Popular Windows XP privacy tool is making a comeback

If you have lived through the Windows XP era of computing, you may have used a program called XP-AntiSpy back then. Yes, even then it was useful to run a privacy tool to limit Microsoft’s hunger for data.

The last time we heard from XP-AntiSpy was when it was released for Windows 10. That was back in 2015.

Serial program creator Belim has now forked the classic XP-AntiSpy application. XD-AntiSpy is the name of the fork, and it is now available as the first stable version.

The core idea behind the app has not changed: give users a straightforward and convenient way to manage certain settings on Windows.

XD-AntiSpy review

XD-AntiSpy software helps you tweak (mostly) privacy settings on Windows 11

XD-AntiSpy is developed for Windows 11. The latest version is available on GitHub. It has a size of less than 350 kilobytes and can be run without installations. Yes, that was normal back in the days.

Note: Windows may throw a SmartScreen security warning when you execute the application on Windows 11. The app is not malicious; the warning is shown because it is a new application.

The interface displays tweaks in a long list sorted into categories like Adblock for Windows 11, AI/Copilot and Recall, or Microsoft Edge.

Clearly, XD-AntiSpy has been modified to provide Windows 11 users with the tweaks they need to tame the operating system as best as possible.

Enabled tweaks display with checkmarks, which is mighty useful as you can focus your attention on the tweaks that are not enabled yet.

Most of the tweaks are self-explanatory. You can hover over a tweak to get a description, which usually offers additional details on what it does.

All you have to do is go through the list and check or uncheck the tweaks. Once you are done, hit the apply settings button. This makes the changes on the Windows 11 system, a restart is still required to complete the process. You can also use Tools > Restart Explorer for the same effect.

The app does not suggest to create a system restore point or another form of backup. You can import and export settings, however. It is recommended to create a system restore point or, better, a full system backup before using any app that makes changes to the system.

Verdict

XD-AntiSpy is a lightweight tweaking tool for Windows 11. While it is not the most complete, it is still a useful and promising tool. It remains to be seen what Belim has in store for it.

Do you use tweaking tools or do you prefer to modify the operating system manually?