Having said that, the anti-telemetry program
For the tin-foil hat wearers, 3rd party anti-telemetry programs might have been useful (well, comforting) for them 5 years ago when W10 first came out. But not today. Even though W10 and Microsoft
never were the privacy threat many believed (or wanted us to believe) they were, as I noted above, Microsoft heard the message and not only do users have much more control over the information being collected (which is NOT personal or personally identifiable information) but they have provided the "Diagnostic Data Viewer" so we can see what data is being collected.
Again, we have MUCH MORE to worry about with Google, Facebook, our ISPs, and especially our cell phone carriers than we do with Microsoft. Frankly, I am
WAY more worried about another Equifax or Yahoo type breach where my true name, Social Security, insurance, credit card, birth date, even passwords are actually being stolen (due to negligence and incompetence
) than I am worried about Microsoft collecting data on how my Windows and Office programs are running.
I think it is important to note and remember that there are many MANY Microsoft haters, tin-foil hat wearers, naysayers, IT journalists, privacy advocates, security experts and watchdog groups constantly scrutinizing (and reporting - over and over again to a viral extent) everything that Microsoft does. If they really were stealing our sensitive information, it would be reported all over the place ad nauseum. And that is just not happening.
