Blackbird is a free utility designed to alleviate spending hours on tweaking your privacy settings using some known and less-known techniques to fully disarm Windows without leaving behind even the smallest possible footprint.

Other tools claim to block Windows from spying, but they are cumbersome to use and not as powerful or limited in scope. So the author took Windows apart, piece by piece, analyzed web traffic, system calls, file changes,etc., compared different configurations, designed and built a stand-alone tool, and spent hundreds of hours on beta testing so anyone can use it and it gets the job done right.

Block Windows spyware, on both the application and network level, with dynamic filtering without editing the HOSTS file or firewall settings and preventing diagnostic, password, contact, URL, SMS, handwriting, location, and P2P-update sharing.



Updated frequently and regularly; as long as Windows gets updates, so will Blackbird.

Blackbird Features:

Disables OneDrive

Disables Cortana

Disables Bing-integration

Disables Wi-Fi Sense

Disables system-wide Telemetry on all Windows versions

Disables Xbox Live services

Disables web content evaluation / URL check-in ("SmartScreen")

Disables Windows Media Online DRM

Disables Windows P2P Update sharing

Disables all application metric collection agents

Disables all AutoLoggers

Disables start menu ads

Prevents all location/contacts/handwritting/password sharing

Prevents cross-device synchronization

Patches various data-leaks (IE/EDGE/Defender/Explorer/MRT)

Removes Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA)

Disables Diagnostic Tracking / "Connected User Experiences and Telemetry" service

Disables WAP-push Message Routing service

Removes your unique Ad-ID tracking token

Removes Windows 10 upgrade setup files on Vista, 7, 8, 8.1

Removes a bunch of Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 telemetry updates

Blocks 100+ different Microsoft tracking/telemetry/ad servers (supports IPv6/IPv4, Wifi/Eth)

bonus (some) Youtube, Skype, Facebook ads blocked

Keep in mind; Blackbird will more than likely get some VirusTotal hits due to what it disables.

Blackbird can also be used via CMD Prompt with the following switches available:

blackbird -v > Verbose mode. Displays additional information on all changes as they're being made.
blackbird -s > Silent mode. No additional user interaction is required, good for scripts.
blackbird -r > Recovery mode. Restores all values changed by Blackbird to default Microsoft values.
Blackbird -k > Kill Cortana completely (prevent searchUI.exe from loading).
blackbird -d > Disable Windows Defender.
blackbird -h > Disable Hibernation (deletes hiberfil.sys file).
blackbird -u > Disable automatic installation of updates / Sets to manual download and install only.
blackbird -m > Disable automatic installation of Windows Malicious Removal Tool (MRT) updates.
blackbird -? > Displays help information.

Similar:

How to Turn Diagnostic Data Settings on or off in Windows 10

How to Disable Windows 10 Activity History Permanently


Version History for Blackbird:
http://www.getblackbird.net/documentation/Blackbird_changelog.txt

Editor's Note:
Starting with 1.0.80.2, 64-bit only.