Susan Bradley wrote:

What are your thoughts on the list.

I didn’t see anything new.  I ran a couple of the checks they offered:

My browser fingerprint
Are you unique ?
Yes! You are unique among the 1208389 fingerprints in our entire dataset.

Your browser is not vulnerable!

I didn’t see my browsing habit mentioned.  I always bounce through DuckDuckGo from site to site.  I do have a Facebook account but it is fenced in Firefox.  With the extensions and plugins I use I never see ads of any kind on any web site.

Susan Bradley wrote:

What are your thoughts on the list.

Most of the items are neglected all the time.

“Who cares?”, “I have nothing to hide, and nothing to fear” is what people say.

 Profiling and Metadata Abuse of Individuals might be a nice longterm-Item here

i reviewed the list.  if i had to learn all of those items i would not get anything done on my computer.  that is not being flippant;  that is just pointing out the real problem.

as susan bradley said in her newsletter today (anniversary year, and her history of computers), i started at about the same time she did, and i think i was in and out of the newsletters ever since they started.  HAVING done that, i picked up these suggestions on the way, and many of them are part of what i do now.

BUT, for a new person learning computers, i believe it is impossible to adopt many of the suggestions.  the reason for that is that most of the software developers (microsoft, etc), and the phone manufacrurers (samsung, etc), and the APP writers, have enabled all the data holes that the suggestions say to patch up.  it ShOULD be that the holes are turned OFF by default, and people would have to LEARN the options to turn them on.

an example – windows 11 home, encryption, browsers, account.

if i get new machine (I did), and i set up the microsoft main user account, and THEN make a LOCAL user and log in with that, and then start microsoft 365, and OneDrive, and use edge, microsoft AUTOMATICALLY sets up my MICROSOFT account visibility, on those items, even though i am in a LOCAL account.  it should not be that way.  all i want to do is use the software, and the rest of my account features should not be accessible from ANY of the device/software unless i turn ON syncronization.

and, microsoft says the hard drive is encrypted, but instead of allowing a PRE-BOOT PIN, for this encryptoin, as in full bitlocker, they open the drive based on TPM, but that means that the minute someone (even a thief) opens the computer, it comes up to username/pin screen.

why not allow the PRE-BOOT PIN at least, even if not all the other bitlocker features (it IS bitlocker encryption engine, do manage -bde -status on command line, you will see the bitlocker parameters of your current drive)

anyway, just my observations

nick

Susan Bradley wrote:

What are your thoughts on the list.

“Networking — VPN

… for an unbiased comparison, see: That One Privacy Site.”

The link to https://thatoneprivacysite.net/ redirects to https://www.safetydetectives.com/best-vpns/ which (like all VPN review sites) earns commission from the services it ranks and recommends. Therefore, not unbiased.