‘Privacy is Sexy’ is the new Swiss Army knife of privacy for Windows, Linux and Mac. You can choose from hundreds of scripts

Fortunately, given the amount of personal information we constantly store and share, it is only growing. users’ concern for their privacy; but not just when using the Internet, but in your own computer: An application, even a legitimate one, installed on our system can reveal data about us more effectively than the most dangerous web browsing session.

For conscientious users, there is a collective and open source project that will serve as a Swiss army knife to take care of every detail of their operating system configuration. It’s called “Privacy is sexy” (a useful name to attract those who are not already convinced) and is for Windows, macOS, and Linux users.

The tool is available in two very different formats: as a desktop app, which we can install and from which we can run the scripts of its collection (which is currently around 648 for Windows, 129 for macOS and 127 for Linux) that we choose…

…or as a simple web application (privacy.sexy), which will allow us to copy the code of these scripts and execute them by hand on our system, after ‘copy and paste’ or after downloading .bat or .sh files, as the case may be.

What does “Privacy is sexy” look like?

Some of its most relevant features include:

• Reversibility: Many of the scripts (not all) offer an option to execute the ‘counter-script’; that is, to reverse the changes as easily as we apply them in the first place.
• Transparency: Before running a script, users can get a complete view of what the script does. This allows users to understand the actions that will be performed on their system.
• Free and free: Remember that this is a “free” tool in every way: both monetary and philosophical, because its source code is available on GitHub with the binaries necessary for installation.
• Extensible: Scripts can be easily extended using a custom modeling language designed for this tool.
• All at once: You can select multiple functions to run one after the other from a single script file.

• Use with full knowledge of the facts: Although “Privacy is Sexy” may be more appropriate for intermediate and advanced users due to the lack of detailed explanations, its usefulness is undeniable.

What can “Privacy is Sexy” do?

The scripts in its extensive collection are classified into the following categories according to their function:

• Privacy Cleanup: From clearing the browser history to clearing the Windows product key from the registry.
• Disable operating system data collection: Removal of default invasive features such as telemetry, biometrics, geolocation, cloud sync, and more.
• Configure programs: Above all, remove data collection and automatic updating in programs such as Office, Adobe Accbat, or NVIDIA driver manager.
• Security enhancements: Do you want to remove the Remote Assistance feature? Autorun? Enable protection against Meltodown and Spectre? Well, try it here.
• Privacy before security: If you value privacy more than security, this section allows you to disable Windows Defender or Windows Update Auto-Update.
• UI for privacy: Forgive your interface for turning off notifications or hiding lists of recent documents.
• Disable operating system services: You can disable all kinds of serviceses of the operating system itself.
• Remove Bloatware: Pre-installed Windows programs such as Widgets, OneDrive, or Edge can be removed from this section.
• Advanced settings.

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