Discussion: User Tracking

[Hellbovine]

I'll eventually figure this out on my own as I make my way through the pile of registry tweaks I'm testing, but to help speed this up I'm hoping someone knows the answer to this one, since it's quite the annoyance. Anyone that uses registry comparison tools will likely be familiar with the following 3 paths that always appear in everything you do to Windows.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Notifications\Data
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FeatureUsage

Does anyone know how to disable these? They don't benefit users, it's all just telemetry. I'm not sure what the Notifications\Data is for, I assume that it's a way for Windows to track timestamps for things like "LU" (Last Update) keys elsewhere in the registry. The UserAssist and FeatureUsage constantly write to the registry based on user activity. There are several articles on the internet about these keys, forensic analysts are happy about them because it offers more ways to track what a user is doing on their computer.

UPDATE: AUGUST 25th, 2023 (DISABLE USERASSIST)

Spoiler: click here to reveal text

The following registry key completely stops the UserAssist path from being used anymore.

; Start > Settings > Privacy > General > Let Windows track app launches to improve Start and search results > Off
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"Start_TrackProgs"=dword:00000000

 

[garlin]

Windows tracks your recent desktop activity, apps or files usage, so it can service Recent Files or desktop search suggestions.

This is baked in, whether you've disabled the user facing view or not. If you changed NTLite's Privacy/Allow Telemetry -> Security/Disabled, then no diagnostic data is forwarded.

Notifications\Data is updated when you make changes to WNF (Windows Notification Facility) or after processing notification events. Not all events are directed to the user, apps may use the API to alert other apps.

Explorer\UserAssist is the most recent apps/file list.
Explorer\FeatureUsage is your recent desktop actions.

I don't understand bickering about "performance". This data logging has minimal impact, what you're confused with is the background data aggregation (reporting) which kills performance. Unless you're spamming rapid-fire actions, this ain't it.

 

[garlin]

NTFS tweak?

Sorry, he's talking reg keys not disk files.

 

[Hellbovine]

I don't understand bickering about "performance"...

I realize the cost is minuscule for many features, but when there's literally hundreds of these it adds up and this is the kind of stuff responsible for why Windows resource usage is out of control. A little feature here, another there, 500 features later and you've gained 20,000 CPU handles.

In my tweaking I've only done simple registry changes, all of which are easily reversible, without deleting any Windows files, and I've cut the threads down by 37%, handles by 22%, and memory usage by 300 MB. It's all thanks to disabling these kinds of little features.

Also, if you're a gamer or a power user in the audio/video fields then you have to realize that all these features come with other hidden performance costs, such as the increase in DPC latency (that's a bad thing) in the newer and heavier operating systems, due to all the background activity. More stuff running in the background also reduces security, privacy, and increases the chances of bugs appearing.

 

[Clanger]

I'm pretty sure I'll eventually figure this out on my own as I make my way through the pile of registry tweaks I'm testing

care to share what you got so far?
i know how far i have gotten with 1809(as per my screen grabs), processes and threads are similar to my heavily tweaked w7 but handles are still double and that plays on my mind, maybe i can go further. there are a few things broken when i go that low, i always get a systemsettings.exe memory error

 

[Hellbovine]

care to share what you got so far?

I hope to release version 1.0 of my tweaks by the end of the month. The goal is to eventually make some guides, similar to the GamerOS thread, and I'll get them posted for feedback as soon as I'm done with the final testing. I'm very big on quality control so it's taking a long time.