Windows 10: Is there a way to stop Microsoft spying without turning off Cortana?

So the question is in the title. Right from the start of Windows 10 Cortana was one of my favourite features but then the Web started to fill up with articles saying that Cortana is a Microsoft tool that sends all your data to them and the only way to stop them is by turning it off. I've been using third party software such as W10Privacy to keep me safe but I still don't feel that way. So is there anything I can do to stop all the spyware without getting rid off my digital assistant?

:)

 

Is there a way to way to reset a PC without bitlocker code or password

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Is there a way to way to reset a PC without bitlocker code or password

Is there a way to way to restore a PC, with bitlocker active, back to factory settings without access to either the bitlocker code or password?

I work for a small company and have been asked to reset a small inventory of laptop PCs back to factory settings for re-use. The original users have left the company. Local admin accounts were not set up on any of these PC's.

 

You can not have both, you can try to compromise, but Cortana needs your personal info in order to work.

Cortana and privacy

BTW, if you disable DiagTrack service, which is the core of privacy leaks, Cortana, Store, MS account fail to work properly.

 

There are registry hacks that work but, you will shut down cortana doing so. Sorry. The way it is.

 

K, it's not spying, for Pete's sake!

If you ask Cortana to send your buddy Mike, (for example), an email, then MS needs to store that information.
If you don't want MS storing that information then call Mike on the telephone!

 

And than the telephone will store that data !!

 

I'd love to know why or where people are getting their information...to make them feel "unsafe" using Windows 10, but completely safe with any other device, like a smartphone, constantly connected to the internet.

 

The why is quite simple - It makes your website more valuable to advertisers if it is visited by more people. Bad news attracts more people that good, so unscrupulous people make up false News to attract more people and therefore sell more advertising

 

Right, I can see a lot of Click-bait articles around. Judging by the comments on them it's good thing internet is in between, otherwise blood would be on the streets.

 

I have often thought what is it that makes people think they are so important that they believe MS has people hired to spy on them? That their importance is on such a high level that all their keystrokes, personal information and such is stored and analysed.

Why do people rather believe unconfirmed bad news and rumours than confirmed facts?

 

Because it's more interesting ? Many are still disputing holocaust, moon landings and hunt for Hitler is still afoot.

 

The other area of confusion is around the sending of data to Microsoft,

When you want to send an invite to an event to your, (and everyone's), Friend Mike, Cortana needs access to your calendar and address book,

These are held locally and used locally otherwise with all the help Cortana is giving, to the millions of users out there, Microsoft would be buried in data that is irrelevant to them.

They are interested in making it possible for you to invite Mike to a party - they have no intention in joining you, they've got better things to do like make operating systems

 

Yes please, invite me to a party and I wouldn't care if MS knows about it even if it's BYOB party !!!

 

The majority of the new functionality that Windows offers is "Cloud based". Voice recognition, for instance, uses the vast resources of the cloud to do the voice processing so your local phone or computer doesn't have to. But, this requires sending the voice sample to Microsoft for analysis to determine what you said.

The same is true of things like spell and grammar checking. In order to have the most relevant and accurate results, they need to process this with far more resources than your typical device. Thus, they send what you type to the cloud to determine if it's misspelled or grammatically incorrect. But, that means they send what you type to Microsoft.

You have to trust that Microsoft isn't retaining a copy of that data, or using it for nefarious purposes. They might use that data as part of aggregated statistics, or they might use it to help target ads to you (don't get worked up... this would only be in circumstances where you're already receiving ads anyways, so targeted ads are obviously better than just random ones that don't apply).

You can call that "Spying", but I'd rather have the functionality. And if you have a Smartphone from another vendor (Apple/Google) they're doing the exact same things there as well.