Blackbird is a free utility designed to alleviate spending hours on tweaking your privacy settings by using some known and less-known techniques to fully disarm Windows without leaving behind even the smallest possible footprint.
Blackbird is a free utility designed to alleviate spending hours on tweaking your privacy settings by using some known and less-known techniques to fully disarm Windows without leaving behind even the smallest possible footprint.
Other tools claim to block Windows from spying, but they are cumbersome to use and not as powerful or limited in scope. So the author took Windows apart, piece by piece, analyzed web traffic, system calls, file changes,etc., compared different configurations, designed and built a stand-alone tool, and spent hundreds of hours on beta testing so anyone can use it and it gets the job done right.
Block Windows spyware, on both the application and network level, with dynamic filtering and without editing the HOSTS file or firewall settings and preventing diagnostic, password, contact, URL, SMS, handwriting, location, and P2P-update sharing.
Updated frequently and regularly; as long as Windows gets updates, so will Blackbird.
Blackbird Features:
Disables OneDrive
Disables Cortana
Disables Bing-integration
Disables Wi-Fi Sense
Disables system-wide Telemetry on all Windows versions
Disables Xbox Live services
Disables web content evaluation / URL check-in ("SmartScreen")
Disables Windows Media Online DRM
Disables Windows P2P Update sharing
Disables all application metric collection agents
Disables all AutoLoggers
Disables start menu ads
Prevents all location/contacts/handwritting/password sharing
Prevents cross-device synchronization
Patches various data-leaks (IE/EDGE/Defender/Explorer/MRT)
Removes Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA)
Disables Diagnostic Tracking / "Connected User Experiences and Telemetry" service
Disables WAP-push Message Routing service
Removes your unique Ad-ID tracking token
Removes Windows 10 upgrade setup files on Vista, 7, 8, 8.1
Removes a bunch of Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 telemetry updates
Blocks 100+ different Microsoft tracking/telemetry/ad servers (supports IPv6/IPv4, Wifi/Eth)
bonus (some) Youtube, Skype, Facebook ads blocked
Keep in mind; Blackbird will more than likely get some VirusTotal hits due to what it disables.
Blackbird can also be used via CMD Prompt with the following switches available:
blackbird -v > Verbose mode. Displays additional information on all changes as they're being made.
blackbird -s > Silent mode. No additional user interaction is required, good for scripts.
blackbird -r > Recovery mode. Restores all values changed by Blackbird to default Microsoft values.
blackbird -k > Kill Cortana completely (prevent searchUI.exe from loading).
blackbird -d > Disable Windows Defender.
blackbird -h > Disable Hibernation (deletes hiberfil.sys file).
blackbird -u > Disable automatic installation of updates / Sets to manual download and install only.
blackbird -m > Disable automatic installation of Windows Malicious Removal Tool (MRT) updates.
blackbird -? > Displays help information.
Similar:
How to Turn Diagnostic Data Settings on or off in Windows 10
How to Disable Windows 10 Activity History Permanently
How to Disable Featured or Suggested Apps from Automatically Installing on Windows 10
How to Disable the Windows 10 Task Scheduler Privacy and Automatic Maintenance Related Tasks
How to Enable or Disable Shared Experiences in Windows 10
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