A dedicated place to share all of our wins! Welcome to our 53rd week of privacy & security wins
Now, this only works if you all want it to work. That means:
Donāt be shy! Even the smallest win is something you can share. The more of you who contribute the better it is for everyone
Be positive. Remember weāre all in different places of our journey. Someone enabling 2FA on their first account can be just as excited as someone who figured out how to install Qubes on their new system. Give each other some love!
Thank you all for your patience as I go through some transitions in work & personal life! Very slowly getting various projects up-to-speed. Weāre back on normal schedule this week, showcasing @Tazerface and @anon81294251 See you all 2025-05-02T21:00:00Z
If itās ready for prime time, Iāll share a PeerTube link shortly before.
The increase in fingerprinting information, I created some scripts (apple script) that will automatically shut down Mullvad each night and reopen in the morning. I am working now on trying to duplicate these in my linux machine. I am still unsure whether regularly visiting the same sequence of websites is something fingerprintable.
I have set up a system for a phone back up to my NAS
A friend of mine also got a NAS and has emptied their google account.
I got a new Pixel and installed GrapheneOS on it - Iām now learning about it, exploring apps, and getting used to the new set up of all the apps and things I use on it (which is not a lot but its my first time using Android so thereās a learning curve).
Browser compartmentalization for different internet activities is now in action - using Brave, FF, Librewolf, and Mullvad Browser, all for different things with the settings I want for ephemeral and semi-ephemeral set ups.
Next step is fully moving to Fedora Linux for my desktop computing needs to finally become free of all big-tech tech I use, from a hardware and software POV.
Loving your content. Been inspired by your channel and Naomi Brockwellās channel to make loads of changes and improvements! Been on quite a journey of late:
Brave Browser on Android and Windows - running Oblivious DoH DNS
DNS generally:
RethinkDNS on Android -Running Oblivious DoH DNS
YogaDNS on Windows - Running DoQ DNS
Pi-hole on a Linux NUC for everything else on my home network - Running NextDNS DoH via DNSCrypt Proxy.
All running HaGeZi Pro++ Blocklists.
Ente Auth
Immich photos - self hosted on Oracle Cloud free tier (which is permanently free!) and accessible publicly via a Tailscale Https Funnel.
Tailscale - Linking my home network Devices and Oracle cloud instance via Wireguard. (Plus the cloud instance acts as an Exit Node to create a free DIY VPN.)
NotesNook
Futo keyboard
Contacts - Moved my contacts from Google Contacts to NextCloud, using it with FOSSY Contacts app via DAVx5.
Seafile with OnlyOffice - currently attempting to install this on my Oracle Cloud instance, the installation of which is proving very troublesome for a Linux novice!
Duck dot AI - Private AI
Search - DuckDuckGo, Brave Search and Startpage.
OPenPGP - Learnt to use OpenPGP with my Yubikey to encrypt files and emails.
Compartmentalization - Removed all my 2FA, Ente Auth backup encryption code and other backup codes from my main Password Manager and stored them separately, so that a breach of the password manager alone isnāt enough to access anything important.
Cryptomator - Replaced Boxcryptor and encrypted many more of the sensitive docs I store in Google Drive.
Biggest win this week: I successfully installed Linux Mint on my laptop and set up dual boot with Windows. Iām planning to dive into customization and further tinkering soon.
Uninstalled Onedrive from laptop
instead of using biometric to unlock set pin on dashlane app on my phone
removed old access to whatsapp and discord
Using Eraser/revo uninstaller for deleting files and apps .
Using ShareX local OCR instead of online tool or chatgpt .
Installed a QR scanner from F-Droid (default one didnāt work).
Iāve been focused on privacy for the past two years, and hereās what my current setup looks like:
Web Browsers
Zen Browser on desktop with containerized workspaces (recently cleaned up by removing 3 unused extensions and disabling 4 rarely used ones)
Brave/Brave Beta (hardened) on all personal and family devices.
Fennec for work (dedicated Google account workspace).
Security Tools
Password Manager: Dashlane (mobile app + extension); considering switching to Bitwarden or Proton Pass after my current subscription ends.
2FA: Ente Auth (Android).
VPN: ProtonVPN (used for specific cases).
Antivirus: Norton 360 Family (not planning to renew, as Iāve realized secure habits matter more than relying solely on antivirus software).
Operating Systems
Desktop: Windows (debloated using Chris Titusā Windows Utility).
Phone: Android (debloated with Canta via Shizuku).
Using F-Droid and Aurora Store; replaced most default apps with open-source alternatives for gallery and contacts.
Canta for uninstalling unwanted apps.
Watch YouTube via Brave or NewPipe.
Cloud & Productivity
Search: Brave Search (primary, with !bang syntax) and DuckDuckGo.
Email: Proton Mail (primary) + DuckDuckGo Email Protection (forwards).
Notes: Notion (main), currently testing Notesnook, Lunatask, and Anytype.
Do you have what links you read for setting up dual boot?
Iāve been thinking about just putting Mint on my main PC and foregoing Windows entirely outside of work, but if dual boot is possible, (especially with debloating/removing telemetry from 11)ā¦
I followed a YouTube tutorial (the steps are similar in most guides, only the tools might differ): https://youtu.be/B97KkFDv86s
My laptop is a Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3.
Steps:
Make a bootable USB drive (I used a 4GB one). Note: This will erase everything on the USB, so back up your files first!\
Common problem: Sometimes, even if your drive looks half empty, you canāt create new space. If that happens, search online for a fix or check the tutorial link above.
Booting from USB:
To enter BIOS or the boot menu, the key depends on your laptop model. Common keys are F1, F2, F11, or F12-search for your deviceās specific key. On my laptop, I held Shift while restarting to access boot options.
dual boot is possible and easy on Mint
assuming itās not like Pop_OS! right, Boot up the ISO when you get to select the partitioning it should detect that windows exists and be able to configure it for dual booting [Choosing āInstall Mint[Linux] Alongside Windowsā] (which exists and does well on Ubuntu and itās deravitives like Mint, Only I know Pop_OS! could be problematic, and it basically configures grub so you can select Windows or Linux, however I would still recommend the dual drives method or Another PC or stuff like tha5m)
Sent discord an email trying to get all my data removed since their version of ādelete accountā is just changing your name, absurd honestlyā¦ That most definitely violates GDPR.
Also convinced some family members to use brave instead of chrome!
Deleted all accounts that I can live without(Like in Pre Internet Era)
Switching completely to Linux. I bought Windows laptop only to play Steam games. So Switching to Linux is the major last thing left in digital privacy(Keeping aside those SIM card, radio waves, triangulation tracking which is too tough for me to handle).
Starting to engage with DPOs of various institutions in my country to get their privacy laws better and request to share my information to me and delete those that are not required. If they donāt comply I am ready to go the legal way to deal with them.
Excited to share more about myself and my journey in next privacy week wins.
My Fedora Workstation journey continues. As expected, Iāve had several problems.
ProtonVPN doesnāt have a Linux app and had to be installed via CLI which wasnāt much of a problem but the thing had to be started manually. I solved this by installing and app, Gnome Tweaks, which forces any app the user selects to start at boot.
Encase Protonās killswitch fails I bound QBitTorrent to the vpn.
For notes I switched to Joplin. Very nice on a laptop, so so on Android. For now, Iām exporting notes and copying them to my phone using either a thumb drive or Proton Drive.
No Linux app for Proton Drive but I did discover if I have Drive open in a browser and Files open I can drag and drop files into the drive. Who needs an app, not me.
No more Chromium browsers for me (except Vanadium). Iām using Firefox for log in sites and LibreWolf as my āforgetfulā browser.
Fedora canāt play AC3 sound. I gave up on fixing this after a few days. Every site and forum I visited posts the same canned line of code which doesnāt work.
Freetube is what Iām using for Youtube. It stopped playing videos 4 times this week. Changing my vpn server seems to fix the issue.
Dad was having issues with his stock Pixel 6a. I used his Chromebook to flash GrapheneOS. Being signed into his Google account, he didnāt gain on his privacy (he doesnāt care) but Iām learning about problems when GOS and Google interact. Knowledge is a win.
Edit: I got Syncthing on Linux and Syncthing-Fork on Android working together. happy happy joy joy.
Yes, without explicitly mentioning that. I have a CSV file of all the channel IDās and the request is to delete personally identifiable information. I know Discord support can be really stubborn but people have succeeded.
I presume you know the tricks then!
Dont say just delete my data, say these messages contains perosnal infomration and therefore I would like them to be deleted, also express that your privacy is the most important over contextual information etc.
the CSV is also correct.
Tons of tinkering shminkering on Linux, super educational but it never ends - one thing learned three more need to be
So, I have slowed down a bit. I super duper want to use Gentoo, but learning it takes too much time currently. Maybe later
Iāve watched past weekās streams and did a research. So Brave search has this thing called Goggles. So I configured the search bar to use one that removes Reddit posts from results. Once again, with respect to Redditors. So, Iām back on Brave search.
Switched to Mullvad from my previous VPN, that started doing suspicious stuff. I donāt have VLESS anymore, but at least Iām more comfortable.
If you happen to need any assistance with setting up Linux for games, you can ping me. I had some struggles with it recently, but also gained quite experience about it.
And congrats with going offline, youāre getting your life back.
Is dual boot recommended?
I was thinking to wipe out windows completely and install Linux. Few years back i was having tough time doing dual boot when Windows didnāt let me enter the GRUB. So had to wipe out Windows to use Linux.
Welcome to our 53rd week of privacy & security wins 
See you all 2025-05-02T21:00:00Z