I’ve been using only Windows Defender on my Windows 10 machine for many months and haven’t had to install any third-party anti-virus or anti-malware software. Click on Windows Defender and make sure the following three settings are enabled: Real-time protection, Cloud-based protection, and Automatic sample submission.
Enable Windows DefenderĪgain, this should be enabled, but to check, click on Start, then Settings and Update & Security. This is especially important if you have Office installed as it will install all Office-related security and feature updates too. Click on Advanced Options and make sure the drop-down box says Automatic (recommended).Īlso, make sure to check the Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows. This will bring you to the Settings dialog on Windows Update. Click on Start, type in Windows Update and then click on Windows Update settings. It should be enabled by default, but it’s a good idea to check anyway. If you’re running Windows 10, you should definitely enable automatic updates. I literally have everything to Off and only turn something on if I run into an app that requires a certain permission. You’ll find a whole slew of items on the left side along with their On/Off options to the right. To do this, go to Settings and then click on Privacy.
Obviously, if you can’t reset or reinstall Windows, you can manually change the settings. This is much easier to do when you first install Windows because you can click Customize and disable everything all at once. Do I really want Microsoft knowing what I’m typing on my computer all the time or listening to everything in the room all the time because of Cortana? Not really. Windows 10 has several features that connect back to Microsoft and, even though they are not going to cause you to be hacked or get a virus, they are still a little unsettling. Unfortunately, this is one area that is not better than older versions of Windows. The first thing I do whenever I setup a new Windows 10 machine is to turn off all the tracking features that Microsoft included with Windows 10.