Windows 10 telemetry: Time for a level playing field

When, why and how much diagnostic data Windows 10 sends back to Microsoft has been a source of considerable debate for the last couple of weeks. By default Windows 10 collects some data about how Windows and Windows apps are performing plus some additional details - such as about crashes, so-called telemetry data. (Calling all this 'telemetry data' makes it sound much more grand than it is, like the sort of information that would be sent back by a probe en route to a distant star, rather than the more humdrum details of why your PC crashed halfway through you writing a Facebook post.)

But what has some people worried is that while the amount of data your Windows PC will send to Microsoft can be reduced to a very basic level, for home users it can't be stopped completely.

There are lots of reasons why sending this sort of data to Microsoft is a good idea - it can help its engineers spot and fix common bugs faster than they could if they were waiting to users to complain.

And while the default telemetry setting for Windows 10 Home and Pro users is 'full', when dialled down to the 'basic' telemetry settings Microsoft is getting, as Ed Bott points out, very basic data about crashes, hangs and security settings that can't be tracked back to a person or PC: hardly a massive invasion of privacy.