Privacy – Daves Computer Tips

What Is The Most Private Browser?

Jim Hillier — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 05:01:50 +0000

The latest story doing the rounds on tech sites is based on the results of a “study” by a company called Digitain to ascertain levels of browser privacy. According to the Digitain report, Google Chrome is by far the least private browser… well, no sh*t Sherlock. In the study, rankings for browsers were evaluated on how they handled privacy, anti-fingerprinting, tracker and data blocking…

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How To Stop Gemini From Reading Screen

Jason Shuffield — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 05:04:20 +0000

Last week, we covered how to adjust Facebook Display Settings. If you missed that article, you can find it here: How To Adjust Facebook Display Settings This week, I want to cover something on privacy. Not on Facebook, but a Google AI feature called Gemini. I want to bring this up because I received a notification that Google turned on Gemini, and it would automatically capture information on…

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Turn Off Activity History For Privacy

Terry Hollett — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 05:03:11 +0000

After watching some YouTube videos, I discovered that Microsoft keeps a log of your activities in a file called “ActivitiesCache.db”. I thought it was only for Windows 11, but I also found the file on all of my Windows 10 computers. The path to the file on my system is C\Users\Terry\AppData\Local\ConnectedDevicesPlatform\L.Terry\ActivitiesCache.db It’s a hidden file, so you have to show…

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How To Disable Data Sharing On Roblox

Jason Shuffield — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 17:20:29 +0000

If you missed it last week, we covered how to hide suggested reels on your Instagram app. Here is the link: How To Hide Suggested Reels On Instagram This week, we are going to change gears and look at Roblox. My kids and my wife play on this platform together. Yes, I do too, and I have been doing some research on it. What I recently found out is that Roblox sells and shares your data by…

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Brave Surpasses 100 Million Users Per Month

Jim Hillier — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 19:26:56 +0000

According to a recent announcement, the privacy-centric Brave browser has now surpassed 100 million active users per month, the only browser that is making inroads into Chrome’s domination. The browser achieved 50 million users in 2023, which has now doubled to over 100+ million, with more than 42 million daily active users. This is an impressive milestone for Brave and a solid indication that…

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How To Stop Phone From Watching You

Jason Shuffield — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 17:31:34 +0000

If you were here last week, we discussed how to enable certain settings on the Chrome app. You can find out about that article here: How To Activate Essential Chrome Mobile Settings I wanted to keep on the subject of keeping you safe on your mobile device. In my research, I have now found out that your phone might be watching you through your camera app, too. Plus, it could be sending that…

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How To Turn Off Map Location Instagram

Jason Shuffield — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 11:26:59 +0000

Last week, we had a lesson on how to set the magnification shortcut on your Motorola. If you missed that, you can find it here: How To Set Magnification Shortcut On Motorola This week, I want to jump on over to a social media platform called Instagram. I’m bringing this up because they did an update that shows your location on a map. So if any stalkers are looking for you, this can let them…

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How To Deny Facebook Access To Photos

Jason Shuffield — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 17:26:25 +0000

Last week, we covered ‘How to Enable Charging Animation On Samsung.’ If you missed that fun article, you can find it here: How To Enable Charging Animation On Samsung This week, I’ll be discussing how to keep your photos safe on your mobile device. You might be asking, Why would my photos be in danger? That is a good question, and I’m going to tell you. The Facebook app has access to your…

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How To Set Up Edge For Optimum Privacy

Jim Hillier — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 04:01:41 +0000

The Edge browser is not exactly renowned for its privacy. I do realize, however, that a lot of folks use Edge because it is already built into Windows, and besides which, it is a pretty decent browser. Here, then, are the settings you can adjust in order to optimize your privacy in Edge. There is a lot to get through, so much of what follows consists of screenshots. However, they are pretty much…

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The Threat Of Browser Fingerprinting

Jim Hillier — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 04:01:25 +0000

When you visit a website, your browser divulges a surprising amount of information, such as your operating system, browser, screen resolution, list of extensions, time zone, language settings, and much more. This information is collated to create a “fingerprint”, and because of the sheer volume and diverse nature of all this information, that fingerprint is more often than not a unique fingerprint.

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Firefox Removes Promise Not To Sell Personal Data

John Durso — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 04:02:12 +0000

Mozilla, the parent company of Firefox, just changed its Firefox FAQ. The old Firefox FAQ included a promise that Mozilla would never sell a user’s personal data. But Mozilla removed that promise in its new FAQ. If we go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine and enter the URL for the Firefox FAQ and select a January date, we can pull up an archived version of the Firefox FAQ.

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Is Android System SafetyCore Safe?

John Durso — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 13:43:51 +0000

In a recent security update, Google is loading a new application, Android System SafetyCore, to Android phones. The application has permissions to do almost anything on the device. Google has been secret about what this application really is. In a blog post, Google states that this new functionality, Sensitive Content Warnings, is to keep us safe from nudity by blurring the results and warning us…

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Do You Need Disposable Email Addresses?

Jim Canfield — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 04:07:13 +0000

Online privacy is a current and continually growing concern. Google is upping its game with a proposed feature for Gmail: Disposable email addresses. Currently called “Shielded Email”. Its goal is to provide users with the temporary, burner email address that forwards messages directly to your primary inbox. Once the address that was used has served its purpose, users can discard it.

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Windows 10 End Of Service Notice – A Blatant Privacy Violation?

Jim Hillier — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 09:22:50 +0000

A couple of days ago I restarted my Windows 10 system only to be immediately confronted with a full-screen message from Microsoft informing me that “It’s time to upgrade your PC before end of support“. (note: the screenshot below has been resized/adjusted to meet web standards) The “Keep Windows 10” link, which when clicked will dismiss the notification, is actually displayed at the bottom…

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