[Tip] Disable Telemetry and Data Collection on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1
There is no doubt that Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 10 is better than any previous Windows version. It comes with new web browser Microsoft Edge, it allows you to run modern (metro) apps on Desktop, it also comes with the traditional Start Menu which is more like a combination of Start Menu and Windows 8 style Start Screen.
But there is one feature of Windows 10 OS which is annoying a lot of people and people are afraid of upgrading to Windows 10 due to this feature and the feature is called “Telemetry and Data Collection“.
Windows 10 collects some diagnostics data via background services and built-in programs and sends the data to Microsoft regularly so that the company can improve Windows functionality and user experience. This data is collected anonymously and no personal or private details are sent to Microsoft. Actually the data is collected only to help Microsoft in making a better Windows version for you.
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You can read more about data collection and telemetry in Windows 10 at following link:
[Guide] Best Privacy Settings for Windows 10
Now a bad news for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 users! If you have not upgraded your computer to Windows 10 yet and still using Windows 7/8/8.1 operating system due to privacy concerns, we would like to alert you about some new updates which have been released for Windows 7/8/8.1 versions from Microsoft.
Actually Microsoft has started releasing updates for Windows 7/8/8.1 operating systems since a few months which implement Windows 10 style data collection and telemetry features to these previous Windows versions. These updates are called “Customer Experience and Diagnostic Telemetry” and install a new “Diagnostic and Telemetry” service in these OS. This service utilizes a built-in program called “Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP)” and “User Account Control (UAC)” to collect diagnostics information about functional issues on Windows operating system.
Although the data collected by this service and these programs is anonymous and doesn’t affect your privacy but if you are worried about this automatic data collection and telemetry feature introduced in Windows 7/8/8.1, you can disable or stop it using following methods:
Table of Contents
METHOD 1: Disable Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP)
Since this is the main telemetry program which collects data and information and sends it to Microsoft, you can prevent this program from automatically collecting and sending information using very simple and easy to use steps mentioned in following tutorial which was posted long time back at our website:
[Tip] Disable Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) in Windows
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You can also disable CEIP program in Windows Media Player as mentioned in following tutorial:
[Tip] Disable Customer Experience Improvement Program in Windows Media Player
Restart your computer and it’ll disable CEIP program and will stop sending diagnostics information to Microsoft.
METHOD 2: Disable User Account Control (UAC)
Although we don’t recommend disabling UAC in Windows as it helps your computer in protecting from suspicious and harmful items but if you are worried about privacy and want to disable UAC, check out following tutorials:
A Complete Guide for Tweaking User Account Control (UAC) in Windows
Registry Tweaks to Customize User Account Control (UAC) Options in Windows
These tutorials will help you in tweaking and customizing UAC settings according to your requirements.
METHOD 3: Disable Diagnostic and Telemetry Services
You can also disable the newly installed diagnostic and telemetry services in Windows to stop the automatic data collection and telemetry features.
You can disable these services using Services Manager. Check out following tutorials to learn how to open and use Services Manager program in Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1:
[Guide] Which Windows 7 Services are Safe to Disable?
[Guide] Which Windows 8/8.1 Services are Safe to Disable?
Now disable following services if found in your computer:
- Connected User Experiences and Telemetry
- Diagnostic Tracking Service
- dmwappushsvc
Once you disable these services, restart your computer and Windows will stop automatic collecting and sending the data.
METHOD 4: Disable Automatic Diagnostic Logger Using Registry Editor
Our reader “Xircal” shared some useful information with us. Even if the user opts out of the CEIP program, another task called “Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser” continues to relay data to Microsoft via a log file called “AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener.etl” present in “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Diagnosis\ETLLogs\AutoLogger\” folder.
You can disable this Compatibility Appraiser task using following steps:
1. Press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box, type regedit in RUN and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\WMI\AutoLogger\AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener
In right-side pane, change the value of Start DWORD to 0 to turn off the auto logger program.
3. Again go to following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\WMI\Autologger\AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener\{DD17FA14-CDA6-7191-9B61-37A28F7A10DA}
In right-side pane, look for the DWORD Enabled. Its value would be set to 1 by default. Double-click on the DWORD and change its value from a 1 to 0 to disable the task.
Restart your computer to take effect.
METHOD 5: Uninstall Telemetry and Data Collection Updates
If you are still worried about privacy, you can completely uninstall the updates related to telemetry and customer experience program using following steps:
1. Open Control Panel and change View by type to Large icons. Now click on Programs and Features icon and then click on View installed updates link present in the left sidebar.
2. Now look for following updates:
- KB3112343
- KB3083711
- KB3083325
- KB3080149
- KB3075853
- KB3075249
- KB3072318
- KB3068708
- KB3065988
- KB3064683
- KB3058168
- KB3050267
- KB3044374
- KB3035583
- KB3022345
- KB2976978
At the moment only above mentioned updates are known which are related to telemetry and data collection in Windows 7/8/8.1.
3. If you find any or all above mentioned updates installed in your computer, right-click on each update one by one and select Uninstall option. Alternatively, you can double-click on the update to directly uninstall it or click on Uninstall button present in the toolbar.
PS: If you can’t find these updates listed in “View installed updates” screen, you can uninstall the updates directly using following commands one by one in Command Prompt or RUN dialog box:
wusa /uninstall /kb:3112343
wusa /uninstall /kb:3083711
wusa /uninstall /kb:3083325
wusa /uninstall /kb:3080149
wusa /uninstall /kb:3075853
wusa /uninstall /kb:3075249
wusa /uninstall /kb:3072318
wusa /uninstall /kb:3068708
wusa /uninstall /kb:3065988
wusa /uninstall /kb:3064683
wusa /uninstall /kb:3058168
wusa /uninstall /kb:3050267
wusa /uninstall /kb:3044374
wusa /uninstall /kb:3035583
wusa /uninstall /kb:3022345
wusa /uninstall /kb:2976978
The commands will automatically search for the updates and will uninstall them.
4. Once you uninstall all mentioned updates, restart your computer. After restarting check for new updates again using Windows Updates. Once it finds the above mentioned updates again, right-click on these updates and select Hide Update option. It’ll hide the updates and you’ll no longer receive these updates again in future.
PS: Also set Windows Updates settings to “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them” option so that all future updates will not be downloaded automatically on your computer and you’ll have full control over new Windows updates. Now if the above mentioned updates become available again on your computer, you can right-click on the updates and select “Hide update” option and Windows will not install the update.
Check out following tutorial for more details about this method:
Windows 10 Automatic Upgrade on Your Computer Again
Also Check:
How to Disable or Remove “Get Windows 10 Upgrade” App and Icon from Taskbar?
Hi Vishal.
Thanks mate. Three of them malicious hotfixes (and that’s exactly what they are) managed to sneak their way onto my Windows 8.1 system. I showed them bloody bugs the exit, through the closed door, by using the big boot (“wusa”).
Very slowly Microsoft’s continuous computer sabotage attempts (to stop short at “computer hacking”) are getting highly annoying – patchday has turned into a massive “dodging anal probes” exercise which you can’t beat straight away because even the best KB article hides the malicious intent very well.
They really seem to be hell-bent to drive users over to Linux or Mac OS X.
Great article, many thanks for it!! I totally despise this MS policy of not telling customers the truth and giving them a proper choice.
I had one of these KB’s installed on my Win 8 64-bit installation since 22. Oct 2015, but regretfully I forgot to write down the number. However I usually update my OS very late and sometimes never, so this is most likely not the actual date of the update.
Unfortunately the article bears no publishing date, so it is kinda hard to say if anything has changed since it was published.
Thomas/10 Dec 2015
I am so FRUSTRATED that my computer is such a nightmare to use. It won’t even allow me to download Security …don’t know what to do or how to rectify. Can’t find my Microsoft info with passwords… GRRR. Any help would be most appreciated!!
Sincerely,
J. Bowlin
You may also like to try this utility that I came across named Destroy Windows Spying. Please note that I have no association the site or utility mention, I am simply sharing what may be a useful tool for others.
Keep up the good blog Vishal & Happy Christmas to all
Open Task Scheduler and navigate here:
-> Customer Experience Improvement Program
Then Disable these:
-> Consolidator
-> KernelCeipTask
-> UsbCeip
^^ Yeah. Its mentioned in Method 2:
https://www.askvg.com/how-to-disallow-secret-customer-experience-improvement-program-collecting-information-in-windows-7/
Method 1 doesn’t work. Even if the user opts out of the CEIP, a task called Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser continues to relay data to Microsoft via a log file called “AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener.etl” located at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Diagnosis\ETLLogs\AutoLogger\AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener.etl
The registry key for the Compatibility Appraiser task is this one: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\WMI\Autologger\AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener\{DD17FA14-CDA6-7191-9B61-37A28F7A10DA}
This is a subkey of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\WMI\Autologger\AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener
Users need to changed the value “Enabled” from a 1 to 0 to disable the task in each subkey. Also, change the “Start” value for AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener from a 1 to a 0
Merry Christmas one and all.
^^ Thanks for your input. That file is used by Diagnostic Tracking and other telemetry service which are installed by the above mentioned updates. If you uninstall those updates, it’ll automatically remove that service. You can also manually disable those services if found in your computer.
Thanks for the response VG, but I don’t have any of the updates you’ve mentioned installed.
^^ I have added your suggestion in the main topic. 🙂
To Xircal
Hi,
Thanks a lot for your addition. I checked it under Win7 Home Premium but the values came back to 1 after rebooting.
I also uninstalled the mentioned KBs that were present on my computer but this didn’t help.
In addition, “\Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program” and “Application Experience” tasks are disabled as well as \Microsoft\Windows\Setup task has been renamed and currently empty.
I can’t get rif of this microsoft virus (I can’t call it differently !)
Any clue to explain the registry key behavior ?
Thanks in advance
Get Linux. It is REALLY not THAT hard, although you will have to do some reading first. It will be worth it. I still use Windows (that being Vista, which I like more than 7), but I also use Linux for 8 years now. I have never had any big problems; at most small issues that I could easily solve because of explanations at blogs and messageboards. Linux is the way to go (or a Mac, if you can spare the money).
Hello,
I’ve found other updates which are related to data collection, telemetry and privacy issues, here they are:
KB3072318
KB3068708
KB3065988
KB3064683
KB3058168
KB3050267
KB3044374
KB3035583
KB3022345
KB2976978
KB3021917
KB2990214
KB2952664
KB3065987
KB3050265
KB971033
KB2902907
KB2976987
KB3102810
KB3135445
KB3123862
KB3081954
KB3139929
KB3138612
KB3138615
KB2977759
KB3075851
KB3083324
KB3083710
TIP: There’s a easy way to uninstall the updates without needing to type the commands one by one.
First you open/run the notepad as an administrator, then you paste it on the notepad:
wusa /uninstall /kb:3112343 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3083711 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3083325 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3080149 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3075853 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3075249 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3072318 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3068708 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3065988 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3064683 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3058168 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3050267 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3044374 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3035583 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3022345 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:2976978 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3021917 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:2990214 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:2952664 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3065987 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3050265 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:971033 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:2902907 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:2976987 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3102810 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3135445 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3123862 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3081954 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3139929 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3138612 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3138615 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:2977759 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3075851 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3083324 /norestart
wusa /uninstall /kb:3083710 /norestart
After doing it, you save it to .cmd
You can use the name you want, for example: antitracking.cmd
Then you open/run it as administrator and uninstall each update.
P.S: If the update isn’t installed on your PC, cmd will tell you it when you try to uninstall! 🙂
After doing all this you should open/run the Windows Update and search for new updates, then you look carefully to each new update to see if there’s one of these above. If you see the same you have uninstalled you must hide it so that way it won’t back again next time you use Windows Update.
Hope it helps,
Dan.
After doing everything I’ve typed above, restart you computer and everything will be OK!
C ya!
Any downsides to Method 4? (Modifying HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\WMI\AutoLogger\AutoLogger-Diagtrack-Listener) Does it cause any problems with the system or reduction in other functionality?
One of several reasons why I avoid Windows Updates like the plague.