Category: Security

Security Category

BBB Advises Internet Surfers to Use Caution

Protecting your identity is important and with Wi-Fi networks popping up nearly everywhere, many consumers don’t realize the dangers that come with using a Wi-Fi connection that is not their own. According to a recent poll conducted by Wakefield Research and Wi-Fi Alliance, 32 percent of respondents said they have tried to get on a Wi-Fi network that was not their own, a startling 18 percent more than a December 2008 poll. The Better Business Bureau, along with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urges consumers to think ahead before surfing the Web on a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Wi-Fi hotpots like coffee shops, libraries, airports, hotels and universities are all breeding grounds for hackers. According to the FTC, new hacking tools—available for free online—make hacking easy, even for users with limited technical know-how.

Consumers should be cautious before using a non-secure wireless network and before sending personal information via unencrypted websites. When surfing on a non-secure Internet connection, an individual’s personal information, private documents, contacts, photos and even login information can be up for grabs as other users on the network have the capability of seeing what is being sent.

Steve Cox, President and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, warns consumers against two popular security scams that can be associated with using an unsecure Internet connection. “Many consumers don’t realize the repercussions that come from using a Wi-Fi hotspot. Phishing, a popular e-mailing scam, and smishing, a SMS texting scam, grow exponentially when hackers obtain access to personal information on the Web via an unsecure Wi-Fi network.” BBB urges consumers to protect themselves from such scams by securing their Internet surfing.

In order to confirm that an Internet connection is secure, BBB advises consumers to follow the FTC’s top Wi-Fi tips:

• Make sure the connection is protected by a unique password. If a Wi-Fi hotspot doesn’t ask for a password, the Internet connection is not secure. If a hotspot asks for a password just to grant access, consumers should proceed as if the connection were unsecured. Only trust home and work internet connections that are protected by a customized user password. Wi-Fi hotspot connections with generic passwords are vulnerable to hackers.

• Transmitted information should be encrypted. When sending personal information like addresses, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers over the Internet, make sure the website is fully encrypted and the network is secure. Look for https (the “s” stands for secure) at the beginning of the URL address to confirm its security.

• Don’t stay permanently logged-in to wireless hotspots. Never leave your Internet connection running while your computer is unattended and make sure to log-off after every use.

• Change your passwords frequently. When creating new accounts, make sure you use different passwords. Do not use the same password for different sites. If one password is hacked, the chances of other accounts being hacked becomes greater with repeated passwords.

For more advice on security scams, visit www.bbb.org or to learn more about protecting your privacy online and what to do if your information is compromised, visit www.OnGuardOnline.gov and http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/02/wireless.shtm

iOS 9 PPTP VPN Setup Tutorial

Manual Setup

Step 1

Start from the home screen. Go to “Settings“.

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Step 2

Go to “General“.

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Step 3

Then proceed to “VPN“. You may need to scroll down to find it.

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Step 4

Tap on “Add VPN Configuration…“.

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Step 5

Tap on “Type“.

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Step 6

Select “PPTP” by tapping on it.

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Step 7

“Description” is the name of the connection, can be any as you like, we recommend StrongVPN.
Fill the “Server“, “Account” and “Password” fields.
“Server” is your server address. It is not remote.sjtechies.com, that is just an example.
“Account” and “Password”. Account is neither Test\jsmith nor your email.
“Encryption Level” option must be set to “Auto“. “Send All Traffic” should be “ON“.
When the fields are filled up correctly, tap “Done“.

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Step 8

It will give you the warning about using the PPTP connection, which has some downsides.
Tap Save button. (Hint: If you want stronger encryption just use L2TP.)

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Step 9

Now connect by tapping the switch button to the right of VPN Status.
(If you have more than one VPN configuration listed, the one with a check next to it will be connected. You can tap on a vpn configuration name to select it, or tap on the ‘i’ to the right of the name if you need to update the settings.)

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Step 10

It will show you “Connecting…” status, wait while it connects.
When the VPN connection is established the status will be “Connected“. Also notice the “VPN” badge on the top bar.

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Step 11

To check if your IP address is changed successfully open the Safari browser and proceed to http://strongvpn.com/.

Have questions?

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Symantec Security Cloud

Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud Windows client upgrade scheduled for August 5, 2019

The SEP Cloud client for Windows is updated periodically to provide improvements and defect fixes. The next update is scheduled to start on August 5, 2019.

WHAT’S NEW ?

In this release, the SEP Cloud client for Windows will be updated to version 22.18 to provide an enhanced protection framework and client stability.

Fixed an issue related to the OS feature on the agent, which was randomly failing with a medium severity while applying the Management policy.
Fixed an issue related to the security event: “A process modified a critical system resource.” This event was erroneously displayed in the console as a threat detection/remediation event. The event is now removed and will not be displayed in the console.
Enhancement to process HTTP error 429 status code request. The SEP Cloud agent will not attempt to connect with the cloud when the 429 status code is returned, but instead, try to connect based on the timeout information.
If the timeout information is not available, then the product will retry to connect in 15 minutes by default.

IMPACT

All Windows devices that are currently enrolled in SEP Cloud will automatically be updated in the background, using LiveUpdate. This update does not affect the security of your devices.

To start, the update is distributed to a small set of clients over the first seven days of the release, and then the remaining clients will get the update. If you want to update sooner, you can run LiveUpdate from the Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud client UI.

Action Required

Windows device restart
All users with Windows devices will be prompted to restart their devices after the update. Even if they delay the restart, their Windows clients remain Protected.

If no user is logged on the device when the upgrade is made available, then the prompt is provided until the user logs on. The product update will not force the restart of the device.

Windows installation package refresh
Administrators who created a Windows installation package before August 5 should create and distribute a new one after August 5 to use for new Windows package deployments.

If you have any questions, please email us at support@sjtechies.com or call us at (856) 745-9990.

Windows 10 SSTP VPN Manual Setup Tutorial

Manual Setup

Step 1

Go to your start menu, and type in “network”. In the search results click on “Network and Sharing Center”

Step 2

Select Connect to a workplace and click Next

Step 3

Click on Use My Internet Conection (VPN)

Step 4

Enter in the internet address (provided by your IT Professional), Name then Create

Step 5

Network and Sharing Center window should still be opened. Click on Change Adapter Settings

Step 6

Right Click on the new connection you made, then go to Properties

Step 7

Go to the Security Tab, and change your properties to be the same as the below image. Press OK once done.

Step 8

Right Click the Connection and choose “Connect” option.

Step 9

You will be prompted for your username and password for your VPN. (provided by your IT Professional). Enter them as provided. ex. DOMAIN\username and password.

After a few seconds it will connect and show you “Connected” status.

Step 10

You can also check the VPN status in the Network applet (the icon in your system tray at the bottom right).

Connecting the SSTP on Windows 10

Find the network connections icon in the bottom right corner of the screen (near the clock). The icon can be in the shape of computer display or wireless signal meter (you can see it on Step 10). Click on that icon. In the appeared list click on any network connection.
After that you will see another window with the connection list, click on theVPN connection (the connection name can be different, you have set it up on Step 5).
Click the “Connect” button under the connection name.

Disconnecting the SSTP on Windows 10

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Here are the top features of iOS 11

The 10 best features you won’t be able to live without

Ready for some new iPhone and iPad features? iOS 11 is now out of beta and ready for the public. Here are the best features that came with it.

Get ready to back up your iPhone and iPad: iOS 11 is here. Apple released the latest version of its mobile operating system on Tuesday, introducing us to a handful of brand-new features. In fact, this version of iOS feels like the most ambitious version of iOS that Apple has launched in a while. Here are the best new features that we already can’t live without.

Siri’s new tricks

Siri is one of those features that keeps getting better with each software upgrade, and iOS 11 is no exception. This time, Siri gets a new voice, plus a super-helpful visual interface that lets you even edit your voice request with text input. And now, Siri is able to translate phrases for you—it can process English to Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Apple said that it will add more languages in the months to come.

Customizable Control Center

Currently, Control Center in iOS 10 takes up two panels, so you have to navigate to the second panel to access volume controls. However, iOS 11 brings everything back to a single screen and relies more on 3D Touch. Not only that, but you can also customize which controls you’d like to have on there. You can add new controls to quickly access your Wallet, turn on Low Power Mode, and even start Screen Recording—an all-new feature for iOS.

New Live Photo effects

Apple has given us more reasons to want to take Live Photos, those GIF-like moving images. In iOS 11, you can add effects to your Live Photos after you take them. Find a Live Photo on your camera roll and then swipe up. You will be able to add a looping effect to your photo or make it “bounce” back-and-forth, similar to an Instagram Boomerang. You can also make it a long exposure shot for better photos of low-lit scenarios.

Drag-and-drop on iPad

iOS 11 makes for better multitasking on iPad. Now you can drag-and-drop images, links, and files between apps that are open side-by-side, either in Split View or Side Bar mode. In fact, you can drag-and-drop an app from Dock onto Side Bar mode, and drag that secondary app from the right to the left side of the screen.

Markup your screenshots

Everytime you take a screenshot in iOS 11, it will automatically remain floating on the lower left. You can swipe it offscreen to save it to your camera roll as per usual, or you can tap on it to go into Markup. So now, you can add handwritten notes or comments either with your finger or with your Apple Pencil if you’re using an iPad Pro.

Social profiles in Apple Music

Apple Music gets social in iOS 11. Taking a page from Spotify, Apple Music members now have a profile on the streaming app. You can use your profile page to showcase your favorite playlists, as well as the albums you’ve recently listened to. You can also follow friends on Apple Music, and their profile photo will show up next to the albums they’ve listened to. However, there is currently no way to listen to music on private or secret mode, so be ready for your Apple Music followers to get a glimpse at all your guilty pleasures.

Do Not Disturb While Driving

This feature could be a real life-saver. iOS 11 also introduces “Do Not Disturb While Driving” so that the screen goes totally dark when you’re on the road. You can activate this mode manually via Control Center or have it turn on automatically whenever you’re connected to CarPlay or a car’s Bluetooth. In addition, you can go into your Do Not Disturb Settings to setup an automatic response to all your incoming texts to alert people that you’re driving and will get back to them as soon as you arrive.

Document scanner in Notes

There’s no reason to run to the office scanner anymore, thanks to iOS 11. Using the Notes app you can now press the plus (+) sign to access an all-new document scanner. You can scan several documents at once and apply different filters. The scans can be saved inside your Notes, and you can also export them as PDF files that are Markup-friendly, so you can add your signature and send it back.

Search for handwritten Notes

Another cool feature that iOS 11 brings to Notes is the ability to search for things you’ve written our by hand. If you prefer to take notes using your finger or your Apple Pencil on iPad Pro, they are now searchable.

QuickType keyboard improvements

iOS 11 also makes significant improvements to the software keyboard. On iPhone, you can press-down on the globe icon and choose one-handed mode. This will bring all the keys closer to either the left or right side of the screen to make it easier to type with one hand. You can also make one-handed mode your default keyboard by going into Settings. For iPad, you can now type numbers, symbols, and punctuation marks without switching to a secondary keyboard. Simply flick down on the key to insert the character you need.

What we’re still waiting for

Apple previewed a lot of new features for iOS 11, but not all of them are yet available. Here’s a quick look at what’s to come later this fall.

1. Apple Pay Cash for sending or receiving cash within Messages

2. Indoor maps for Apple Maps to help you navigate popular shopping centers and major airports worldwide.

Have questions?

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Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

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Trump administration to move all federal IT into the cloud: Is it realistic?

US president Donald Trump recently signed an executive order on cyber-security that mandated federal systems move to the cloud. But, questions remain on the feasibility of that goal.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump signed his long-awaited executive order on cyber-security, laying out his plans for addressing security in federal IT and across US infrastructure. The most ambitious mandate was that all federal IT systems move to the cloud.

President Trump’s homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, said in a announcement that the government had spent too much time and money “protecting antiquated and outdated systems.” Bossert cited the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack as evidence of failing legacy systems.

Bossert said, “From this point forward, the President has issued a preference in federal procurement in federal IT for shared systems. We’ve got to move to the cloud and try to protect ourselves instead of fracturing our security posture.”

The executive order officially states: “Agency heads shall show preference in their procurement for shared IT services, to the extent permitted by law, including email, cloud, and cyber-security services.” It also calls for a report to be completed within 90 days describing the legal, budgetary, technical considerations for “shared IT services, including email, cloud, and cyber-security services,” along with a timeline for the initiatives and their potential cost-effectiveness.

Peter Tran, the senior director of worldwide advanced cyber defense practice at RSA and former US Department of Defense employee, said the anchor for the executive order will initially be the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), to both assess current risk gaps and determine a strategy moving forward. This will be the pacesetter by which all building blocks will either rise or fall specifically on the call to action to go cloud in an expedited manner…..security being a forethought,” Tran said.

However, the effectiveness of a move to the cloud to improve security among these federal systems remains up to debate. John Pironti, cyber-security expert and president of IP Architects, said that it could create a double-edged sword.

“The idea of standardization of security controls and capabilities through a cloud-only mandate in theory may make sense to establish an enhanced baseline for security, but at the same time creates a central target and common set of controls and capabilities that adversaries can then focus their attention on in order to be successful in their attacks,” Pironti said.

Following a central set of control standards and common technology platforms, combined with the centralized nature of the cloud, could actually make the federal IT systems weaker than their current iteration, Pironti said, which utilizes “distributed and varied computing assets and security controls.” And if hackers can find and exploit a weakness in this kind of system, it could lead to a bigger impact.

Pironti said that he believes the mandate will start out with the proper intentions, but if the affected government agencies simply follow the prescribed behaviors with no deviation, they may not be able to keep up with the changing threat landscape. While Pironti said that he’s in favor of accountability, he believes that the approach should be risk-based instead of mandated.

“I do not believe all agencies should be forced into a cloud model or required to follow the same set of prescriptive security controls,” Pironti said. “If an agency can prove that they are effectively operating in a reliable, available, and secure fashion then they should be allowed to continue to do so.”

Another question raised by the mandate is the feasibility of moving these systems to the cloud. Tran said that the executive order builds on an existing foundation, but the “proof is in the pudding.” The order, like other security plans, must be executed in a timely manner and show clear improvements in boosting security visibility and early threat detection, but it also must clearly show what “good” and “bad” security looks like in cloud infrastructure, Tran said.

“That’s really hard to do under an average planning and deployment timeline. Your compass needs to be ‘dead on,'” Tran said.

The impact of the executive order could also be seen in the private sector, Tran said, driving the growth of stronger policy, compliance, and governance around cybersecurity.

“The unique aspect of this current environment is security can’t effectively operate in a ‘de-regulated’ fashion by the mere nature that it’s security… Imagine if the TSA and FAA had no security protocols and structure?” Tran said. “Cybersecurity is no different whether it’s brick-and-mortar or click-and-mortar.”

The 3 big takeaways for readers

Trump recently signed an executive order on cybersecurity mandating all federal IT systems move to the cloud, but questions remain about the feasibility and effectiveness of such a mandate.
The move to the cloud could help modernize the systems’ approach to security, but it could also create a central point of attack for hackers, an expert said.
The executive order could also impact the private sector, leading to more regulation and compliance around cyber-security initiatives, an expert said.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

To read this article in its entirety click here.

Windows 10 PPTP VPN Setup Tutorial

Manual Setup

Step 1

Click Start button in the bottom left corner of the screen (the one with Windows logo). Go to “Settings“.

Step 2

Go to “Network & Internet“.

Step 3

Select “VPN” in the menu on the left.

Step 4

Click “Add a VPN connection“.

Step 5

For the “VPN Provider” select “Windows (built-in)“. Connection name can be any as you like for example SouthJerseyTechiesVPN.
“Server name or address” is your server address. It is not “pptp.sjtechies.com”, that is just an example.
For “VPN type” select “Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)“.

Step 6

Scroll the window if needed and fill the “Username” and “Password” fields.
Check “Remember my sign-in info” and click “Save” button.

Step 7

After that you will see the newly created connection. Click on it.

Step 8

Click the “Connect” button.

Step 9

After a while it will connect and show you “Connected” status.

Step 10

You can also check the VPN status in the Network applet (the icon in your system tray at the bottom right).

Connecting the PPTP on Windows 10

Find the network connections icon in the bottom right corner of the screen (near the clock). The icon can be in the shape of computer display or wireless signal meter (you can see it on Step 10). Click on that icon. In the appeared list click on any network connection.
After that you will see another window with the connection list, click on the SouthJerseyTechiesVPN connection (the connection name can be different, you have set it up on Step 5).
Click the “Connect” button under the connection name.

Disconnecting the PPTP on Windows 10

Find the network connections icon in the bottom right corner of the screen (near the clock). The icon can be in the shape of computer display or wireless signal meter (you can see it on Step 10). Click on that icon. In the appeared list click on any network connection.
After that you will see another window with the connection list, click on the SouthJerseyTechiesVPN connection (the connection name can be different, you have set it up on Step 5).
Click the “Disconnect” button under the connection name.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

Windows 7 PPTP VPN Setup Tutorial

Manual Setup

Step 1

Start by finding the network connections icon in the bottom right corner of the screen (near the clock).
The icon can be in the shape of computer display or wireless signal meter.
Right click on that icon.

Step 2

Select “Open Network and Sharing Center“.
You can also get there by going through “Start” button > “Control Panel” > “View network status and tasks“.

Step 3

Click “Setup a new connection or network“.

Step 4

In the appeared window select “Connect to a workplace“, click “Next“.

Step 5

Click “Use my Internet connection (VPN)“.

Step 6

If you already have other connections configured, select “No, create a new connection” and click “Next” button.
If you don’t see this dialog window just skip this step.

Step 7

“Internet address” is your server address. It is not “sjt-XXXXXX.reliablehosting.com”, that is just an example.
“Destination name” can be any as you like for example SouthJerseyTechiesVPN.
Check “Don’t connect now; just set it up so I can connect later” and click “Next” button.

Step 8

Fill the “User name” and “Password” fields.
Check “Remember this password” and click “Create” button.

Step 9

Click “Close” button.

Step 10

Click “Change adapter settings“.

Step 11

In the connections list find the SouthJerseyTechiesVPN connection, the description should be “WAN Miniport (IKEv2)“.
Right click on it and select “Properties“.

Step 12

Click “Security” tab, for “Type of VPN” select “Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)“.
For “Data encryption” select “Require encryption (disconnect if server declines)“.
Click “OK“.

Step 13

Double click on the SouthJerseyTechiesVPN connection icon.

Step 14

It will show the connection window.
Check “Save this user name and password for the following users” and select either your account or all accounts.
Click “Connect” button.

Step 15

After a while it will connect and show you “Connected” status.
You can also check the VPN status in the Network applet (the icon in your system tray at the bottom right). Click on that icon and you will see the connection list and their statuses.

Done. You are connected.

Connecting the PPTP on Windows 7

1. Find the network connections icon in the bottom right corner of the screen (near the clock). The icon can be in the shape of computer display or wireless signal meter.
Click on that icon.

2. You will see the list of connections. Click on SouthJerseyTechiesVPN connection and then click “Connect” button.

3. After that click “Connect” again.

You should see the status messages first and then “Successfully connected to SouthJerseyTechiesVPN“.

Disconnecting the PPTP on Windows 7

Find the network connections icon in the bottom right corner of the screen (near the clock). The icon can be in the shape of computer display or wireless signal meter.
Click on that icon, in the appeared list click on SouthJerseyTechiesVPN connection and then the “Disconnect” button.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

49% of businesses fell victim to cyber ransom attacks in 2016

Ransom is the top motivation behind cyber attacks, according to a report from Radware, and IT professionals are most concerned about data loss. Here’s what you need to know.

Nearly half of businesses report that they were the subject of a cyber-ransom campaign in 2016, according to Radware’s, Global Application and Network Security Report 2016-2017.

Data loss topped the list of IT professionals’ cyber attack concerns, the report found, with 27% of tech leaders reporting this as their greatest worry. It was followed by service outage (19%), reputation loss (16%), and customer or partner loss (9%).

Malware or bot attacks hit half of all organizations surveyed in the last year. One reason for the pervasive attacks? The Internet of Things (IoT). Some 55% of respondents reported that IoT ecosystems had complicated their cybersecurity detection measures, as they create more vulnerabilities.

Ransomware attacks in particular continue to increase rapidly: 41% of respondents reported that ransom was the top motivator behind the cyber attacks they experienced in 2016. Meanwhile, 27% of respondents cited insider threats, 26% said political hacktivism, and 26% said competition.

While large-scale DDoS attacks dominated the headlines of 2016, this report found that only 4% of all attacks were more than 50 Gbps, while more than 83% of DDoS attacks reported were under 1 Gbps.

“One thing is clear: Money is the top motivator in the threat landscape today,” said Carl Herberger, vice president of security solutions at Radware, in a press release. “Attackers employ an ever-increasing number of tactics to steal valuable information, from ransom attacks that can lock up a company’s data, to DDoS attacks that act as a smoke screen for information theft, to direct brute force or injection attacks that grant direct access to internal data.”

Despite the growth in attacks, some 40% of organizations reported that they do not have an incident response plan in place, the survey found.

The report listed five cybersecurity predictions for 2017:

1. IoT will become an even larger risk. The Mirai IoT Botnet code is available to the public, making it more likely that cyber criminals of all experience levels are already strengthening their capabilities. “In 2017, exponentially more devices are expected to become targeted and enslaved into IoT botnets,” the press release stated. “IoT device manufacturers will have to face the issue of securing their devices before they are brought to market, as botnet attacks from these devices can generate large-scale attacks that easily exceed 1 Tbps.”

2. Ransomware attacks will continue to grow. These attacks will target phones, laptops, and company computers, and will likely take aim at healthcare devices such as defibrillators in the future, the press release stated.

3. Permanent Denial of Service (PDoS) attacks on data centers and IoT operations will rise. PDoS attacks, sometimes called “phlashing,” damage a system to the degree that it requires hardware replacement or reinstallation. These attacks are not new, but Radware predicts they are likely to become more pervasive in 2017 with the plethora of personal devices on the market.

4. Telephony DoS (TDoS) will become more sophisticated. These attacks, which cut off communications in a crisis, “could impede first responders’ situational awareness, exacerbate suffering and pain, and potentially increase loss of life,” the press release stated.

5. Public transportation system attacks will rise. As cars, trains, and planes become more automated, they also become more vulnerable to hackers, Radware stated.

You help your business avoid ransomware attacks and other cyber threats by keeping software up to date, backing up all information every day to a secure, offsite location, segmenting your network, performing penetration testing, and training staff on cyber security practices.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

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How to take control of your privacy in Windows 10

Where do you draw the line on personal privacy? The right options are different for everyone. This guide shows the privacy settings that will help you to create the right balance of privacy and convenience in Windows 10.

windows-10-privacy-blinds

Over the past year, We’ve read countless “privacy guides” for Windows 10. Most are well-intentioned, but they invariably take a simplistic approach to privacy: Just turn off every switch in the Privacy section of the Settings app.

If you do that, you’re not understanding the privacy landscape, which encompasses far more than just those settings. You’re also missing some important additional steps.

Windows 10 is a mix of software and services. With every session, a Windows 10 device exchanges a great deal of information with Microsoft’s servers. That’s neither unusual nor alarming. Microsoft’s chief rivals, Google and Apple, are also blending services into their software, with the goal of making your life easier and making that software more reliable.

So are other tech companies that you don’t think of as software companies: Amazon, with the Echo. Tesla, with its self-updating, software-driven cars. Your thermostat and your home security system.

There’s something profoundly satisfying about a service that anticipates your every move, reminding you when to leave for an appointment to arrive on time, or to pick up flowers for your anniversary tomorrow. Your digital personal assistant, whether it’s Siri or Cortana or Alexa or Google, needs to be able to see your calendar and contacts to make that magic happen.

But when that sort of personal attention goes too far, it “crosses the creepy line,” to use a phrase that Eric Schmidt probably regrets uttering when he was Google’s CEO.

The thing about that line is that it’s drawn in a different place for everyone. There are people who are thrilled at the idea that their PC or mobile device is so familiar with their actions that it can anticipate what they’ll do next. I know others who would like to build a virtual Faraday cage around their computing hardware so that none of their personal details can escape.

Both of those viewpoints, and everything in between, are perfectly valid. That’s why the software and services we use are loaded with switches and dials designed to help you take control of their potential privacy impact.

In this post, We’ll walk you through the big privacy questions for Windows 10, with enough context to help you decide which settings are right for you.

Note that this guide assumes you are using Windows 10 on a personal PC or one in your small business. If you are in an enterprise setting, or if you are in a regulated industry, you should seek professional assistance to ensure that you’re meeting proper standards.

Let’s start with the part of your PC that has the biggest impact on your personal privacy.

THE NETWORK

No one knows more about your online identity than your Internet service provider. Every packet you send or receive from anywhere online goes through their servers. When you travel and connect to Wi-Fi networks that are under the control of others, the owners of those networks can see every connection you make and can intercept their contents.

Regardless of the platform you use, that’s why it’s important you use encrypted connections for any kind of sensitive communications. Using a virtual private network whenever possible is an excellent best practice.

Windows 10 does offer one obscure option that can help protect third parties from tracking your movements based on your connections to Wi-Fi networks. (Note that this feature requires support from your Wi-Fi adapter, so if you don’t see this option, the most likely explanation is that your hardware doesn’t support it.) Under Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi, turn the Use random hardware addresses setting to On.

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That step keeps third parties from matching your Wi-Fi adapter’s hardware address with your personal information, making it more difficult to track your location.

THE BROWSER

Countless third-party ad networks and analytics companies use cookies and other tracking technology to record your movements around the web and to correlate your online activities with your offline identity.

The result is a digital fingerprint that can be extraordinarily detailed and, unfortunately, outside of your ability to change.

To limit the amount of information that those ad and analytics companies know about you from your web browsing, consider third-party anti-tracking software such as Abine’s Blur, which is available for every web browser except Microsoft Edge. (That lack of solid support for add-ons is one reason I can’t yet recommend Edge as a full-time browser for most Windows 10 users.)

Another privacy product worth considering is Ghostery, although some are suspicious of this browser extension because of its uncomfortably close ties to the online advertising industry.

Ad-blocking software can also provide some privacy protection as a side-effect of performing its basic function. Here, too, watch out for close ties between some ad-blocking add-ins and the third-party trackers they supposedly protect you from.

Note that none of these steps is unique to Windows 10. Anti-tracking software is typically a browser add-in and works with most popular browsers.

THE OPERATING SYSTEM

With those two big, platform-independent factors out of the way, we can now turn to Windows 10 itself. When you use a Windows 10 device, it is capable of sharing the following types of information with Microsoft’s servers:

Your location

Windows 10 can determine your location to help with actions like automatically setting your current time zone. It can also record a location history on a per-device basis. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location to control the following:

Location on/off?Use the master switch at the top of this page to disable all location features for all users of the current device.
Location service on/off?If location is on for Windows, you can still turn it off for your user account here.
General location?This allows you to set a city, zip code, or region so that apps can deliver relevant content.
Default location?Click Set default to open the Maps app and specify the location you want Windows to use when a more precise location is not available.
Location history?Click Clear to erase the saved history for a Windows 10 device.

If location is on, a list at the bottom of the Settings > Privacy > Location page allows you to disable access to that data on a per-app basis.

Your input

If you enable Cortana, Windows 10 uploads some info from your devices, such as your calendar, contacts, and location and browsing history, so that Cortana can make personalized recommendations. If you don’t want any accounts on your PC to use Cortana, follow the steps in this article to disable the feature completely: Turn off Cortana completely.

Windows 10 uses some feedback from the way you type, write, and speak to improve performance for you and as a way to improve the overall platform. This isn’t keystroke logging; rather, the operating system uses a very small amount of information. A separate feature uses your speech and writing history to make better suggestions in Windows and Cortana.

You can control this collection with two sets of controls:

Under Settings > Privacy > General, click Info about how I write and turn it off so that your typos aren’t used to improve things like the built-in spell checker.

Under Settings > Privacy > Speech, inking, & typing, under the Getting to know you heading, click Stop getting to know me to turn off personalization.

To clear previously saved information associated with your Microsoft account, click the first link under the Manage cloud info heading. That takes you to this Bing Personalization page, which includes this prominent button:

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Click Clear to remove that saved information from the cloud.

Files and settings

When you sign in with a Microsoft account, you have the option to save files to the cloud using OneDrive. Windows 10 also syncs some settings to OneDrive, allowing you to have the same desktop background, saved passwords, and other personalized settings when you sign in with that account on multiple PCs.

If you use a local account, of course, none of your settings are synced. If you use a Microsoft account, you can turn off syncing completely or remove certain settings from the sync list by going to Settings > Accounts > Sync Your Settings.

OneDrive is an opt-in service. If you don’t sign in, it does nothing. You can’t save files to OneDrive accidentally, and no files are uploaded without your explicit permission, which you can revoke any time. To disable OneDrive for all users on your PC, follow these instructions: Shut down OneDrive completely.

Telemetry

Microsoft, like all modern software companies, uses feedback from its installed base to identify problems and improve performance. In Windows 10, this feedback mechanism produces diagnostics data (aka telemetry) that is uploaded to Microsoft at regular intervals. The data is anonymized and is not used to create a profile of you.

The default telemetry setting for all consumer and small business versions of Windows 10 is Full, which means that the uploaded data also includes details (also anonymized) about app usage. If you are concerned about possible inadvertent leakage of personal information, I recommend that you go to Settings > Privacy > Feedback & diagnostics and change the Diagnostic and usage data setting to Basic.

THE APPS

Although the number of subcategories under the Privacy heading in Settings seems daunting, most of them govern access to your information by Windows Store apps. That set of apps includes those that are preinstalled (Mail, Calendar, Groove Music, Photos, and so on) as well as those you acquire from the Store.

Most of the categories offer a single on-off switch at the top, which you can use to disable all access to that feature by all apps. If you leave the feature enabled, you can use a list of apps at the bottom of the page to enable or disable access on a per-app basis.

This capability works the same with the following categories: Camera, Microphone, Notifications, Account Info, Call History, and Radios. The Other Devices category lets apps automatically share and sync info with wireless devices that aren’t explicitly paired with your PC. Use the Background Apps category to specify which apps are allowed to work in the background.

If Location is enabled, you have the option to disable location access on a per-app basis and to disable Geofencing.

The Contacts, Calendar, Email, and Messaging categories allow you to control which apps can have access to these features. If you want to share content from an app using email or messaging, this option has to be on for that app. Note that Mail and Calendar, People, and Phone always have access to your contacts; Mail and Calendar are always allowed to access and send email and always have access to your calendar.

Finally, one horribly misunderstood setting is available under Settings > Privacy > General. Advertising ID controls whether Microsoft serves personalized ads to ad-supported apps. If you turn this option off, you still get ads, but they’re not personalized. In any case, your information is not shared with advertisers.

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