is that out of the box it's a security nightmare. cortana (the os's "virtual assistant" or whatever) monitors literally everything you do including your every keystroke and sends data back to microsoft - unless you explicitly turn that setting off. and so on, and so on. it also updates automatically (something that was unable to be adjusted in windows 8, but has been fixed in windows 10 with an explicit setting to turn off automatic updates or just all updates whatsoever).

but it's correct that it can be tailored to be relatively safe for regular use and it doesn't take much effort at all.

first of all, you want to use a native or "local" account instead of creating and using one of their "microsoft" accounts. that way apps won't be able to share data about you across platforms and the data won't be stored except on your pc. you lose a few minor features which you don't care about and receive peace of mind in exchange.

the other settings you want to adjust can all be found in the last three headings of the settings app: "cortana", "privacy", and "updates and security". turn off anything you don't think is an essential function.

you also want to make sure you're using a browser other than microsoft's "edge" or "internet explorer" as there are some questionable things happening there too by default. they're shit anyway, so rather than adjusting browser-specific settings, just use something better.

that's pretty much all i can tell you without diminishing returns going into extreme detail. you should be able to figure it out. the idea is no: you don't have to be super paranoid about your security using windows 10 if you jump through a few opting-out hoops, and stay away from most of their proprietary stuff (software and apps requesting you switch to a "microsoft account" and anything you want to use for browsing).

windows 8 was actually much worse.

~ rbl