Windows 10 and 11 bring a lot of new features and aims to make your daily work as easy and hassle-free as possible. Microsoft does grant you some further rights in order that you can set your privacy the way you would like it. However, these new settings often only apply to programs that were installed after the Update, and some old settings are simply reset to “Standard“ automatically. Windows 10 and 11 quite freely shares your personal data with Microsoft and certain apps. Some services protocol your entire keyboard entries, share your WLAN access data with your Facebook contacts or connect your computer without asking permission to a public – and potentially unprotected – network. While this means that you and your contacts do not have to grapple with complicated WLAN passwords, it also poses a significant security risk.
Windows lets you manage some of the available privacy settings in a new easier to use dashboard. Unfortunately, it does not give you full control over your privacy on your very own PC. Without a deep understanding of Windows, it is very difficult to protect your privacy.
Protect your privacy under Windows 10 and Windows 11 – Free!
O&O Software’s freeware O&O ShutUp10 means you have full control over which comfort functions under Windows 10 and Windows 11 you wish to use, and you decide when the passing on of your data goes too far. Using a very simple interface, you decide how Windows 10 and 11 should respect your privacy by making recommendations and giving tips for which unwanted functions should be deactivated. And should you change your mind later on, e.g. giving the personal assistant Cortana a try, all changes can be reverted with a single click.
Alternatively, ensure permanent, automatic privacy with the Premium Edition
The new O&O ShutUp10 Premium Edition ensures that your chosen privacy settings remain permanently enforced – fully automatically, even after Windows updates or system changes. Once configured, O&O ShutUp10 Premium continuously monitors your system and automatically restores your preferred settings whenever changes are detected. This gives you permanent control over what Windows is allowed to collect and share about you.
Particularly after Windows updates or major system modifications, it is common for previously configured privacy options to be reactivated or altered. O&O ShutUp10 Premium detects such changes and ensures that the desired configurations remain permanently intact.
New in Version 3.4.1124
Added:
- Disable Office “First Run” movie
- Disable Office sign-in
- Disable cloud consumer account status
- Restrict crash dump collection
- Disable Microsoft user features
- Disable override of location access rights
- Disable display of office.com files in Explorer
- Resetting to factory settings is recorded in the undo history and can be undone like any other session
Improved:
- Description of “Disable WiFi Direct” lists affected features
- Profile names limited to 64, notes to 1,000 characters; over-long names are shortened
- Icons use consistent 1-pixel line weight in menus and profile management
- Message when switching automatic protection distinguishes service error from change error
- Background service errors recorded in Windows event log and diagnostics log
- Corrupted configuration files reported at startup; undo history is retried if saving failed
- “Check online for new version” removed from Premium Edition (automatic checks with notifications there)
Fixed:
- “Disable automatic driver updates through Windows Update”: Home Edition uses edition-independent policy
- “Disable automatic driver updates through Windows Update” uses durable policy value (not overwritable)
- “Do not show this message again” option reliably suppresses dialogs
- Notice for disabled system restore points no longer repeats for each change
- Long profile names no longer hide the edit button
- Message boxes with long text are height-limited and scrollable
- Icons align exactly to pixel grid (not offset/blurry)
- Automatic protection activates even when service is busy; communication failures are retried
- Failed automatic protection toggle no longer changes state
- “App access to device location” no longer contains double space
- Non-existent settings (for installed Windows version) no longer monitored; empty codes don’t appear
- Undo with unreachable service: error reported, session retained
- Error cause correctly reported (not falsely “blocked by Windows”)
- “Reset all settings” with unreachable service shows error (not success)
- “Restore initial settings” reports error with unreachable service
- Service failure: write access is re-evaluated and failure is reported
- Undo runs in background (non-blocking) with unresponsive service
- Automatic protection without Hybrid Mode: logon enforcement applies only once; ongoing drift rate-limited
- After factory reset: leftover policy subkeys cleaned by service
- About dialog shows actual result of last update check
- Program window opens in foreground (not minimized) from tray icon
- Dialogs use normal window background (not gray)
- Language directories installed in new directory during update
Compatible with Windows 11 and Windows 10; x86, x64, and ARM architecture.
Available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Chinese (simplified).
Download now – no install, no crapware!
Download O&O ShutUp10 free from our Website. The free Edition of O&O ShutUp10 does not have to be installed – it can be simply run directly and immediately on your PC (portable). And it will not install or download retrospectively unwanted or unnecessary software – no crapware.
