Windows 11 collects diagnostic data to help Microsoft maintain security, troubleshoot problems, improve compatibility, and develop new features. Some of this information is required for Windows to operate properly, while additional diagnostic data is optional.

If you prefer to share as little optional information as possible, Windows 11 provides several privacy controls that let you reduce diagnostic data, personalized recommendations, advertising identifiers, activity history, location access, and other forms of data sharing.

You cannot completely eliminate all Windows diagnostic data through the normal Settings app. Microsoft requires a minimum level of diagnostic data for Windows to remain secure, up to date, and functioning properly.

This guide shows you how to configure the privacy options available in Windows 11 26H2 without disabling essential Windows services or security features.

Important: Privacy settings can affect features such as location services, voice recognition, personalized recommendations, Find My Device, and Microsoft account experiences. Only disable features you don’t use.

1. Turn Off Optional Diagnostic Data

The easiest way to reduce Windows telemetry is to disable Optional diagnostic data.

Windows has two main categories:

• Required diagnostic data — the minimum information Microsoft says is necessary to keep Windows secure, updated, reliable, and functioning normally.
• Optional diagnostic data — additional information that can include app activity, device health information, enhanced error reporting, and other diagnostic details.

How to disable Optional diagnostic data

1- Press Windows + I to open Settings.

2- Select Privacy & security.

3- Click Diagnostics & feedback.

4- Under Diagnostic data, turn off:
Send optional diagnostic data.

Windows will continue sending the required diagnostic data.

This is preferable to trying to disable Windows diagnostic services manually.

2. Turn Off Personalized Offers

Recent versions of Windows 11 use Personalized offers in places where older versions displayed Tailored experiences.

Microsoft says Personalized offers can use Windows diagnostic data and other information to provide personalized tips, ads, and recommendations.

Disable Personalized offers

1- Open Settings.

2- Select Privacy & security.

3- Open Recommendations & offers.

4- Find the option for personalized tips, ads, and recommendations.

5- Turn it Off.

Depending on your exact Windows build, the wording may differ slightly.

If you still see Tailored experiences instead, disable that option under:

Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback

Microsoft is gradually replacing the older Tailored experiences setting with Personalized offers.

3. Disable the Windows Advertising ID

Windows can provide applications with a unique advertising identifier that apps and advertising networks can use for personalized advertising.

If you don’t want Windows apps to use this identifier, you can disable it.

How to disable Advertising ID

On current Windows 11 versions:

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Privacy & security.
3. Select Recommendations & offers.
4. Find the setting related to personalized ads using your advertising ID.
5. Turn it Off.

Microsoft notes that disabling the advertising ID does not reduce the number of advertisements you see. It simply prevents compatible Windows apps from using that identifier for this particular form of personalized advertising.

4. Turn Off Online Speech Recognition

Windows can use Microsoft’s online speech recognition service for features such as voice input and speech recognition.

If you don’t use these features, you can disable online speech recognition.

How to disable it

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Privacy & security.
3. Click Speech.
4. Turn Online speech recognition off.

Keep this enabled if you regularly use Windows voice features that depend on Microsoft’s online speech recognition.

5. Disable Inking and Typing Personalization

Windows can use inking and typing data to improve features such as handwriting recognition, autocomplete, next-word prediction, and spelling correction.

If you don’t want to participate in this type of personalization, disable the relevant option.

How to find the setting

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Privacy & security.
3. Open Inking & typing personalization.
4. Turn off the personalization option available on your system.

Microsoft notes that this setting controls the collection of samples of typing or handwriting used to improve these features.

The exact wording can change between Windows 11 releases.

6. Disable Activity History

Windows can maintain activity history on the device and, depending on your configuration, activity information can also be associated with your Microsoft account.

If you don’t use Windows activity-history features, you can turn them off.

How to change Activity History

1- Open Settings.

2- Go to Privacy & security.

3- Select Activity history.

4- Turn off the available activity-history options.

5- Use Clear history if you want to remove locally stored activity history.

Activity History is separate from Windows diagnostic data, so disabling optional diagnostic data does not automatically disable every activity-history feature.

7. Review the Privacy Dashboard

If you use a Microsoft account, Windows Settings aren’t the only place where privacy information can be managed.

Microsoft provides an online Privacy Dashboard where you can review and manage certain activity and account-related data.

This can include information associated with:

• Apps and services
• Browsing activity
• Search activity
• Location
• Advertising preferences

Microsoft explains that some activity information can be associated with your Microsoft account and managed through the Privacy Dashboard.

Microsoft Privacy Dashboard:
https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/

Review the available categories and delete information you no longer want associated with your account.

8. Disable Location Services If You Don’t Need Them

Windows location services can allow Windows and supported applications to determine your device’s location.

This can be useful for:

• Maps
• Weather
• Find My Device
• Location-based applications

If you don’t use location-based features, you can disable location access.

How to disable location services

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Privacy & security.
3. Select Location.
4. Turn Location services off.

Alternatively, you can leave Location services enabled and control access for individual applications.

This is generally a better approach if you occasionally use maps or other location-aware applications.

9. Review Camera and Microphone Permissions

Windows allows you to control which applications can access your camera and microphone.

You don’t necessarily need to disable these features globally.

Instead, review the application permissions.

Camera

Go to:

Settings > Privacy & security > Camera

Review which applications have camera access.

Microphone

Go to:

Settings > Privacy & security > Microphone

Review which applications can access your microphone.

For applications you don’t recognize or don’t use, turn off access.

This provides more practical privacy protection than simply disabling the hardware globally.

10. Review App Diagnostics Permissions

Windows also lets you control whether applications can access diagnostic information about other running applications.

Microsoft says this can include information such as:

• The name of a running application
• Package name
• User account running the application
• Memory usage
• Other process-level information used for diagnostics

How to control App diagnostics

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Privacy & security.
3. Find App diagnostics.
4. Turn off access if you don’t want compatible apps to access this information.

Desktop applications may not appear in the same permission lists because traditional Win32 applications are handled differently by Windows.

11. Configure Microsoft Edge Tracking Prevention

Windows privacy settings don’t automatically control everything that happens inside your browser.

If you use Microsoft Edge, it has its own tracking-prevention controls.

Enable Strict Tracking Prevention

1- Open Microsoft Edge.

2- Click the three-dot menu.

3- Select Settings.

4- Open Privacy, search, and services.

5- Find Tracking prevention.

6- Select Strict if it is compatible with the websites you use.

Strict tracking prevention blocks more trackers than Balanced mode, but it can also cause some websites to behave incorrectly.

If a website breaks

Switch that particular site back to a less restrictive setting rather than weakening your entire browser configuration.

12. Disable Unnecessary Personalized Content in Edge

Microsoft Edge includes additional settings related to personalization, advertising, search, and browsing data.

Open:

Settings > Privacy, search, and services

Review the available options under sections related to:

• Personalization
• Advertising
• Search
• Diagnostic data
• Optional connected experiences

Disable features you don’t use.

Keep in mind that Edge’s privacy controls are separate from Windows diagnostic-data settings. Microsoft notes that Edge diagnostic data has its own controls on supported Windows versions.

13. Disable Find My Device If You Don’t Need It

Find My Device can help locate a Windows PC if it is lost.

If you don’t want this feature and understand that disabling it removes that recovery capability, you can turn it off.

How to disable Find My Device

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Privacy & security.
3. Open Find my device.
4. Turn the feature off.

Microsoft documents Find My Device as a separate privacy/control setting in Windows.

Should you disable it?

For a laptop that you frequently travel with, keeping Find My Device enabled may be more useful than the small privacy benefit of disabling it.

14. Disable Diagnostic Data Through Group Policy

Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and some other editions provide additional administrative controls through the Local Group Policy Editor.

This is useful if you want to manage diagnostic-data settings centrally rather than relying only on the Settings application.

Open Group Policy Editor

Press:

Windows + R

Enter:

gpedit.msc

Press Enter.

Then navigate to:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Data Collection and Preview Builds

Look for:

Allow Diagnostic Data

On newer Windows versions, the policy name may use Allow diagnostic data rather than Allow Telemetry.

Microsoft documents this policy under the Data Collection and Preview Builds section.

Important limitation

Don’t interpret this policy as meaning that Windows can send zero diagnostic data.

Microsoft distinguishes between required diagnostic data and optional diagnostic data. Required diagnostic data remains part of Windows’ normal operation and security model.

For a personal PC, using Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback is usually sufficient.

15. Don’t Disable DiagTrack With Random Commands

Older privacy guides often recommend commands such as:

sc config DiagTrack start= disabled

or:

sc config dmwappushservice start= disabled

I don’t recommend making these commands part of a standard Windows 11 privacy guide.

Windows diagnostics are integrated with the operating system, and manually disabling individual services is not equivalent to turning off all diagnostic data.

It can also create problems with Windows functionality or make troubleshooting more difficult.

If your goal is simply to reduce optional telemetry, use Windows’ supported privacy controls first.

16. Disable Peer-to-Peer Update Sharing If You Prefer

Windows can use Delivery Optimization to download Windows updates and Microsoft Store content.

Depending on your configuration, Delivery Optimization can also use other PCs to obtain or distribute update content.

If you don’t want your PC participating in this peer-to-peer behavior, you can change its settings.

How to configure Delivery Optimization

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Windows Update.
3. Select Advanced options.
4. Open Delivery Optimization.
5. Turn off Allow downloads from other devices.

This does not disable Windows Update itself.

It only changes how update content can be obtained from other devices.

17. Use O&O ShutUp10++ for More Privacy Controls

If you don’t want to manually navigate dozens of Windows privacy settings, O&O ShutUp10++ provides a centralized interface.

O&O ShutUp10++ official website

O&O says the free version works with Windows 10 and Windows 11, requires no installation, and provides recommendations for individual privacy settings. Its current releases continue to receive Windows 11 compatibility updates.

The tool can manage settings related to:

• Telemetry
• Advertising ID
• Personalized experiences
• Windows recommendations
• Location
• Diagnostic features
• Microsoft Edge
• Other Windows privacy controls

How to use it safely

1. Download it from the official O&O website.
2. Create a System Restore Point first.
3. Launch the portable application.
4. Review the recommendations.
5. Apply only settings you understand.
6. Avoid blindly applying every available restriction.

O&O provides recommendations for individual settings rather than requiring you to disable everything.

18. Create a Restore Point Before Advanced Privacy Tweaks

Before using Group Policy, third-party privacy utilities, or extensive system modifications, create a restore point.

Create a restore point

1- Press Windows + S.

2- Search for:

Create a restore point

3- Open the result.

4- Select your system drive.

5- Click Configure if System Protection is disabled.

6- Enable System Protection.

7- Click Create.

Give the restore point a recognizable name.

This gives you a way to roll back certain system configuration changes if something doesn’t behave as expected.

What You Should NOT Disable for Privacy

Aggressive Windows privacy guides sometimes recommend disabling important security and system components.

Avoid blindly disabling:

• Microsoft Defender
• Windows Firewall
• Windows Update
• SmartScreen
• Security Center
• Windows Security notifications
• Core networking services
• System recovery
• Essential driver services

The goal should be to reduce unnecessary data sharing, not to make Windows less secure or less reliable.

Does Disabling Windows Telemetry Improve Performance?

Usually, don’t expect a major performance improvement.

Reducing optional diagnostic data can be useful if your priority is privacy, but it isn’t a meaningful FPS or CPU optimization.

Similarly, disabling Windows services just to save a few megabytes of RAM is generally not worthwhile on a modern PC.

If Windows is slow, investigate the actual cause instead:

• Too many startup applications
• Insufficient RAM
• A failing or slow HDD
• High CPU usage
• Background synchronization
• Malware
• Thermal throttling
• Excessive browser tabs
• Storage problems

Privacy and performance are related in some cases, but they shouldn’t be treated as the same optimization problem.

Windows 11 26H2 Privacy Checklist

For a balanced privacy configuration, consider the following:

• Optional diagnostic data: Off
• Personalized offers: Off
• Advertising ID: Off
• Online speech recognition: Off if unused
• Inking & typing personalization: Off if unused
• Activity history: Off if unused
• Location services: Off if unused
• Camera permissions: Review
• Microphone permissions: Review
• App diagnostics: Review
• Edge tracking prevention: Strict if compatible
• Delivery Optimization: Disable peer-to-peer downloads if preferred
• Find My Device: Keep enabled if you want the recovery feature
• O&O ShutUp10++: Optional for centralized control
• System Restore: Create a restore point before advanced changes

Conclusion

Windows 11 gives you considerably more control over privacy than many older guides suggest, but there is an important distinction between reducing optional data collection and completely disabling Windows telemetry.

The safest approach is to start with Microsoft’s built-in controls: turn off Optional diagnostic data, disable Personalized offers and the Advertising ID, review activity history, and restrict access to location, camera, microphone, and app-diagnostic information that you don’t need.

For more advanced control, Windows 11 Pro users can use Group Policy, while utilities such as O&O ShutUp10++ provide a more convenient interface for reviewing a larger number of privacy settings.

Avoid old guides that tell you to disable random Windows services or execute large batches of registry commands. Windows 11 26H2 continues to evolve, and aggressive privacy tweaks can sometimes interfere with updates, troubleshooting, or Windows features.

The best privacy setup is therefore not necessarily the one that disables the most features. It’s the one that reduces data sharing while keeping the Windows features and security protections you actually use.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I completely disable Windows 11 telemetry?

Not through the normal consumer privacy settings. Windows continues to collect required diagnostic data that Microsoft says is necessary to keep Windows secure, updated, reliable, and functioning normally. You can disable Optional diagnostic data to reduce additional collection.

Does disabling telemetry make Windows 11 faster?

Usually not by a noticeable amount. Disabling optional diagnostics is primarily a privacy choice rather than a performance optimization.

Does turning off Advertising ID stop Windows ads?

No. Microsoft explicitly says disabling Advertising ID does not reduce the number of advertisements. It prevents compatible apps from using that Windows advertising identifier for personalized advertising.

Should I disable the DiagTrack service?

For most users, no. Manually disabling system services is more aggressive than necessary. Use Windows’ privacy controls or a reputable privacy-management tool instead.

Is O&O ShutUp10++ safe to use?

O&O provides it as a Windows privacy-management utility and continues to support Windows 11. However, it changes system privacy settings, so you should review each recommendation rather than applying every available option blindly.

Does O&O ShutUp10++ work on Windows 11 26H2?

O&O’s current releases support Windows 11, including ongoing updates to its privacy controls and compatibility. Download the latest version directly from O&O rather than using an old copy from a third-party download site.

Should I disable Location Services?

Only if you don’t use location-dependent features. On a laptop, you may want to keep it enabled because it can support features such as Find My Device.

Should I disable Find My Device?

Not necessarily. If your laptop is lost or stolen, Find My Device can be useful. The privacy trade-off should be considered against the recovery benefit.