Microsoft Spynet is a utility integrated in Microsoft’s Windows Defender and Security Essentials software packages. While not a separate program per say, Spynet is a means for Microsoft to collect information about suspicious activity flagged by both their security products when installed on your local computer. The general premise is, a network of users are likely to identify spyware based on whether they allow or block a particular item from executing on their systems. These items would be anything that Defender or Security Essentials do not yet contain a valid thumb print or signature on – meaning it doesn’t know if they are harmful or not. As an end-user, you are able to leverage Spynet and determine how other users have handled a piece of software that is otherwise suspicious.
Spynet is a rather useful system in my opinion, but users tend to get uneasy about sending any information back to Microsoft without their consent. The reality is – you’ve probably agreed to this behavior without realizing it. Windows Defender is included in Windows 7 and one of the initial setup screens as you installed Windows requested your permission for things of this nature; to Help protect your computer and improve Windows automatically. If you are having second thoughts about the whole agreement it is pretty simple to reverse the process.
Windows Defender
Launch Windows Defender from the search menu with defender.
From Tools->Microsoft SpyNet you can change your membership between three levels – the last of which is opting out of the process entirely.
Security Essentials
The currently released version of Security Essentials does not contain a graphical option to opt-out of SpyNet, strangely enough. This oversight has been corrected in v2.0 of the security suite but it still remains in beta form. Nevertheless, it still is possible to disable SpyNet in v1.0 – it just requires a trip into the Windows Registry.
Launch regedit from the search menu.
Navigate to the key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\SpyNet\ from the left-hand menu.
Change the value of the name SpyNetReporting to 0 to prevent your PC from participating in the SkyNet network. You should reboot your system to fully apply the change however.
