At a glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
Simple handlingSaves a lot of time compared to manual deleting your tracks
Cons
Connection to the manufacturer’s service
Our Verdict
If you want to know how much data Windows keeps about your activities, you can find out with this dead-simple tool.
Ashampoo’s Privacy Inspector only needs a few minutes to collect and compile remnants of all your activities in Windows. Then it lists hundreds of websites visited, thousands of search terms typed in, and tens of thousands of other internet traces.
And that’s just the beginning. Profiles and passwords, apps and files, even the files you have recently deleted from your hard drive are found by Ashampoo’s $15 Privacy Inspector. Some of these can be deleted directly.
The Privacy Inspector also provides access to a number of little-known privacy settings of Windows. Did you know, for example, that Windows collects telemetry data and sends it to Microsoft? Or that Cortana actively tries to get to know Windows users via voice input and handwriting? With a few mouse clicks and a restart, these “snitch services” can be switched off. Ashampoo’s software is dead simple to use.
Despite all the useful features, however, we also found some superfluous and even questionable options during our time testing the software. For example, Internet Explorer (which is no longer officially available) can have its privacy options tuned, while Amazon’s Alexa plug-in (which may be installed but hasn’t work for a year) can be deactivated. Both of those seem rather unnecessary. And, more questionably, you can only limit or cut the app’s connection to the Ashampoo Service Channel by wading deep into a relatively hidden section in Privacy Inspector’s settings.
Conclusion
With a little effort and a lot of time, most of the information that Ashampoo finds can also be gathered manually. If you want to erase your steps with minimal headache, however, the Privacy Browser comfortably and comprehensively lists the information that Windows and your browsers collect, lets you delete those tracks, and makes it easy to switch off some monitoring functions.
This article was translated from German to English, and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.
Author: Dirk Bongardt
Dirk Bongardt ist App-Enthusiast und als freier Journalist vorwiegend in technischen Themenfeldern zu Hause. Als Dozent unterrichtet er angehende Online-Redakteure.
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