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Setting privacy options

Microsoft recognizes that you are concerned about protecting your privacy while using your computer and accessing the Internet.

When you first use Windows Media Player, a set of privacy options are presented to you. If you later want to review or change these options, you can do so by using the Privacy tab in the Player.

To access the Privacy tab

The Player, as determined by options that you control, can use your Internet connection to do things such as:

Additionally, the Player can store information about digital media and Web addresses (URLs) that you visit to make it easier for you to access the files or URLs again.

For more information about what data is collected and how that data is used, please see the Windows Media Player privacy statement on the Microsoft Web site.

For more information about privacy and WindowsMedia.com please see the WindowsMedia.com Web site.

Enhanced Playback Experience options

To enrich your experience when playing CDs, DVDs, and digital media files, the Player downloads related media information about the content such as the album title, album art, song and DVD titles, artist, composer, and other information by default. To retrieve the media information about content, the Player sends an identifier for the CD or DVD to a database operated by WindowsMedia.com. WindowsMedia.com then sends the information back to your computer, where the information is stored. In the case of digital media files, information from the files may be sent to the database operated by WindowsMedia.com in an attempt to retrieve and update additional media information.

The following options, which are selected by default, enable you to control whether related media information is retrieved for your digital media content. Select the options that you want on the Privacy Options tab. Or, if the Player is open, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click Privacy.

Note that if you clear either of the preceding options, you will make Player features that enhance the playback experience and provide information about the content you play unavailable.

Enhanced Content Provider Services options

The following options enable content providers to uniquely identify your Player when you receive streaming media from their servers, and to change settings that determine whether Web servers store cookies on your computer.

Customer Experience Improvement Program options

The anonymous information obtained from you and other program participants is used to improve the Player and related services.

Specifies whether you want to help Microsoft improve the Player and related services.

We invite you to join our Customer Experience Improvement Program to improve the quality, reliability, and performance of Microsoft software and services. If you accept, we’ll collect anonymous information about your hardware configuration and how you use our software and services to identify trends and usage patterns. We will not collect your name, address, or any other personally identifiable information. There are no surveys to complete, no salesperson will call, and you can continue working without interruption. It's safe, secure, and completely anonymous.

Read more about the Customer Experience Improvement Program.

History options

Links to files and URLs are saved in the Player in a couple of different places. If you share your computer, you can select the following check box to prevent others from viewing the files that you've played and the URLs that you've visited:

The following additional options on the Privacy tab in the Player enable you to remove stored information from your computer:

Clear History

Click to remove all stored information about files that you have played and URLs that you have visited.

Clear CD/DVD

After downloading media information about CDs and DVDs from the Internet, the information is stored on your computer to make the media information available to you even when your computer is not connected to the Internet. Click the Clear CD/DVD button to remove all stored information about CDs and DVDs that you have played.

If you remove the media information for your CDs and DVDs, you will need to be online when you play them to view album art, track names, album names, and more. If you do store media information in the Media Library on your computer, you can view the media information when you play CDs and DVDs even if you are offline. Note that the Player must send information about the CD and DVD to WindowsMedia.com to find the correct album art and other media information.


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