Windows 11 may be on the way, but more than 1 billion people are still using Windows 10 -- and many have no idea about the default settings that collect information, make you see more ads and notifications and may be slowing down your device.

(It will be free to upgrade to Windows 11 if you're already using Windows 10 -- here's how to download Windows 10 free if you haven't already. And here's how to tell if you can upgrade to Windows 11.) .

If you're a Windows 10 user, you'll want to spend just a few minutes looking into these default settings, and potentially turning them off, for the sake of privacy, speed and convenience.

This feature is turned on by default, but you can turn it off by going to Settings > Update & security > Advanced options > Delivery optimization, and toggle Allow downloads from other PCs off. .

But notification overload is definitely a thing, especially when you add unnecessary notifications (such as Windows tips) into the mix.

Get your notifications under control by going to Settings > System > Notifications & actions and turning off things like Get tips, tricks and suggestions when you use Windows or Show me the Windows welcome experience after updates and occasionally when I sign in to highlight what's new and suggested, and individual app notifications.

Oh, and Microsoft also shares this advertising ID profile with third-party apps from the Windows Store, unless, of course, you turn this information sharing off.

You can turn this off by going to Settings > Privacy > General > Let apps use advertising ID to make ads more interesting to you based on your app activity (Turning this off will reset your ID).

These apps can receive information, send notifications, download and install updates and otherwise eat up your bandwidth and your battery life.