Between privacy and usability I am very far away from the usability part
Often users ask me how I use my browser and how I handle the balance between privacy and usability. Let me describe the entire process from starting up my computer to the first search result. Here, I must admit that between privacy and usability I am very far away from the usability part. You will still find something for you in this article, I promise. So let’s start.
I start my computer, and the first thing I do is turning on my VPN or at least verify that it is correctly turned on. When starting up, it usually happens that the wireless connection can’t be found immediately and we don’t want the VPN to idle because it doesn’t find a network. Whenever I want to check if my VPN is still properly connected, I visit ipleak.net to check my IP location.
As recommended in previous articles, I use Firefox with many add-ons and adapted privacy settings. Have a look at our earlier articles on how to have the best privacy with Firefox add-ons and how to boost your privacy and security with hidden Firefox settings.
All add-ons are active when I start up Firefox. Regularly, I change the user agent with the User Agent Switcher add-on. Today, I chose Chrome on macOS. My browser opens directly the private search engine Startpage. With Startpage, I have found the best search engine both combining privacy and usability. This time it’s not either or, but you can actually have both!
When I get onto a page, my NoScript add-on blocks all JavaScript. In case the site doesn’t load properly or I want to use all features, I can turn on the scripts that I want. NoScript has two benefits: First, it shows me the tons of scripts that are running in the background and that most people are not aware of. Secondly, it empowers you to choose who is allowed to get your data and who is not. Some script from domains that I fully trust land on my whitelist and are always enabled. I know it can be tedious to figure out what scripts must be loaded to display the site correctly, but having full control over it is a great feeling.
Naturally, all cookies are discarded after every session. Therefore, I have to log into my accounts every time. This is really easy when you use a password manager. You can just copy and paste email and password or even have it filled in automatically. Who would want to type in over 50 random characters on every log in?
So all this might sound complicated and tedious, but you quickly have the routine and do this in no time. It helps in understanding the threats to privacy and security and keeps you aware of the risks. Now, don’t think that I’m paranoid that every site might steal my data. It is not more paranoid than when you look left and right before crossing a road because you are aware of the risk of getting run over by a truck. It becomes natural and is not annoying at all.
The cool thing is that my browser resides within a virtual machine (like a separate computer within the computer) and my physical device never directly access the internet. And the best thing is that every time I shut it down, this virtual machine auto-destroys itself and regains the state of before starting up. Everything that accessed the computer, all fingerprints or malware is deleted, and a clean version is restored. So even if I’m not careful, my primary device never gets infected.
Every time my computer is shut down, it auto-destructs itself.
There clearly is a middle way between usability and privacy. In my opinion, the most important thing is being aware of the security risks. The extra effort is definitely worth it compared to having malware on your device, having your data stolen or being watched by Facebook. I wanted to make everything I described above much more comfortable and more accessible. Honestly, not many will read this article to the end and start changing the way they browse. With SnowHaze, we made these things more comfortable and more usable. If you care about your privacy and that of your family, tell them about SnowHaze. It’s free there’s no longer a reason to not be protected.
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