Privacy in this digital era is really a hot and controversial topic. With all the wireless technologies that make life sweet comes the ease at which one could allow others into their private life without even being aware of it. So if you use a computer and come online regularly, you need to make sure you are not allowing prying eyes monitor your movements.
There are many ways to ensure that your privacy is not being endangered by some programs or apps installed on your computer. In this presentation, I will talk about one important feature of Windows 10 that can make it easy to endanger your privacy. That feature is:
- Device Location
Before I explain how to know which apps are tracking your location, it is important to understand why location tracking is there in the first place.
Why allow location tracking?
There are some apps on your computer that needs to know your actual location before they can generate useful information and work well. Without the location data, these apps will function in a limited way. For example, your weather app cannot provide random weather data of any place, unless it uses the actual location information from your system to do the work. Another example is your map. This app needs to know your exact location before it works well. Otherwise, it wont function the way it was designed. But then, you need to be cautious.
While good apps use the device location information to do their work, malicious apps installed behind your back could still steal your location information and give it out to strangers. This would be a clear example of intruding into your privacy. The consequences may not be great at the end. So allowing trusted programs to obtain your device location information is good. But you need to make sure that no one is peeping you through the window.
Which apps are tracking me?
Windows have a setting called Location. Through this setting, you are able to know which apps are tracking you. Of course to stay on the safe side, you can decide to switch off your device location, or switch off some unwanted apps that are accessing your location data. So lets see how to do it.
Step 1: On the Search bar, type Location privacy settings and hit Enter. See Image below:
Step 2: You can decide to switch off device location entirely. It means that no apps will be able to access your location. Click on the button below to switch it on or off.
Step 3: Now that you decided to allow device location, you can still limit the apps that access your location information. To do that, you need to switch the button below on.
Step 4: Finally, you can know and choose which apps that can access your device location. Anyone you want to prevent from accessing your location, just switch it off.
Now that you have seen the apps accessing your location information, you want to make sure that they are all apps you know. But there is more.
Taking your privacy further
The settings above will ensure that third party apps cannot access your location if they are set that way. However, there are certain apps called desktop apps that can access your device location even if the location setting is turned off. These desktop apps are designed to bypass windows location settings and may not seek your authorization on how they access or use your location data. So installing apps only from trusted sources is a way to handle this challenge. More on that later.
Additionally, there are apps that will still seek other ways to access location data if they noticed that windows location setting is turned off. So to make sure there are no leaks, you might want to consider switching off all all wireless radio communication facilities such as Modem and Bluetooth. You still have to remember that this might cause devices that depend on such settings to have limited functionality.
- Only install apps from trusted sources: This is another proactive measure to ensure that no apps are stealing your location data. The Microsoft store provides a secure and safe environment from where users can download and install computer programs in a safe manner. There are a few other trusted software stores too that guarantee only genuine programs. Installing programs from untrusted sources increases the chances of getting some malicious apps that might steal your location data and compromise your privacy.
Privacy is crucial
You have to take your privacy serious and ensure you stay safe. The digital age presents a big opportunity for intruders to seek ways of stealing personally identifying information. You want to make sure of the apps that are accessing your device location and keep away harmful ones. That way, your privacy is guaranteed.
Note: Pixabay owns the thumbnail. Otherwise, All images are my screenshots.
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