World War Privacy Part 5: Stop MS Edge snooping

World War Privacy Part 5 is about locking down Microsoft Edge to maximise anonymity because privacy is a thing of the past.

If you search for browser privacy, you will find three recurrent terms: De-Microsoft, De-Google and De-core Apple. What they refer to are the default browsers/search engines (MS Edge/Bing, Chrome/Google and Safari/Google).

So while Windows may ‘spy’ on you, MS Edge and Bing have taken that to a whole new level for Web search.

The MS Edge version used is 142.0.35995.53. The settings we refer to are ‘default’, and you should start by resetting Edge under Settings >Reset Settings.

Start now – remember this guide is solely about MS Edge/Bing.

Even if you start today, everything you have ever searched for, webpages browsed and where you went after that is recorded not for posterity but for money. Note: Bunnings is only used for convenience.

Let’s say you use MS Bing and MS Edge to search for a hammer. The top banner results are companies that have bought the AdWord hammer. Then you will find that the first URL result will be Bunnings (which buys its way to the top). It is clear that the web is all about shopping.

But all you wanted was to find out more about hammers. Hopefully, there will be a first page reference to Wikipedia.

There is an option to use MS Copilot, which summarises all practical works on hammers and then points you to Bunnings et al.

What you may not know is that Edge has captured

• What you searched for (all your search history)
• Your device and IP address
• Your login details for Windows
• Reverse IP physical address lookup
• The websites you came from (cookie tracking)
• The websites you go to after (cookie tracking)
• And much more.

Let’s say you click through to Bunnings. It then gets that data and verifies it against what searches that device/IP address has previously searched the site for. Chances are, you have a Bunnings and a Flybuys profile (loyalty programs record what and where you buy, and also sell your data).

Now, less ethical online marketplaces will use that data to allocate a price tier based on what you seem to be able to afford. For example, Bunnings doesn’t because it has brick-and-mortar stores that sell at a fixed price. But price comparison, travel, airlines, and consumer goods online markets do manipulate your price and can tailor suggestions.

We did a hammer test with MS Edge set to defaults, no browsing history or cookies.

eBay bought up the Stanley Hammer from $34.90 to $55 (free post). By comparison, using Firefox (my default browser, not reset), eBay showed $22.99 to $33.16 (as it knows I price compare with Amazon).

Amazon bought up the same hammer from $47.50 to $56 (free post). By comparison, using Firefox (my default browser, not reset), Amazon showed $37 to $43.16.

Now that we had some MS Edge ‘history’, we went back to Amazon. The browser knew we did not buy from eBay or Amazon and showed a new price of $35.50!

We left Amazon and went to Bunnings, and the same hammer was $32. We went back to Amazon, and the hammer was now $28.50.

The moral of this is that retailers use this information to extract maximum dollars. But that history is also used for news feeds (it feeds information that it feels your profile suits) and even search results.

Anonymity in MS Edge

Rule #1 is to use a VPN because it is harder to track anything back past the local VPN server. Read Do you need a VPN? (Virtual Private Network guide).

MS Edge is getting a little stricter and often brings up CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) in an effort to get more information, but it’s worth the inconvenience for online shopping, banking and any sensitive data.

Warning: While these settings are 100% correct, they may lock down things that you occasionally need. For example, if you want to use a camera or microphone in MS Edge, these have been disabled. The cure is to go to the App and give it the permissions it needs.

It all starts with opening MS Edge Settings, which is three horizontal dots at the top right of the browser.

Under Profiles

• Sign out. Microsoft still knows who it is as you logged onto a Windows computer.

Profiles/Sync

• Under Sync, Turn off Sync
• Don’t use Edge Mobile

Profiles/Microsoft Rewards

• Turn off

Profiles/Profile Preferences

• Turn all off

Profiles/Share browsing data with other Windows features

• Turn off

Passwords and Autofill

Microsoft Password Manager

• Turn off Microsoft password manager (unless you want MS to manage your passwords, but it is safer to use a paid password manager), and delete any stored passwords.

Payment methods

• Turn everything off unless you want Microsoft to store your credit card details.
• Remove any payment methods. You can still buy online, but you manually enter the card details.

Personal Info

• Turn everything off and remove any saved personal information

Privacy, search, and services

Tracking prevention

This ostensibly blocks known harmful trackers, but MS determines what should be blocked. It has Basic, Balanced, and Strict.

You should set it to Strict, but many sites won’t work as they want to plant trackers. You can always add a site to an exception whitelist or use a tracker blocker (more later)

At worst, set it to Balanced.

Clear browsing data

There are tricks here. You want to delete browsing data, but it defaults to the last 24 hours. So, select All Time from the drop-down box. There is an extensive list of browsing data. We recommend selecting all and pressing Clear Now.

Clear browsing data/Clear browsing data on close

Select Choose what to clear every time you close the browser. Select everything, and it clears it on exit.

Privacy

• Turn on Send Do Not Track requests
• Turn off Allow sites to check whether you have payment methods saved
• Turn off Send optional diagnostic data to improve Microsoft products
• Turn off Help improve Microsoft products by sending the results from searches on the web
• Turn off Allow Microsoft to save your browsing activity, including history, usage, favourites, web content, and other browsing data, to personalise Microsoft Edge and Microsoft services like ads, search, shopping and news.

Security

Note that most of these options require information sent to Microsoft for ‘analysis’. If you are using a paid Antivirus program, it will do this for you. If not, Windows Defender Smart Screen will let Microsoft know each site you visit.

• Turn off all settings.

Cookies

• Turn off all settings.

This may generate emails from banks about not recognising a login. No issue, but you can add sites that need a cookie.

Site Permissions/All permissions

This is a list of permissions you allow websites to use. In general, all permissions should be set to Ask First and leave them if blocked.

Appearance

Accept all factory defaults, but if you don’t want Copilot AI (recommended), go to Copilot and sidebar and turn it off.

Default browser

You can change Search Engines, but that is for another article.

Start, home, and new tab page

Accept defaults and turn off preload of your new tab page.

Languages

• Turn off Offer to translate pages that aren’t in a language I read
• Turn off Offer to translate pages that aren’t in a language I read

Downloads

• Turn off Open Office files in the browser

Accessibility

Accept all defaults

System and performance

Accept all defaults

That is the Settings menu done

Microsoft often updates MS Edge and can reinstate some settings. Check at least quarterly.

But wait, there is more

Microsoft cleverly sells space on its home page to companies like Amazon, eBay, etc. These are not just shortcuts but tracking devices that know your every move.

At the top right is the settings cog.

• The only item to be on is Open in a new tab

CyberShack’s view: World War Privacy Part 5: Stop MS Edge snooping

This is over 1400 words, and frankly, most people won’t do everything we suggest, but let me leave you a sobering thought. I would not use MS Edge without neutering the hundreds of ways it can track you and hoover up personal data.

No, it is not paranoia; we are not looking at adult material or anything else.

What I can say is that Chrome (on which Edge is based) is no better, and your data goes to Google instead of Microsoft.

In a future World War Privacy series, we will look at safer browsers and some tools that may help minimise snooping.

You can access the series here.

World War Privacy Part 5, World War Privacy Part 5, World War Privacy Part 5, World War Privacy Part 5, World War Privacy Part 5, World War Privacy Part 5