It came to my attention that AdBlock Plus (Firefox, Opera and Chrome extension/add-on) as of version 2.0 (released December 14, 2011) allows some ads to be displayed. It calls these ads “non-intrusive” and includes a TON of Google URL’s that are allowed (and here is why, $$$). Something you definitely don’t want if you care ...
Those that value their privacy have always been cautious of Google and their services, me included. I’ve never had more than a Gmail account and I think I shared a calendar through Google at one point in time as well. Tracking cookies in my browser were a concern but I only removed them once in ...
Now that I’ve replaced Safari with Firefox, my new browser of choice, it’s time to cover it’s configuration for best privacy and performance. I’ve covered parts of this before in the article “Privacy Online” but that was focused on Safari. So this article will focus only on Firefox and how to configure it. This is ...
I wrote about Startpage a while ago and have mentioned the private search engine a few times in this blog. Setting Startpage (or any other search engine) as your default browser in Firefox is way easier than it is in Safari, it takes just a minute to get it done.
A month ago I set out to find the browser that best protects your privacy online and offers the best security. There are over 25 available browsers out there for Mac. Some are well known, others are not. Some have features others don’t have and some are more secure than others. There’s a lot to ...
I’ve been asked several times why I have not written about email yet. Who has the most private and secure service and how good is PGP encryption are common questions. After Lavabit closed it’s doors and Silent Mail quickly followed I’ve heard quite a few people mention Hushmail as a good alternative. This is when ...
Lavabit, a very secure email provider, was forced to shut down today. The provider, reportedly used by Edward Snowden, was mentioned in an article I am currently writing (not yet published) and hosted one of my email accounts as well. Losing a provider like this is a real loss to those that wish to communicate ...
Google is everywhere and because of that, quitting Google is not easy. When asking people “What is Google?” most will say “google.com” or “an online search engine” and “don’t they make those funny glasses?”. With Google being identified as a search engine most people believe that simply no longer using google.com means they have eliminated ...
A little while ago I wrote about Startpage and though it is my search engine of choice and I recommend it’s use to anyone I also mentioned that adding it as your browser’s default search engine was a bit of a hassle. Startpage does not have a browser extension that makes it very easy, instead ...
At some point in your life, you will be dealing with a failed hard drive (or solid state drive). If you do not have a backup of your data you’ll have to resort to data recovery to get your stuff back. There are tons of data recovery applications out there making a wide range of ...