TelemetryGuard

A Windows service that actively monitors and blocks telemetry services to enhance your privacy. TelemetryGuard runs as a background service and automatically stops and disables Windows telemetry services.

Features

• Runs as a Windows service
• Automatically stops and disables telemetry services
• Configurable service list and check intervals
• Requires administrator privileges for full functionality
• Logs all actions to Windows Event Log

Supported Telemetry Services

By default, TelemetryGuard monitors and blocks the following services:

• DiagTrack (Connected User Experiences and Telemetry)
• dmwappushsvc (dmwappush service)

Requirements

• Windows operating system
• .NET 9.0 or later
• Administrator privileges

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/liquizz/telemetry-guard.git

2. Build the solution:

cd telemetry-guard/TelemetryGuardService
dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained

Published folder will be located at TelemetryGuardService\bin\Release\net9.0\win-x64

3. Install the service:

sc create TelemetryGuardService binPath= "path\to\TelemetryGuardService.exe" start= auto
sc description TelemetryGuardService "Blocks Windows telemetry services"
sc start TelemetryGuardService

Configuration

The service can be configured through the appsettings.json file:

{
  "TelemetryGuard": {
    "TelemetryServices": ["DiagTrack", "dmwappushsvc"],
    "CheckInterval": "00:05:00",
    "StopTimeout": "00:00:30"
  }
}

• TelemetryServices: List of services to monitor and block
• CheckInterval: How often to check for running telemetry services (default: 5 minutes)
• StopTimeout: Maximum time to wait for a service to stop (default: 30 seconds)

PowerShell Script

The repository also includes a PowerShell script (Scripts/DisableTelemetry.ps1) that can be used to:

• Stop and disable telemetry services
• Disable telemetry-related scheduled tasks
• Configure registry settings to block telemetry

To run the script:

.\Scripts\DisableTelemetry.ps1

Versioning

This project follows Semantic Versioning (SemVer). Version numbers are in the format MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH:

• MAJOR: Incompatible API changes
• MINOR: Backwards-compatible functionality additions
• PATCH: Backwards-compatible bug fixes

Version Management

A PowerShell script is provided to help manage versions:

# Display current version
.\Scripts\version.ps1

# Bump major version (for breaking changes)
.\Scripts\version.ps1 -BumpType major

# Bump minor version (for new features)
.\Scripts\version.ps1 -BumpType minor

# Bump patch version (for bug fixes)
.\Scripts\version.ps1 -BumpType patch

Releases

GitHub releases are automatically created when a new version tag is pushed. The following artifacts are included in each release:

• TelemetryGuard-Service.zip - Contains the compiled Windows service
• TelemetryGuard-Scripts.zip - Contains PowerShell scripts for manual telemetry blocking

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

See the CHANGELOG.md for a detailed history of changes.

Disclaimer

This software is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Use at your own risk. The author is not responsible for any issues that may arise from using this software.