Hi, so I recently went and disabled a bunch of stuff on Windows 11 using privacy.sexy.
One of them broke the calendar + notifications at the bottom right so I reversed the code.
Although the calendar is useful, I’m considering rerunning the code to break it again because of the description of privacy.sexy on Windows Push Notification:
This script disables the Windows Push Notification Service (WNS) (WpnService and WpnUserService).
WNS allows third-party developers to send a range of notifications, such as toast, tile, badge, and raw updates, from their cloud services .
However, there are privacy concerns with this service:
It relies on connections to Microsoft cloud servers to deliver both local and push notifications to your device .
It can bypass VPN protections, exposing the device’s real IP address, as noted in Wikipedia (uncited) .
This script disables WpnService (Windows Push Notifications System Service) and WpnUserService (Windows Push Notifications User Service) .
Caution: Disabling the WpnUserService system-wide impacts access to network settings on Windows 10, possibly causing issues with managing network connections . This issue does not occur on Windows 11 .
Here’s the code I’m referring to:
@echo off
:: Ensure admin privileges
fltmc >nul 2>&1 || (
echo Administrator privileges are required.
PowerShell Start -Verb RunAs '%0' 2> nul || (
echo Right-click on the script and select "Run as administrator".
pause & exit 1
)
exit 0
)
:: Initialize environment
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion
:: Disable Windows Push Notifications (breaks network settings view on Windows 10)
echo --- Disable Windows Push Notifications (breaks network settings view on Windows 10)
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "$message = 'Disabling Network settings on Windows 10 is known to break Network settings.'; $ignoreWindows10 = $false; $ignoreWindows11 = $true <# $false #>; $warn = $true <# $false #>; $osVersion = [System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version; function Test-IsWindows10 { ($osVersion.Major -eq 10) -and ($osVersion.Build -lt 22000) }; function Test-IsWindows11 { ($osVersion.Major -gt 10) -or (($osVersion.Major -eq 10) -and ($osVersion.Build -ge 22000)) }; if (($ignoreWindows10 -and (Test-IsWindows10)) -or ($ignoreWindows11 -and (Test-IsWindows11))) {; echo "^""Skipping"^""; exit 0 <# Skip #>; }; if ($warn) {; Write-Warning "^""$message"^""; } else {; Write-Host "^""Note: "^"" -ForegroundColor Blue -NoNewLine; Write-Output "^""$message"^""; }"
:: Disable service(s): `WpnService`
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "$serviceName = 'WpnService'; Write-Host "^""Disabling service: `"^""$serviceName`"^""."^""; <# -- 1. Skip if service does not exist #>; $service = Get-Service -Name $serviceName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; if(!$service) {; Write-Host "^""Service `"^""$serviceName`"^"" could not be not found, no need to disable it."^""; Exit 0; }; <# -- 2. Stop if running #>; if ($service.Status -eq [System.ServiceProcess.ServiceControllerStatus]::Running) {; Write-Host "^""`"^""$serviceName`"^"" is running, stopping it."^""; try {; Stop-Service -Name "^""$serviceName"^"" -Force -ErrorAction Stop; Write-Host "^""Stopped `"^""$serviceName`"^"" successfully."^""; } catch {; Write-Warning "^""Could not stop `"^""$serviceName`"^"", it will be stopped after reboot: $_"^""; }; } else {; Write-Host "^""`"^""$serviceName`"^"" is not running, no need to stop."^""; }; <# -- 3. Skip if already disabled #>; $startupType = $service.StartType <# Does not work before .NET 4.6.1 #>; if(!$startupType) {; $startupType = (Get-WmiObject -Query "^""Select StartMode From Win32_Service Where Name='$serviceName'"^"" -ErrorAction Ignore).StartMode; if(!$startupType) {; $startupType = (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Service -Property StartMode -Filter "^""Name='$serviceName'"^"" -ErrorAction Ignore).StartMode; }; }; if($startupType -eq 'Disabled') {; Write-Host "^""$serviceName is already disabled, no further action is needed"^""; }; <# -- 4. Disable service #>; try {; Set-Service -Name "^""$serviceName"^"" -StartupType Disabled -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction Stop; Write-Host "^""Disabled `"^""$serviceName`"^"" successfully."^""; } catch {; Write-Error "^""Could not disable `"^""$serviceName`"^"": $_"^""; }"
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "$serviceQuery = 'WpnUserService'; <# -- 1. Skip if service does not exist #>; $service = Get-Service -Name $serviceQuery -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; if(!$service) {; Write-Host "^""Service query `"^""$serviceQuery`"^"" did not yield any results, no need to disable it."^""; Exit 0; }; $serviceName = $service.Name; Write-Host "^""Disabling service: `"^""$serviceName`"^""."^""; <# -- 2. Stop if running #>; if ($service.Status -eq [System.ServiceProcess.ServiceControllerStatus]::Running) {; Write-Host "^""`"^""$serviceName`"^"" is running, trying to stop it."^""; try {; Stop-Service -Name "^""$serviceName"^"" -Force -ErrorAction Stop; Write-Host "^""Stopped `"^""$serviceName`"^"" successfully."^""; } catch {; Write-Warning "^""Could not stop `"^""$serviceName`"^"", it will be stopped after reboot: $_"^""; }; } else {; Write-Host "^""`"^""$serviceName`"^"" is not running, no need to stop."^""; }; <# -- 3. Skip if service info is not found in registry #>; $registryKey = "^""HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\$serviceName"^""; if(!(Test-Path $registryKey)) {; Write-Host "^""`"^""$registryKey`"^"" is not found in registry, cannot enable it."^""; Exit 0; }; <# -- 4. Skip if already disabled #>; if( $(Get-ItemProperty -Path "^""$registryKey"^"").Start -eq 4) {; Write-Host "^""`"^""$serviceName`"^"" is already disabled from start, no further action is needed."^""; Exit 0; }; <# -- 5. Disable service #>; try {; Set-ItemProperty $registryKey -Name Start -Value 4 -Force -ErrorAction Stop; Write-Host "^""Disabled `"^""$serviceName`"^"" successfully."^""; } catch {; Write-Error "^""Could not disable `"^""$serviceName`"^"": $_"^""; }"
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command "$serviceQuery = 'WpnUserService_*'; <# -- 1. Skip if service does not exist #>; $service = Get-Service -Name $serviceQuery -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; if(!$service) {; Write-Host "^""Service query `"^""$serviceQuery`"^"" did not yield any results, no need to disable it."^""; Exit 0; }; $serviceName = $service.Name; Write-Host "^""Disabling service: `"^""$serviceName`"^""."^""; <# -- 2. Stop if running #>; if ($service.Status -eq [System.ServiceProcess.ServiceControllerStatus]::Running) {; Write-Host "^""`"^""$serviceName`"^"" is running, trying to stop it."^""; try {; Stop-Service -Name "^""$serviceName"^"" -Force -ErrorAction Stop; Write-Host "^""Stopped `"^""$serviceName`"^"" successfully."^""; } catch {; Write-Warning "^""Could not stop `"^""$serviceName`"^"", it will be stopped after reboot: $_"^""; }; } else {; Write-Host "^""`"^""$serviceName`"^"" is not running, no need to stop."^""; }; <# -- 3. Skip if service info is not found in registry #>; $registryKey = "^""HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\$serviceName"^""; if(!(Test-Path $registryKey)) {; Write-Host "^""`"^""$registryKey`"^"" is not found in registry, cannot enable it."^""; Exit 0; }; <# -- 4. Skip if already disabled #>; if( $(Get-ItemProperty -Path "^""$registryKey"^"").Start -eq 4) {; Write-Host "^""`"^""$serviceName`"^"" is already disabled from start, no further action is needed."^""; Exit 0; }; <# -- 5. Disable service #>; try {; Set-ItemProperty $registryKey -Name Start -Value 4 -Force -ErrorAction Stop; Write-Host "^""Disabled `"^""$serviceName`"^"" successfully."^""; } catch {; Write-Error "^""Could not disable `"^""$serviceName`"^"": $_"^""; }"
:: ----------------------------------------------------------
:: Pause the script to view the final state
pause
:: Restore previous environment settings
endlocal
:: Exit the script successfully
exit /b 0
So my question is, would privacyguides agree with privacy.sexy? Should I disable it and just use a calendar elsewhere?
