Spybot Anti-Beacon quickly closes Windows 10 privacy holes

Spybot developer Safer Networking has released Spybot Anti-Beacon, a portable free tool which makes it easy to disable a host of Windows 10 tracking technologies.

Just launching the program displays the current status of 10 "problem" areas: Telemetry Hosts/ Services/ Group Policy, Consumer Experience Improvement Program Group Policy/ Scheduled Tasks, Application Impact Telemetry, Steps Recorder, WiFi Sense, "Apps use advertising ID" and P2P Windows Updates.

Disabling everything is as simple as hitting the "Immunize" button, and if that gets you into trouble then an "Undo" option restores your original settings.

Unfortunately, unlike O&O's ShutUp10, there's no detail on what you're disabling, and no way to toggle individual settings: it's strictly all or nothing.

The only detailed control you get is under the "Optional" tab, where you’re able to tweak any or all of four features: Web Search Group Policy, Cortana Group Policy, OneDrive Service and Remote Registry Service.

Spybot Anti-Beacon is an extremely simple way to turn off Windows 10's core telemetry settings, and if you’re an expert and know exactly what you’re doing, that just might be good enough.

But if you'd like to have more control, and occasionally need reminding of what these settings actually do, O&O ShutUp10 remains the best privacy-maintaining choice.