Secure Search Engine

[allodial]

This is probably something hardly known except in very view circles. One way of profiling or fingerprinting a computer is through a browser providing a list of available fonts. A way around this is to use a font manager and disable or enable fonts only when you need them such as when you load your favorite word process, design program or the like or by adding and removing fonts "randomly" (ones you dont use so who cares just change them often) is another way around that kind of fingerprinting. As mentioned in another post, sandboxing a browser might be helpful as well.

Other things one can do for privacy: Reinstalling your OS on a regular basis (at least once every 4 months maybe? using 'borrowed serial numbers' perhaps?), using different search engines, deleting cookies, using programs like Eraser (Portable) to clean up drives, using programs like TMAC MAC address changer, changing your hard drive serial number (PBDownForce can you say "Run As Administrator"?), etc.

Using encrypted drives/volumes and such might also be a good idea in case your computer might be compromised (TrueCrypt, SafeHouse)...stolen..borrowed..who knows.

Turning off browser "geolocation" feature might be a good idea too.

[EZrhythm]

So many resourceful ideas but unfortunately they don't accomplish much if one has Flash installed and doesn't deal with the "LSO" issue as a previously mentioned.

[shikamaru]

This is probably something hardly known except in very view circles. One way of profiling or fingerprinting a computer is through a browser providing a list of available fonts. A way around this is to use a font manager and disable or enable fonts only when you need them such as when you load your favorite word process, design program or the like or by adding and removing fonts "randomly" (ones you dont use so who cares just change them often) is another way around that kind of fingerprinting. As mentioned in another post, sandboxing a browser might be helpful as well.

Other things one can do for privacy: Reinstalling your OS on a regular basis (at least once every 4 months maybe? using 'borrowed serial numbers' perhaps?), using different search engines, deleting cookies, using programs like Eraser (Portable) to clean up drives, using programs like TMAC MAC address changer, changing your hard drive serial number (PBDownForce can you say "Run As Administrator"?), etc.

Using encrypted drives/volumes and such might also be a good idea in case your computer might be compromised (TrueCrypt, SafeHouse)...stolen..borrowed..who knows.

Turning off browser "geolocation" feature might be a good idea too.

Concerning the rebuilding of the OS every so often, this is where VDI or virtualization can be most helpful .

Create a clean image. Clone it. Spin it up.

[David Merrill]

Concerning the rebuilding of the OS every so often, this is where VDI or virtualization can be most helpful .

Create a clean image. Clone it. Spin it up.

I am amazed at the helpful comments this brought up.

All in all I forgot the name of the search engine I prefer because it is the world's most secure. It is called Start Page.

[shikamaru]

I am amazed at the helpful comments this brought up.

All in all I forgot the name of the search engine I prefer because it is the world's most secure. It is called Start Page.

You could do all your web surfing withing a virtual machine.
The virtual machine can be configured as a bastion host.

After 3-4 months of surfing, delete the VM. Clone a template. Keep on riding.
You will want to save links, profiles, and other permanents to a shared drive.

I recommend Oracle VirtualBox for desktop virtualization.
For hypervised virtualization, I'm partial to either XenServer, VMware, Xen, or Hyper-V ... in that order.