How to revert changes made to Windows 10 by "Destroy Windows Spying" (DWS_Lite.exe)

Solution 1:

Destroy Windows Spying Neutralizer (DWS_Neutralizer.cmd)

After thorough research, I've found a list of changes made by DWS:

Delete Keylogger and Telemetry:

  • Disables and deletes some of Diagnostics and Windows Media push services.
  • Disables Cortana from registry, by Computer Policy.
  • Disables Windows Telemetry from registry.
  • Disables Diagnostics from registry.
  • Disables Inclusion of MRT in Windows Update from registry.

Add spy domains in hosts file, and block in Windows Firewall:

  • Blocks Microsoft telemetry URLs from hosts file.
  • Blocks Microsoft telemetry IP ranges from firewall.
  • Blocks Microsoft telemetry IP ranges from routing table.

Disable Private Settings:

  • Disbales Cortana from registry, by User Policy.
  • Disables Camera on LockScreen from registry.
  • Disables Biometrics from registry.
  • Disables Bing Search from registry.
  • Disables Web Search from registry.
  • Disables Password Reveal Button from registry.
  • Disables Sensors from registry.
  • Disables Location Services from registry.

Disable Windows Defender:

  • Disables Windows Defender from registry.
  • Disables Automatic Malware Sample Submission from registry.
  • Disables Malware Reporting from registry.
  • Disables Smart Screen Filter from registry.

Set Default Windows Photo Viewer:

  • Self-descriptive I guess!

Disable Spy Tasks:

  • Disables Diagnostics from task scheduler.
  • Disables Media Center Discovery from task scheduler.
  • Disables Office Telemetry from task scheduler.
  • Disables Customer Experince from task scheduler.
  • Disables WinSAT Maintenance from task scheduler.

This script reverts all the changes to their default settings.

Note: It doesn't reinstall removed metro apps!

Disclaimer: This method is tested and working. However, there's a chance that I didn't mentioned all the changes, and maybe I missed some registry keys. Please be warned that it reverts affected settings to Out-of-Box state, so if you changed some of those, you may need to re-enable/configure them. !Do it at your ownrisk!

Download as script: DWS_Neutralizer.cmd (Note: Run as admin)

Download as archive: DWS_Neutralizer.zip (Note: Extract, then run as admin)

Based on: DWS (Final) Last Updated: 2015-12-29