Windows 10 - settings menu on 1511

This page looks at the settings which are available through the Settings menu on Windows 10 1511, they are all quite easy for non-technical people to do, and may provide users with a bit of privacy from Microsoft`s infinite desire to track everthing you do.

Settings - Privacy

The first place to start is in the "Settings" environment, which is available in the "All apps" menu.

Select the "Privacy" option, go into every one of the pages ( 15 of them on my laptop ! ) and turn every option off - unless of course you want them on.

Settings - updates

With Windows 10 Microsoft have introduced two characteristics that to me are both big no-no`s.

The first is that Windows Update is always on, you can`t switch it off.

Well, you are not supposed to be able to switch it off - you can always disable the Windows Update service.

With Microsoft`s recent history of releasing updates that screw up computers, I reckon there is a bigger chance of an update screwing up your computer than there is of your computer being hacked via the network.

The second is even more weird - Microsoft have introduced the concept of peer-to-peer updating - the idea is that your computer gets an update from Microsoft or from somewhere else, and it then offers that update to any and every other computer it can talk to.

I guess it saves Microsoft from having to run huge server farms to feed updates to the millions of Windows 10 machines out there.

It does of course mean that your internet data allowance is being used up sending updates to other computers.

The implications for security are horrendous - it is going to be so easy for bad guys to modify updates, then offer them to every computer in the world to download.

Your IP address is being tranmsmitted all over the place, and everyone who picks it up will know that it is a Windows 10 machine.

And worms are going to have a field day - all their Christmas`s have come at once.

So go to "Settings" / "Update and Security" / "Advanced Options" - click on "Choose how updates are delivered".

Turn off the switch.

In theory at least, that should kill peer-to-peer updating.

From Google, it appears that peer-to-peer updating uses a form of torrent technology. I don`t have experience of torrent technology, so I can`t go into any detail about it, however it would seem to suffer from two security risks - the first is that it is designed around a man-in-the-middle technology, so presumably it is vulnerable to all the risks of man-in-the-middle attacks.

The second is that there is an additional form of networking technology sitting at the computer perimeter, so there is now an additional attack surface.

Autoplay

You would think that Microsoft had learned by now, but they haven`t, and Autoplay is enabled by default.

Go to "Settings" / "Devices" / "Autoplay"

Turn it off

Installing apps

A setting I came across that I think would be better changed is a set of settings about from where you can install apps - it is at

"Settings" / "Update and Security" / "For Developers"

By default it is on the middle option that allows apps to be installed from any trusted source. My inclination would be to select the first option which only allows apps to be installed from the Windows Store, unless of course you need to set it differently.

User accounts and passwords

Because this is an upgrade to Windows 10, and not a new installation, the accounts that existed on the previous version of Windows 7 or 8.1 continue to exist in Windows 10

The account that was set up when Windows7 or 8.1 was first installed and configured by the user is the administrator account. Don`t use this account for normal day-to-day work. Only use it for administration.

Go to "Settings" / "Accounts" / "Family and other users".

If it doesn`t already exist, create a new account that is a Standard user, and give it a decent password - use this account for day-to-day stuff.

If you are doing stuff with the administrator account, and you get attacked, the attacker can do pretty much anything to your computer.

If you are doing stuff with a Standard account, an attacker would be more limited in what they could do - at least that is the theory, although it seems to be that loads of programmes can be installed just the same as if the user is an administrator.

You can extend the limitations of a standard user account by going to "Control Panel" / "User accounts" / "Change user account control settings" and push the slider up to the top.

It does mean that both standard and admin users get more pop-ups whenever they try to install anything - Vista was famous for this - so you need to weigh up if the extra security is worth the annoyance.

Metered connections

Windows 10 has awareness as to whether a connection is metered, or whether it has unlimited bandwidth. I haven`t looked at this in any detail, as it appears that my installation of Windows 10 doesn`t allow me to select whether a Wi-Fi connection is metered or not.

However if you can get it to work, in amongst some of the various settings that are available through "Settings", you can choose whether to switch on or off a sensitivity to metered connections.

It isn`t really a security issue, but it could save running up large bills for downloads that are happening in the background.

Some of the places that are worth looking at include :-

"Settings" / "System" / "Offline Maps"

"Settings" / "Devices" / "Printers and Scanners"

"Settings" / "Devices" / "Connected devices"

From the internet, it appears that in Windows 10 you can`t define an ethernet connection as metered.

website design by ron-t

website hosting by freevirtualservers.com

+ +