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Windows collects required diagnostic data covering device configuration, performance, and update status, and optional diagnostic data that includes app activity, browser history, search terms in Microsoft Edge, and enhanced error reports that may contain fragments of user content. Users can choose between required and optional diagnostic data levels in Windows settings.
This analysis describes what Microsoft's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision establishes that optional diagnostic data in Windows may include browsing history and search terms from Microsoft Edge, as well as error reports that may unintentionally contain user content such as file fragments. The statement acknowledges this risk explicitly for enhanced error reporting.
The updated privacy statement removes the previous detailed list of third-party sources from which Microsoft obtains personal data, including data brokers, public social media posts, location service providers, co-branded partners, and developers. Under the revised language, Microsoft describes obtaining data from 'Microsoft affiliates, subsidiaries, and third parties' without specifying the categories or types of third parties as explicitly as before. The company states it has reorganized the document for greater clarity and accessibility, but the operational effect is that users receive less specific disclosure about where their data originates from outside Microsoft.
View change record →The updated policy establishes additional grounds on which Microsoft may retain personal data. While the prior version tied retention to specific user expectations and available deletion controls, the revised language authorizes retention for 'operating our business, meeting our contractual and legal obligations, improving and developing our products and services, protecting the safety and security of our systems and customers, and resolving disputes.' This expands the stated purposes beyond transaction fulfillment and legal compliance. The updated policy directs users to product-specific documentation for retention details rather than providing explicit deletion procedures and timelines in the privacy statement itself.
View change record →The updated policy now grounds data retention in five broad business purposes: operating the business, meeting contractual and legal obligations, improving and developing products and services, protecting system and customer safety, and resolving disputes. Previously, the policy articulated specific criteria for determining retention periods, including customer expectations for retention until manual deletion, availability of automated deletion controls, and data sensitivity. The revised language removes these granular criteria and instead requires users to consult individual product documentation to understand when their specific data will be deleted. This shifts the burden of finding retention timelines from the main policy statement to separate product-specific documents.
View change record →Under this provision, Windows users who enable optional diagnostic data share app activity, browser history, search terms, and enhanced error reports with Microsoft; the statement acknowledges that enhanced error reports may unintentionally contain user content. Users can control diagnostic data levels in Windows Settings under Diagnostics and Feedback, and can use the Diagnostic Data Viewer tool to review what is collected from their device.
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"Required diagnostic data includes information about your device, its settings and capabilities, and whether it is performing properly. Optional diagnostic data includes more detailed information about your device and its settings, capabilities, and device health. App activity, such as which programs are launched on a device, how long they run, and how quickly they respond to input. Browser activity, including browsing history and search terms, in Microsoft Edge. Enhanced error reporting, including the memory state of the device when a system or app crash occurs (which may unintentionally contain user content, such as parts of a file you were using when the problem occurred).Excerpt from Microsoft's Privacy Statement (Legacy)
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision implicates GDPR Article 5 (data minimization and purpose limitation) and Article 25 (data protection by design and by default) regarding the collection of browsing history and search terms as part of optional diagnostic data. The FTC has jurisdiction over representations about diagnostic data collection and use. In enterprise contexts, Windows diagnostic data processor configuration may engage additional contractual and regulatory obligations under the Product Terms. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The disclosure that enhanced error reports may unintentionally contain user content, including file fragments, is an explicit acknowledgment of incidental personal data collection risk. This creates governance obligations to ensure that such data is handled with appropriate access controls and retention limits. The collection of browsing history and search terms as optional diagnostic data may engage ePrivacy Directive requirements in EU/EEA jurisdictions. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU/EEA users may have GDPR-based objections to collection of browsing history as diagnostic data, particularly where this collection is not strictly necessary for the stated purpose. Enterprise users whose devices are enrolled in the Windows diagnostic data processor configuration are subject to their organization's data governance policies. California users may have CCPA rights regarding the collection and use of browsing history. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Organizations deploying Windows in enterprise environments should evaluate the diagnostic data processor configuration to confirm that Windows diagnostic data is processed under a controller-processor relationship with the organization, rather than under Microsoft's consumer privacy statement. Device procurement policies should specify default diagnostic data settings for organization-managed devices. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should document the diagnostic data levels configured on organization-managed Windows devices and ensure that optional diagnostic data collection is consistent with organizational data minimization policies. The Diagnostic Data Viewer tool, available in Windows Settings, should be made available to users who wish to review what diagnostic data is collected from their specific device.
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This provision establishes that optional diagnostic data in Windows may include browsing history and search terms from Microsoft Edge, as well as error reports that may unintentionally contain user content such as file fragments. The statement acknowledges this risk explicitly for enhanced error reporting.
Under this provision, Windows users who enable optional diagnostic data share app activity, browser history, search terms, and enhanced error reports with Microsoft; the statement acknowledges that enhanced error reports may unintentionally contain user content. Users can control diagnostic data levels in Windows Settings under Diagnostics and Feedback, and can use the Diagnostic Data Viewer tool to review what is …
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