your taskbar (the one that looks like a cloud).
2. Click on the Settings icon (the one that looks like a gear).
3. Select Account.
4. Click on Unlink this PC.

You can also go one step further and delete “OneDrive” from your computer:

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Type Programs into the menu search bar, then select Add or remove programs from the list of results.
3. Under Apps & features, scroll down until you find Microsoft OneDrive. You might have to change the sorting and filter settings to find the program.
4. Select Microsoft OneDrive, then click on Uninstall.
5. You might need to enter your administrator credentials (i.e., password) for confirmation.

With “OneDrive” deactivated and/or deleted, your documents will remain with you and only you.

Turn off location and other app permissions

You can further tweak privacy settings so that individual apps can or cannot access certain features.

1. Press the Start menu button.
2. Open Settings.
3. Select Privacy & security.
4. On the left-side menu, scroll down until you reach the section marked App permissions.

Once you find the “App Permissions”, click on any option to open new windows, each with ways to keep your computer more private. For instance, if you select “Location”, you can toggle switches and press buttons to prevent Windows and apps from accessing your physical location. Selections such as “Microphone”, “Camera”, and “Voice” activation have similar options you can alter and deactivate.

Go through the list and turn off the settings you want to enhance your privacy on Windows 11.

Disable app sharing across devices

Additionally, you can prevent apps from syncing information across devices, which can sometimes be used to continue experiences on different PCs. It’s not a widely used feature, so you won’t miss much by turning it off. To do it, follow these steps.

1. Navigate to the Apps section on the left-side menu.

2. Click Advanced app settings.

3. Expand the Share across devices button and choose Off.

Turn off Windows backup

Rounding things out, you can turn off your “Windows backup” to stop Windows from remembering your apps and preferences. This information is used to restore your preferences on a new device or after resetting your PC, but you can turn it off if you don’t need it.

1. In the Settings app, head to the Accounts section on the left.
2. Scroll down and click Windows backup.
3. Turn off the Remember my preferences and Remember my apps toggles.

By doing so, Windows won’t sync your information to the cloud.

Disable sharing Windows 11 updates

This last step won’t really enhance your privacy in a significant way, but if you’re extra paranoid about sharing data with others, you might also want to disable sharing updates with other PCs. This is a feature in Windows that allows you to speed up Windows updates by downloading update files from other PCs instead of using Microsoft’s servers alone. Windows updates shouldn’t include any user data, but if you want to turn this feature off, you can follow these steps.

1. In the Settings app, open Windows Update on the left-side menu.
2. Click Advanced options.

3. Choose Delivery optimization.

4. Set the Allow downloads from other PCs toggle to Off.

Your PC will no longer exchange Windows updates with other PCs.

Making Windows 11 more privacy-conscious

By following these steps, you’ll have reduced the amount of data that Windows 11 collects from you. If you’ve opted to use Windows with a Microsoft account, you also have full control of the data that Microsoft might have collected. Just go to the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard. From here, you can visit each of the sections under “Manage your activity data” and delete all the activity. We also suggest that you turn off the personalized ad settings to prevent the sharing of your preference data with third parties. A little extra work goes a long way towards protecting your privacy.

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