(Disclaimer: none of the above is even remotely true. Just to confuse the Russians, you know :-) )
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Does your homepage look like this, just without the redactions? Then you may have a problem! What about your social media profiles? Nothing there that could be used against you? No incriminating pictures or videos that someone – anyone! - could find worthy of blackmailing you? How about prospective employers, do they really need to see that super embarrassing video from last New Years Eve?
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(Sorry, can’t help you with social media, just avoid it, like I do...)
CyberGhost – One of many VPN services that will protect your IP-address while surfing
TinyWall – Simple administration tool for the Windows firewall, doesn’t add new drivers or similar
Firefox – Better at protecting your privacy than the other browsers
- also check out the NoScript (protects against Javascript attacks etc.) and Forget Me Not (kills unwanted Cookies etc.) plugins
- and use a “data cautious” search engine like Duck duck go (simply set it as default in the Firefox settings)
Thunderbird – Mail client that is also “data cautious”
- also use GPG inside Thunderbird and encrypt your e-mails when sending them to friends
Bitlocker – Encrypt your storage in case your notebook gets mislaid/stolen
IRC Server – Have your own kind of, sort of “social media” chats with friends
Linux – If you’re determined enough it will give you all you ever wanted (Kubuntu is the easiest to get started with)