Microsoft is betting on Windows 10 to even out the playing field that Google and Apple are currently dominating.

Microsoft has ensured that the latest (and rumored to be last) operating system it will ever come out with is as far removed from Windows 8 as possible. In order to do this, the company has decided to take a page out of Windows 7 and tweak its settings and features.

While the results seem to be the best operating system to come out of Microsoft in years, those same settings leaves users' personal data vulnerable, thanks largely to Cortana, Edge and the company's vague privacy policy.

Once Windows 10 was released, consumer watchdogs and privacy campaigners quickly found out that the company's vague privacy policy, which is buried in the 45-pages of its terms and conditions, basically gives it the right to collect and pass users' personal data to its servers, profile its users based on their Windows usage and utilize the consumers' bandwidth for its own purposes.

It is true that the company will not be using the data with malicious intent, but the vague terms and sloppy explanations leave it open to a potential privacy disaster, especially since the Windows 10 is used in all devices, and the privacy policy applies to all data.

"Rather than residing as a static software program on your device, key components of Windows are cloud-based. … In order to provide this computing experience, we collect data about you, your device, and the way you use Windows," is a telling passage in the policy.

The highly improved Cortana is eyed as a major source from where Microsoft collects data as the digital assistant is designed to remember every detail and information the user gives or accesses in order to improve the user's experience.

Microsoft immediately responded to allegations that users' private data were at risk. A company spokesperson claims that "Windows does not collect personal information without your consent" and says that the information that the company does collect is just used to identify areas that might cause problems and are used to come up with patches.

To be fair, users can actually program Windows 10 and opt-out of the data collecting that the company does. While this is good, several watch groups noticed that the company has made it extremely difficult to restrict Microsoft's access to a user's data due to its tedious and repetitious process.

For instance, one site tells users that instead of going for the "express install" when installing Windows 10, it's best to select the "custom install" option instead. But once the option is selected, several pages of toggles would appear that the user has to turn off one by one.

But some sites are suggesting that the best and safest way to protect yourself right now is to avoid using the Edge browser or Cortana until Microsoft makes it privacy policies clearer.