How to Turn Off Tailored Experiences in Windows 11

What the switch actually controls

Windows collects diagnostic data — app usage, crashes, device info — and the Tailored experiences switch decides whether Microsoft may mine that stream to personalize its own marketing surfaces: tips, suggestions, recommended content and ads about Microsoft products and services. It is not the advertising ID, which lives on the General privacy page and governs app ads, and it is not the optional-data setting, which governs how much detail leaves the machine. Three different switches with three different jobs — worth doing all of them in one sitting.

The name changed shape over the years, but the mechanism has been stable since Windows 10, where it shipped under Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback. The part that surprises people: personalization works even when your diagnostic data sits at the Required level, so the toggle is not redundant after trimming telemetry. After it goes off, Windows tips and recommendations don't disappear — they just stop being about you: fewer eerily relevant suggestions, the same amount of generic Microsoft nudging.

• Decides whether diagnostic data may personalize Microsoft's tips, ads and recommendations
• Applies even at the Required diagnostic data level
• Separate from the advertising ID and from the optional-data setting
• Windows 11: Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback; Windows 10: Settings > Privacy
• Per user in the registry: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Privacy, TailoredExperiencesWithDiagnosticDataEnabled = 0

Turning it off in Settings, the registry or policy

The fast route: open Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback, find the Tailored experiences section and switch Let Microsoft use your diagnostic data to offer you tailored tips, ads, and recommendations to Off. On Windows 10 the same toggle sits under Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback. While you're on the page, set diagnostic data to the Required-only level — it's the adjacent control, and the two cuts work best together.

Per user, the registry does the same: under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Privacy set the DWORD TailoredExperiencesWithDiagnosticDataEnabled to 0, with 1 restoring the default. Admins on Pro and Enterprise can enforce it machine-wide through gpedit: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Data Collection and Preview Builds > Do not use diagnostic data for tailored experiences, set to Enabled. After a gpupdate or a reboot the Settings toggle greys out — the visible sign that policy has taken over.

What changes and what to recheck later

Day to day, expect the same volume of Microsoft content but blander: no more tips keyed to your app usage, no recommended-for-you upsells in the Settings app's suggested spots. The diagnostic pipeline itself is untouched — if you want less data leaving the machine, that's the adjacent setting on the same page, and the deeper cut is the telemetry set as a whole. Recheck the toggle after each feature update, because big upgrades have a documented habit of walking privacy switches back toward their defaults. If a full privacy pass is the goal, follow up with the advertising ID, the activity history and the diagnostic data pages — together they're the complete set Microsoft gives you.

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