Turn off invasive Windows 10 settings in four steps
Windows 10 has become the operating system (OS) of choice among business and personal users. Despite the many improvements to the OS that Microsoft has rolled out, Windows 10 isn’t perfect. In fact, many users have complained about its intrusive default privacy settings. Luckily, you can easily turn these settings off to ensure your privacy. Turn off personalized advertising Windows 10 assigns each user an advertising ID to personalize their ad experience based on their recent browser history. You can turn off the advertising ID feature by doing the following: Click Start > Settings > Privacy > General. Toggle off the option “Let apps use my advertising ID for experiences across apps.” This will reset your advertising ID. If you don’t want to receive locally relevant content from websites, toggle off the option “Let websites provide locally relevant content by accessing my language list.” Disable Cortana Microsoft has ventured into the market of voice-controlled virtual assistants with Cortana. This personal assistant allows users to set reminders, schedule events, and send emails, among other tasks. Every time you use Cortana, it collects information about your computer activity — “learning” it, so to speak — to improve user experience. But if you find this feature intrusive, you can disable Cortana completely with these steps: Search for the Windows Registry editor in the Windows search bar, or press Windows + R, type “regedit,” and click OK. Copy and paste HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows into the address bar at the top. Look for the Windows Search folder. If it doesn’t exist, create it by right-clicking the right-hand pane, then choose New > Key. Rename the folder “Windows Search”. Select the Windows Search folder, then right-click the right-hand pane and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it “Allow Cortana,” and make sure the Value Data is set to zero. Restart your computer. Stop peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing Windows 10’s P2P file sharing feature enables your PC to share downloaded updates with other Windows 10 users by default. This helps other users update their systems faster and speeds up your upgrade downloads. To turn it off, do the following: Go to Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update > Advanced Options > Choose how updates are delivered. Note that the default setting is “Updates from more than one place.” If you want to disable this feature entirely, toggle off this option. If you want to share your files with PCs on your home network, leave this feature on and select PCs on my local network. Change Microsoft’s Edge settings Microsoft’s relaunched browser is chock-full of features, such as web experience personalization and typing prediction. Such features may make you uncomfortable since they all send back data to Microsoft. Here’s how to turn them 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’s also a bunch of privacy and services settings that you may want to disable, such as tracking services, navigation error resolution, block potentially unwanted apps, and more. For more tips on keeping Microsoft from tracking your online activity and more information about how to safeguard your security and privacy, drop us a line today. Our experts will be more than happy to help! Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.
Should you monitor your employees’ online activities?
To monitor or not to monitor — that is the question. Employee monitoring is a touchy subject. If you’ve ever considered it, then you may ask yourself if it is a good idea for an employer to check on their staff’s online activities. Below are the pros and cons of employee monitoring, and some helpful tips should you push through with it. The case for monitoring Here are several reasons why monitoring your employees’ activities on company devices is a good idea. It can help you: Protect your organization from data theft or harm – because careless or disgruntled employees may leak or steal your data. Ensure you have a harassment-free workplace – because cyberharassment (sexual or otherwise) happens among employees. Ensure members of your staff comply with policies – such as not downloading illegal programs or spending time on websites with illegal or hostile content. Provide evidence in case of a lawsuit – should an employee participate in illegal activities using your business’s computers (heaven forbid!), monitoring their device can provide evidence of their involvement. Sadly, many business owners who monitor their employees often discover that their staff members aren’t focused solely on the company’s success. Arguments against employee monitoring Of course, you should also be aware of the potential downsides to monitoring. These include: Productivity loss – monitoring can put a damper on employee morale, and you may see the distrust leading to productivity losses. Lost privacy and lawsuits – you’ll likely learn personal details about your employees that you would’ve never known about had you not monitored them. You may discover their political or religious views, sexual orientation, or medical problems. This subjects your business to potential privacy or discrimination issues if you or your management team acts negatively based on any of this information. Monitoring guidelines to follow If you decide to monitor your employees, here are a few tips you should follow. 1. Create written policies When you monitor your employees, ask yourself: “Am I doing this for security purposes? Is it to ensure my employees aren’t wasting time on games or social media?” If your monitoring policies are too strict, you could create an atmosphere of distrust. Set guidelines for acceptable use of email and social media, web browsing, instant messaging, and downloading software and apps. Also, make sure to include how monitoring will be carried out and how data will be used, secured, and destroyed. 2. Tell your employees It’s important to inform your employees about the scope of your monitoring policies. If they find out you’re doing it secretly, you could face legal issues. By being transparent, you may actually see a boost in productivity by deterring employees from wasting time on the web. When you tell your employees, explain why you’re doing it and the risks your business faces from misuse of digital assets. Reassure them you’re not doing it to spy on their personal life, but to create a compliant and law-abiding workplace. Because their activities will now be less private, encourage your staff to use their smartphones for personal matters. Also, provide your employees a copy of your written policy for them to read and sign. 3. Get the right technology tools You don’t need to know each and every employee activity, so look for apps and software that alert you of the most relevant problems, so you can focus on more important tasks. If implemented correctly, employee monitoring makes your business more secure and productive. For more information about security and other IT support tools, get in touch with us today. Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.