Best windows settings for privacy?

[ManicMastery]

@JG

There is much information on this on this forum itself so I suggest you research and learn as much as possible.

Agreed. Some relevant learning sources on the forum for OP:

• Choosing your Windows Edition
• Group Policy settings to improve privacy/security
• Minimizing Windows 11 Data Collection
• Windows Privacy Settings

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@aaaaa

from what i ve found, windows 11 ltsc iot would make my life easier by being less bloated

@lone-cloud

you’re absolute right to use/consider Windows 11 LTSC IoT

Check out @jonah’s reply here:

@jonah

LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel)

• This is not the main servicing channel and other software and games usually don’t follow this channel’s life cycle. For example, browsers and games might not provide support for 10 years on same build.

@jonah

Reasons to avoid using LTSC:

• As stated above, many games and software might not support LTSC once that same build has reached the end of life in GAC.
• Games might not work out of the box and you will manually need to install store and Xbox apps.
• New hardware might not be fully supported by a 2-3 year-old LTSC build (A new version of LTSC is released every 3 years).
• You might miss new features added in GAC that aren’t available in LTSC.

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Common misconceptions

• LTSC is fast.
  It’s not fast, although there might be a bit more RAM available because of no store apps running in the background, and you can achieve the same result in GAC channel editions by turning off background apps and startup apps.
• It’s more privacy-oriented.
  No, telemetry options are the same as GAC Enterprise.

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@privacyisconsent

My understanding is that it is very use specific, and any privacy/security benefits can be had with Enterprise

With respect to telemetry options, this is true. As discussed above, telemetry options are identical between LTSC and Enterprise edition.

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@privacyisconsent

The only problem then being how to legitimately source Windows 11 Enterprise

@lone-cloud

you could potentially be pirating a compromised version

If OP is still unconvinced not using LTSC IoT, the best we can help them is to ensure they get the correct iso. @Uhhhidk notes here that…

@Uhhhidk

archive.org seems to be a reliable way to find and download the windows ISO.

Once you do find the ISO, make sure to verify it. You can do this by comparing the SHA output of the downloaded file to the official, untampered one. Based on a PDF file linked by a Microsoft LTSC article, the SHA256 output for Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 (x64 edition) is…

8ABF91C9CD408368DC73AAB3425D5E3C02DAE74900742072EB5C750FC637C195

This may or may not be the ISO you are looking for.