Connected experiences in Visual Studio
Applies to: 
Visual Studio 
Visual Studio for Mac
Notes
This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
Visual Studio consists of client software applications and connected experiences designed to enable you to code more effectively. Updating a NuGet package, selecting an IntelliCode suggestion, and collaborating with another developer through Live Share are examples of connected experiences.
You can choose which connected experiences to use. Use of certain connected experiences require agreement to different and additional terms to the Visual Studio EULA. These experiences may be Microsoft-owned online services and/or services owned by third-parties. For example, when you use GitHub connected experiences, the GitHub Privacy Statement and GitHub Terms of Service, GitHub Corporate Terms of Service, and/or Additional Product Terms will apply. If you Report A Problem, you agree to the Microsoft Terms of Use and the Microsoft Privacy Statement. If you use the NuGet service, you agree to the NuGet Terms of Use and the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
When you install Visual Studio, you may optionally select workloads and components to install. Workloads and components may leverage third-party software, and they may enable connected experiences, depending on their functionality. For example, downloading the Azure development workload allows you to publish your cloud apps to Azure. Based on your installation selections, you may also use the Tools and Options menu to connect to, to configure, and to use connected experiences. For example, you can connect to a server, add Azure Services authentication, or change IntelliCode or LiveShare settings.
You can also use your organization’s firewall settings to enable or disable connection to services. Please note that disabling connection to an endpoint may negatively affect or disable performance of related Visual Studio features.
Finally, the Visual Studio Marketplace offers extensions that may enable first- or third-party connected experiences. Visual Studio Marketplace is subject to the Visual Studio Marketplace Terms of Use and the Microsoft Privacy Statement. Each extension requires agreement to particular terms of use and privacy statement associated with that offering.
Required service data can include information related to the operation of the connected experience that is needed to keep the underlying service secure, up to date, and performing as expected. If you choose to use a connected experience that analyzes your content, for example IntelliCode, the code you selected for your model is also sent and processed to provide you the connected experience. Required service data can also include information needed by a connected experience to perform its task, such updating a NuGet package. You can manage required service data by choosing whether or not to use a particular service. If you do not use a service, then no required service data is collected.
Required service data is different from diagnostic data because diagnostic data relates to the software running on your device. Your choice whether to participate in the Visual Studio Customer Experience Improvement Program (VSCEIP) controls privacy settings for diagnostic data, but this setting does not affect whether required service data is sent.
Diagnostic data is used to keep Visual Studio secure and up-to-date, detect, diagnose and fix problems, and also make product improvements. Diagnostic data is collected and sent to Microsoft about Visual Studio client software running on the user's device.
When you opt out, you are opting out of optional diagnostic data collection. Some diagnostic data collection is required to make sure Visual Studio is secure, up to date, and performing as expected. Required diagnostic data collection will not be affected by your choice to opt out of VSCEIP.