[German]A short note for those who like to experiment with Windows 10 privacy: There is a tool , named Private WinTen (Private Win10) with which you can control the privacy and firewall settings of Windows 10. Here is some information about this open source tool.
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Background
The tool is developed by David Xanatos – he also developed wumgr (Windows update management tool for windows 10), which can be used to control updates under Windows 10.
I haven't introduced wumgr here in my blog yet, because I tested the tool for David. I noticed some things that were not easy to fix. A short discussion can be found in the German comments here. I will blog about the details on occasion – also the drama concerning the store version of wumgr, because I have the relevant information from David.
Shortly before Christmas David Xanatos informed me that he had released a new tool called Private WinTen (or PrivateWin10) for Windows 10 on GitHub. The description:
PrivateWin10 is an advanced Privacy tool for windows it provides a simple and comprehensive UI for tweaking privacy settings, as well as options to block system access to files and registry keys in order to enforce privacy whenever Windows does not provide a satisfying setting for that.
To solve privacy issues with other software the tool includes a powerful custom firewall frontend for the windows built in firewall.
The source code of the open source tool can be found on GitHub. The first binary versions can be downloaded here. Currently the version 0.1b is available as a ZIP archive. The tool does not need to be installed, it can be started after unpacking.
Notes on the program
At this point several hints: When downloading the ZIP archive, the SmartScreen filter of the Edge browser or the security check of Google Chrome will be triggered and warns against the download. This is because the alpha versions of the .exe file in the ZIP archive are not digitally signed and are unknown to both Microsoft and Google. But, in case of doubt, you can download the sources and compile the project yourself.
During launch the program requires administrator privileges. If you don't trust the program, you should keep your hands off. In addition, it is not for users who are little experienced.
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Short overview of the program
After the program launch, a query appears once in which you can specify various start options.
The main window is then displayed, with icons for accessing the individual features of the tool (see image below).
In the Privacy Options category, you can customize various Windows 10 privacy settings.
At the same time, the firewall front-end monitors all outgoing Internet connections and sounds an alarm every time an application wants to access the Internet.
within the popup window, the connection can be configured via a list box control (e.g. block or release). All firewall settings are show within the program window below, and can also be checked and adjusted there.
I only tested the tool briefly in the 0.1b alpha version. There was a short hang where the application didn't react anymore – but after a few seconds the program worked again. And the frequent popup requests for outgoing connections are a bit annoying – but they show how many functions in Windows 10 'want to call outside'.
Some information about the tool can also be found at WilderSecurity. You can leave a comment about the experiences. David Xanatos will surely read along in the blog and is probably interested in feedback.
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