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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 close 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 date, 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, 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 dreamed of such mechanisms! 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.

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 for a start 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 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.

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
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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


2025/02/16
Today we once again have to turn to the topic of online privacy and security. One really cannot emphasise the importance of anybody using any kind of device online stepping up to the mark and most vigorously defending their privacy and security online. Nothing less than privacy itself and freedom of expresssion, and indeed democracy and freedom themselves, not forgetting civil and human rights, are at stake.

Today, society as a whole, and specifically western society, faces a multitude of dire threads to all the above as never before, threatening to tear society apart. On the one hand, there are the general threads within the wider society. Politically, there are identity politics, Political Correctness, cancel (anti-)culture, wokeness, the rise of populism and the extreme right, not to mention the loony right, and the emergence of the hyper-rich oligarchy. On the other hand, there is Big Tech and its mega corporations, now gaining ever greater data harvesting power through the development of ML/LLM - Machine Learning/Large Language Models - so-called AI. This last has still far wider implications, both in terms of online privacy and security of the individual online user and on the political side.

We are not far from the total surveillance state already. Whether you use any kind of PC, tablet, smartphone, smart speaker, smart TV, modern car, Internet of Things or other smart device, they all generate data, lots of data. Your data. Ultimately, if you are a fairly typical internet user, these data can tell everything there is about you - your daily routines, what you use and when, where you move, what your politics are, your likes and dislikes, even what you think and more. This is not only making it possible for Big Tech to precisely taylor ads that match your interests, buying patterns,and more. But moreover, this can provide governments with an incredible wealth of data, and not only them but potentially any corporate and even criminal actors. Your life on a silver platter, as it were. Zero privacy.


In view of all the aforesaid, it is absolutely imperative that all internet users should do their utmost to preserve their online security and privacy. For PC users, their interests would be best served by in the first place switching from Windows and macOS to Linux. Beyond that, they should also adopt the wholly privacy and security focused Proton apps, all of which are available in a free-of-cost version and mostly for all platforms.

We have explored most of these in the past already in this blog, but here are a few Proton blog posts that should be of further interest. First, we have Email password 101: Fully secure your inbox with 2 simple solutions, in respect of Proton Mail.

Then, concerning Proton Pass, there is How to send emails from your aliases about, well, exactly what it says on the tin, that is, sending emails without disclosing your real email address by sending them from an email alias available from Proton Pass.

Last but not by no means least from the Proton blog, the Bitcoin wallet app Proton Wallet brings safe Bitcoin self-custody to everyone is now available to everyone since 10th February. (It was previously only available to business accounts and if memory serves the top premium accounts, and then eager users who had joined a waiting list.) The app itself is a pretty excellent one, but the one thing that's not so good is that purchasing Bitcoin (aka BTC) may entail having to reveal extremely private details about yourself and/or your finances, but that last part applies to whatever way you choose to hold your BTC, and whatever vendor you purchase from. An alternative might be to get a friend who already holds BTC to buy it for you, paying him/her in cash, or similar arrangements.

If you do buy BTC directly yourself, then be advised that transactions can be quite slow. But, as How to speed up Bitcoin transactions reveals, there is a way to speed up the process. And it will not necessarily cost you a lot.


Whether you go to Linux or stay with your present OS, do join the great privacy and security revolution now, before it is too late and we all end up living under totalitarian rule. Without privacy - and freedom of speech - there can be no democracy. Cancel culture and wokeness are wholly un-democratic and would deny everybody else the freedom of speech. Their proponents need to realise that freedom of speech belongs to everyone, and that with it comes the right to be offended. (If you do not like being offended then you had better go and live in some remote and isolated cave.) Stand up and be counted, and ensure your online security and privacy and fight to preserve privacy, freedom of exxpression, freedom, democracy, and our civil liberties and human rights.

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2025/02/01
Work on the two Supplementaries to the article 'Windows & macOS 101' will be resumed shortly now. In the meantime, we have to linger a bit longer with the general subject of online security and privacy as well as privacy, freedom, democracy and civil and human rights in general.

Never before have all of these been in greater danger than now of being eroded and even taken away from us. It is therefore more important then ever that we defend ourselves and our rights as vigorously as possible, starting with our online security and privacy. We live in a very dangerous world today. On the one hand, there is the rise and rise of so-called 'AI' speak Machine Learning/Large Language Model, and Big Tech's violation of its users privacy. And on the other hand, we have narcisist politicians and the rise and rise of the hyper-rich Oligarchy. All serving nothing but self-serving interests. If you think these people give a flying fart about you and your privacy and other rights, you are as deluded as they are themselves. Wake up and join the fight for online security, privacy, and freedom of expression - your future depends on it.

Fortunately, we have two great allies in this fight for online security and privacy, and privacy, freedom, and democracy in general. The first is open source software in general and the Linux movement and community in particular, and the second is Proton and its open source privacy focused software that is available to all on all platforms. In this context, Proton's Blog is a most valuable resource and a veritable gold mine of information. We explore some of their mostly recent blog posts in what follows.


What Trump's control of the FBI and NSA means for your Privacy is precisely about what it says on the tin. Although this most immediately concerns US citizens and residents, wider implications cannot be discounted or ignored.

Proton also explores what this new year might hold for the internet generally in Our predictions for the internet in 2025. It makes for some worrying reading.

If you are a TikTok user and thinking of switching or indeed have switched to RedNote, then this post is a must for you - TikTok ban: Switching to RedNote? Your privacy is at stake. Best advice - even as regards social media in general - would be, stay away altogether if you possibly can.

Just for balance and comparison, there is A privacy analysis of Meta’s new Threads app. Certainly fares no better. None of the popular social media are safe or could even remotely be recommended.

Not to be ignored but at your peril is so-called AI - Machine Learning and Large Language Models, as already referred to earlier. And just in the last few days the cat was really let loose among the pigeons, in a manner of speaking, with the Chinese DeepSeek chatbot outstripping ChatGPT downloads on Apple's AppStore and sending tech shares tumbling, losing some 600+ Billion US Dollars in one day - a new all-time record. DeepSeek or DeepSneak? takes a timely look at this chatbot. Like virtually all ML/LLMs, definitely to be completely avoided!

What is your digital footprint and how can you protect it? is full of good, solid advice to help you protect your online security and privacy.

Deeply worrying is this survey conducted for Proton by YouGov - Majority of Dutch people are concerned about privacy, one third don’t protect themselves. Fortunately, the population of the UK came out somewhat better in a previous similar survey for Proton, but even here there is an urgent need for much more widely disseminated information and education in matters of digital security and privacy.

Do not be caught out like the people in those surveys. Fight back for your privacy and security. The important first line of defence is a good VPN, and there is none better than Proton VPN. By now one of if not the largest and most popular VPN services in the world, Proton doubled its server fleet to over 11,000 in 110 countries in the last seven months. You simply cannot get a better, faster, more secure and more private VPN anywhere than Proton VPN, be that paid for service or even Proton's free service. So, what is stopping you?

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2025/01/16
In today's first post of 2025 we continue with the subject of secure passwords from the last post of last year. Secure passwords are not easy to be guessed or hacked through a 'Brute Force Attack' and other means. A secure password will not be easy to remember, and it is not advisable to put it into any kind of unencrypted text file, or on a written stick-it note attached to your PC or monitor.

Instead, you ought to use a secure, private, end-to-end encrypted Password Manager. These not only generate and store passwords for you but also let you configure log-ins for all your online accounts and let you log in easily and conveniently. There are two that I can recommend.

The Proton Pass Password Manager is convenient and easy to use and is available for all platforms. Ideally, you should use the desktop app, installed on an encrypted external drive or memory stick. Unfortunately, however, at present Proton Pass still has some limitations that I find I cannot live with, personally. The most severe of these, for me, is that it only supports creating passwords of up to 65 characters in length, and not the full set of extended ASCII characters.

I always use the longest, most complex passwords permissible. For device encryption the limit is generally 128 characters but full extended ASCII characters are acceptable. Websites vary widely in the kinds of password they will allow. Some will allow as little as 24 characters and no extended ASCII characters, some like Proton will accept 128 characters with full extended ASCII characters, and a few will support 512 characters with full extended ASCII characters supported. Canonical's Ubuntu Website is a shining light in this latter category, for example.

For fullest support for passwords of up to 512 characters with full extended ASCII character support, I highly recommend KeePassXCPassword Manager, like Proton's fully open source, and likewise easy and convenient to use, available on Windows, Linux, and macOS desktops. I tend to use both this and Proton Pass on both Linux and Windows.

While e.g. a 512 character password including full extended ASCII character support will take even a bunch of today's most powerful supercomputers trillions of years to crack, it is always a good idea to make your log-ins as secure as possible, and, where supported, I would recommend readers to take a long, hard look at 2-factor or 2FA or MFA log-in. An alternative - where supported - is PassKeys, supported by both Proton Pass and KeePassXC. We already explored this latter topic in last year's blog.

Strong, secure passwords are more important now than ever, as anything less will become easy pickings for so-called 'AI' - really, ML (Machine Learning) and LLMs (Large Language Models) algorithms, but pretty powerful nonetheless.

We are at a critical crossroads at present with regard to privacy, freedom of expression, freedom writ large in the wider meaning, and general civil and human rights. This makes the fight for online privacy and security all the more important and urgent, lest we all be swallowed up by the all-powerful autocratic surveillance state that would put George Orwell's 'Big Brother' completely in the shade and paling into total insignificance. The impact of Ml/LLM so-called 'AI' can hardly be over-estimated, especially in view of the US Oligarchy and the stated aims also of the UK's Labour government with regard to said 'AI' and its planned extensive use. The prospects are truly horrifying.

It is thus vital that we all make the widest and wisest efforts to protect our online security and privacy, for a start. The importance in this respect of the Linux community and Linux OSes, and the Proton privacy apps and other privacy-focused apps cannot be overstated. Protect yourself and join the fight for privacy, freedom, and democracy, as well as for our wider civil and human rights, before it's too late.

More anon.


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© nexter 2025
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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 find out 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 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.

Additionally, in separate appendices we will go into 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 I will try and provide pointers about the latest threats to privacy, freedom, and democracy, particularly online ones.

For more details please consult the Contents listing.


February 2024
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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 safe 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.

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 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).

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 - https://proton.me . 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 Infinity. 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, 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 Infinity, 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. 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. Here I would suggest you look no further than ESET Internet Security. In the Windows version the Firewall aspect of this - inevitably - works in conjunction with Windows Defender and makes this much more secure. In total, ESET 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 - as well as mobile devices. (A Linux version of the AV side is discontinued, presumably due to lack of uptake - Linux just does not need AV, and most if not all 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 perhaps 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 (soon!), the latter still in beta at time of writing. 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.

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 beta desktop apps for Windows and macOS, with a release version to follow in coming weeks.

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
© nexter 2022/2024
All rights reserved




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Online Security & Privacy

Windows & macOS 101 - Supplementary I : Advanced Users [PLACEHOLDER]






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Online Security & Privacy

Windows & macOS 101 - Supplementary II : General Users [PLACEHOLDER]






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