Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program and Resulting Internet Communication in Windows Vista

In This Section

Purposes of the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program

Overview: Using the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program in a Managed Environment

How the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program Communicates with a Site on the Internet

Procedures for Controlling the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program

Purposes of the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program

The Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program in Windows Vista is a completely voluntary program designed to help Microsoft improve its operating systems over time. This program collects information about computer hardware and how people use Windows Vista, without interrupting the users in their tasks at the computer. The information that is collected helps Microsoft identify which Windows features to improve.

Overview: Using the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program in a Managed Environment

The Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program runs only if an administrator chooses to participate. In a managed environment, you might decide to disable the program on all computers running Windows Vista. You can do this by using Group Policy or by using an answer file with unattended installation. You can also use Group Policy to redirect data from the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program to a server on your network running Microsoft Operations Manager or similar software designed to collect data from the Windows Customer Experience Program. For more information, see "Procedures for Controlling the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program," later in this section.

You can also view or change the setting for the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program on an individual computer running Windows Vista (to change the setting, you must be logged on as an administrator). To view or change the setting, open the Problem Reports and Solutions feature in Control Panel and then click Customer Experience Improvement Program settings.

How the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program Communicates with a Site on the Internet

The Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program communicates with a site on the Internet as follows:

  • Specific information sent: The information sent includes details about the computer hardware (such as the number of processors) and information about how the user is using Windows Vista. For additional details, see the link to the privacy statement later in this list.

    Note that information sent for the Windows Customer Experience Improvement program includes information about the use of features in Windows Vista, such as Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player.

  • Default setting: By default, the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program is turned off, but it displays a pop-up to a logged-on administrator no sooner than three days after someone first logs on. The pop-up asks the administrator whether he or she wants to participate in the program. The pop-up might be displayed once for each person who logs on to the computer, but it is not displayed repeatedly for a given administrator. The Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program remains turned off unless it is explicitly turned on.

  • Triggers: Data for the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program is collected over time and sent periodically, about every 19 hours, although data is not collected or sent if the computer is on battery power, and no attempt to send data is made if the computer is not connected to a network.

  • User notification: After an administrator chooses to participate, there is no notification. Users are not prompted or interrupted in any way when data is collected or sent.

  • Logging: Events are logged in Event Viewer in Windows Logs\Application.

  • Encryption: The data about software usage is encrypted (using HTTPS) during transmission.

  • Access and privacy: Data from the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program is stored on servers in controlled facilities at Microsoft. Microsoft uses the data to identify trends and usage patterns in Microsoft software and to improve Microsoft products. The data is not used for other purposes. Additional information about access is included in the privacy statement located on the following Web site:

    https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73075

  • Transmission protocol and port: The transmission protocol is HTTPS and the port is 443.

  • Ability to disable: You can disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program on an individual computer running Windows Vista by using Group Policy or by using an answer file with unattended installation.

Procedures for Controlling the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program

The following procedures explain how to:

  • Disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program by using Group Policy.

  • Disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program by using an answer file with unattended installation.

  • Redirect data from the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program to a server on your network running Microsoft Operations Manager or similar software designed to collect data from the Windows Customer Experience Program.

To Disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program by Using Group Policy

  1. See Appendix B: Resources for Learning About Group Policy for Windows Vista for information about using Group Policy. Using an account with domain administrative credentials, log on to a computer running Windows Vista, open Group Policy Management Console by running gpmc.msc, and then edit an appropriate Group Policy object (GPO).

Note

You must perform this procedure by using GPMC on a computer running Windows Vista (GPMC is included in Windows Vista).

  1. Expand Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, expand System, expand Internet Communication Management, and then click Internet Communication settings.

  2. In the details pane, double-click Turn off Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program, and then click Enabled.

    When you enable this setting, all users to which the Group Policy object applies are opted out of the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program.

To Disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program by Using an Answer File for Unattended Installation

  1. Using the methods you prefer for unattended installation or remote installation, create an answer file. For more information about unattended and remote installation, see Appendix A: Resources for Learning About Automated Installation and Deployment for Windows Vista.

  2. Confirm that your answer file includes the following line:

    <CEIPEnabled>0</CEIPEnabled>
    

To Redirect Data from the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program to a Server on Your Network

  1. Make sure that the server to which you want to redirect data is running Microsoft Operations Manager or similar software designed to collect data from the Windows Customer Experience Program. For information about Microsoft operations management software, see the Microsoft Web site at:

    https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=124356

  2. See Appendix B: Resources for Learning About Group Policy for Windows Vista for information about using Group Policy. Using an account with domain administrative credentials, log on to a computer running Windows Vista, open Group Policy Management Console by running gpmc.msc, and then edit an appropriate Group Policy object (GPO).

Note

You must perform this procedure by using GPMC on a computer running Windows Vista (GPMC is included in Windows Vista).

  1. Expand Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, expand Windows Components, and then click Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program.

  2. In the details pane, double-click Allow Corporate redirection of Customer Experience Improvement uploads, click Enabled, and for Corporate SQM URL, specify the URL of the server that the data should be redirected to.