The new Windows 11 privacy verification feature is very useful, let’s find out together in this article
Microsoftis working on the new dashboard on the privacy per Windows 11. Inside the app Settingswhere you can see exactly which apps or tools have access to sensitive hardware functions, such as the camera, microphone, or location. It’s possible actively monitor use or see what they are doing.
In addition, the IT giant is integrating the new privacy screen into the existing “Privacy and security” page of the Settings. You can see the list of apps that use the camera, location or microphone and when they do. It’s not perfectbecause the function doesn’t let you find out when hardware functions are being used by a particular driver, but it is still very useful.
In Windows 10, hardware permissions can be a bit confusing, and Microsoft doesn’t provide much information on app usage. While it is possible view which app is using the microphone directly on the taskbar, you cannot see the list of apps that have previously accessed the hardware functionality.
As you can see in the image below, the new Windows 11 privacy screen is quite useful, and it’s not difficult to access once you know where to look. To access the function, open the Settings and go up Privacy and Security> App Authorization.
Choice of hardware
This page allows you to choose between hardware as the camera, location and microphone. If you select “camera”, you can see its “Recent activity” by clicking the drop down menuas can be seen in the following screenshot.
The menu allows you to browse the timeline use of the camera. Likewise, you can monitor the app’s request activity for other hardware functions, such as microphone or location.
Never has a privacy tool been so useful
You will find obvious things like Microsoft Edge who uses your location e Microsoft Teams that uses your microphone, but you may see more surprising things like a third party app than enters silently to your location while it is running in the background.
As mentioned at the beginning, the function does not allow you to find out when a particular process the driver got access to certain permissions, such as location or microphone access. These hardware functions are critical because they can often be used to spy on where you are or what you are doing with a camera or microphone.
Windows never had a tool for the privacy so useful, but it looks like Microsoft is taking action to improve privacy controls in the operating system. Google added a function similar to Android with the version 12 and even Google’s implementation is far from perfect.
In addition to the new privacy controls, Microsoft is also exploring new taskbar features for the operating system, including dynamic updates.
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