Got tired of being tracked by Windows, I built an open source telemetry blocker

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GitHub - WallabyDesigns/windows-telemetry-guard · GitHub

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WallabyDesigns

windows-telemetry-guard

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TelemetryGuard

A reversible Windows 10/11 telemetry and tracking hardening toolkit, from<br>Wallaby Designs. Everything it changes is<br>recorded in a timestamped backup first, so Revert restores your machine to exactly<br>the state it was in before Apply.

Two ways to use it:

TelemetryGuard.ps1 : the PowerShell engine. Scriptable,<br>no dependencies beyond Windows PowerShell.

gui/ : a small native Rust/egui desktop app that drives the same<br>script: a status dashboard plus one-click Apply/Revert with UAC elevation. See<br>gui/README.md.

Usage

# Read-only report of current vs. hardened state (no admin needed)<br>.\TelemetryGuard.ps1

# Harden - run from an elevated (Administrator) PowerShell<br>.\TelemetryGuard.ps1 -Mode Apply

# Harden + strict extras (see below)<br>.\TelemetryGuard.ps1 -Mode Apply -Strict

# Undo everything, restoring pre-Apply state from the latest backup<br>.\TelemetryGuard.ps1 -Mode Revert

# Undo from a specific backup<br>.\TelemetryGuard.ps1 -Mode Revert -BackupFile .\backups\backup-20260714-120000.json

Sign out and back in (or reboot) after Apply/Revert for everything to take effect.

What it changes (Balanced, the default)

Registry policies (36 values)

Diagnostic data forced to Required (Basic) — the minimum Windows Pro supports —<br>plus device name excluded, diagnostic log/dump collection blocked, and the<br>OneSettings telemetry-config channel disabled

DiagTrack ETW autologger disabled (stops telemetry capture at boot)

Customer Experience Improvement Program, Application Impact Telemetry, and the<br>application inventory collector disabled

Windows Error Reporting uploads disabled

Advertising ID disabled machine-wide and per-user

Activity history recording/upload and cloud clipboard sync disabled

Tailored experiences, suggested-app auto-installs, Spotlight tips, and other<br>diagnostic-data-driven content disabled

Typing/inking/speech data harvesting (input personalization) blocked

Feedback prompts silenced

Start-menu search suggestions to Bing disabled; Cortana consent withdrawn;<br>app-launch tracking disabled

Services (2)

DiagTrack (Connected User Experiences and Telemetry): Disabled and stopped.<br>This is the actual upload pipeline; disabling it is what makes the Pro-tier<br>"Required" floor moot in practice.

dmwappushservice: WAP push routing, telemetry companion, unused on desktops

Scheduled tasks (11)

Compatibility Appraiser, ProgramDataUpdater, MareBackup, PcaPatchDbTask,<br>CEIP Consolidator/UsbCeip, WER QueueReporting, Siuf DmClient tasks,<br>Device census, Autochk SQM proxy — all disabled (missing ones are skipped)

What -Strict adds

Web search removed from the Start menu entirely (DisableWebSearch,<br>ConnectedSearchUseWeb): local search still works, but typing in Start will no<br>longer show any web results

Hosts-file block of ~26 Microsoft telemetry endpoints (vortex/watson/events<br>hosts), written between clear TelemetryGuard BEGIN/END markers so revert removes<br>exactly what was added

What it deliberately does NOT touch

Windows Update, Microsoft Defender, the Store, or activation — no endpoint used by<br>those is blocked and no related service is disabled. Security updates keep flowing.

SmartScreen and other security features

Anything a third-party app depends on

Honest limitations

On Windows Pro the official diagnostic-data floor is Required (Basic); the<br>"off" policy value (0) is only honored on Enterprise/Education. TelemetryGuard<br>compensates by killing the DiagTrack service and autologger, which stops<br>collection and upload regardless.

Major Windows feature...

disabled telemetryguard windows telemetry search revert

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