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