Privacy Policy - Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Security Essentials Privacy Statement

Last updated: December 2010

Microsoft is committed to protecting your privacy while delivering products that bring you the performance, power, and convenience you desire in your personal computing. This privacy statement explains many of the data collection and use practices of Microsoft Security Essentials. It doesn't apply to other online or offline Microsoft sites, products, or services.

Microsoft Security Essentials helps protect your PC from malicious software (malware) such as viruses, spyware, and other potentially harmful software.

It offers two ways to help protect your PC from malware and other potentially unwanted software:

Real-time protection. Microsoft Security Essentials alerts you when malware, spyware, or potentially unwanted software attempts to install or run on your PC. It also alerts you when programs attempt to change important Windows settings.
Scanning options. You can use Microsoft Security Essentials to scan for threats, viruses, spyware, and other potentially unwanted software that might be installed on your PC, to schedule scans on a regular basis, and to automatically remove any malicious software that is detected during a scan.

Collection and use of your personal information

When we need information that personally identifies you or allows us to contact you, we will explicitly ask you for it. In the case of Microsoft SpyNet, by accepting this privacy statement, you agree to send reports to Microsoft (see below). The personal information that we collect from you will be used by Microsoft and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates to provide the service(s) or carry out the transaction(s) you have requested or authorized, and it may also be used to request additional information on feedback that you provide about the product or service that you're using; to provide critical updates and notifications regarding the pre-release software; or to improve the product or service (for example, bug and survey form inquiries).

Except as described in this statement, personal information you provide won't be transferred to third parties without your consent. We occasionally hire other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as answering customer questions about products or services, or performing statistical analysis of our services. We will only provide those companies the personal information they need to deliver the service, and they are prohibited from using that information for any other purpose.

Microsoft may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the services; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers, or the public. We may also disclose personal information as part of a corporate transaction such as a merger or sale of assets.

Collection and use of information about your computer

This software contains Internet enabled features that collect certain standard information from your computer ("standard computer information") and send it to Microsoft. Standard computer information includes certain information about your computer software and hardware, such as your IP address, operating system, web browser software, and version. The privacy details for each Microsoft Security Essentials feature listed in this privacy statement disclose what additional information is collected and how it is used.

Information that is collected by or sent to Microsoft may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or service providers maintain facilities. Microsoft abides by the safe harbor framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data from the European Union, the European Economic Area, and Switzerland.

Recommended settings in Microsoft Security Essentials

If you choose the recommended settings during setup, Microsoft Security Essentials real-time protection will be enabled and automatic scanning will occur weekly at 2:00 A.M. on Sunday.

Joining Microsoft SpyNet

Microsoft Security Essentials includes Microsoft SpyNet, Microsoft’s free online community, dedicated to reporting and stopping malware. Microsoft Security Essentials will automatically send information to Microsoft to help Microsoft determine which software to investigate for potential threats and to help improve Microsoft Security Essentials' effectiveness. Information that identifies you personally (personally identifiable information or PII) is generally not included in the information sent.

Security of your information

Microsoft is committed to protecting the security of your information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.

For more information

Microsoft welcomes your comments regarding this privacy statement. If you have questions about this statement or believe that we haven't adhered to it, please contact us by using our web form. If you have a technical or general support question, please visit http://support.microsoft.com to learn more about Microsoft Support offerings.

Microsoft Privacy, Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052 USA · 425-882-8080

Specific features

History

What this feature does: This feature provides a list of all malware or suspected malware that Microsoft Security Essentials detected on your PC and the actions that were taken when these programs were detected. The information displayed in the History tab is for items detected for all users - not per user.

Information collected, processed, or transmitted: A list of all malware or suspected malware that Microsoft Security Essentials detected on your computer and the actions taken on these items are stored on your computer. These lists include Microsoft Security Essentials activity for all the local users on the computer. The lists are sent to Microsoft as part of your basic membership in Microsoft SpyNet.

Choice and control: History lists may be deleted by the local computer administrator. By default, all items are displayed for all users. To allow only the local computer administrator to view all items, in the Settings tab, select the Advanced tab and clear the option "Allow all users to view the full History results."

Microsoft Update

What this feature does: Microsoft Security Essentials turns on automatic updating from Windows Update and Microsoft Update to help keep your computer current with updates to Windows and other Microsoft software. Microsoft Update is essential to providing you with the latest malware threat definition updates for Microsoft Security Essentials.

For more information about Windows Update and Microsoft Update, see the Update Services Privacy Statement at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkID=76234.

Automatic scanning for malware

What this feature does: Microsoft Security Essentials includes an automatic scanning feature, which scans your computer and alerts you if it detects malware. You can turn automatic scanning on or off and change the frequency and type of scans using the Microsoft Security Essentials Settings tab. You can also choose which actions are automatically applied to software that Microsoft Security Essentials detects during a scheduled scan.

Information collected, processed, or transmitted: A list of all malware or suspected malware that Microsoft Security Essentials detected on your computer and the actions taken on these items are stored on your computer. These lists include Microsoft Security Essentials activity for all the local users on the computer. The lists are sent to Microsoft as part of your basic membership in Microsoft SpyNet.

Choice and control: While not recommended, you can turn off automatic scanning using the Microsoft Security Essentials Settings tab.

Real-time protection

What this feature does: Microsoft Security Essentials' real-time protection feature alerts you when viruses, spyware and other potentially unwanted software attempts to install itself or run on your PC.

Information collected, processed, or transmitted: A list of all malware or suspected malware that Microsoft Security Essentials detected on your computer and the actions taken on these items are stored on your computer. These lists include Microsoft Security Essentials activity for all the local users on the computer. The lists are sent to Microsoft as part of your basic membership in Microsoft SpyNet.

Choice and control: While not recommended, you can turn off real-time protection using the Microsoft Security Essentials Settings tab.

Shell extension

What this feature does: Shell extension is a scanning tool, which lets you select specific files and\or folders and scan them using Microsoft Security Essentials.

Information collected, processed, or transmitted: A list of all malware or suspected malware that Microsoft Security Essentials detected on your computer and the actions taken on these items are stored on your computer. These lists include Microsoft Security Essentials activity for all the local users on the computer. These lists are sent to Microsoft as part of your basic membership in Microsoft SpyNet.

Choice and control: The shell extension feature is a manual tool that you can choose to use or not.

Microsoft SpyNet

What this feature does: The Microsoft SpyNet antimalware community is a voluntary, worldwide community that includes Microsoft Security Essentials users. Through Microsoft SpyNet, users can report malware and other forms of potentially unwanted software to Microsoft. Through Microsoft SpyNet, reports about malware and potentially unwanted software are sent to Microsoft. The type of information that is sent in reports depends on your level of Microsoft SpyNet membership.

Information collected, processed, or transmitted: Microsoft SpyNet reports include information about the files or programs in question, such as file names, cryptographic hash, vendor, size, and date stamps. In addition, Microsoft SpyNet might collect full URLs to indicate the origin of the file, which might occasionally contain personal information such as search terms or data entered in forms. Reports might also include the actions that you applied when Microsoft Security Essentials notified you that software was detected. Microsoft SpyNet reports include this information to help Microsoft gauge the effectiveness of Microsoft Security Essentials' ability to detect and remove malicious and potentially unwanted software.

Reports are automatically sent to Microsoft when:

Microsoft Security Essentials detects software or changes to your computer by software that haven't yet been analyzed for risks.
You apply actions to software that Microsoft Security Essentials has detected.
Microsoft Security Essentials completes a scheduled scan and automatically applies actions to software that it detects, according to your settings.

Reports might unintentionally contain personal information. To the extent that any personal information is included in a report, Microsoft doesn't use the information to identify you or contact you.

You can join Microsoft SpyNet with a basic or an advanced membership. If you choose the recommended settings during Microsoft Security Essentials setup, you join with a basic membership. Basic member reports contain the information described above. Advanced member reports are more comprehensive and might occasionally contain personal information from, for example, file paths and partial memory dumps. These reports, along with reports from other Microsoft Security Essentials users who are participating in Microsoft SpyNet, help Microsoft researchers discover new threats more rapidly. Malware definitions are then created for programs that meet the analysis criteria, and the updated definitions are made available to all users through Microsoft Update.

Occasionally, Microsoft might request a Sample Submission report. This report contains specific files from your computer that Microsoft suspects might be potentially unwanted software. The report is used for further analysis. You'll be asked each time if you want to send this Sample Submission report to Microsoft.

To help protect your privacy, reports are sent to Microsoft over an encrypted connection.

Use of information: Microsoft SpyNet reports are used to improve Microsoft software and services. The reports might also be used for statistical or other testing or analytical purposes, and for generating definitions. Only Microsoft employees, contractors, partners, and vendors who have a business need to use the reports are provided access to them.

Choice/control: Microsoft Security Essentials recommends you be a member of Microsoft SpyNet at the Basic level of membership. You can decide not to be a member of Microsoft SpyNet or to extend your membership to an advanced membership. If you choose an advanced membership you'll be asked if you want to permit or deny changes made by software that hasn't yet been classified for risks. Basic members won't be asked to review changes by this software and the changes will be permitted. To change your Microsoft SpyNet membership, use the options provided in the Microsoft Security Essentials Settings.

Dynamic Signature Service Feature

What this feature does: The Dynamic Signature Service helps Microsoft Security Essentials improve its ability to identify (or rule out) potential threats. Using Dynamic Signature Service, Microsoft Security Essentials is able to check for the latest signatures, enabling it to:

Verify in real-time whether a possible threat is an actual threat, and if it is, attempt to clean the threat.
Determine "false-positive" situations on detected items that aren't actually threats, and if a false positive is found, fix it.

Information collected, processed, or transmitted: A list of all malware or suspected malware that Microsoft Security Essentials detected on your computer and the actions taken on these items are stored on your computer. These lists include Microsoft Security Essentials activity for all the local users on the computer. These lists are sent to Microsoft as part of your basic membership in Microsoft SpyNet.

Choice and control: Running Microsoft Security Essentials provides protection over the Internet, thereby ensuring you're protected faster from potential threats.

Antimalware-related data collected from your computer

Microsoft Security Essentials collects antimalware-related data from your computer to help protect it. The following table explains about the types of data collected and how we use this data.

Virus and spyware protection	Version of virus and spyware definitions Virus and spyware protection version	Whenever Microsoft Security Essentials updates your virus and spyware protection or definition files	Microsoft Security Essentials uses this information to ensure that the latest virus and spyware updates are present on your computer. If the latest updates aren't present, Microsoft Security Essentials will update itself automatically so that your computer's protection stays up-to-date.
Virus and spyware protection	Name of potentially harmful or unwanted software How the software was found Any actions that Microsoft Security Essentials has taken to deal with the software Files affected by the software Information about your computer from the manufacturer (Sysco fig, SysModel, SysMarker)	If Microsoft Security Essentials finds potentially harmful or unwanted software on your computer	Microsoft Security Essentials uses this information to determine the type and severity level of potentially unwanted software on your computer, and to determine the best action to take. We also use this information to help improve the accuracy of Microsoft Security Essentials virus and spyware protection. Note that we collect only the names of affected files, not the contents of the files themselves. This information helps determine what systems are especially vulnerable to specific threats.
Virus and spyware protection	Virus and spyware definition update status Status of real-time virus and spyware monitoring (on or off)	Once a month	Microsoft Security Essentials uses this information to verify that your computer has the latest Microsoft Security Essentials virus and spyware protection version, and has the most recent virus and spyware definitions. We also want to make sure that real-time virus and spyware monitoring is turned on, which is a critical part of helping protect your computer from potentially harmful or unwanted software.
Virus and spyware protection	List of running processes in your computer's memory	During installation, or whenever you manually perform a virus and spyware scan of your computer	To identify any processes that might have been compromised by potentially harmful software.

Microsoft Security Essentials error reporting

Microsoft Security Essentials also collects and reports on errors that occur in the software.

What this feature does: Error reports include information about problems that occur in the Microsoft Security Essentials software.

Information collected, processed, or transmitted: Error reports might unintentionally contain personal information. For example, reports might contain the names of folders on your computer that could include the name of your Windows user account. Microsoft doesn't use this information to identify you or contact you. To learn more about error reports, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=56274.

Use of information: Error reports help Microsoft keep this software in good working condition so that we can help protect your computer against potential threats.

Choice and control: Error reports are automatically sent to Microsoft.

You can disable the automatic reporting of errors that may contain the names of folders on your computer by creating

a registry value named "DisableGenericReports" with any type or value under "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Security Essentials"
a registry REG_DWORD value named "DisableGenericReports" with value ‘1’ under "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\Reporting"

This setting will be applied to ANY Windows Error Reporting for the client system.

CAUTION: Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer. You can also use the Last Known Good Configuration startup option if you encounter problems after manual changes have been applied.

Customer Experience Improvement Program

What This Feature Does: The Customer Experience Improvement Program (“CEIP”) collects basic information about your hardware configuration and how you use our software and services in order to identify trends and usage patterns. CEIP also collects the type and number of errors you encounter, software and hardware performance, and the speed of services. We won't collect your name, address, or other contact information.

Information Collected, Processed, or Transmitted: For more information about the information collected, processed, or transmitted by CEIP, see the CEIP privacy statement at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=52097.

Use of Information: We use this information to improve the quality, reliability, and performance of Microsoft software and services.

Choice/Control: CEIP is off by default.
You're offered the opportunity to participate in CEIP during setup.
If you choose to participate and later change your mind, you can turn off CEIP at any time by:
Using the CEIP Opt-out run-time dialog. From the Help menu, open the link named “Customer Experience Improvement Program” and check the ‘Don’t Join’ radio button.