How do I stop Windows Vista from "calling home"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Turner
  • Start date Start date
S

Steve Turner

A prompt keeps coming up asking me to join a routine that collects
information from my machine and sends it to Microsoft. I do not like letting
Windows call home unnecessarily. They don't need my input; they seem to be
doing a good enough job without it. How do I turn this feature off?
 
Frenchy said:
Get a good firewall and when prompted say no to whatever outbound
application wants to phone home.

This free one does a great job (i.e. better than the Vista one)

http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/index.html

Go to the download page and grab your version (32 or 64 Bit). A
reasonable learning curve with all firewalls, so be prepared to get a
bunch of prompts until it is settled down and has learnt what you want and
don't. You can manually add programs to be blocked.

Frenchy
Click to expand...

Merci. So I install that and disable the Windows Firewall? Or do I keep it
active?
 
Merci. So I install that and disable the Windows Firewall? Or do I keep it
active?
Click to expand...


You should run *either* the Windows firewall or a third-party
firewall, not both. With two firewalls you achieve no extra
protection, you incur the extra overhead of running two firewalls, and
you run the risk (probably small, but not zero) of conflicts between
them.

I disagree with Frenchy, by the way, and recommend that you run the
Windows firewall, not the third-party one he recommends nor any other
third-party firewall.
 
Steve said:
Merci. So I install that and disable the Windows Firewall? Or do I keep
it active?
Click to expand...

Others have replied and told you only one firewall needed. As I recall,
this switches the Windows FW off when it installs. It is MUCH more
robust that the built in Vista Firewall. Just go and look at a few of
the test sites to see what they think of them!

Frenchy
 
The "VistaFirewallControl" from Sphinx Software is nothing more than a
friendly user interface for the Vista Firewall. It allows you to allow/block
in or out communications with the internet without you having to get into
the nuts and bolts of advanced Vista Firewall control settings.

It is ***NOT*** a separate firewall. You leave the Vista Firewall running.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
 
Richard said:
The "VistaFirewallControl" from Sphinx Software is nothing more than a
friendly user interface for the Vista Firewall. It allows you to
allow/block in or out communications with the internet without you
having to get into the nuts and bolts of advanced Vista Firewall control
settings.

It is ***NOT*** a separate firewall. You leave the Vista Firewall running.
Click to expand...
Well there ya go, it is a good day when you learn something new.

Many thanks, much appreciated.

Frenchy
 
The "VistaFirewallControl" from Sphinx Software is nothing more than a
friendly user interface for the Vista Firewall. It allows you to allow/block
in or out communications with the internet without you having to get into
the nuts and bolts of advanced Vista Firewall control settings.

It is ***NOT*** a separate firewall. You leave the Vista Firewall running.
Click to expand...


Thanks for posting that. I knew nothing about it and assumed it was a
separate firewall. Frenchy should ignore my message then.
 
A prompt keeps coming up asking me to join a routine that collects
information from my machine and sends it to Microsoft. I do not like
letting Windows call home unnecessarily. They don't need my input;
they seem to be doing a good enough job without it. How do I turn this
feature off?
Click to expand...

When it asks you there is an option right there in front of your face to
turn it off.
 
Hi,

Go to the Control Panel/Problems and Solutions, there is a link in the
left column for the Customer Experience Program settings. Click it and
change your settings there.
Click to expand...

Also, when it asks you if it can collect data there is an option right
there to turn it off.
 
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