[Windows 10 Tip] How to View and Delete Collected Diagnostic Data

Windows 10 has always been criticized for its telemetry and data collection functionality. People claim that Windows 10 automatically collects users data and sends it to Microsoft servers. Many people also claim that Windows 10 contains a built-in keylogger that stores every keystroke pressed by the user.

There are many theories about Windows 10 data collection. Microsoft has clarified many times that Windows 10 just collects some basic and anonymous diagnostic data which is used to improve the operating system functionality and to make Windows 10 better. Microsoft doesn’t collect any personal details. We have shared a detailed article in past regarding it which can be read at following link:

Do You Need to Worry About Privacy in Windows 10? Answer is NO

Microsoft also provides a specific “Privacy” section in Settings app to disable/turn off all privacy related features. You can check out following exclusive tutorial to improve your privacy in Windows 10:

[Guide] Best Privacy Settings for Windows 10 to Disable Telemetry and Data Collection

Now in newer Windows 10 versions, Microsoft has added a direct option to view and delete the collected diagnostic data. If you are using latest Windows 10 version, you can take help of these new options to view what diagnostic data has been collected by Microsoft and to delete the collected data from Microsoft servers.

If you also want to know what type of data Microsoft is collecting from your machine, this tutorial will help you. You can also check whether Microsoft is actually collecting any data from your machine? If you want to remove the collected data from Microsoft servers, you can do it with a single mouse click.

You’ll need to follow a few simple steps to view and delete collected diagnostic data in Windows 10:

1. Open Settings app from Start Menu or by pressing WIN+I keys together.

2. Now go to “Privacy -> Diagnostics & feedback” section.

PS: Alternatively, You can directly launch this page using “ms-settings:privacy-feedback” command in RUN dialog box as mentioned here.

3. Now in right-side pane, scroll down and you’ll see “Diagnostic data viewer” section.

The section information clearly states that if data viewing is enabled, you can see your diagnostic data. While enabled, this will take up to 1GB of hard drive space.

The toggle button for diagnostic data viewer is set to OFF by default i.e. disabled. You’ll need to set it to ON first.

4. Now click on “Diagnostic Data Viewer” button and it’ll open Windows Store app to download and install the diagnostic data viewer app. Guess what the app doesn’t come preinstalled with Windows.

5. Click on “Get” button in Store to download and install the diagnostic data viewer app in your Windows 10 machine. It’ll take a sew seconds in installing the app based upon your Internet connection speed.

6. After installing the app, Windows will show a notification to launch the app. Alternatively, you can launch the app anytime by clicking on “Diagnostic Data Viewer” button present in “Settings -> Privacy -> Diagnostics & feedback -> Diagnostic data viewer” page.

Once you launch the app, it provides a list of all events and their data in JSON format. The collected data is grouped into categories based on how it’s used by Microsoft.

You can use the given search box to find desired events and the collected data by the event.

If you click on the menu (hamburger) button present at the top-left corner, it provides several options such as filter to view only basic diagnostics. You can also select multiple categories such as browsing history, device connectivity and configuration, inking typing and speech utterance, product and service performance, product and service usage, software setup and inventory, incorrect category.

You can also export the collected data in .CSV file format.

Diagnostic data viewer shows the exact collected data uploaded to Microsoft in details which might be very useful from troubleshooting or analysis point of views.

7. Now after viewing collected diagnostic data, if you decide to delete the collected data from Microsoft servers, again go to “Settings -> Privacy -> Diagnostics & feedback” page and in right-side pane, scroll down and you’ll see “Delete diagnostic data” section.

The section description states, “Pressing delete will erase diagnostic data that has been collected by Microsoft from this device”.

To delete the collected data, click on “Delete” button.

That’s it. Windows will update the last delete request date information shown next to the delete button.

Congratulations. You have successfully removed collected diagnostic data from Microsoft servers.

NOTE: Clicking on “Delete” button, automatically disables diagnostic data viewer option. So if you delete the diagnostic data, don’t forget to re-enable diagnostic data viewer option given above it.

Also Check:

[Tip] Stop Windows 10 from Collecting Your Typing Insights Data