The white is on purpose :3
Come to terms with the fact that doing something is better than nothing. Mitigating as much as you can is better than not doing anything. Come to terms you'll never be fully private. This is a mistake many privacy-focused individuals fall onto. (Honestly you better off just living in the middle of the woods without a computer if you're a privacy nut and even then you would still get spied on. Just saying.)
Don't take what I say or what others say for granted. Take this as a base and make your own research and don't forget to experiment!
Okay I use Windows, but that doesn't mean you have to. If you wanna use Win10, you can try and use some of these or check out this video to make your own Bisexual Billy (you'll need a really beefy computer), so you can be safe! Thank you Mutahar and VMs!
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Cortana is a bitch and collects your keystrokes (you know, like a keylogger!), your searches and even your voice! It also collects credit card info!
Not to mention Microsoft knows your passwords, your identity, your contacts and much more.
And then it's sold! Amazing!
Why Win10 is a privacy nightmare under the cut
Regarding MacOS, while it is a secure (and hand-holdy), it still collects data.
And there's no shame in that. Heck, these are awesome!
A does-it-all distro and very beginner friendly. Muta made a video on it very recently. Not libre though (see here, Ubuntu is the Windows of Linux distros, including bloat, but still better).
Ubuntu, but even beginner-friendlier! Doesn't have as much bullshit as Ubuntu and looks sleeker. Has SCI'S SEAL OF APPROVAL (TM).
Are you a Mac user, or simply prefer the Mac feel? Then Elementary is your guy! (well, OS, but you get what I mean).
Not "m'lady". This is different from the distros above because it's based on Red Hat, instead of Debian (imagine these two distros I just named as parents and these I'm reccing are the children :3 ). This is more business-oriented.
Debian based, for internet anonimity (not private, you can still get checked out, but they won't know it's you). Decent. There's also Heads, which is all libre and has no systemd.
Fedora based, contains your system, keeps it secure. Also anonymous, but not private.
I used to have this one on a VM for some reason. It's very nice. Same thing as Tails and Qubes, it's anonymous, but not private.
You know Arch Linux? This is that but for normal people :P
These are the ones that I tried and liked. But don't be afraid to experiment and try other ones! ('cept Arch fuck Arch)
Eldritch-Data has an article introducing Gnu/Linux to beginners here. Check it out!
Not only do they suck as web browsers (Explorer is what it is and Chrome is a process hog) they are owned by Microsoft and Google, who are known to mass collect info from their users. UPDATE: Edge is boderline PUP (potentially unwanted programm) and adware, since after an update there's an ad right after you turn on Windows! Scummy, Microsoft, very scummy...
Also Brave is extremely shady (bitcoin miner)... you've been warned...
Okay, Firefox isn't that good right of the bat, BUT it isn't eeeeeeevil and worst than nazis IF you follow the mitigation guide below. Read it and meditate before doing anything, make a new user, because it is possible to fuck up real bad.
Don't listen to the fools who tell you it's eeeeeeeevil and fail to tell you can turn Firefox into one of the safest browsers.
First, click on the address bar and type (without the quotes) "about:profiles". Press enter. Click on "Create a profile" and follow the prompts. You need this so that your OG profile doesn't get screwed if anything bad happens.
Next, type "about:config" on your address bar and click on "Continue".
And now, onto the prompts you can change.
"privacy.firstparty.isolate = true" - This isolates all your browser's identifier sources (like cookies) to the first party domain. It prevents tracking across domains.
"privacy.resistFingerprinting = true" - This makes Firefox more resistant to browser fingerprinting. Fingerprinting means that the more unique you are, the easiest it is to find you (or something like that, I'm dumb).
"browser.urlbar.speculativeConnect.enabled = false" - This disables preloading of autocomplete URLs.
"media.navigator.enabled = false" - This prevents websites' tracking of the microphone and camera status of your device.
"privacy.trackingprotection.enabled = true" - This enables Firefox's built-in tracking protection.
"geo.enabled = false" - This disables the browser's geolocation feature.
"network.cookie.cookieBehavior = 1" - This tells your browser how to handle cookies
"network.cookie.lifetimePolicy = 2" - This tells your browser how long cookies are to be kept
"browser.cache.offline.enable = false" - This disables the offline cache.
"browser.send_pings = false" - This disables letting the website see what you clicked on.
"dom.battery.enabled = false" - This disables the website from seeing how much battery life your computer has.
"webgl.disabled = true" - This disables WebGL, since it's a security risk.
"browser.sessionstore.max_tabs_undo = 0" - This disables Firefox from storing your closed tabs. Even if the browser is set to not remember history, the closed tabs are stored temporarily at Menu -> History -> Recently Closed Tabs.
"dom.storage.enabled = false" - This disables the client-side session and persistent storage.
"privacy.donottrackheader.enabled = true" - This sends a "Do Not Track" request to the website your on.
"camera.control.face_detection.enabled = false" - This disables face detection if your webcam is on.
"device.sensors.enabled = false" - This disables access to device-related information.
"dom.netinfo.enabled = false" - This disables giving away any network info.
"beacon.enabled = false" - This disables webpages to send data to a web server prior to the unloading of the document.
"browser.safebrowsing.enabled = false" - This disables Google Safe Browsing and phishing protection. Kinda sucks, but if you want to de-google to the max, here it is.
"browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled = false" - This disables Google Safe Browsing malware checks.Kinda sucks, but like the prompt above, if you want to de-google to the max, here it is.
"dom.enable_user_timing" - This disables user timing API.
"dom.enable_resource_timing" - This disables resource timing API.
Here's the mitigation guide! Click me!
Pale Moon is a fork of an older version of Firefox, though I think it has its own engine now? A lot of privacy nuts love it and suck on its dick and forget that IT STILLS SPIES ON YOU! Like Firefox, it needs a mitigation guide that you can find here. Basically I use it on older webpages that use outdated stuff, like that Van Gogh game that used Unity webplayer. Pretty neat all things considered. Just don't use it as your main browser because it's slooow. Also the devs are dicks.
Oh no the *shivers* deep web. Eh, it isn't that bad. Seen worst stuff on the clear web. If you really want to be anonymous right of the bat this is the browser for you. Also uses Firefox as a base?? However be warned it's extremely slow. But it's a great browser nonetheless (how do you write this word?)
Yet ANOTHER fork of Firefox. Did a bit of investigation and seems like a pretty safe browser. Will check it out. Only works on Linux??
This one is open source. Also seems neat. Another one I'll check out in the future.
If you really like Google Chrome, this one is for you, cause that's what it is but cleaned of all the Google filth. Hard as balls to install if you aren't a no-life neckbeard.
Oh this one is a spying on you a tiny bit. Also needs a mitigation guide here. Chromium-based. Barely gets any updates though. Don't recommend it, but if it appeals to you go for it.
Trying to be Firefox without Firefox's shit, never heard of this guy. Apparently they want to remove about:config options?? I have no idea. Maybe give this one a shot? If you truly are an anti-Firefox fella.
Best adblock. Does it's job extremely well. You can also feed it lists by other users (or your own lists) to make it even better. However, when using this feature proceed with caution.
Here are some lists.
Blocks insecure websites. If you use Firefox, you don't need this, since Firefox blocks http sites (see not that evil).
Blocks scripts and other stuff from third parties. A bit overwhelming at first, but one (even a newb like me) can get the hang of it quickly. Highly recommended.
Stores scripts locally and connects to them. Real good, but not really necessary if you have uMatrix
Fine if you really don't want to keep messing around with uMatrix, but if you have it, it doesn't make sense keeping the two of them.
I DON'T TRUST NOSCRIPT! AND HAVE NO INTENTION OF USING IT SINCE UMATRIX DOES ITS JOB!
A bit suspicious, can give your info to third parties if asked for it... hmmm... So it can break its promise. It's fine, but stay aware of this.
Decentralised search engine. Bit overwhelming at first. Recommended instances: Searx Nixnet Services
DON'T USE QWANT! IT LIES AND GOT BOUGHT RECENTLY BY A BIG COMPANY!
Messaging app that comes with some Linux distros, though you can download it anywhere. Sad because you have to convince your friends to use it (if you have them that is, clearly that's not my case haha)
A protocol to help you send messages securely. If you know Element (formerly Riot, alternative to Discord), well it uses Matrix! Honestly it's clunky, but I'll keep an eye on it.
Sorry sweeties, no email is truly secure or private. The ones who advertise as such are just using buzzwords.
Anyways, whatever you chose, use PGP.
Browser fingerprinting is a real issue. This web tool will help you be more regular (?)
URL shortener that de-referes/null-referes links
