Windows 11 privacy settings to change, and the ones to leave on

Windows 11 shares more with Microsoft by default than most people expect: diagnostic data, an advertising ID, your activity history and a steady stream of suggestions. None of it is hidden, but it is spread across a dozen pages of Settings. This guide walks through the switches worth changing, in order, and the few you should leave alone.

Where the privacy settings live

Almost everything is under Settings > Privacy & security (press Windows + I to open Settings). The page is split into two halves: Windows permissions, which covers what Windows itself collects, and App permissions, which covers what each app on your PC may use. A few related switches sit under Personalisation and System, and they are listed below too.

The settings worth changing

1. Optional diagnostic data. Go to Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback and turn off Send optional diagnostic data. Turn off Tailored experiences on the same page, set Feedback frequency to Never, and use Delete diagnostic data to clear what has already been collected. Windows still sends the required minimum, which keeps updates working.
2. Advertising ID and tracking. Under Privacy & security > General, turn off Let apps show me personalised ads by using my advertising ID, Let Windows improve Start and search results by tracking app launches and Show me suggested content in the Settings app.
3. Activity history. Under Privacy & security > Activity history, turn off Store my activity history on this device, then press Clear history.
4. Recall, on Copilot+ PCs. If your PC has Recall, Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots lets you turn off Save snapshots and delete the ones already saved. On other PCs this page does not appear.
5. Inking, typing and speech. Turn off Custom inking and typing dictionary under Inking & typing personalisation, and Online speech recognition under Speech if you do not use voice typing or dictation.
6. Suggestions and adverts in Windows. Under Personalisation > Lock screen, turn off Get fun facts, tips, tricks and more on your lock screen. Under Personalisation > Start, turn off Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps and more.
7. Clipboard sync. Under System > Clipboard, turn off sharing your clipboard across devices unless you use it. Local clipboard history can stay on.

Decide app by app: camera, microphone and location

The App permissions half of the page is where you control what other apps can reach. Open Camera, Microphone or Location and you will see a master switch for the whole device, then one switch per app. The master switch is a blunt tool: turning off the camera for everything also breaks video calls. The better habit is to leave the master switch on and turn off the apps that have no reason to see or hear you.

Check Contacts, Calendar, Call history, Email and Documents the same way. Desktop apps installed outside the Microsoft Store appear as one group at the bottom of each list, so you can allow or block them together.

What to leave switched on

Some settings look like privacy switches but are really protection, and turning them off makes you less safe, not more private:

• Windows Security. Real-time protection and the firewall stop malware, which is the biggest privacy risk of all.
• Windows Update. Security fixes arrive this way. Pausing updates for weeks leaves known holes open.
• SmartScreen. It warns you before you run a download or open a site known to be malicious.
• Find my device. Worth keeping on a laptop, so you can locate or lock it if it is lost.

Two extra steps for the network

Encrypted DNS. Every site you visit starts with a DNS lookup, and by default those lookups travel unencrypted to your internet provider. On Windows 11 version 22H2 or later, open Settings > Network & internet, choose your connection, press Edit next to DNS server assignment, choose Manual and set a resolver that supports DNS over HTTPS, such as Cloudflare at 1.1.1.1. Your lookups then go to that resolver, encrypted, under its own privacy terms.

Tracker blocking. The Windows hosts file can send known advertising and tracking addresses nowhere, for every browser and app on the PC at once. Editing it by hand needs administrator rights and care, so keep a copy of the original first.

Why settings come back

Large Windows feature updates sometimes reset or reintroduce settings, and new versions add new switches. It is worth walking through this list again after each major update, roughly once a year, and whenever a new privacy page appears in Settings.

How XLUNA Privacy Guard Pro handles this

XLUNA Privacy Guard Pro gathers 21 of these protections in one place and shows a privacy index from 0 to 100, with an exposure map of what is still open. Pick a posture, Default, Balanced or Maximum, or change protections one at a time. Balanced covers telemetry, advertising and suggestions and leaves your camera, microphone, location and Bluetooth working. A revert check shows what Windows has switched back since, app permissions can be set one app at a time, and the optional tracker blocking and encrypted DNS work as described above. Every change is recorded on your PC and can be undone, and the app itself collects nothing. It is on the Microsoft Store with a 24-hour free trial.