Windows 10 2018 To Show You All the Telemetry Data It Sends Back to Microsoft

Microsoft gave the entire industry a free tutorial on how not to roll out a new operating system with the release of Windows 10 in 2015. The company’s hyped Windows 10 release was overshadowed by privacy and data collection concerns. It took the Redmond Windows maker more than a year, multiple lawsuits and fear of international penalties to start rethinking about how it collects user data.

Over the past one year, Microsoft has been releasing a number of toggles to give users control over their data. Earlier this week, two new placeholders were spotted in the recently released Windows 10 Insider Preview build that hinted at some new incoming privacy-focused controls.

In a blog post today, Microsoft’s Marisa Rogers officially discussed the rumored Windows Diagnostic Data Viewer. “Our commitment is to be fully transparent on the diagnostic data collected from your Windows devices, how it is used, and to provide you with increased control over that data,” she wrote. “This is all part of our commitment to increase your trust and confidence in our products and services.”

Windows Diagnostic Data Viewer app to detail telemetry data

The new Windows Diagnostic Data Viewer will enable users to view what telemetry data Microsoft is collecting through the Universal Telemetry Client. The app, available through Microsoft Store, will provide transparency to all the diagnostic data received from a Windows device. Microsoft notes that the “Diagnostic Data Viewer is separate from the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard and allows you to see, search, and take action with your diagnostic data.”

The app, in short, shows everything that your Windows machine is sending over to the tech giant.

While the report earlier this week had hinted at an ability to delete diagnostic data, Microsoft doesn’t make any mention of such an ability in today’s post. It did add that through the currently available Privacy Dashboard, the company will offer users an ability to “delete specific items to allow for greater individual control” in the future. However, this is related to activity data, not the diagnostic data.

And in the coming months, we’ll also bring additional features [to Privacy Dashboard] that will allow you to;

• View and manage media consumption data, as well as product and service activity on the Activity History page
• Export for any of the data you see on the dashboard
• Delete specific items to allow for greater individual control

Microsoft says this incoming Diagnostic Data Viewer is a “secondary mechanism” that will work along with the documentation Microsoft had released last year, describing everything it collects in both the Basic and Full Diagnostic Data settings. It had later revealed that many Windows 10 users actually choose to use the Full mode even though it’s optional.

– The updates will be released with the next Windows 10 version due in April, this year. Insiders will be able to test these features starting later today.