Privacy has always been a primary talking point of modern computing. And with the advent of the modern versions of Windows, these concerns have been amplified severalfold.
While we have come a long way from the privacy nightmares of the vanilla version of Windows 10, these concerns still remain. To alleviate them, Microsoft seems to be testing an auditing tool that days what it says on the tin.
That is, offering you information about apps that access hardware considered sensitive to user privacy.
As reported, Dev channel Windows Insiders can now get their hands on the new Privacy Audit feature, though Microsoft is yet to officially talk about this new addition to the operating system via a customary announcement or introduction blog post.
Luckily, David Weston, the vice president of the OS security and enterprise at Microsoft did the honors.
A clear image of this new tool for your viewing pleasure:
As is visible from the screenshot above, the tool appears to be part of the Privacy & security section of the Settings app. And it reveals information about microphone access along with a timestamp to let you know which apps have access to or have accessed your screenshots, messages, location data, and more.
You can also glean which apps accessed the sensitive hardware of your device, like the microphone or camera of your PC.
It appears that privacy auditing in Windows 11 might just go beyond just offering information about access to sensitive hardware. Comprehensive permission settings like those on mobile platforms like Android and iOS may also be on the cards.
This could potentially enable Windows 11 users to precisely control what tools, features, and data their installed apps have access to.
Seems like a big step forward for privacy in Windows 11, and should be a welcome addition to the OS.
