As a computer user, you’re constantly interacting with diagnostic processes, even if you’re not always aware of them. Just like a mechanic uses Computer Diagnostics to understand the health of your car, Windows uses diagnostics to understand the health and performance of your device. Microsoft utilizes diagnostic data and feedback from your Windows device to gain insights into how things are functioning, ensuring a stable and improving user experience.
When you use Windows, diagnostic information is collected to help Microsoft keep your device secure, troubleshoot problems, and enhance their products. Furthermore, Windows provides users with avenues to offer feedback at any time, or in response to specific prompts, ensuring your voice as a customer is heard.
Important Update on Data Categorization: Microsoft is committed to transparency and has categorized the data collected into Required and Optional. Windows 10 is undergoing updates to reflect this change, where Basic diagnostic data is now termed Required, and Full diagnostic data is now Optional.
The What and Why of Diagnostic Data Collection
Diagnostic data plays a crucial role in Microsoft’s ability to maintain product security, deliver timely updates, resolve issues, and drive product improvements. Choosing whether to send Optional diagnostic data does not compromise your device’s security or normal operation. This data is transmitted to Microsoft and stored with unique identifiers, allowing them to recognize individual users and devices, and understand service issues and usage patterns.
- Required Diagnostic Data: This is the fundamental level of information about your device, its configuration, capabilities, and operational status. It’s the minimum data set necessary to ensure your device is reliable, secure, and functions correctly.
- Optional Diagnostic Data: This category encompasses more detailed information about your device, its settings, capabilities, and overall health. It may also include data about websites you browse, device activity patterns (usage), and enhanced error reports. In situations where a system or app crashes, Optional diagnostic data might include the memory state of your device at the time of the crash, potentially including fragments of files you were working on. Crucially, Required diagnostic data is always included when you opt to send Optional diagnostic data. By choosing to share Optional diagnostic data, you enable Microsoft to combine this data with information from other Microsoft products to further enhance security, improve updates, troubleshoot problems, and refine product functionalities across the board. While your device remains secure and functional with just Required diagnostic data, the additional insights from Optional data significantly aid in quicker issue identification, faster resolutions, and more impactful product enhancements for all Windows users.
Even if you choose to send Optional diagnostic data, some data might not be collected from your specific device. Microsoft employs a strategy of minimizing the volume of Optional diagnostic data collection by sampling data from only a subset of devices. You can ascertain if your device is part of this sample and view the specific data collected by using the Diagnostic Data Viewer. Instructions for downloading this tool are available within Windows 10 and 11 privacy settings.
Alt: Windows 10 Diagnostics & feedback settings screen showing options for Diagnostic data and Feedback frequency.
The specific data points collected for Windows diagnostics are subject to periodic updates. This flexibility allows Microsoft to gather the necessary data to address emerging performance issues or to support new Windows devices entering the market. For the most current lists of data types collected under Required and Optional diagnostic data, refer to Windows Required diagnostic events and fields and Windows Optional diagnostic data.
Utilizing Required Diagnostic Data for Updates
Required diagnostic data is essential for keeping Windows devices current. Microsoft leverages this data in several ways:
- Basic Error Insights: To determine if update-related issues can be addressed through the update process itself.
- Device Compatibility Assessment: Information about your device, its settings, capabilities, installed applications, and drivers helps ascertain compatibility with upcoming operating system or app releases, ensuring smooth updates.
- Update Process Logging: Data from the update process stages (downloading, pre-installation, post-installation, post-reboot, and setup) is logged to understand update progression.
- Update Performance Analysis: Data on update performance across all Windows devices helps evaluate deployment success and identify device characteristics (hardware, peripherals, settings, applications) associated with successful or failed updates.
- Upgrade Failure Analysis: Data about devices experiencing upgrade failures and the reasons behind them informs decisions on whether to re-offer the same upgrade.
Troubleshooting with Diagnostic Data
Both Required and Optional diagnostic data are instrumental in troubleshooting issues and maintaining the reliability and security of Windows and related products and services.
Microsoft uses Required diagnostic data to:
- Understand Hardware and Software Diversity: Gain insights into the vast array of hardware, system, and software configurations used by customers.
- Pinpoint Issue Origins: Analyze problems based on specific hardware, system, and software combinations to identify the precise conditions under which issues arise, often affecting limited sets of devices.
- Performance Issue Detection: Determine if an app or process is experiencing performance problems (crashes or hangs) and when crash-dump files are generated (note: crash dumps are not collected without explicit user permission, such as choosing Optional diagnostic data).
- Diagnostic System Improvement: Assess and rectify issues within the diagnostic data transmission system itself.
Optional diagnostic data provides additional depth, enabling faster problem detection and resolution:
- App Activity Context: Information about user activity within apps helps understand the sequence of actions leading to a problem, alongside the impact of other apps or processes running concurrently.
- Device Health Metrics: Data on device health, such as battery level or app responsiveness, provides context for application performance issues and aids in making targeted corrections.
- Enhanced Error Reporting: Detailed information from enhanced error reports and crash dumps clarifies the specific conditions surrounding errors or crashes.
Improving Windows with Diagnostic Data
Required diagnostic data is used to improve Windows in fundamental areas like updates, security, problem-solving, accessibility, reliability, performance, feature enhancement, compatibility, privacy, and energy efficiency. Optional diagnostic data expands this scope to include related products and services.
Microsoft uses Required diagnostic data for product improvement by:
- Prioritizing Improvements: Analyzing device, peripheral, and setting configurations to prioritize improvements that will have the most significant positive impact for the majority of Windows users.
- App Compatibility Focus: Utilizing data on installed apps to prioritize compatibility testing and feature enhancements for the most widely used applications.
Optional diagnostic data facilitates even more impactful improvements:
- Usage-Based Enhancements: App activity information helps prioritize app compatibility testing and feature improvements for the most frequently used apps and features.
- Performance Optimization: Analyzing the impact of device characteristics, configuration, and app activity on device health (e.g., battery life) to identify and implement changes that enhance Windows device performance.
- Search Algorithm Refinement: Aggregated browsing history data from Microsoft browsers is used to fine-tune Bing’s search algorithms for more effective search results.
Alt: Windows 11 Diagnostics & feedback settings interface showing options for Diagnostic data and View diagnostic data.
Organizational Device Management: If your device is managed by an organization’s IT department, diagnostic data handling might be subject to additional group policies. For details, see Configure Windows diagnostic data in your organization. Enterprises engaging Microsoft for device management also utilize diagnostic and error data for device management, monitoring, and troubleshooting.
Personalized Experiences and Offers:
Note: “Tailored experiences” is being replaced by “Personalized offers” in newer Windows versions. Older versions may still display “Tailored experiences.” Learn more about Personalized offers in Windows 11
Enabling Tailored experiences allows Microsoft to use your Windows diagnostic data to provide personalized tips, ads, and recommendations to enhance your Microsoft experience. With Required diagnostic data selected, personalization is based on device information, settings, capabilities, and performance. Choosing Optional data expands personalization to include app and feature usage, and device health data. Importantly, crash dump content, browsing history, speech, typing, or inking input data are not used for personalization when Optional data is selected.
Tailored experiences can include suggestions for Windows customization and optimization, as well as ads and recommendations for Microsoft and third-party products, services, features, apps, and hardware. Examples include feature discovery tips, problem solutions, lock screen customization suggestions, and storage space recommendations (like OneDrive or hardware upgrades).
Improving Inking and Typing:
Enabling the Improve inking & typing setting allows Microsoft to collect samples of your typed or handwritten content to improve features like handwriting recognition, autocompletion, next word prediction, and spelling correction. This data is aggregated and anonymized to improve these features for all Windows users. Collected inking and typing data is divided into small samples, processed to remove identifiers, sequencing information, and potentially reconstructable data (like email addresses and numeric values). Associated performance data, manual text corrections, and dictionary additions are also included. This data is not used for Tailored experiences.
Note: In older Windows versions lacking the “Improve inking & typing” setting, this data was collected when Diagnostic data was set to Full.
Microsoft Edge Diagnostic Data:
As of March 6, 2024, in the European Economic Area, Microsoft Edge diagnostic data on Windows 10 (version 22H2+) and Windows 11 (version 23H2+) devices is collected separately from Windows diagnostic data, governed by its own settings. See Microsoft Edge, browsing data, and privacy for more information.
Controlling Your Diagnostics and Feedback Settings
During initial Windows setup, you can choose whether to send Optional diagnostic data and whether to enable Tailored experiences and Improve inking & typing (on newer versions). These settings can be adjusted at any time after setup.
Changing the Diagnostic Data Setting:
- Windows 10: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback.
Windows 11: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback. - Under Diagnostic data, select your preferred option. If options are unavailable, your device might be managed by an organization, indicated by “Some settings are hidden or managed by your organization” at the top.
Note: Windows has other privacy settings, such as Activity history, that control app activity and browsing history data sent to Microsoft.
Changing the Tailored Experiences Setting:
- Windows 10: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback.
Windows 11: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback. - Under Tailored experiences, choose your preferred setting.
Viewing Your Diagnostic Data:
Use the Diagnostic Data Viewer to see real-time diagnostic data. It only displays data available while running and doesn’t show historical data.
Windows 10:
- Go to Start > Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback.
- Turn Diagnostic data viewer On, then select Diagnostic Data Viewer.
Windows 11:
- Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback.
- Turn View diagnostic data On, then select Open Diagnostic Data Viewer.
Deleting Your Diagnostic Data:
You can delete diagnostic data for your device, but this doesn’t delete data associated with your Microsoft account or stop data collection. Organizations managing the device might have copies of diagnostic data.
- Windows 10: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback.
Windows 11: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback. - Under Delete diagnostic data, select Delete.
To manage diagnostic data associated with your Microsoft account, visit the Microsoft privacy dashboard.
Stopping Typing and Handwriting Data Collection for Service Improvement:
- Windows 10: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback.
Windows 11: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback. - Turn the Improve inking and typing setting Off.
Adjusting Feedback Frequency:
Control how often Windows asks for feedback.
- Windows 10 & 11: Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback.
- Under Feedback frequency, select your preferred option.
Sending Feedback Anytime:
- Type Feedback Hub in the search bar.
- Enter keywords describing your issue in the Give us feedback to make Windows better box and press Enter.
- Upvote existing issues or provide new feedback via the form.
By understanding Windows computer diagnostics and your privacy settings, you can take control of your data and contribute to a better Windows experience.
