Maintaining privacy on a new desktop (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago by EtnaAtsume@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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Hello. I installed Linux Mint on a new desktop that I built about a week ago, and I'm starting to get used to it, so it's probably time to start using it for some actual life things.

A couple of these do involve talking with family members all in Facebook Messenger, as well as the necessity of using Google Workspace for some work-related functions.

I'm aware that using both of these is a compromise of privacy in and of itself, but I'm still interested in mitigating the damages best as I can.

What steps can I take to make the usage of these as private and non-invasive as possible? If it helps at all, the browser I'm using is Firefox and the operating system is Linux Mint.

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[-] gustofwind@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago

UBlock origin adblocker is probably all most people realistically need

[-] scytale@piefed.zip 13 points 9 months ago

Use the facebook container extension on firefox so your session is isolated from the rest of your browsing. Also look up guides to harden firefox.

[-] Neptr@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 9 months ago

You can use both through the browser, which is the safest way of doing things because the browser sandboxes the web apps, isolating them from your system. If you prefer an app for Messenger, look on Flathub, though I advise against it. The two apps I found for Messenger are Franz and Ferdium (a fork of Franz with more features).

To mitigate the privacy risks:

Firefox with uBlock Origin (or Librewolf)
Avoid sharing anything sensitive.

Nothing much you can do sadly.

[-] EtnaAtsume@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Seems like the best solution would be to install this and use messenger and Google Workspace only through this and my normal browsing in Firefox. Thank you for the guidance!

[-] Neptr@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 9 months ago

Yeah np. Good luck.

[-] url@feddit.fr 5 points 9 months ago

Use them in a separate Browser with Ublock origin.

[-] M4st3rSh0e@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Like everyone else said. You're pretty much fighting against tracking cookies at this point. My 2 cents. "Hardened" Firefox running containers for personal, shopping and that stiff. uBlock origin, Privacy Badger by the EFF and look up user-agent spoofing. Set your user-agent to something like Windows 11 chrome. If you're feeling adventurous look into a pi-hole as well.

this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2025

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