Microsoft moves to quell Windows 10 privacy fears

US software maker Microsoft has moved to quell privacy fears over its new operating system, Windows 10, which was launched last Wednesday.

The new operating system, which has been generally well received as a significant improvement over its predecessor, Windows 8, has met with some disquiet over default settings which allow the operating system to collect large amounts of personal data, and which most users are unlikely to undo.

In a statement sent to the Nation from Microsoft Kenya, the company explained that the information collected helps to keep the operating systems and applications working properly.

"Windows does not collect personal information without your consent. To effectively provide Windows as a service, Microsoft gathers some performance, diagnostic and usage information that helps keep Windows and apps running properly. Microsoft uses this information to identify problems and develop fixes," the statement read.

According to the company's privacy statement, some of the information collected include "your typed and handwritten words", emails, conversations users have with the digital assistant, Cortana, location data and selections, such as stocks a user follows in a finance app, or the team a user supports in a sports app. Articles detailing privacy concerns have appeared in The Guardian, Newsweek and the Financial Times.

In the statement supplied Monday, the company says Microsoft does not sell the information customers provide it, but makes it available to employees and third-party engineers to improve Microsoft services.

Users can choose the level of information they send to it and selectively remove the information that Cortana, the digital assistant, tracks, while no biometric data from Windows Hello is shared with third parties, the company said.

One contributor, writing on the blog of US start-up funding company 'Y Combinator', expressed a desire for easier control. "I do think that Windows needs…just a simple switch to record or not record data," the user wrote.

The new operating system, which is the last that Windows will officially launch, allows users to enjoy a consistent experience with its applications across a range of devices, be they mobile phones, tablets, personal computers or game consoles. It also introduces biometric sign-in capabilities in its Windows Hello feature and a digital assistant called Cortana, which accepts voice instructions.

The new browser, Microsoft Edge, allows a user to write on, underline and draw directly on web pages as you would on a paper magazine article and share those marked-up pages, and the Reading View feature allows changes to the text layout and the font of a web page, as a user desires.

Yusuf Mehdi, a Senior Vice President at Microsoft, stated in a blog post on July 30 that more than 14 million devices were running Windows 10 24 hours after it was launched worldwide. In a video published the same day, he added that the company aims to reach one billion people over three years. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella travelled to Kenya for the launch.

Windows 10 is currently being supplied as a free upgrade to users who already possess genuine copies of Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1. Users of older systems such as Windows 6 and Windows XP are not eligible.

Source: Microsoft moves to quell Windows 10 privacy fears