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Online Security & Privacy 101

Foreword


So you think you have nothing to hide and you are not concerned for your security and privacy online and you don't give a crap? Really? Well, if you are a typical internet user, you really ought to be scared witless!

Consider this to begin with. Privacy is a fundamental human and civil right. Your data - any data you have stored on your PC and data generated by your PC's operating system and applications as well as by your browsing the web and other online activity - are yours and yours alone. Give any entity - the OS provider, any programmes, or any website - access to your data and in effect you allow your right to privacy to be violated and thus you effectively surrender your right to privacy. It is not about having or not having anything to hide, it is about your fundamental rights being taken away from you unless you defend yourself as vigorously as possible!

Make no mistake, it starts with your OS - whether it is Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS - constantly gathering all kinds of data from you and sending them back to Microsoft, Apple, or Google, such as your location, when you go online and how long you stay online, how active you are, your connections online, any data stored on your device, and a whole lot more. That is violating your privacy and at the very least potentially stealing your identity! It is comparable to someone spying on you physically, putting hidden cameras and microphones into your home and keeping track of everything you do and say in your home and when you do it or say it. How would you feel about that?!

But that is only the beginning. Whenever you register or 'activate' a piece of software, the software's originator can and often does get a whole lot of data about your system and you. Many applications regularly gather data and send them back. And then there are things like email and websites. All veritable data mining traps!

And 'Big Tech' is making billions from your data! Even many websites make money from your data, including of course most 'free' email providers. (Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch!) Social media fall into the same category as well.

But what about governments and their agencies? While in many countries they cannot legally keep taps on your internet activity, they do not really need to do so. They simply buy all the data being openly traded in bulk!

And do not forget security. There are a myriad of dangers or potential dangers lurking out there. A hacker might hijack your PC to use as a spam bot or for other nefarious purposes. Malware and spyware could get onto your system. All your data could get stolen and/or destroyed, or encrypted for ransom. (The latter has been known to happen!) Similar dangers exist for mobile devices, and some very dark ones too at that.

However, the issue of your online security and privacy does not end there by any means - so far, this has been merely the beginning of this saga!

The wider problem with regard to online privacy is that its commonplace erosion and violation, in effect, enable total surveillance of the individual and/or household, not only by the 'Big Tech' corporations but equally sinisterly by the state. Think about this very carefully. This means the total loss of privacy, freedom of speech and expression, and ultimately, freedom, civil liberties, and democracy themselves, and results in a totalitarian state. You only have to take a closer look at China to see how far this scenario is already in effect there, for example. In many Western countries - including much of the UK - CCTV cameras are spying on people almost as extensively as in China, with facial recognition used more and more. What about your shiny modern car - have you ever thought about that? It constantly sends out all manner of data, including your exact GPS location, when and where you stop and for how long, your car's performance, your speed, how many people are in your car, and more. Heck, the damn thing even keeps talking to you and you can't even turn that off! Got a credit and/or debit card? Every time you use one, you leave a trail about where, from whom you bought what and when, and so on. And payment methods such as PayPal, GooglePay, and ApplePay are no better if, indeed, not worse. (Crypto currencies can provide some sort of anonymity but are still financially insecure in that their value can fluctuate wildly from one moment to the next.) Do you use any kind of Loyalty Card? Same principle as credit and debit cards, the only difference being that the store or stores get your information in totally personally identifiable form at a glance. Granted, these latter can save you a penny or two or even a quid or two, but that in effect represents thirty pieces of silver - you are betraying and selling out your own privacy very cheaply.

Got a 'Smart Speaker' and/or 'Smart TV' and similar gadgets like 'wearables', a 'Smart Home'/IoT - Internet of things - and the like? The first two will listen to every word that is spoken within 'earshot' of the device and send it all back to the provider of the service. A perfect spy on your privacy in your own home!

'Big Brother' could only have dreamt of such surveillance tools! And yet, most people don't give these matters a second - or even first! - thought. How sad is that!? And how alarming, indeed!

If you are not thoroughly horrified, nay, completely scared out of your wits by now, then in all probability no one can even hope to help you.

However, if you are concerned at all, then ensuring that your online life under Windows or Mac, or even the inherently safer and more private Linux, as well as of course your 'smartphone' or other mobile device, is as safe and above all as private as it possibly can be will be a good step in the right direction for you personally as well as help to save all our freedoms, civil liberties, and even democracy itself. All of these are under threat as never before.

It is indeed absolutely imperative that internet users of any kind undertake everything possible to defend and secure their online security and privacy - fail to do so and you contribute to the total loss of all freedom, of civil liberties and human rights, and the destruction of democracy. While all the aforesaid may sound alarmist, it is absolutely no exageration, the threat is very real indeed and the dangers are greater than can be described here. And the time is now!

The series of articles and appendices presented here will attempt to help you achieve the aim of making your online life under whatever kind of device and operating system as private and safe as possible. Ideally on PCs for instance, of course, you could decide to dump Windows or macOS entirely for a start and run one - up to date - OS flavour or another of Linux, which is free and open source and above all in itself infinitely more private and secure. However, we shall not pursue this avenue here, it is well beyond the remit of these articles and besides, we shall assume that for one reason or another you need or want to continue using your current operating system.

Bear in mind that the present series of articles and appendices are a mere brief introduction to the subject, dealing only with the rudimentary basics. This means that there is a lot of work left that you will have to explore further and implement yourself, and for some aspects you may need the help of a more experienced and knowledgable friend.

Lots of useful further information can also be found in the Mini Blog here.

I wish you truly private and secure computing, whatever platform or device you may use, and close in the hope that you may contribute to the fight for privacy, freedom, and democracy for all.



February 2024/March 2025
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Online Security & Privacy 101

Contents


Foreword

Contents

Mini Blog - Most recent developments in the world of privacy, security, and freedom, plus updates

--> Mini Blog Archives

Introduction


Chapter 1 PCs - Windows & macOS 101

Windows & macOS 101 - Supplementary I : Advanced Users

Windows & macOS 101 - Supplementary II : General Users


Chapter 2 PCs - TAILS - The Anonymous Incognito Live System 101

Chapter 3 PCs - Linux 101

Chapter 4 Mobile Devices - Android & iOS 101


Appendix I Virtual Private Networks 101

Appendix II Encryption & Secure Data Deletion 101

Appendix III Web Browsers & Browser Based Utilities & Services 101

Appendix IV Threats Posed By AI 101

Appendix V Threats Posed By Quantum Computing 101



February 2024

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Online Security & Privacy 101

Mini Blog


2026/01/22
Recent times have presented us not only with a genocidal pariah state in the Middle East, but moreover with a supposed ally of Europe - and incidentally also the greatest supporter of aforementioned pariah state - revealing itself as nothing less than a treacherous, untrustworthy, hegemonistic neo-imperialist, neo-colonial uber-bully. The attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of its ruling president and his wife followed on from the attacks on international shipping in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific and the hijacking of Venezuelan tankers - all blatent violations of international law.

And now European nations opposing the uber-bully's wet dream of "acquiring" Greenland are being threatened by him with punitive additional tariffs. While European leaders lamely oppose any interference with Greenland's and Denmark's sovereignty seemingly without too much conviction, instead of telling the uber-bully exactly where to shove his plans for Greenland, they need to stand firm and united and realise that the only way to respond to a bully is to give him a bloody nose! Let him know that Europe can and will go its own way without this so-called ally and that all his bases in Europe are no longer welcome. MAGA = Make America Go Away!

All of that hegemony and neo-imperialism and neo-colonialism is only made possible by the backing of the billionaire oligarchy. The same oligarchs who dominate Big Tech and it's privacy-destroying domination of the internet and "AI".

And all of the aforesaid makes it even more imperative that Europe should become far more internet independent and sovereign on the one hand and on the other that users not only use European internet alternatives but do all they can to use privacy-focused software and preserve their online security and privacy. Neglect to do so and you put at grave risk your own and everybody else's fundamental human and civil rights, freedom, and democracy itself.

Proton, since its crowd-funded beginnings almost twelve years ago, has grown into the most extensive and ever-growing suite of privacy-focused apps on all common platforms, and the greatest ally users have in the fight to preserve their online security and privacy. Furthermore, their blog has become a valuable source of privacy and security related information. Hence we have another selection of the most important recent posts from their blog as usual.

As the UK is considering legislation to ban under 16s from social media, Australia's World-first Ban of this Kind exposes the severe risks it poses for privacy and particularly children's privacy.

Staying with social media, Instagram leak: Why you are getting password reset emails and how to protect yourself deals with exactly that. Google discontinues Dark Web Report and what this means for your personal data. Your Meta AI Chats - mined for targeted ads. How to turn off Gemini in Gmail — and why you should! - what it says on the tin.

How phone ads exposed French intelligence officers - what this means for your privacy.

AI in Daily Life gives 10 examples of common uses and how to protect your privacy. Best advice is to not use Big Tech's "AI" bots at all. Instead, have a look - if you haven't done that already - at Proton's Private Lumo 1.3, now offering a new feature in Projects, a better way to organize and create. No further mention there as yet of image handling capability which was promised some months ago. But it'll come, no doubt.

More anon.


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Online Security & Privacy 101

Introduction


As increasing numbers of people are becoming aware of matters of their online security and privacy, or rather the lack thereof, and seek to discover what they can do to protect their online security and privacy, this series of short articles aims to serve as a brief introduction to the subject and to give internet users starting points for preserving their online security and privacy and ultimately, their privacy and freedom and more.

We will cover the subject for users of PCs or general computers - whether desktops or laptops - and their commonly used operating systems, as well as for users of mobile devices such as 'smartphones' and tablets and their commonly used operating systems.

Separate articles will cover the subject for PC users using Windows (and by extension, macOS), PC users using TAILS - The Anonymous Incognito Live System (a privacy OS run from a memory stick or RW DVD that provides virtually complete anonymity that we need to explore here as requested elsewhere), PC users using Linux, and mobile device users using iOS/padOS and Android.

The Windows article is based on Windows 10 as that is the version I run here as a secondary operating system as a 'refusenik' of Windows 11 - my primary OS being Linux - but should more or less equally apply to Windows 11 and likely also earlier versions such as Windows 7, although the latter is now unsupported and should certainly not routinely if ever be used online. Broadly, this article is also applicable to macOS.

There are also two Supplementaries to the Windows/macOS article concerning themselves with a little more detail of how to secure the OS. One of these Supplementaries is aimed at more advanced users, the other at the general user.

Additionally, in separate appendices we will go in some more detail into web browsers and browser based utilities and services such as search engines, machine translation services, and more; Virtual Private Networks or VPNs; Encryption; the threats posed by AI or more accurately Autonomous Machine Learning; and the threats posed by Quantum Computing. These appendices, albeit based on use under Windows 10 and Ubuntu Linux, will apply to a greater or lesser extent to all devices and their operating systems although there may be minor differences.

There is also a Mini Blog where wewill try to provide pointers about the latest threats to privacy, freedom, and democracy, particularly online ones, and starting points for users to further explore the threats facing us all and possible available remedies.

For more details please consult the Contents listing.


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Online Security & Privacy

Windows & macOS 101


The aim of this article is to attempt to help you in making your online life under Windows - and, in principle, macOS - as private and secure as possible. Ideally, of course, you could decide to dump Windows - or macOS - and run one - up to date - form or another of Linux, which is free and open source and above all in itself infinitely more private and secure. However, we shall not explore this avenue here, it is well beyond the remit of this article and besides, we shall assume that for one reason or another you need or want to continue using your current operating system.

Ideally, you should start with a clean re-install of your OS, and then follow the procedures outlined next. More on this topic is covered in the two 'Online Security & Privacy 101 - Windows & macOS' Supplementaries, I : Advanced Users and II : General Users that will be published shortly.

The very first thing you need to consider and check very carefully is whether your operating system itself is configured as thoroughly as possible to make it as secure as possible. As a preamble to this, check that you have an Administrator account - which you should rename some other name - for emergencies and an ordinary User account that you should be using in day to day operation, and that both accounts are protected by secure passwords. A secure password should be between at the very least 24 and preferably 128 characters long and consist of a random mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols (and, where permitted, extended ASCII characters) and should not contain any recognisable words. You should keep a written note of these passwords in a safe location for easy reference as you may well be unlikely to memorise a secure password. If you share your device with others, e.g. family members, create a separate ordinary User Account for each of them. Ideally, you should also set UEFI/BIOS and Boot etc. passwords, again secure ones, in case your equipment should ever get stolen or otherwise interfered with. Take great care never, ever to use the same password more than once! You should also entirely disable that Mega-Spy Cortana (or indeed its equivalent in macOS) and, unless you really, really need it at all times, disable any microphone/s and web cams in UEFI/BIOS and only enable when needed.

Having achieved the above preamble, it is now time to check your OS configuration. For this, you should really be completely offline.

You should check and if necessary configure every last setting in Windows - and respective macOS analogues - in the Administrative Tools section, especially in Local Security Policy and Windows Defender with Advanced Security, and any other Windows or macOS settings. If you find this is beyond your capabilities, check Help or ask a knowledgable friend for help.

You should also consider encrypting all your disk drives. However, do stay well clear of Windows Bitlocker - it could easily lose all your data. The safest, and most secure, encryption utility around at present is a free and open source one called Veracrypt. If you are not familiar with encryption, read its manual/help file first, and again, seek help, for which you could also use online forums. Again, encrypting your drives - with the strongest encryption possible - should be done with your PC offline. Preferably, you should also move all your personal data to a separate - preferably external USB - drive, or at least a separate partition, also encrypted (and prevent your OS from 'snooping' this drive or partition, including e.g. not allowing 'indexing' the drive/partition under Windows). Again, in encrypting disks or partitions you should always use secure passwords.

Your next step should be installing and setting up a Virtual Private Network, or VPN. While there are a great many of these available now, for maximum security and privacy - even virtual anonymity online - there is only one to consider. This is Proton VPN, and even the free version is far superior to and faster than any of the others. For the ultimate in privacy, security, and speed you may however want to consider the paid version. Proton is a fully integrated privacy ecosystem, and both the free and paid version also include secure, end to end encrypted email (Proton Mail), Proton Calendar, Proton Drive (a Cloud Drive), and Proton Pass (a Password/Identity Manager), all also fully encrypted. For more information on all of these please consult the Proton website. Proton also has a proper 'Onion' address for use with TOR Browser and/or Proton VPN with TOR Network. I really cannot recommend Proton highly enough and indeed am a user myself of course, using 2-year subscriptions to Proton Unlimited. The paid versions are very reasonably and competitively priced also, incidentally. You might be tempted to use Mullvad VPN, which makes quite a lot of noise about privacy and security. However, consider this. Mullvad do not own many or even most of their servers, which makes these inherently vulnerable to interference by outside operators. Further, Mullvad is a Swedish company and therefore subject to Swedish law, the privacy provisions of which are not as far-reaching and rigorous as those of Swiss law. There are other considerations, including far less servers in fewer locales than Proton VPN - probably about the fastest, most private VPN with the largest number of servers in the most countries - but if you are still tempted by Mullvad VPN explore its weaknesses further for yourself first.

If it is maximum privacy and security you want, the Proton privacy ecosystem suite is what you need. With the paid Proton Unlimited, you could even set up a combined VPN/TOR network connection for complete TOR anonymity! This would route all your internet connections via the Proton VPN and then the TOR network, and obviate the need to use TOR Browser. However, with other Proton VPN configurations it is recommended that you use TOR Browser for as much of your web activity as possible.

All of Proton's apps are fully open source and moreover independently audited once a year, with the results published on their website. So you can be sure that there are no nasty hidden surprises anywhere! The strongest, most secure encryption is used throughout - with quantum computing secure encryption being worked upon - and Proton is also a cross-platform environment so you are able to use it on all your devices, be that Windows or Mac PC, Linux PC, Android phone or tablet, or iOS phone/padOS tablet, protecting your privacy and security everywhere. All Proton apps are simplicity itself to set up and use, too, but if you ever need it, Proton's support is absolutely world-class and second to none.

Proton also keeps no logs of any kind, ensuring privacy by default, and any data or files such as your mailbox, calendar/s, Proton Drive, and Proton Pass are fully encrypted with zero-access encryption - in other words, you and only you alone can access these. Furthermore, Proton is protected by Swiss privacy laws. Proton can be summed up as kind of the Burger King of freedom and privacy - your data, your way and your rules! Proton positively does not want your data! And the 'menu' of Proton privacy/security apps is constantly growing.

At this point I should make it absolutely clear that I am in no way connected to or affiliated with Proton. I am merely a privacy and security conscious user who appreciates what Proton does, what it stands for, and what it delivers. As a privacy and security advocate I can only be a Proton advocate because it is simply the best there is for privacy and security.

Beyond this, it is also time to consider the Browser/s that you use. If you value your privacy and security and have come along thus far, do not under any circumstances use Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Edge - or Apple's Safari - not ever! Indeed, where possible, remove these from your system altogether. (More on this in the Browser appendix.) Also, throw out Chrome and/or any Chrome/Chromium based browsers such as Opera, as well as any Chrome apps. The most secure and private - if set up properly - standard web browser there is is Firefox, which you should download and configure very carefully, if you don't have it already (however, there are a few alternatives - see the appropriate Appendix). You should also get TOR Browser - which is based on Firefox - for maximum browsing privacy and security. A recent browser also to consider is the Mullvad Browser, which is developed in cooperation with the TOR Project - essentially, it is TOR Browser without the TOR Network connection.

Also, never, ever use any Google services/sites if you possibly can avoid them. DuckDuckGo is a far better search engine than Google - it does not bombard you with ads and sponsored links but simply gives you the most relevant results for your search. Basically, it uses Bing's results but stripped of all the commercial and tracking baggage. It also offers an instant, free machine translation service - again, Bing stripped of advertising and spying. Furthermore, DuckDuckGo does not track you or collect your data in any way, nor does it keep logs. It is fully committed to user privacy. Another privacy-committed search engine worthy of consideration is Startpage.

A further essential measure to protect your security and privacy is a safe, reliable Anti-Virus cum Firewall utility. For this I would recommend ESET Smart Security Premium or even the more limited Eset Smart Security Standard edition. Smart Security is alas replacing ESET Internet Security, although some vendors may still have this available also, but it isn't certain how many or how few years that will remain supported. ESET Internet Security is second to none in my experience, and OEM versions at a price lower than an official ESET renewal price can be found quite easily. Again, the value for money factor is the same as for Proton. Simply a no-brainer. Also like Proton, ESET is a cross-platform application and so is also available for macOS - which increasingly needs such protection as much as Windows - and for Linux (ESET Smart Security only) as well as mobile devices. (Strictly speaking Linux does not really need AV/AM but it will not hurt to have it, and most if not all Linux distros now have excellent built-in firewalls.)

Like all privacy and security apps/utilities, ESET will require some patient and thorough setting up and configuring. Customer support is, in my experience, very good.

Also, you ought to consider not using the Windows (or Mac) Recycle Bin/Waste Bin. It leaves all your deleted data easily recoverable even when you delete the files in it. This is no problem of course if all your drives are securely encrypted with strong encryption - deleted data remain encrypted and cannot be recovered without access to your password for your drives. However, if you do not encrypt your drives, you are strongly urged to use a secure deletion utility such as Eraser (under Windows, macOS - if memory serves - should have the Terminal 'secure delete' command line utility) instead. This deletes your data and over-writes them multiple times with random data, rendering them virtually impossible to recover.

Eraser is free of cost and also free and open source software - always something to look out for. Even for Windows (and even macOS) there are an increasing number of free and open source applications available, including some of the better known Linux ones like The GIMP - The GNU Imaging Programme - an excellent graphics application, not to mention the outstanding Darktable (a LightRoom type app but with plenty more!), and many free and open source file managers and other utilities. With open source software you can be sure of not importing another spy onto your PC.

A further utility you should consider using is a Password Manager-cum-secure password generator. Once again Proton has exactly this (and more!) in Proton Pass, available as a Browser plug-in as well as a desktop application. You really could not ask for more or better. A free version again is available, and of course a more extensive version is included in the paid Proton Unlimited. The more extensive version is also available as a paid separate entity.

There is also the excellent KeePassXC, also a cross-platform free and open source desktop app, which has the advantage of being able to generate passwords that include all extended ASCII characters and that can be up to 512 characters long, although not many websites accept them yet. A shining example of those that do accept them is Ubuntu.com's SSO (Single Sign On).

Some final considerations now for you to ponder. Email to begin with - everybody uses email in one way or another. If you use any of the widely available 'free' email services, especially the likes of Gmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo and so on, you may want to consider dropping these violators of your privacy altogether. Quite apart from such things as tracking you online, Gmail for example scans all your incoming and outgoing mail and analyses these data among other things to learn your interests, buying habits and more, among other purposes to bombard you with targeted advertising. Your data will also be shared with 'partner' organisations. You really ought to think about using some form of end to end strong-encrypted email, and once again, I would refer you to the ever growing Proton privacy ecosystem and its Proton Mail component. This is available web-based as well as in desktop apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Social media are also strongly suggested to take into consideration if you use any of these. They are of course best avoided altogether. However, if you feel you cannot live without these data harvesters, you ought to consider clearing out your existing account/s altogether and then closing them, and setting up new but 'anonymous' ones. (A free email address 'anonymiser' utility, Simple Login, is now available integrated with Proton, and Proton Pass provides this as well - very useful for websites that you do not want to give your email address to so you cannot be bombarded with spam!) Simply use a 'fake' ID for your new social media accounts and use only with your real-life friends and family, and make them readable by friends and family only. Even after that, be cautious in whatever you post and comment. It is especially recommended that you do not post personal photographs - you can always share these with friends and family through the Proton Drive utility, for instance. Bear in mind that anything you post on social media is always available to the service provider and may well be retained by them for years even after you delete everything in your account and delete your account, and your data may be shared with third parties.

Furthermore, if you possibly can, try to avoid some of the biggest data harvesters and privacy violators out there on the web, that is, almost any online shopping facility but most specifically the biggest of them all, Amazon, and also Ebay and similar sites. If you must use any of these, Amazon for example at least will let you use them via the TOR browser, so they cannot in any way discover your VPN, let alone your ISP.

Having configured your OS and applications to make them as secure and private as possible and followed this with perhaps encrypting your disks, but certainly with setting up a truly private, secure VPN - ideally, Proton's privacy ecosystem's VPN - as well as set up and configured truly private and secure web browsers, and having followed the remaining steps, you are then well on your way to protecting your privacy and making your PC as secure as you can under Windows or macOS. All that remains is to use a bit of common sense in using your computer and to avoid all conceivable risks.

That concludes this introduction to privacy and security on your Windows - or macOS - system and the wider importance of defending your privacy. Similar guides are planned for mobile devices, i.e., so-called smartphones (they are not, they are really quite dumb!) and tablets, TAILS - The Anonymous Incognito Live System, and finally, for Linux, and should be along in due course, as should be a number of appendices dealing with VPNs, Browsers and Browser based utilities/services, and more. However, all this will not happen overnight - Rome was not built in a day, after all.

I wish you truly private and secure computing, whatever platform or device you may use, and close in the hope that you may contribute to the fight for privacy, freedom, and democracy for all.


November 2022 - Revised February 2024 / March/April 2025
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Online Security & Privacy

Windows & macOS 101 - Supplementary I : Advanced Users


More advanced users may like to tweak their Windows installation, either in situ or with a completely new install. Two main tools are available for this, although there may be others.

The most extensive and versatile of these is NT Lite, available in a free version and several paid versions. The free version may be sufficient for some domestic users but does not include the full feature set. The (paid) Home edition however may be all that is needed for home use and includes all features. It can edit 64 and 32 bit versions of Windows 7 through 11.

NT Lite is extremely feature rich and enables the user to edit an existing Windows ISO and create a new, bootable ISO. It lets you "Integrate updates, drivers, automate Windows and application setup, speedup Windows deployment process and have it all set for the next time", to quote the website. Furthermore, it allows users to remove Windows components, simplify the installation, reduce attack vectors, and free up drive space. Be warned however that it is easy to reduce the installation beyond what is safe to do so, resulting in a non-functioning or mal-functioning install.

Moreover, NT Lite - paid Home Edition up - even lets users perform the same actions, apart from creating a new ISO, on an existing live Windows installation in situ, or even on a mounted virtual disk. No re-installation is required, just possibly a reboot.

Some of the main feature of NT Lite include, according to the website :
"Download Latest Windows Updates
Integrate/Install Updates and Languages
Integrate Drivers, Applications and REG files
Unattended Windows Setup, including Disk Partitioning
Hardware Driver Targeting
Windows Settings Configuration
Component Removal
Pending Changes Overview"

NT Lite enables you to remove a lot more from Windows than WinUtil - see below - can achieve. I use NT Lite myself with Windows 10 for in-situ editing of my live Windows installations and am very happy to have been able to reduce my Windows 10 systems to the bare minimum, resulting in a disk space of barely that of the old Windows XP in the case of Windows 10 Pro (64 bit) and only a little more for Windows 10 Enterprise Edition. I usually repeat the procedure every 2 -3 months to be sure that nothing has slipped by in Windows security updates and been added back.


The second main tool is MicroWin, which is part of Chris Titus' WinUtil aka Windows Toolbox. This works online via the Windows Powershell in elevated (Admin) mode. It is open source and free, but a downloadable .exe wrapper of the WinUtil app is also available for $10. Unfortunately, however, MicroWin works only for Windows 11. It requires a Windows 11 ISO image, from which it will create a new, edited ISO, with telemetry and tracking removed and other tweaks all apparently pre-set.

Unfortunately, there is very little information about MicroWin on the website, and what little there is needs a search to find it. However, there are instructions on the actual MicroWin tab of WinUtil. How good or effective MicroWin is I am unable to confirm as I do not and will never use Windows 11 of course.

WinUtil is run from PowerShell in Admin mode by entering the following :
iwr -useb https://christitus.com/win | iex

Other aspects of WinUtil are covered in Supplementary II. These I do use myself after Windows updates and can confirm that they are excellent indeed.

March - May 2025 Revision 1 June 2025
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Online Security & Privacy

Windows & macOS 101 - Supplementary II : General Users


Even the general user - as distict from the more advanced one - will alas have to commit to a fair amount of work in order to make his Windows - or Mac - installation as secure and private as possible. If you do not feel confident enough to carry out any of the following steps on your own then please get someone more knowledgeable to help you.

The following is based entirely on Windows 10, but similar procedures pertain to Windows 11 and macOS. (The process is somewhat different for OEM versions of Windows though and there you will almost certainly need help from a more advanced user.)

For a complete fresh install from scratch, make sure to reformat your drive or partition/s where you want to re-install Windows. Ensure that all connectivity via ethernet and WiFi is turned off. Then when you boot up your installation DVD be sure to select "Custom Install" and deal with the process one step, one screen at a time. Basically, all "toggle" options presented should be turned to "off" at all times in order to deny Microsoft (and similarly, Apple) any access to your data, as far as you are given a choice.

Thus for example, any personalisation and location settings that let Microsoft collect your data must be toggled "off". Again, any browser and protection settings as well as connectivity and error reporting options must likewise be toggled "off" as well. Continue along those lines until setup completes. (As mentioned previously, this process may differ for Windows OEM versions.)

But that is only the beginning, as Microsoft (and Apple) 'hide' an awful lot of settings that affect your privacy in a great number of places beyond the basic install. Thus, once Windows boots up to its GUI, go to 'Start' and select 'Settings'. Once the 'Settings' panel displays you get some idea of what lies ahead! Every single category here needs to be carefully configured, often down to its last sub-sub-category.

First, go to the 'Update & Security' settings, and there, after setting 'Get the latest updates as soon as they're available' to "off", select 'Advanced Options' and under 'Update Options' turn all settings to "off" (except if your internet connection is a metered one, the setting for this must be left "on"). Under 'Update Notifications' leave the 'Show a notification when your PC requires a restart to finish updating' setting "on".

On this same panel, click on 'Delivery Optimization' and there set 'Allow downloads from other PCs' to "off" and then click on 'Advanced Settings'. There, set the 'Download settings' best suited to your circumstances by limiting the bandwidth used for updating preferably in terms of 'Absolute bandwidth'. Use a fairly low amount of bandwidth. Disable any 'Upload settings'.

Now, return to the 'Update & Security' panel and click on the 'Home' icon. This will return you to the 'Settings' panel. Select the 'Privacy' settings. This will take you to the 'General' section. Ensure that all settings are selected as "off". Now go to the 'Speech' section and be sure the 'Online speech recognition' option is set to "off". In 'Inking & typing personalization' also ensure that this is turned "off". Next go to the 'Diagnostics and feedback' section. Be sure to only allow 'Required diagnostic data', not 'Optional diagnostic data'. Now set all 'toggle' options to "off", and go straight to 'Feedback frequency' and select "Never".

Go to the 'Activity history' section and ascertain that 'Store my activity history on this device' is not selected. Now we reach the 'App permissions' sub-section, and here, from 'Location' to 'App diagnostics' everything should be firmly turned "off", except if and when you need e.g. to enable a certain app with your web cam etc. In 'Automatic file downloads' do not click 'Allow'! In 'Documents', again turn everything "off" unless you need specific apps to access your documents library. The same applies to 'Pictures' and 'Videos'. However, turning the settings for access to the 'File System' off could lead to unexpected complications.

Return to the main 'Settings' panel and select 'Mobile devices'. Disable everything here or Microsoft gains access to the information of your mobile devices. Again, return to 'Settings' and select 'Apps'. Here in the 'Apps & features' sub-category, most importantly select Cortana to uninstall, and also Copilot and Recall if already present and if possible. Also uninstall just about everything else Microsoft and other unnecessary apps. Ignore the 'Default apps' for now, you can return here to select those once you have set them up. 'Offline Maps' - another 'spy' on your privacy so turn "off". In the 'Apps for websites' sub-category you'll likely find nothing more than Adobe Acrobat Reader - best to keep enabled if you want online PDF files to open in your browser. The 'Video playback' settings depend on your personal preferences.

For the remaining settings, follow the previous examples and deny Windows everything you can where appropriate.

Furthermore, as already mentioned in the main article, there are numerous settings in the Administrative Tools that need to be very carefully configured, to reduce any possibility of Windows gaining access to any user data while also keeping Windows as safe as possible. For this, help may almost certainly be needed from a more experienced user.

Once Windows is thus far secured, you should use a utility to get rid of not only a lot of Windows bloatware but more importantly any remaining Windows 'Spyware' and the like. For this, I recommend Chris Titus' WinUtil aka Windows Toolbox, specifically, its 'Tweaks' section. You should always run this again after each and every Windows update, as Windows does tend to 'fight back' and re-install a lot of things previosly got rid of. This utility is equally useful to advanced users.

Chris Titus' WinUtil runs from an elevated (Admin) Powershell, or you can purchase an .exe wrapper for $10. WinUtil is run from PowerShell in Admin mode by entering the following :
iwr -useb https://christitus.com/win | iex

General users are advised to go easy on the Tweaks until they get more experience with the utility - initially, just stick to selecting recommended settings as provided when selecting the 'Standard' tab. WinUtil also uses a secondary utility, 'ooshutup10' and again this will need diligent configuring, with the same provisos as for WinUtil Tweaks.

Definitely recommended here to be set to be removed are Copilot, Copilot+ and Recall, Cortana, and Edge browser. Personally, I have also removed the entire Windows UWP apps and games pile of manure, among other things. The configuration settings opposite the Tweaks should also not be ignored if again, used with caution at first.

I also suggest that users should save both WinUtil Tweaks and ooshutup10 configurations every time. This makes it a lot quicker to make any changes the next time you run this.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the app install feature of WinUtil, as I've had several older versions of apps being installed.

This is about as much help as can be provided here. Enter the learning curve, and happy tweaking!


March - June 2025
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