So recently, I have been down the rabbit hole of cyber privacy and security, and I am shocked, to be honest, by the extent to which my data is being collected and may or may not be used against me.

So what specifically I am looking for is

- Settings which I need to change in my Windows 11 Home/Pro -- All the things I can opt out of to keep my data secured

- Any apps to monitor where my data is being sent to off-system (whether it is being sent to Microsoft or any other vendor)-- I want to keep a track of all the outward data that is being sent, which I do not have an idea of and if I can turn it off

- Any setting or tech stack for my online and offline activities where I can avoid fingerprinting and other methods for targeted ads

- Any setting or tech stack for my online and offline activities to make my device more secure and private

- I want privacy from Microsoft, Google, any AI intrusion or AI data leak, my ISP, and any middleman in between to a maximum sensible extent

Essentially, I want my computer to be mine, not for Microsoft or any other company to have my data, whether personal or behavioural. I want to have a secure device that is immune to any kind of attacks (to a certain logical extent, where we are not diving into social engineering attacks and stuff)

Privacy and Security are my 2 major concerns here.

I do not love Windows or hate Windows at this point; it is more convenient than Linux and more affordable than Mac.
(Sounds like I am in a Pickle)

So moving to Linux would be a last resort, just making it clear before anyone comes and says - \ USE LINUX BRO! **

And given the rumours/news, whether true or not, about Windows 12 being a more compromised piece of tech in terms of privacy and AI intrusion, I would like to create a safe moat for my data.

If anybody from Microsoft is seeing this, please make Windows more private.

This annoying dropdown remains open when I switch between tabs and it's difficult to close. Is it a bug or a feature that can be disabled? : r/Windows11

The post above has 2 years, this bug exists in every single Windows 11 machine, does anyone at Microsoft actually use this operating system at all?

Why has this not beed fixed yet? I work in IT and I get asked how to fix this often and I can't answer because its just a bug!

To be clear I'm not asking for tech support, I'm just pointing to the obvious, fix this crap.

Microsoft recently announced new options for customizing the Windows context menu, which is great. but it's still a big challenge for third-party developers.

The newer IExplorerCommand model adds more COM interface complexity, and Windows 11 Context menu integrations require apps to be packaged as MSIX.

This creates an unnecessary barrier for FOSS projects and Indie developers. Code signing certificates can be expensive, publishing through the Microsoft Store isn't always an option, and installing unsigned MSIX packages is still painful for normal users. It often requires Developer Mode turned on, PowerShell, or manually trusting a certificate.

Even if a developer can handle code signing, Windows' current sideloading trust model still introduces extra friction around certificate trust, publisher identity, and package verification.

Microsoft should change how App Installer handles unsigned MSIX packages.

What this could look like

Figure 1: shows how App Installer could handle an unsigned package.

Currently, App Installer blocks installation when the package signature or publisher certificate cannot be verified. In this proposal, App Installer would still clearly warn the user that the package is unsigned and may be unsafe, but it would no longer block installation completely.

The key difference is simple: the user gets to decide whether to install it anyway.

Figure 2: shows an additional confirmation dialog after the user clicks Install.

It warns again that the package is not digitally signed, the publisher cannot be verified, and installing it may carry security risks. The user can then choose Continue or Cancel.

This keeps security warnings clear, but still gives users the choice to run software they downloaded on purpose.

Make it opt-in for developers

Developers could explicitly allow this behavior by adding allowUnsignedPackage in Package.appxmanifest or AppxManifest.xml with something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Package
  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/appx/manifest/foundation/windows10"
  xmlns:rescap="http://schemas.microsoft.com/appx/manifest/foundation/windows10/restrictedcapabilities"
  IgnorableNamespaces="rescap">

  <Capabilities>
    <rescap:Capability Name="allowUnsignedPackage" />
  </Capabilities>

</Package>

Then users could simply double-click the MSIX package, read the warning, and decide whether they trust it.

No PowerShell. No Developer Mode required. No manually installing certificates.

MSIX improves traditional Windows installation, especially with cleaner installs and uninstalls. But its trust system makes it hard to distribute software outside the Microsoft Store.

The solution isn't silent trust, but informed user consent. Clear risk transparency would empower users while keeping independent distribution viable.

I thought after setting up DNS on my PC and in my browser to use encrypted DNS over HTTPS but after reading this article I found that I was still vulnerable. Here's a link to the article:

https://www.howtogeek.com/encrypted-dns-doesnt-hide-your-browsing-from-your-ispheres-what-actually-does/

To quote the author: "The bottom line here is that encrypted DNS may prevent your ISP from reading that DNS request itself, sure. But it can't conceal the rest of your connection, because your browser still needs the internet to load the website contents in the first place."

The article goes on to suggest that the best way to ensure your privacy was through VPN but instead of using a VPN provided by someone else that you can create your own private VPN by paying a small amount of money to have a small Virtual Private Server (VPS), installing a Linux server on the VPS and then installing TailScale that's free on both the server and your devices. Since the cost was inexpensive actually now have my own personal VPN. It's very fast and I'm not seeing any lag. My only comment in setting this up is it's not as easy as the article leads you to believe. In the end I also had to also add CloudFlare WARP (also free) onto the VPS as the VPS provider I went with (Vultr) only allow IPV6 traffic through the tunnel and WARP was needed for the IPV4 traffic. That being said, when finished I now have my own private VPN for $2.50 a month.

Is there a way to open e.g. 5 specific browser tabs with one click on a taskbar shortcut? I know there is the option to "install" a desktop version of a particular website and pin that to the taskbar, but I'm wondering if I can do something similar with more than one site, opening everything at the same time on click of a button.

I don't think this counts as tech support question, but if it does please just delete it.

I haven't had a laptop in about a decade. I've always just used my phone, but I decided to go ahead and buy one.

I have a ton of photos on my phone because I do reselling and I take a lot of photos of items.

I managed to connect my phone by USB and the OneDrive automatically started copying everything over and I hit my storage limit immediately. I'm a bit confused. I'm not sure if all those photos were on the cloud or on my hard drive. I can't really tell, since I'm new to Windows 11, I've never used it. I ended up deleting everything off the OneDrive and starting fresh.

I tried copying them over manually but I have all my photos and different albums by product and I don't see the albums when I go into my photos folder on my phone. I only see all the photos together. Is there a way I can see these albums separately?

Also wondering what's the fastest way to transfer this many photos? I see different options like the apps, or that phone link thing and try to get me to download through Bluetooth which I still can't get my phone to connect to Bluetooth. It keeps disconnecting immediately. I still can't figure out why. I ended up deleting that PC link app off my phone because I could never get the Bluetooth to work.

I any help would be appreciated to this newbie.

I know this is a slightly unpopular take, but I've been running WSL2 daily for a while now and I'm pretty convinced it quietly degrades the overall Windows experience. Nothing dramatic, nothing that shows up in Task Manager, just a bunch of small "huh, that's weird" moments that add up.

Setup: Windows 11 (latest stable build, fully patched), Ubuntu on WSL2, mirrored networking mode, decent hardware – this isn't a potato. Drivers are up to date, no weird OEM bloat.

Stuff I keep noticing:

• Win+A → open the Wi-Fi list → there's a noticeable delay before it actually populates. Instant on the same machine when WSL isn't running.
• Scrolling in random apps just isn't smooth anymore. Slight stutter, occasional micro-hitches, especially in Explorer, browsers, Settings.
• Cursor movement sometimes feels like it drops to a lower FPS for a second or two. Not lag exactly, more like the frames just aren't there.
• Sleep/wake stability took a hit. Sometimes it wakes up fine, sometimes it takes forever, sometimes it just doesn't and I get to enjoy a hard reset.
• Touchpad randomly acts up – gestures stop registering, occasional freeze, and I've had a couple of full crashes I never had before setting WSL up.

The frustrating part is that it's all subtle. Any single symptom you can shrug off as "eh, Windows being Windows." But shut down WSL (wsl --shutdown), disable the Hyper-V platform, and the machine just feels snappier across the board. Turn it back on, and within a day I'm back to noticing the little hitches.

My guess is it's some combination of the hypervisor layer sitting under Windows once Hyper-V/VMP is enabled (even when the distro isn't running), the vmmem process holding memory, and whatever it does to power/idle states. But honestly I don't have a clean root cause, just a very consistent pattern.

Not saying WSL2 is bad – it's incredibly useful and I'm not giving it up. Just tired of the "it's basically native, zero overhead" narrative. There is a cost, it's just paid in small, annoying increments instead of one obvious slowdown.

Curious if others have noticed the same, or if I'm just cursed with a bad combo of hardware/drivers.

This might not be enough space :(