Privacy and security baseline for personal Windows 10 and Windows 11

Quick start

This will apply basic privacy and security settings for Windows 10 and Windows 11

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -File .\Install.ps1 -Level Basic

What is this?

This is a handpicked collection of privacy and security settings for standalone Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems that tries to strike a good balance between privacy, security and usability. It uses group policy and is mainly based on Microsoft's Windows security baselines and Windows Restricted Traffic Limited Functionality Baseline.

It comes with two security levels, based on your threat profile:

Basic security and privacy

Contains privacy and security settings that limits sharing of your personal information and improves the security configuration without extensively reducing performance or usability.

• 👤 For standalone and personal use systems
• 🪲 Helps protect against passive attacks (malware and attacks against many people at once)

High-level security and privacy

Includes extra security settings for individuals with a higher threat profile. This includes enterprise-grade security settings and protections against physical attacks. This might reduce usability and performance, compared to the basic level.

• 👥 For standalone, personal use systems and small domains/enterprises
• 🎯 Helps protect against targeted attacks (dedicated hackers or other malicious agents trying to access your device specifically)

How to use

Install the Basic security and privacy baseline:

1. (Optional, but recommended) Download the newest LGPO.exe tool from Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit and place it in the Tools folder.
2. (Optional, but recommended) Backup your current settings so you can revert later. Run Backup.ps1 from the Utils folder. E.g. .\Backup.ps1 -OutputDir C:\tmp\
3. (Optional, but recommended) Review the list of changed settings in Lists/SettingsOverview.xlsx
4. Run Install.ps1 with PowerShell with administrative privileges.

.\Install.ps1 -Level Basic

Use another value for -Level to select another baseline:

-Level Basic                 [default] Basic security and privacy
-Level HighSecurity          High security settings (assumes basic security setting are in place)

Advanced use and more granular control: 
-Level BasicSecurity         Basic security, with no privacy settings added
-Level BasicPrivacy          Basic privacy, with no security settings added
-Level HighSecurityBitlocker A subset of high security settings: Disk encryption settings
-Level HighSecurityCredGuard A subset of high security settings: Virtualization-based security
-Level HighSecurityComputer  A subset of high security settings: Computer settings
-Level HighSecurityDomain    A subset of high security settings: Domain computer settings
-Level ExtremePrivacy        [experimental] Privacy settings that degrade security and usability

FAQ

Which Windows versions are supported?

The Install script will detect your version and apply supported settings. The current versions are supported:

• Windows 10 (21H1, 21H2 and 22H2)
• Windows 11 (21H2, 22H2 and 23H2)

In both cases, the Enterprise or Education editions of Windows are recommended. Pro will partially work, but some settings, such as telemetry, cannot be set to the desired level.

Windows Home edition is not supported.

Why use this instead of CIS benchmark or Microsoft's security baseline?

Although both CIS' and Microsoft's security baselines are great, they are geared towards organizations using domain-joined computers. This baseline is made for personal/standalone computers, and includes additional settings for increased privacy.

What is more important, privacy or security?

Both are important. This baseline tries both, but there are conflicts between them. In the following cases, privacy wins over security:

• Windows Defender does not send samples to Microsoft.
• Smartscreen is disabled

Security and usability wins in some cases too, detailed below:

Does this baseline stop all traffic sent to Microsoft services?

No. Traffic to Microsoft is limited, but for usability and security reasons, the following services still sends information to Microsoft:

• Windows Update is enabled to automatically download security updates
• Windows Defender signature updates are enabled to automatically download anti-malware definition updates
• Automatic Root Certificates Update is enabled to automatically check the list of trusted authorities on Windows Update to see if an update is available
• Network Connection Status Indicator (NCSI) sends a DNS request and HTTP query to http://www.msftconnecttest.com/connecttest.txt to determine if the device can communicate with the Internet. This is required to get Windows Updates and some other features
• The "Microsoft Account Sign-in Assistant" service (wlidsvc) is enabled. This is required to get Windows Updates.
• Telemetry is set to the lowest level availble for your Windows version. If you don't have the Enterprise/Education edition, some telemetry is still sent to Microsoft.
• This baseline might have flaws and does not cover all possibilities. Please submit an issue if you see room for improvement.

What are the usability implications of installing this?

Functionality related to Microsoft accounts, Cortana, OneDrive, Store, cloud, feedback and customer experience improvement are disabled or reduced.

I want to change some of the settings

Everything is customizable through group policy:

1. To get an overview of your current settings, run gpresult.exe /h GPreport.html with administrative privileges. Then open the report in a browser and click "Show all". Identify the setting(s) you want to change and note their path.

2. To change a setting, run gpedit.msc with administrative privileges, and change the setting(s) identified in the step above. The paths in the GPreport corresponds with the gpedit tool. To reset a setting its default state, set it to "Not configured".

What is the difference between the Basic and High security levels?

The High level has the following security improvements compared to the Basic level:

• Stronger User Account Control (UAC) settings
• Increased protection against physical attacks (Direct Memory Attack (DMA) protections, Sleep mode disabled, machine inactivity limit)
• Virtualization-based security features enabled (Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity (HVCI), Secure launch)
• Enhanced logging enabled (audit, powershell, firewall)
• Hardening of Enterprise/domain features (Domain security settings, remote access like RDP and WinRM)
• More strict password policy

The privacy settings are equal in both levels.

How to verify changed settings before installing?

Download Microsoft's Policy Analyzer tool from Security Compliance Toolkit, then import GPOs to view which settings they change.

Does this baseline improve any applications?

No. Only the Windows operating system and built-in Windows components are covered. There are no improvements to Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer included here.

Contributing

Don't be afraid to contribute! For now, create an issue if you see room for improvement, and we'll take it from there.

Credits

The main components of this baseline are

• Microsoft's Windows Security baselines and Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit
• Microsoft's Restricted Traffic Limited Functionality Baseline

I learned a lot from mxk's Windows 10 and Server 2019 Secure Baseline GPO and included some adjustments based on that baseline.