177 guides tagged with "Linux"

Advanced Package Tool (APT) is a free software user interface that works with core libraries to handle the installation and removal of software on Debian, and Debian-based Linux distributions. See also: (Reference: APT | Debian Wiki).

This script removes package file lists. APT stores a copy of those files (in "/var/lib/apt/lists/") and searches are done within those local files to avoid going through the network for every search. An "apt-get update" will repopulate the necessary information and recreate the list file. The list files should be recreated as they get lost over time.

It's also known as Almquist shell. It's mainly a fork of dash (Debian Almquist shell) used in embedded Linux distributions such as DSLinux, Alpine Linux, Tiny Core Linux and Linux-based router firmware such as OpenWrt, Tomato and DD-WRT. It was also used by Android until Android 4.0. It uses "~/.ash_history" as the history file.

This script deletes cached Azure CLI objects. Cleaning cache does not remove your credentials, so you'll keep your session and be logged in.

The Azure command-line interface (Azure CLI) is a set of commands used to create and manage Azure resources. With an emphasis on automation, the Azure CLI is accessible across all Azure services and is made to work quickly with Azure.

Azure CLI saves logs in the "logs" directory.

The Azure CLI stores telemetry in the "telemetry" directory and "telemetry.txt", "logs/telemetry.txt" files.

This script cleans the login data in three steps: 1. "az logout": It deletes the current authentication token and subscription ID. It only logs out the selected/current user. 2. "az account clear": It clears all other subscriptions from the CLI's local cache. It also logs out all users. 3. Clear all access tokens: It removes the ADAL token cache file. These are stored tokens from the Active Directory OAuth 2.0 code flow.

Bash (Bourne-Again SHell) is from the GNU project. It is used by most distributions as their default shell. See also (Reference: GNU Bash Homepage).

A web browser (commonly just called a browser) is software that is used to visit websites. The browsing history, cache entries, and other potentially sensitive data are all stored by browsers.

This script runs the "clean" command. It clears out the local repository of retrieved package files, meaning that it deletes downloaded packages (".deb") already installed (and no longer needed). It clears the whole "/var/cache/apt/archives/" directory that contains a copy of each downloaded ".deb" file. It clears the cache but does not delete the lists.

Clementine is a free and open-source audio player. Cover art, moodbar, and network cache are all part of Clementine cache. Clementine cache is kept in the global XDG spec ("~/.cache") folder. See also: (Reference: Clementine Homepage)

Thunderbird saves annotations, bookmarks, favorite icons, input history, keywords, and browsing history (a list of pages visited). Data is saved at persistent "places.sqlite" and temporary "places.sqlite-shm" and "places.sqlite.wal".

crosh is also known as ChromiumOS shell. It is used in Chromium OS. The history file is found in "~/.crosh_history" by default. See its (Reference: source code (chromiumos/platform2)) for more information.

This category includes tools that are typically used by developers, also known as "developer tools". These tools allow a developer to create, test, and debug software. Their data may leak data about the developer, their usage patterns, the environment used for development or the developed project.

DNF or Dandified YUM is the next-generation version of YUM, a package manager for .rpm-based Linux distributions. It has been the default package manager since Fedora 22 in 2015, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, and OpenMandriva. DNF stores temporary files for repositories such as repository metadata, cache files generated from the repository metadata, and cached packages. "dnf clean all" cleans all temporary files.

The "containers.json" file stores the details of containers used by the (Reference: Container Tabs) feature.

The "formhistory.sqlite" file remembers what you have searched for in the Firefox search bar and what information you've entered into website forms.

This script targets the Firefox browsing history, including URLs, downloads, bookmarks, and site visits, by deleting specific database entries. Firefox stores various user data in a file named "places.sqlite". This file includes: Annotations, bookmarks, and favorite icons ("mozannoattributes", "mozannos", "mozfavicons") • Browsing history, a record of pages visited ("mozplaces", "mozhistoryvisits") • Keywords and typed URLs ("mozkeywords", "mozinputhistory") • Item annotations (`moz_item...

The cache gets stored ".cache" folder, which you can see when you navigate to "about:cache".

This script deletes Firefox browser cookies to reduce online tracking. A cookie is a small piece of data stored by websites on your browser. Websites use cookies to remember your preferences and track your browsing activity. While some cookies help websites function properly, others may be used for tracking your online behavior. Deleting cookies: Reduces tracking of your browsing habits • May improve browser performance by freeing up storage space • Requires you to sign in again to websites • Ma...

Firefox stores crash reports in "~/.mozilla/firefox/Crash Reports/" to submit them later. They are also seen to be stored in the profile directory. You can run "about:crashes" in the address bar to see crash reports and their submission dates.

This category encompasses a series of scripts aimed at helping users manage and delete their browsing history and related data in Mozilla Firefox. The scripts are designed to target different aspects of user data stored by Firefox, providing users options for maintaining privacy and freeing up disk space.

Logins for Firefox are saved in the "logins.json" file. Older versions of Firefox stored logins in the "signons.sqlite" database, within the "moz_logins" table. Back-ups are stored in the "logins-backup.json" file.

The "sessionstore.jsonlz4" file stores the currently open tabs and windows. See (Reference: Restore previous session - Configure when Firefox shows your most recent tabs and windows).

If a user has chosen to participate in the Pioneer program, their Pioneer ID will be stored in this field. This ID serves as a link between user data and Mozilla servers.

Firefox uses "toolkit.telemetry.cachedClientID" as an identifier for the client and/or the user. This ID is static and is used to identify the user.

It is one of the most popular exotic shells that favors usability over standard compliance. Its history file is stored in "~/.local/share/fish/fishhistory" and "~/.config/fish/fishhistory". It is used by PEUX OS as the default shell. See also (Reference: fish shell homepage) for more information.

Non-essential user-specific data is stored in "~/.var/app//cache" by Flatpak applications. This directory points to "XDGCACHEHOME" from the XDG base directory specification.

This script clears the Flatpak cache. Flatpak creates temporary files as "/var/tmp/flatpak-cache-*". These files can fill up a large portion of the disk, and reveal usage patterns. Flatpak stores cache files in "~/.cache/flatpak/system-cache/" which replaces the directory used in older versions ("~/.local/share/flatpak/system-cache/").

Flatpak, formerly known as xdg-app, is a utility for software deployment and package management for Linux. It is supported out-of-the-box by many Linux distributions including CentOS, Clear Linux, elementary OS, Endless OS, Fedoora Workstation, Fedora Silverblue, Linux Mint, Pop! OS, PureOS, SteamOS, Ubuntu MATE and Zorin OS.

A temporary folder or temporary directory is a directory used to hold temporary files. In Unix and Linux, the global temporary directories are "/tmp" and "/var/tmp". Typically, "/var/tmp" is for persistent files (as it may be preserved over reboots), and "/tmp" is for more temporary files. Programs do not assume that any files or directories in temporary folders are preserved between invocations of the program, and these files may be deleted after reboot and in a site-specific manner. See also: ...

GNOME Web (called Epiphany until 2012) is a free and open-source web browser based on the GTK port of Apple's WebKit rendering engine, called WebKitGTK. It is developed by the GNOME project for Unix-like systems. It is the default and official web browser of GNOME. It has been the default browser of elementary OS since 5.0 Bodhi Linux since 5.1.0. See also: (Reference: GNOME Web source code)

Bookmarks are evidently stored in a file called "bookmarks.gvdb". See also (Reference: Bookmarks design | GNOME Wiki) to read more about GNOME Web bookmarks.

Your browsing history consists of the web pages that you have visited. The history database is "ephy-history.db" and uses "-shm" and "-wal" files during operation.

This script clears the temporary cache and does not cause any user data loss.

"cookies.sqlite" file is used to store cookies in WebKit-based browsers. See also: (Reference: What are cookies? | GNOME Web | gnome.org) • (Reference: Delete a cookie | GNOME Web | gnome.org)

"recently-used.xbel" is part of the GTK+ toolkit that's developed and used by GNOME. "GtkRecentManager" provides a facility for adding, removing, and looking up recently used files and acts like a database of all the recently used files. GTK is used by many GUI software. GNOME uses the GTK+ library, while KDE uses the QT library. "recently-used.xbel" is used by other third-party GTK 3 based applications such as Firefox, Visual Studio Code (and all other Electron applications), Thunderbird… See a...

".desktop" files are used by KDE to store recent documents and are exposed through an API. They are not only specific to the desktop environment, but also used by applications. Likewise, they are used by the KDE implementation of QT components, such as (Reference: QFileDialog) ((Reference: KFileWidget)). Furthermore, they are used...

KornShell is a shell that has different versions by different maintainers and developers such as "ksh93+u", "ksh93v-", and "ksh2020". The latest maintained version is "ksh93u+m", see its (Reference: GitHub repository (ksh93/ksh)). Its history file (histfile) is saved at "~/.sh_history" by default. OpenBSD symlinks sh to ksh. See also the [Wikipedia page](https://web.archive.org/web/20221029212931/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KornShel...

LibreOffice is a free and open-source office productivity software suite, a project of The Document Foundation (TDF). "registrymodifications.xcu" is an XML file that contains the user-specified settings. It is found inside the user settings directory ("~/.config/libreoffice/4/user"). It includes thumbnails generated, and a recent document list. See also: (Reference: LibreOffice Homepage).

This script runs the "autoclean" command which removes package files that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely useless. This allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without it growing out of control.

This script runs the "autoremove" command, which removes packages that were automatically installed to satisfy dependencies for other packages and are now no longer needed. This script also purges removed packages, which means that the configuration files of the removed packages are deleted too.

Package managers store caches, statistics, and logs that may reveal data on how you use the package managers and software downloaded from them, such as your choice of software.

This script removes log files generated by the privacy.sexy desktop application. Different from the web version, the desktop application records logs for troubleshooting. Additionally, these logs offer auditing and transparency for security. Deleting these logs can help maintain your privacy by ensuring there are no records of the application's activities on your system.

This category offers scripts to remove data left by the privacy.sexy desktop application, helping you ensure your privacy by eliminating all traces of use. The web application version of privacy.sexy does not create or store user data on your device, so this category is applicable to desktop application users only. These scripts are designed for anyone wanting to ensure their script activities leave no trace on their systems.

This script removes script files generated by the privacy.sexy desktop application. The desktop version executes scripts directly on your device, saving a script file for execution, troubleshooting, and security. By running this script, you remove the executed script files, enhancing your privacy by ensuring that there is no residual data that could reveal your usage patterns or preferences.

Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language. Python comes preinstalled on most Linux distributions. Since Python 3.4 the interactive mode does log all commands to "~/.python_history". See also: creates the file and registers it. (Reference: Source code) that • (Reference: Python homepage)

Revealing data about recent files used by a user has privacy risks, such as exposing your actions and files that you wish to keep private.

GNOME's default screenshot folder (as seen in Pop!OS and Elementary OS) is "~/Pictures/Screenshots/". Flameshot also uses the same default folder as GNOME. Despite being GNOME-based, Ubuntu changes this default to "~/Pictures/" with files that look like ""Screenshot from *.png"". KDE ((Reference: Spectacle)) saves screenshots in the "~/Pictures/" folder with the default name format of "Screenshot%Y%M%D_%H%m%S.". Other applica...

The scripts in this category bulk delete all cache entries for the given scope. These scripts are designed to affect more than a single application and do a wide range of cleaning.

Application caches are isolated per application and stored in the "~/snaps/APP-NAME/VERSION/.cache" folders for Snap applications.

The Snap cache is stored at "/var/lib/snapd/cache/". Clearing the Snap cache is safe and can be done without causing any issues while running Snap.

Snap is a software packaging and deployment system developed by Canonical. The packages are called snaps, and the tool for using them is called snapd. Snap is available on many distros and is supported out-of-the-box by distros such as Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Manjaro, Zorin OS, KDE Neon and Solus among others.

Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront by Valve. Clearing Steam cache is safe without any side effects. This may resolve issues with Steam and help you save space and increase privacy, but may lead to a single-time application performance decrease due to cache renewal. See also: (Reference: Steam Homepage)

Your system (operating system along with other software on it) and kernel store data that may reveal your behavior and can be considered sensitive. These scripts clean up the data that could potentially expose your user data.

The "/var/crash" directory holds system crash dumps according to Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS). You may get reports on a system's boot when crash report files exist. When the "/var/crash" directory contains files, Apport will display notifications. This directory is then cleaned up by Apport using (Reference: "/etc/cron.daily/apport") job. Read more: [...

journald is the part of systemd that captures, queries, and removes logs when needed. It allows removing logs by setting "--vacuum-time". systemd is also known as "System and Service Manager" and is a suite of basic building blocks for a Linux system. systemd keeps files in two places: "/var/log/journal/" (persistently) and "/run/log/journal/" (volatilely, the data is lost when the system is rebooted).

The "/var/cache" directory contains cached files, i.e. files that were generated and can be re-generated at any time, but they are worth storing to save time recomputing them. The application must be able to regenerate or restore the data, so the system can delete the contents of /var/cache either periodically or when its contents get too large. However, there is no guarantee that applications will follow the specification, but this is very rare. It's not only used by applications but also by th...

C shell (csh) with file name completion and command line editing. "~/.history" is its default histfile (history file). It's shipped by FreeBSD as the default root shell. See also: (Reference: tcsh homepage), • (Reference: tcsh source code).

Reading terminal history is one of the attack techniques. The existence of bash history files is defined as an unsecured credential attack technique by MITRE.

Scripts in this category clear data for third-party applications installed on the operating system. Third-party applications are not typically distributed as part of the operating system and are installed separately.

Thumbnails are reduced-size versions of pictures or videos, used to help in recognizing and organizing them, serving the same role for images as a normal text index does for words. Depending on the program that processes the thumbnails, the "icons" are usually located either in the "~/.cache/thumbnails/" folder (e.g., Nautilus from GNOME does this) or the "~/.thumbnails/" directory.

Most users open the Thunderbird address book from within the email client, but it can also be launched separately. Mozilla Thunderbird by default comes with two address books, even though more can be added: 1. Personal book: For the most frequently used contacts. 2. Collected book: Collects addresses from email that you send.

Files for collected addresses: Since Thunderbird v78: "history.sqlite", "history.sqlite-wal". • Before Thunderbird v78: "history.mab".

Thunderbird stores cookie information in: "cookies.sqlite": Stores all cookies. • "cookies.sqlite-journal": The journal file for "cookies.sqlite". • "cookies.sqlite-shm", "cookies.sqlite-wal": Write-ahead log files for "cookies.sqlite". The file "cookies.sqlite" in the user's profile directory is used to store cookies between sessions.

Mozilla Thunderbird is a free and open-source cross-platform email client, personal information manager, news client, RSS and chat client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. See also: (Reference: Thunderbird Homepage | thunderbird.net). Read about the files and folders in the profile folder in depth: [Files and folders in the profile - Thunderbird | kb.mozillazine.org](https://web.archive.org/web/20221029140819/https://kb.mozil...

Download history is saved in "downloads.sqlite" since Thunderbird 3 and in "downloads.rdf" before. It stores data to show downloads in Download Manager. Clearing download history can help to resolve slow downloads or program hangs.

"logins.json" stores encrypted passwords. It replaces "signons.sqlite", which had replaced "signons.txt". "logins-backup.json" is stored to recreate "logins.json".

Files for personal addresses: Since Thunderbird v78: "abook.sqlite", "abook.sqlite-wal". • Before Thunderbird v78: "abook.mab".

The default window layout is saved in the session file ("session.json"). It includes data on what tabs are open.

User-specific non-essential data is stored in "$XDGCACHEHOME", which defaults to "$HOME/.cache". Even though this data should be safe to delete, an application might still not comply with the standard and put anything in the cache folder, but this is very rare. This cache is used by both the operating system and different applications on it, e.g., used by KDE since v5.0, pip (Python package manager), or Google Chrome and Chromium-based browsers. Deleting this cache does not affect sandboxed ap...

Unless you have unsaved changes, deleting the cache does not result in data loss. However deleting cached data will lead to a slower initial experience as the files are cached again. Visual Studio Code does not follow platform conventions for cache directories, but stores them in user data directories instead. Folders include "Cache", "CachedData", "Code Cache", "GPUCache", "CachedExtensions", "CachedExtensionVSIXs".

Visual Studio Code stores crash reports that later on are uploaded to Microsoft servers by default. It collects crash reports in "exthost Crash Reports" and "Crash Reports" directories. Deleting crash reports does not cause you any data loss that would affect your productivity.

Visual Studio Code, also commonly referred to as VS Code, is a source-code editor made by Microsoft. Visual Studio Code saves data that reveals user behavior and preferences.

Deleting Visual Studio Code logs does not cause any data loss, but hides usage patterns. The logs are stored in "{user data dir}/logs" folder.

Wine has two different caches: 1. Temporary Windows files. Wine saves temporary Windows files at "/drive_c/windows/temp/". 2. Temporary Wine application cache that is not connected to inner Windows files.

Wine is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications. See also: (Reference: Wine Homepage).

Winetricks is a helper script to download and install various redistributable runtime libraries needed to run some programs in Wine. Winetricks cache includes downloaded files cache (runtime libraries/directories). It caches downloads "winetrickscache/$packagename". User data cache is stored in "$XDGCACHEHOME/winetricks" (by default, "~/.cache/winetricks").

The Yellowdog Updater, Modified (YUM) is a free and open-source command-line package-management utility for computers running the Linux operating system using the RPM Package Manager. It has been shipped by default by distros such as Fedora, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, CentOS. YUM stores cached packages, header files, and metadata to determine the remote availability of packages, SQLite database cache, rpmdb cache. Every YUM plugin may store its own cache. "yum clean all" cleans all temporary files....

Zeitgeist logs files opened, websites visited, conversations, and emails and provides this information over an API to applications. It serves as a comprehensive activity log and also makes it possible to determine relationships between items based on usage patterns. This script deletes indexes ("fts.index" directory). It's safe to delete and will be regenerated the next time you start Zeitgeist. This script also deletes all activity logs ("activity.sqlite") and related user-data.

Zsh is also known as Z-shell. See its (Reference: homepage) for more information. It is one of the most used shells and has been the default shell in Kali Linux since 2020.4. Arch Linux installer uses zsh but sets bash on disk as default.

These scripts control the automatic update behavior of extensions. Updates are fetched from Microsoft servers. Use of online Microsoft services can disclose information about you and your behavior.

Mozilla Firefox, colloquially known as Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser created by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. By default, Firefox collects telemetry data and has other features that gather information about your downloaded files and browsed webpages. The scripts provided here adjust your Firefox installation to prevent its data collection.

These scripts configure third-party applications installed on Linux distributions to harden their security and privacy to protect your data. They scripts differ from OS level configurations as they configure applications that are not typically native to Linux distributions, i.e., not included in the OS itself and are not known as being part of a specific distribution.

.NET, previously known as .NET Core, is a free, open-source, and cross-platform developer platform that allows the creation of various types of applications. The .NET Software Development Kit (SDK) includes a telemetry feature, enabled by default, that collects and sends usage data to Microsoft upon the execution of .NET Command-Line Interface (CLI) commands. This data comprises your operating system, hardware specifics, geographic location, and .NET usage/installation information. A fraction of...

"pkgstats" sends a list of all installed packages, the architecture, and the mirror you are using to the Arch Linux project. It stores personally identifiable information such as IP addresses for one month and then anonymizes and aggregates the data.

Zeitgeist logs its data in the "activity.sqlite" file at "$HOME/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite". This script tells the operating system to remove read and write rights on this file to make it immutable and inaccessible to both reads and writes. It prevents Zeitgeist from updating its database. This method has been used successfully by the community.

The Apport service can be stopped using the following command: "systemctl stop apport". Stopping the service can mitigate the risk of Ubuntu not respecting the opt-out configuration. This has happened before in different Ubuntu versions, as reported by the community. This script is used as part of a post-installation script by the National Cyber Security Centre in the UK.

Arch Linux is an independently developed, x86-64 general-purpose Linux distribution that strives to provide the latest stable versions of most software by following a rolling-release model. The default installation is a minimal base system, configured by the user to only add what is specifically required.

This script configures the "toolkit.telemetry.archive.enabled" preference to be disabled, thus preventing telemetry pings from being archived locally. For reasons of military security, the U.S. government (NIST 800-53) recommends disabling this setting.: https://web.archive.org/web/20221015104801/https://stigviewer.com/stig/mozilla_firefox/2020-12-10/finding/V-223171

Visual Studio Code, by default, fetches recommendations from online Microsoft servers. This script modifies that default behavior, making recommendations from Microsoft servers available only on demand, rather than being fetched automatically. Despite this setting being deprecated, it is still respected.

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) periodically fetches changes from remote repositories. This feature lets VS Code display how many changes your local repository is ahead or behind the remote. This script disables the automatic fetching, providing you more control over when you communicate with remote servers. Note that this feature shares data not with Microsoft, but with the servers hosting the remote repositories you're working with. As of VS Code 1.19, this feature is disabled by default, althoug...

By default, Visual Studio Code automatically downloads and installs updates for all extensions. These updates are fetched from a Microsoft online service. This script disables the automatic updating of installed extensions. It accomplishes this by setting "extensions.autoUpdate" to "false".

This script sets "browser.safebrowsing.blockedURIs.enabled" to 'false', thereby disabling plugin stability blocking. Disabling this feature might have mixed implications: These plugins may include malware, which would compromise user privacy and data. frequent requests to download large amount of data. Disabling the blocking of unstable plugins can potentially expose the user to vulnerabilities associated with these plugins. • It removes the need for data communication via Mozilla servers `addon...

This script alters the "datareporting.healthreport.uploadEnabled" preference, effectively disabling it. This preference regulates whether Firefox sends telemetry data. The script halts all data transmitted from Firefox to Mozilla via Telemetry, preventing Firefox from sending technical and interaction data to Mozilla. For reasons of military security, it's recommended by the U.S. government (NIST 800-53) that this data collection is disabled.: https://web.archive.org/web/20221015103136/https://b...

This script turns off the Firefox Captive Portal detection feature. Firefox uses this feature to determine if a network connection requires a login, such as a public Wi-Fi hotspot. The test involves initiating an outgoing connection to Mozilla servers. By default, these connection attempts occur at regular intervals. This functionality could potentially expose your usage habits. For instance, a public venue like a hotel or restaurant might require you to input a password for internet access. If ...

(Reference: NetworkManager) can try to reach a web server after connecting to a network in order to determine if it is, e.g., behind a captive portal. Disabling connectivity protects against privacy leaks, but breaks captive portal detection. Connectivity URLs differ depending on the Linux distribution, e.g.: Arch Linux: "http://ping.archlinux.org/nm-check.txt" (in `/usr/lib/NetworkMan...

Once opted-out Whoopsie disables the related service. This script is used as part of a post-installation script by the National Cyber Security Centre in the UK.

Apport intercepts program crashes, collects debugging information about the crash and the operating system environment, and sends it to bug trackers in a standardized form. It also allows the user to report a bug about a package by collecting as much information about it as possible. Disabling Apport prevents the UI which informs the user about the crash and instructs them on how to proceed because that dialog is part of Apport. Furthermore, Apport creates crash report files in the "/var/crash" ...

Settings Sync is a Visual Studio Code feature that synchronizes settings, keybindings, and installed extensions across different machines. This data is stored in the Microsoft Cloud.

Debian, also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project. Debian-based distributions include Ubuntu, Kali Linux, MX Linux, Pardus, Parrot OS, PureOS, Raspberry Pi OS, TAILS, and others. Debian contains some telemetry client libraries, and some packages depend or build-depend on them. Some pre-installed packages send data or facilitate sending data, which may risk your privacy to some extent.

This script disables the "toolkit.telemetry.enabled" preference, which controls whether the Telemetry module is enabled. It's configured to be enabled in nightly, aurora, beta, or default (developer) builds. In release builds, however, it's set to false. This setting is hard-coded into the C++ code to prevent easy disabling. Developers have been approached about this issue, but have rejected proposals to unlock it. Mozilla's plan is to deprecate this setting eventually, followed by removal. This...

Visual Studio Code fetches data from NPM and Bower to provide autocompletion and hover information for npm dependencies. By default, this feature is enabled and fetches data from "https://registry.npmjs.org" and "https://registry.bower.io". This script prevents the automatic fetching of package information. You can disable this feature by setting "npm.fetchOnlinePackageInfo" to "false".

This script prevents Visual Studio Code from displaying release notes after an update. Release notes are fetched from a Microsoft online service and thus expose data about you, such as your IP address, to Microsoft. It is enabled by default and can be disabled by setting "update.showReleaseNotes" to "false".

This script pertains to a feature that safeguards users from malware downloads. This protective measure operates by transmitting downloaded URL and file data to Google's servers. The script modifies "browser.safebrowsing.downloads.enabled" to a disabled state. This adjustment consequently disables application reputation checks for downloaded files. Inhibiting this feature concurrently disables remote lookups ("browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.enabled"). Read more: [Security/Features/Applica...

Mozilla Firefox maintains a list of known malware, and checks user downloads against this list. If the user downloads a file that matches an entry in the list, a warning can be displayed. This script modifies "browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled" to a disabled state. This preference dictates whether to enable malware checks. Disabling it halts the downloading of malware blacklists and ceases checks on downloads. It is active by default. Note that disabling this protection disrupts application r...

This script disables the "new-profile" ping sent from Firefox Desktop. This ping is typically sent 30 minutes after the browser starts, during the first session of a newly created profile. If the first session of a new profile is shorter than 30 minutes, the ping is sent at shutdown using the Ping Sender. This script sets the "toolkit.telemetry.newProfilePing.enabled" preference to disabled, which effectively disables the "new-profile" ping for new profiles.

This script modifies "browser.safebrowsing.phishing.enabled" to a disabled state. This preference determines whether to enable phishing protection. It is active by default.

Firefox's Safe Browsing feature, now referred to as Phishing Protection, is still internally recognized as "Safe Browsing". To provide protection against phishing and malware, Firefox transmits the following data: 1. Partial address information for visited webpages. 2. Details such as name, origin, size, and hash of contents for downloaded files. This data is sent to Google Safe Browsing to aid in issuing warnings for downloaded files and visited sites. While Phishing Protection bolsters your se...

Firefox Pioneer is a system in Firefox to test new features and changes on a subset of Firefox users. Pioneer program sends private/sensitive data to Mozilla.

This script configures "toolkit.telemetry.pioneer-new-studies-available" to be disabled to opt out Firefox Pioneer program. This setting disables availability check for Firefox Pioneer studies.

This script disables the "prio" ping sent from Firefox Desktop. The ping is submitted at least once a day for sessions that last longer than 24 hours, and it is enabled by default. It sends Origin Telemetry, which allows Mozilla to get precise counts of how many Firefox clients perform certain activities on specific origins without revealing which clients were doing which things on which origins. This script sets the "toolkit.telemetry.prioping.enabled" preference to disabled, which turns of...

The shutdown ping provides data about a clean shutdown. This script turns off three preferences to disable shutdown pings: 1. "toolkit.telemetry.shutdownPingSender.enabled": This preference permits the shutdown ping to be sent when the browser is closed from the second browsing session onwards, as opposed to on the next restart, through the ping sender. 2. "toolkit.telemetry.shutdownPingSender.enabledFirstSession": This preference allows the shutdown ping to be sent through the ping sender from ...

By default, Firefox collects telemetry data. This data comprises two main categories: interaction data and technical data. Interaction data includes metrics such as the number of open tabs and windows, the number of webpages visited, the number and type of installed Firefox Add-ons, session length, and interactions with features offered by Mozilla or third parties. These features may include Firefox search features and search partner referrals. Technical data provides information...

This script adjusts the "toolkit.telemetry.log.dump" setting to its most restricted value. This preference controls whether to dump telemetry log messages to "stdout".

Firefox logs telemetry information in various locations, such as the console and "stdout". This logged information reveals details about your usage pattern.

A telemetry ping refers to the data that Firefox transmits to Mozilla's Telemetry servers. It comes in different types and includes information collected by telemetry.

This script is designed to disable the "toolkit.telemetry.unified" preference. If this preference is enabled, it results in two effects: 1. Firstly, telemetry will always be enabled and recording base data. 2. Secondly, additional main pings will be sent. This preference is enabled by default. The "toolkit.telemetry.unified" preference signifies whether the Telemetry system is operating in Unified mode or not. However, it's worth noting that this feature is planned to be phased out and is consid...

This script disables the "update" ping sent from Firefox Desktop. This ping is sent when a browser update is ready to be applied and also after the update has been successfully applied. This script sets the "toolkit.telemetry.updatePing.enabled" preference to disabled, which turns off the "update" ping associated with browser updates.

"ubuntu-report" reports hardware and other collected metrics like installer or upgrade information. Reported data includes but is not limited to: The Ubuntu version and its flavor, • Whether there is network connectivity, • CPU family, • RAM, • Disk(s) size, • Screen(s) resolution, • GPU model and manufacturer, • OEM manufacturer, • Location (based on the location selection made by the user at install), • Installation duration (time taken), • Whether auto-login is enabled, • Selected disk layout...

VS Code employs experiments to test new features or gradually roll them out. The experimentation framework communicates with Microsoft servers. This setting is enabled by default. This script disables fetching experiments from a Microsoft online service. It accomplishes this by setting "workbench.enableExperiments" to "false".

Online search is introduced in Ubuntu Lens in Ubuntu 12.10. It has been known as "Shopping Lens", "Online Search Results" and "More Suggestions". The search data is sent to "productsearch.ubuntu.com". Online search results are considered a privacy concern by governments and can be disabled using the "remote-content-search" option.

All operating systems collect data. This is part of their work. Sometimes, this data has high privacy implications, especially when it is submitted to third parties. Some Linux distributions come with out-of-the-box data collection and submission. Most of the time, this data collection is opt-in, but not necessarily always. Data collection and telemetry is not always a bad thing, and can help developers provide better software that can compete with proprietary and much more privacy-invasive alte...

First-party isolation (FPI) helps in preventing third parties from tracking users across multiple websites. This is sometimes referred to as "double keying" (double-keying) or supercookies. This script disables FPI in favor of a newer technology called dynamic First-Party Isolation (dFPI) for the following reasons: 1. FPI and dFPI conflict with each other, and they cannot function simultaneously. Additionally, Mozilla doesn't plan to make them compatible. 2. FPI has been marked as deprecated and...

Opting out of Apport prevents it from creating crash files after a crash. It can be disabled by setting "enabled=0" in "/etc/default/apport". This setting comes enabled by default in a clean installation of Ubuntu and some of its derivatives (such as Pop!_OS). This script is used as part of a post-installation script by the National Cyber Security Centre in the UK.

This script uses the "ubuntu-report" CLI to opt you out of data submission. Alternatively, one can opt out during the installation of Ubuntu.

"popularity-contest" checks "/etc/popularity-contest.conf" for the value of "PARTICIPATE" to send data. Configuring this configuration allows you to opt out of the submission of data.

This script sets "toolkit.telemetry.server" to be empty. This preference defines the server to which telemetry pings are sent.

PowerShell Core, a cross-platform (Windows, Linux, and macOS) automation and configuration tool/framework, incorporates a command-line shell, a related scripting language, and a framework for processing cmdlets. It sends telemetry data to Microsoft servers, revealing your software usage, geolocation, and additional environment data. This script sets the "env:POWERSHELLTELEMETRYOPTOUT" environment variable to "1", opting you out of PowerShell Core's telemetry collection.

Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language. Most Python implementations (including CPython) include a (Reference: read-eval-print loop (REPL)), permitting them to function as a command-line interpreter for which users enter statements sequentially and receive results immediately. Python saves interactive commands in the "~/.pythonhistory" file. This script ensures that this file...

These scripts disable the functionality of reportbug. reportbug is a tool for reporting bugs on Debian and derivative distributions. It communicates with the (Reference: Debian Bug Tracking System), which is used for both reporting and researching bugs, through a number of interfaces, including email, web, and command-line utilities. By default, it creates an email to the Debian bug tracking system at "submit@bugs.debian.org" with inf...

Popularity Contest (or popcon) collects statistical data to determine which packages are the most popular. It sends a list of packages installed and the access and change times of relevant files to the server via email in different distros such as Debian and Ubuntu. "popularity-contest" package sets up a cron job that will periodically anonymously submit statistical data to the Debian developers about the statistics of the most used Debian packages on the system. It also sends data about the sys...

By default, Visual Studio Code sends setting search queries to Microsoft servers. This is part of the natural language search mode, which is powered by a Microsoft online service. You can disable this feature by setting "enableNaturalLanguageSettingsSearch" to "false". For more information, see [Settings search | Feature announcement](https://web.archive.org/web/20221029223417/https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-docs/blob/8f6d43a3b24d8661f25f93d5e679c3e6ee1191b6/release-notes/v1_20.md#settings-s...

Visual Studio Code synchronizes all built-in and installed extensions, along with their global enablement state, by default. This script prevents the synchronization of all Visual Studio Code extensions. To disable extension synchronization, set "settingsSync.ignoredExtensions", which configures the list of extensions to be ignored during synchronization.

By default, Keyboard Shortcuts are synchronized across platforms. You can disable this by setting "settingsSync.keybindingsPerPlatform" to "false".

By default, Visual Studio Code synchronizes all settings, except for machine settings (those with machine or machine-overridable scopes), as these are specific to a given machine. This script disables the synchronization of all settings. You can specify settings to ignore during synchronization using the "settingsSync.ignoredSettings" setting.

Ubuntu's error tracker explains crashes, hangs, and other severe errors to end users; lets them report an error; and collects these reports and shares them with Ubuntu. Error reports are also accessible to trusted Ubuntu developers who are not employed by Canonical. See (Reference: the Ubuntu error tracker | errors.ubuntu.com) that shows error statistics to the public.: https://web.archive.org/web/20221029162649/https://wiki.ubuntu.com/...

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu, along with its upstream Debian, has many official (Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Studio…) and unofficial (elementary OS, KDE neon, Linux Mint, Pop! OS, Zorin OS…) derivatives.

The software responsible for uploading crash reports is called Whoopsie. It's always running on Ubuntu systems, watching the "/var/crash" directory for crash reports (that usually Apport creates) to send over the internet to Canonical servers at "http://daisy.ubuntu.com" for further processing. Along with the crash report, it sends a unique identifier (GUID) for your computer in "/etc/default/whoopsie". Apport only uploads data if package "whoopsie" is installed; otherwise it appears to be uploa...

By default, Visual Studio Code automatically checks extensions for updates. If an update for an extension is available, it is marked as outdated in the Extensions view. These updates are fetched from a Microsoft online service. This script disables the automatic checking of updates for extensions. It achieves this by setting "extensions.autoCheckUpdates" to "false".

This script disables (Reference: automatic type acquisition), a feature that fetches "@types" packages from npm to improve IntelliSense for external libraries. Although this feature is disabled by default, you can ensure it's off by setting "typescript.disableAutomaticTypeAcquisition" to "false".

By default, VS Code is configured to automatically update when new versions are released. Automatic updates reduce your control over privacy by sending data to Microsoft servers. On Linux, updates are often handled by the system package manager, rendering this setting redundant. To opt out of auto-updates, the Update: Mode ("update.mode") setting is changed from default to none. "update.mode" has replaced the older "update.channel" setting. · Issue #70084 · microsoft/vscode · GitHub | github.com

Visual Studio Code, also commonly referred to as VS Code, is a source-code editor made by Microsoft. Visual Studio Code makes outgoing network requests to collect data in the background without users invoking a feature that requires online access. The requests include, but are not limited to, automatic extension update checks, querying settings for A/B experiments, and fetching online data for auto-completion. In addition, Visual Studio Code collects and transmits telemetry data to Microsoft ser...

Edit Sessions is a Visual Studio Code feature that synchronizes uncommitted changes between VS Code for the Web (e.g., GitHub Codespaces) and the Desktop version, storing data in the Microsoft Cloud. This script disables Edit Sessions and its more granular subsettings like "workbench.experimental.editSessions.autoStore", "workbench.editSessions.autoResume", and "workbench.editSessions.continueOn".

The "telemetry.telemetryLevel" preference can be adjusted as follows: "default" (on): Transmits usage data, errors, and crash reports. • "error": Transmits general error telemetry and crash reports. • "crash": Transmits OS-level crash reports. • "off": Disables all product telemetry. This script disables telemetry data, which includes usage data, errors, and crash reports. The "telemetry.enableTelemetry" was the primary option to disable telemetry collection. This disabled the collection of diag...

Websites can obtain your local IP address through WebRTC's peer-to-peer protocol, facilitated by JavaScript. WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is a free and open-source project offering real-time communication (RTC) via application programming interfaces (APIs) to web browsers and mobile applications. It enables audio and video communication to work inside web pages by facilitating direct peer-to-peer communication, and thereby eliminating the need for plugin installations or native app downl...

"pkgstats" is set up to automatically run every week using systemd/timers. Once disabled, the data will only be sent once manually invoked. The weekly timer is named "pkgstats.timer".

Whoopsie works through a service file created in "/lib/systemd/system/whoopsie.service". This script disables this service to immobilize the main functionality of Whoopsie. This script is used as part of a post-installation script by the National Cyber Security Centre in the UK.

Zeitgeist logs files opened, websites visited, conversations, and emails and provides this information over an API to applications. It serves as a comprehensive activity log and also makes it possible to determine relationships between items based on usage patterns. It stores computer use actions such as files accessed, sites visited, and conversations held. The data is typically used to facilitate searches and "best-fit" to your local query only. There's no proof that it's uploading data. It do...

Zorin OS pings Zorin OS servers. It sends pings on an hourly basis. It sends a unique ID, the operating system version, the number of user accounts and the city and country the user is in. It can be disabled by deleting the "zorin-os-census" package.

Zorin OS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. It is customized to help users transition from Windows and macOS easily.

The trash location is standardized by (Reference: The FreeDesktop.org Trash specification). It uses the "$XDGDATAHOME/Trash" directory, which defaults to "$HOME/.local/share/Trash". Flatpak applications may use the same trash using special APIs. However, Snap applications do not have an API to use the global trash.

Dynamic First-Party Isolation, also known as dFPI, is an advanced privacy feature in Firefox. This feature commonly referred to as: Total Cookie Protection, • dFPI (dynamic First-Party Isolation), • Dynamic storage partitioning. Essentially, dFPI is an enhanced version of a previous privacy tool known as First-Party Isolation (FPI). The primary purpose of dFPI is to improve user privacy online. It accomplishes this by preventing third-party websites from accessing or tracking a user's data acros...

Fingerprinting Protection is a heavily developed experimental feature in Firefox. As part of a project to integrate features from the Tor Browser, Mozilla launched an anti-fingerprinting project in Firefox. This script enables the "privacy.resistFingerprinting" preference, activating anti-fingerprinting. As an experimental feature, it might cause some website breakages, such as impacting web speech functionality and favicons.

Network partitioning is a method used by Firefox to enhance user privacy. When enabled, each website you visit has its own isolated storage location, preventing it from accessing data from another website. This limits the ability of websites to track users across multiple sites. Network Partitioning, formerly referred to as cache partitioning, is a subset of state partitioning. While state partitioning deals with data like cookies, network partitioning deals with networking-related components,...

Web browsers, including Firefox, save various data types such as cookies, cache, and site-specific details. While this data helps in providing a faster and personalized browsing experience, it can be exploited by websites to track your activities across the internet, potentially compromising your privacy. State partitioning, also known as "Total Cookie Protection", is a feature designed to enhance user privacy in Firefox. It works by allocating different, isolated storage spaces for every websit...

Firefox provides an option for Enhanced Tracking Protection, which blocks trackers that gather information about your browsing behavior without disrupting site functionality. This feature also includes protections against harmful scripts such as malware that drain your battery. This script enables the "privacy.resistFingerprinting" preference, activating anti-fingerprinting. Beyond privacy advantages; enabling tracking protection may reduce load time by 44%. Note: If you are already using an ad ...

The following are privacy-focused tweaks to prevent browser fingerprinting and tracking. See also: (Reference: What is browser fingerprinting? | AmIUnique.org)

"zeitgeist-daemon" is a daemon providing an activity log. Activity logs consist of a central database for events such as file usage, browser history, and calendar entries. This script stops a currently running Zeitgeist instance, letting Zeitgeist finish any operation it may currently be doing. The Zeigeist daemon receives metadata from data sources and provides it to applications using D-Bus. The datahub provides passive plugins which insert events into Zeitgeist.

Enhance your Linux privacy across all major distros with 131 open‐source scripts. Secure your data, remove telemetry, cleanup and harden your system. Open-source, documented, and community-verified for desktop and server environments.

This script sets the "toolkit.telemetry.log.level" preference to the least verbosity to minimize logs. This preference adjusts the telemetry logging verbosity as per "Log.jsm". By default, logging is restricted to the console service. It displays telemetry information in the browser console and can be used to monitor telemetry activity in the JavaScript console. This process is also referred to as telemetry tracing. The output can be accessed via the DevTools console, navigable through the menu ...

These scripts allow you to increase privacy by deleting collected data about you and your behavior.

The "apport" package is responsible for automatically generating crash reports for debugging. Apport software is provided using multiple packages such as "apport", "python3-apport", "apport-gtk", "apport-kde", among others. This script removes the main "apport" package that would lead other dependencies to be in orphaned states that can be auto-removed. It does not attempt to remove all packages in the suite as these can cause side effects and unintended crashes, such as deleting `python3-apport...

"pkgstats" package submits a list of installed packages to the Arch Linux project. It's available in the Arch Linux repository. The package enables a timer to send data periodically.

This script uninstalls "reportbug" package, which includes the tool itself. It depends on "python3-reportbug", so after removing this package, the Python modules may be left on the system.

This script uninstalls the "whoopsie" package. This package is used for error tracker submission in Ubuntu.

Normally, "popularity-contest" is run from a cron job, "/etc/cron.daily/popularity-contest". This job automatically submits the results to package maintainers once a week. This script disables the cronjob, thus the automatic submission, but manually running "popularity-contest" would still send data.

This script removes all disabled Snap packages. Old and unused snaps get "disabled" by Snap. This is due to the snapd that keeps multiple revisions of the same package. Disabled state means that the binaries and services of the snap will no longer be available. But all the data is still available, and the snap can easily be enabled again.

This script removes runtimes and extensions that are not used by installed applications by running "flatpak uninstall --unused". Flatpak doesn't automatically remove a runtime after the last application that depends on it is uninstalled. This may cause issues with disk space or leave hints about what software has been installed before. This happens because when a Flatpak package is uninstalled, its runtime dependencies are not automatically uninstalled, as "flatpak uninstall" can uninstall eithe...

This script deletes the "popularity-contest" package. This package submits to the Debian developers statistics about the most used Debian packages on the system. According to community reports, deleting this package does not have any side effects.

This script uninstalls "python3-reportbug". This package includes Python modules that may be reusable by other tools that want to interact with the Debian bug tracking system.

"ubuntu-report" is installed as an apt package and can be uninstalled in this way. Once uninstalled, the "send" command will function and therefore no data will be collected.

This script uninstalls "reportbug-gtk". It consists of a desktop file and an icon, and it has dependencies to enable the GTK+ UI mode of reportbug to work. This package depends on "reportbug" and is unusable without it.

The main functionality for Zeitgeist is provided by the "zeitgeist" package in Fedora and Arch Linux, and the "zeitgeist-core" package in Debian. It was installed by default in Ubuntu 16.x and 18.x as "zeitgeist-core". It is known to be installed by default by Arch Linux and Artix Linux too. Removing this package may break the Unity desktop environment and prevent you from searching for programs by typing into the box.

This script removes the Autostart entry that is used by the Zeitgeist package to start itself. (Reference: The XDG Autostart specification) defines a method for autostarting ordinary desktop entries on desktop environment startup. It is executed by desktop environments such as GNOME and KDE.

Census submits a unique ID associated with the installation when pings are sent. Removing the identifier reduces the risk of your computer being identified.