Questions tagged [privacy]
Questions about protecting your privacy on your computer. Questions about privacy in web applications belong in WebApps.
791
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Encrypted Email Client [storage]
Does anyone know of an email client, that encrypts locally stored data properly?
A lot of them are insecure and, yes I know, SMTP and POP3 aren't really secure either
but one may still use GnuPG and ...
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50
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Quarantining kernel-level games onto a VM
Let's say I have drive running Linux and a partition of that storing a VM containing a game like Valorant using. Is there a way for processes within the VM to break through the virtualization layer ...
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0
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34
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Am I being hacked? Mac group name “wheel” in Get Info not found in System > Users and Groups [duplicate]
I was using Get Info in the Finder to check the available space on my internal drive this morning and noticed in Sharing & Permissions at the bottom that the Group option was assigned to wheel. I ...
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51
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How to remove your name from the title bar of Microsoft Office apps?
Microsoft Office apps display your Microsoft Account name in the title bar:
How to hide/edit/remove it?
People were asking this since showing the name was introduced into Office, and have even come ...
- 608
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226
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How do I clear the "recent files" in VLC on Windows 11?
I have VLC pinned to the task-bar. Right clicking on it shows a list of recent files.
I have cleaned out the Windows "Quick Access" history and also cleared the "Recent Media" in ...
- 1,155
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55
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How to use HP M209dw printer on LAN only (disconnect/block it from “phoning home” on the Internet)?
I don't want my HP M209dw printer to chat with its corporate mothership any more. I just want to use the hardware I bought and have it work for me on my local network without complaining about the ...
- 468
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36
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Disable Windows 11 data collection across an entire tenant for O365 Enterprise?
I'm at my wit's end with how much Windows 11 is sending back in terms of information used for "personalized ads". The security policy I need to adhere to is very IP protective and basically ...
- 121
1
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1
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65
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Delete selected sites cookies on Firefox automatically
I set the cookie preferences on each site via Super Agent or manually, however I want to always remove the ones that now force us to accept some pages if we don't pay. So what I want is to delete the ...
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1
answer
68
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Privacy concerns related to OpenPGP (Email Encryption) key being searchable on key servers
I am considering configuring PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) in my Thunderbird email client to enhance the security and privacy of my email communication.
However, I am concerned about potential privacy ...
- 260
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37
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How to upgrade SSD with windows 11 without losing offline licence? [duplicate]
I'm planning to buy a laptop with Windows 11 and immediately upgrade SSD. I assume I will be able to use the laptop initially without creating online windows account (and I strongly prefer this for ...
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113
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In mIRC (internet relay chat) and IRcap, hide channels I'm joined to in status windows
I use mIRC and IRcap and I'm interested in not showing the channels I am joined to, to other users in their (mIRC/IRcap) status windows, is there any configuration I can use to accomplish this? Or ...
2
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1
answer
246
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IPv6 and Privacy Extensions in Linux not working as expected with dhcpv6
I'm trying to setup my desktop to generate and use temporary address for IPv6, but no matter what I'm doing it is not working.
My internet router is managed by my provider, so I can not influence the ...
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1
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168
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Disable writing to macOS DNS cache
Can writing to the macOS DNS cache be disabled through configuration, so that DNS resolution doesn't leave a mark on the filesystem?
The context is that I want to avoid logging the details of network ...
- 266
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2
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231
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Is automatic Bluetooth visibility the new standard?
On most older devices, Bluetooth visibility options may have been enabled by default, but were always able to be controlled by the user.
For example, in Windows 7, you have the following Bluetooth ...
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1
answer
1k
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Where is Activity History Stored on Windows 10?
Under Privacy > Activity History, I have "Store my activity history on this device" checked.
But I can't find anywhere that says where that data is actually stored.
I'm aware I can go to ...
- 2,042
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76
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2-of-3 USB Data Backup
I have 3 usb sticks and have data that needs to be backed up securely.
The 3 USB-Sticks will all be stored in different places and I want NO files to be recoverable from just one stick - I want it to ...
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1
answer
47
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Is there any residual data from booting from a USB?
I've been getting ready to boot from a Kali Linux Live Boot USB. Is there any way my privacy can be compromised after I remove the USB by going through logs or otherwise hidden data? If so, is there a ...
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1
answer
358
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What is a software doing when “calling home” or “phoning home”?
I saw “calling home” mentioned in several places but I can't find a clear definition.
References:
Stop Netgear Orbi from calling home (SuperUser)
It's easy to run Windows 10 without any calling home ...
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121
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When exactly do VMs receive the shared clipboard data in VMware/VirtualBox?
For many years, I have been running untrusted programs in VMs.
I have used both Windows and Linux as the host OS, and both (many versions of) VMware Workstation Player and VirtualBox on both OSes. The ...
0
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1
answer
831
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How to remove Google Drive folder after uninstalling Google Drive on MacOSX 13.5.1
I've uninstalled Google Drive from my company laptop running MacOSX 13.5.1 (by deleting the application from the Application folder using Finder, and I wanted to delete my Google Drive Data, which do ...
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1
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98
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Why doesn't randomization of HTTP header work with Requestly?
As part of my efforts to thwart fingerprinting, I used Google Bard to tell me how to randomize my HTTP accept headers with Requestly. However, when I go to https://amiunique.org to check my accept ...
0
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1
answer
56
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Identifying information contained in Adobe files
For many file formats, there are typical types of metadata that one may want to erase if they do not want personally-identifying information to be associated with the file. EXIF data in image files is ...
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3
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381
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Is there a way to hide as a spoiler some part of sensitive information in files in VS Code, like stars in a password
I share my desktop, so I don't want to overly expose my tokens while I am showing off how I code.
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How to MODIFY rather than REPLACE the Vivaldi User-agent header?
I already know how to replace the User-agent HTTP request header in Vivaldi.
But if I do that, I have to provide a full, complete User-agent string. After a short time, this will get outdated and ...
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381
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Is there a way to make Vivaldi fake-report the OS to webpages as Windows instead of Linux?
I run Linux and Vivaldi. Various webpages are able to tell that I run Linux, and I'm unsure if this is done from sniffing the User-agent header anymore.
Regardless of how it is done these days, I ...
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66
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What are the host names of Microsoft's Diagnostic Collection servers?
I'd like to point them to localhost in my hosts file.
Specifically, the list should cover all servers utilized by:
Required Diagnostic Data
Optional Diagnostics Data
Windows Feedback
Edge Diagnostic ...
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2
answers
216
views
How to create a Firefox container dedicated for web search?
Is there a way to create a Firefox container dedicated for web search, such as Google? In this way, I can remain logged in for Google in other situations and keep my web searches hidden from Google. ...
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3
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Can organization access an email account they provided, if they don't know your password? [closed]
Can a school access an email account they provided you even though they don't know your password?
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1
answer
580
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How does discord know if it's installed on my computer/ how to prevent that?
I recently had to install the discord app to Windows 10, and now clicking on discord invite links in the browser initially opens the webpage, but then immediately redirects and opens the app on my ...
- 167
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1
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286
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How does Chrome detect language in local HTML files? [duplicate]
I just opened a local HTML file on my disk in Google Chrome. Chrome detected the language the file is in and asked me whether I want to translate it.
The document has no lang attribute. It contains ...
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4
answers
4k
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Is it possible for every app to have a different IP address
I'm on Windows 10 22H2 and I want a different VPN (or proxy?) for every program on my computer. I've seen ForceBindIP mentioned: is that a viable solution? I would want this to be scalable, so 10-15 ...
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1
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110
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Looking for a tool or a script that will hide email addresses from PDF files [closed]
I am scanning the personal archive of someone and would like to publish the scanned files with email addresses hidden.
The PDF files have a text layer so it can be used to find the strings.
What I ...
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1
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497
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Site gives PR_CONNECT_RESET_ERROR in Librewolf but not Chromium
When I login to my bank's website, it redirects to https://auth.securebanklogin.com/ (and a bunch of other places in that domain).
On Librewolf, this eventually ends in a PR_CONNECT_RESET_ERROR page.
...
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3
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2k
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What risks are you taking when "signing in with Google"? [closed]
(Sorry if this is too basic, I'm not a web dev)
When a third-party web site offers you to "sign in with Google", what risks are you taking: Are you just giving it (the third party) your name ...
- 524
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1
answer
573
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OneDrive "remembers" accounts not used/signed-in on new MacBook
My Issue
I have been struggling find a solution to this for about a week and need some help. I have recently bought a personal MacBook as dev machine for my research, so all it will have installed is ...
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1
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122
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Allow subdomains with Firefox canvas fingerprinting
Firefox has fingerprinting protection (currently experimental). Some sites that use the canvas don't render properly. For example, the terminal in GitHub Codespaces looks garbled until an exception is ...
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1
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138
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Will bad thing happed if i remove an uid from my pgp key?
I added an photo uid to my openpgp keyring a few days ago.
If i want to update this image later, do i have to revoke the old one and keep it on the key? I don't want to because it would obviously make ...
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1
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281
views
Cleardot.gif in Gmail?
I had recently read up on how people can track when someone has read a gmail message using tracking pixels they either make themselves, or with the use of chrome extensions. When I entered the network ...
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3
answers
4k
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Does "winget" just trust whatever each program's installer has selected by default?
I recently learned about the amazing (in theory) command "winget", built into Windows 10.
But something about it worries me: a lot of software has all kinds of user-hostile defaults selected ...
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1
answer
2k
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Does TurboTax store information locally if tax file is saved removable media
Does TurboTax store "sensitive" or "personal information" locally if tax file is saved on removable media?
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1
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Can external email (gmail in this case) recipients view internal "private" emails within the same email thread?
The situation is such:
Email thread started with external recipients (outside an office)...let's call them E1 and E2, and I1, I2, and I3 ("I" internal and "E" for external ...
- 91
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22
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Disable Bing Search on Windows Start Menu for Standard Users [duplicate]
I found that the How-to-Geek Guide - How to Disable Bing in the Windows 10 Start Menu works also for Windows 11 (or at least for versions prior to 22h2).
I have more than one account on my machine, ...
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107
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Trying to understand my level of privacy with a VPN in play, but also routing DNS directly to root servers
When I run a http://dnschecks.tools I get the following:
Given I'm using pfSense with Unbound and OpenVPN, I'm doing my own DNS queries to the root servers. The IP listed on IPXO is my VPN IP, and on ...
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4
answers
204
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How to delete a Folder as if it hasn't existed at all
As the title says, not only I want to completely erase it's bits and bytes from the disk but also it's trace on file system, so NO Undelete software can show that it HAD been there at all.
There are ...
- 139
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3
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509
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Does email you send or reply to contain privacy information that spammers could use?
I have received a few emails recently that seem like spam but they are asking about open source projects I've worked on and gmail didn't flag them as spam.
When I email or reply to an email does ...
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55
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Preventing browser from leaking setup/screen information?
Properties like MouseEvent.screenX encode more information about my setup than needed for almost all websites, but can easily be used for digital fingerprinting.
Assuming I run Chrome, Chromium (or a ...
- 109
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1
answer
518
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Can an extension installed on Firefox access data from another browser, say Chrome?
Forgive my lack of understanding with regards to browsers. I am just starting my journey learning to code and I am setting up a live server extension to practise html.
I am a bit distrustful of using ...
user1766188
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203
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What is the "My Contacts" range in this Telegram settings page?
I want to stay very private on Telegram. Here is a My Contacts toggle that I must check unless I switch to "Everybody".
What is the definition of "My Contacts" here? I don't want ...
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3
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1k
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How to stop the “Your version of Windows 10 has reached its end of service.” message? I do not want to update
And I know for sure that it was for years reported that I don't have to update Windows to a new version: I know that so clearly because that was basically the only thing stoppable for an end user in ...
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157
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Does Firefox Leak My Real IP Through Safe Browsing Service?
I am using Firefox. I found some settings in about:config starting with:
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google....
I know I can disable some of them, however, it's a long list to handle.
Does Firefox ...
- 121