Maintaining privacy on a new desktop (lemmy.world)

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

Yeah np. Good luck.

this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2025

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