How to Monitor and Block Ad Trackers on Android

Apps you install on Android often collect data about you and your activity for the app developers and their affiliates. With a tool developed at the University of Oxford, you can see those trackers and even stop them in their tracks.

I’m Being Tracked?

At the very least, most Android apps are collecting data on crashes and bugs for the app developers to review. Apps may also use trackers in order to function, especially if the app has a social aspect, like to fetch content from external domains. The developers may also want to understand how people use their app so they can fine-tune the user experience. Trackers that report directly to the app’s owner are usually referred to as “first-party” trackers and are, in theory, the safer kind.

“Third-party” trackers, however, send data to external services the company uses, or to the company’s business partners. These are often advertisers wanting to sell stuff to you. They’re likely using your data to do things like learning what your interests are, or judging what time of day you’re likely to tap on ads. You can limit trackers’ knowledge of you by opting out of personalized ads, but that doesn’t stop them from learning what they can.

Take Control of Your Privacy

If all of this has you concerned, then meet TrackerControl, a free and open-source app capable of identifying those trackers and blocking them as well. It works by piping your network data through an on-device VPN server and checking the traffic against a database of known trackers. If you’re worried by the privacy concerns associated with VPNs, don’t be; it’s not a true VPN and is located on your device, not a remote server. Unfortunately, this does mean you can’t use a regular VPN while TrackerControl is working.

With the traffic analyzed, you can then see the websites that your data is bound for, and, with the full version, even the country where they’re located. The app relies on IP addresses to do this, however, which aren’t necessarily accurate.

How to Sideload Apps on Android

TrackerControl is also capable of blocking these trackers, but that feature comes with two caveats. First, the only version available in the Play Store is the “Slim” version that abides by Google’s rules by stripping out the blocking feature. To get real power over trackers, you’ll need to sideload the full app after downloading the APK from the TrackerControl website. Alternatively, you can install it using the third-party app store F-Droid (which itself you’ll have to sideload).

The second caveat is that blocking trackers can and often does prevent apps from working properly. Typically, this looks like loading screens that never complete. In our testing, web browsers and social media apps almost always have this issue, since they’re often fetching media to serve you from outside domains. You can solve the problem by allowing trackers necessary for function while still blocking others, although this involves some trial and error.

Setting Up TrackerControl

The first time you launch TrackerControl, tap the toggle switch in the top-left corner of the app to begin monitoring.

Warning: Enabling TrackerControl, especially the full version, will almost certainly lead to apps not working. Proceed with caution if you rely on your apps for important things like work or finances, and be prepared to tune the settings. Balancing privacy and functionality is often possible, but not necessarily easy.

Toggle on TrackerControl by tapping the switch

You’ll be prompted to allow the app permission to set up its VPN server. Tap “Ok.”

Tap "Ok" to allow TrackerControl to set up its VPN

You should see a small key icon appear in the status bar signifying the VPN is operational, and TrackerControl’s rocket icon should also appear in your notifications.

Monitoring Trackers

With TrackerControl activated, launch any app you want to monitor. Then go back to TrackerControl and look for the app in the main menu. Tap it, and under “Tracker Libraries” you’ll see a summary of the companies and services collecting data through the app. Scroll down, and you’ll see individual trackers divided by category, like Essential, Analytics, Fingerprinting, and Social. You’ll also see how long ago your data was sent.

Libraries and tracker lists for GroupMe in TrackerControl Slim

Feel free to search for information on the different trackers by looking up their names on the internet. Note that this list will likely grow as you continue to use the app.

If you’re using the Slim edition and are uncomfortable with the trackers, you can stop them by flipping the “Internet Access” switch to the off position. However, the app will not work as long as TrackerControl is operational, or at least won’t be able to do anything that involves the internet.

Toggle off internet access to completely block an app from connecting to the internet

It’s a rather blunt tool, and you’re probably better off simply uninstalling the offending app to protect your privacy.

Blocking and Unblocking Trackers

If you installed the full version of TrackerControl, you have more granular control; you can block and allow trackers by category. By default, all non-essential categories will be blocked. You can choose to block trackers in the Essential category as well, but we don’t recommend this because it will almost certainly lead to problems.

Disable essential trackers for an app

If you’re having issues using an app while TrackerControl is working, try toggling blockers off. Start by making sure the Essential trackers for the app are unblocked, then consider allowing Social and Analytics trackers. If you’re still not able to do what you want, you might want to simply allow all of the app’s trackers by toggling off the “Monitoring” option.

Disable Monitoring for an individual app

Alternatively, you can unblock individual trackers by tapping them inside their categories. We don’t recommend this, though, because ensuring you unblocked the correct ones can require a lot of testing. And even if you succeed, other trackers may later become active, which TrackerControl will automatically block, forcing you to go through the process again.

If lack of functionality has you frustrated, TrackerControl also shows a persistent notification with the option to “Pause for 10 Mins.” Pull down on the status bar to access it. This button switches off all monitoring and blocking for 10 minutes while you do what you’re trying to accomplish. Note that this will allow all running apps to do their tracking business.

Tap "Pause for 10 Mins" in the TrackerControl notification

If you need more than 10 minutes, you can disable TrackerControl entirely by again hitting the toggle button in the top-left corner of the main menu.

[mai mult...]

How to Find Your Spotify Wrapped 2021

As the year comes to a close, the popular streaming service has launched Spotify Wrapped 2021. You can look back at the songs, artists, and podcasts you listened to the most over the past year and share them with friends.

What Is Spotify Wrapped 2021?

Spotify Wrapped is a yearly feature that shows stats about your listening habits over the last 12-ish months. It highlights the artists, songs, genres, and podcasts that you listened to most. It’s a great way to look back at the year and share your music taste with friends. For personal results, you’ll need a Spotify account, but everyone else can view a more generalized version of 2021 Wrapped on Spotify’s website. The website shows the top podcasts and music on the platform over the last year.

How to Find Your Spotify Wrapped 2021

You can only view your Wrapped 2021 results using the Spotify app for iPhone, iPad, and Android. If it doesn’t greet you when opening the app, you can search for “spotify:special:2021” from the Search tab.

Search for the Wrapped page.

This will bring you to the Wrapped 2021 landing page. Tap “See How You Listened in 2021” to get started.

Tap "See How You Listened in 2021" to get started.

From here you’ll be looking at an Instagram Story-like carousel of cards. Music will start playing and you’ll be guided through a number of categories to showcase your listening habits. Tap the screen on the left or right to move forward or backward through the cards.

Wrapped 2021 screens.

At the bottom of each card is a “Share This Story” button. Tap this if you’d like to share the current card with your friends on social media. Only a static image of the card’s infographic will be shared, not the video clip.

Tap "Share This Story."

Select the social media platform you would like to share your Spotify Wrapped 2021 results with.

Pick a social media platform.

The other thing you’ll want to check out is the “Your Top Songs” playlist. You can find this on the Wrapped landing page as well. It’s your 100 most-listened songs from the past year.

"Your Top Songs" playlist.

Wrapped is a fun feature, and it’s one of the best reasons to choose Spotify over other streaming services.

[mai mult...]

How to Generate SSH keys in Windows 10 and Windows 11

Laptop screen showing SSH connection

If part of your life includes logging in to a remote server be it for a self-hosted blog, a Nextcloud installation, or sending your latest changes to GitHub, you need SSH keys. In Windows 10 and 11 we are spoiled for choice when it comes to generating new keys. Here’s how to create all the SSH keys you’ll ever need using three different methods. We’ll show you how to generate your initial set of keys, as well as additional ones if you want to create different keys for multiple sites.

Option 1: Generate Keys in the Command Line

Windows 10 has had a built-in OpenSSH client since the April 2018 update. Windows 11 also comes with this feature built-in. To use it open the Windows Command Prompt by hitting the Windows key and typing “cmd”.

Tip: If you use the command line often, we’d highly recommend installing Windows Terminal from the Windows Store (installed on Windows 11 by default). It’s a tabbed program that can run the Command Prompt, PowerShell, and the Windows Subsystem for Linux all in one window. It also has fun features like setting background images.

Whether you use Command Prompt or Windows Terminal, type ssh-keygen and hit Enter. This will automatically generate the SSH keys. In our tests on Windows 11, it created a 2048-bit RSA key. If you’d like to use a different algorithm—GitHub recommends Ed25519, for example—then you’d type ssh-keygen -t ed25519.

A Windows Terminal window showing the command prompt with ssh-keygen command

After you type your command hit Enter, and then you’ll be prompted to give your key a name and save it in a specific location. If you use the defaults then it will save your keys in C:\User[YourUserName].ssh —assuming the C drive is where your user account is stored.

Windows 11 Command Prompt displaying the option of where to save SSH keys.

Next, you’ll be asked to enter a passphrase. We highly recommend you do this to keep your key secure. If you’re worried about forgetting your password check out this round-up of the best password managers on Review Geek. If you really don’t want a passphrase then just hit Enter.

The Windows 11 Command Prompt asking to create a password for the newly created SSH key.

That’s it your keys are created, saved, and ready for use. You will see you have two files in your “.ssh” folder: “id_rsa” with no file extension and “id_rsa.pub.” The latter is the key you upload to servers to authenticate while the former is the private key that you don’t share with others.

A command line window showing all the commands to create SSH keys

Note: If you can’t see your “.ssh” folder in File Explorer, check out our tutorial on how to show hidden files and folders in Windows.

If you wanted to create multiple keys for different sites that’s easy too. Say, for example, you wanted to use the default keys we just generated for a server you have on Digital Ocean, and you wanted to create another set of keys for GitHub. You’d follow the same process as above, but when it came time to save your key you’d just give it a different name such as “id_rsa_github” or something similar. You can do that as many times as you like. Just remember that the more keys you have, the more keys you have to manage. When you upgrade to a new PC you need to move those keys with your other files or risk losing access to your servers and accounts, at least temporarily.

Option 2: Generate Keys in WSL

The WSL Ubuntu command line showing virtually the same SSH key creation process as the Windows Command Prompt.

If you’re a WSL user, you can use a similar method with your WSL install. In fact, it’s basically the same as with the Command Prompt version. Why would you want to do this? If you primarily live in Linux for command line duties then it just makes sense to keep your keys in WSL.

Open up Windows Terminal or the built-in Ubuntu command prompt (assuming you installed Ubuntu Linux). Then it’s very similar to Windows. Unlike Windows, it’s best to specify whether you want an RSA key or something like Ed25519.

Say you wanted to create an RSA-4096 key. You’d type in the following command:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096

If you wanted Ed25519 then the recommended way is as follows:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your@email.address"

It’s recommended to add your email address as an identifier, though you don’t have to do this on Windows since Microsoft’s version automatically uses your username and the name of your PC for this.

Again, to generate multiple keys for different sites just tag on something like “_github” to the end of the filename.

Option 3: Generate Keys With PuTTY

For years, the old school PuTTY program was a popular way to communicate with a server in Windows. If you’ve already got this program on your system it also offers a method for creating SSH keys.

PuTTY comes with a number of helper programs, one of which is called the PuTTY Key Generator. To open that either search for it by hitting the Windows Key and typing “puttygen,” or searching for it in the Start menu.

puTTY and its helper programs listed in the Windows 11 Start menu

Once it’s open, at the bottom of the window you’ll see the various types of keys to generate. If you’re not sure which to use, select “RSA” and then in the entry box that says “Number Of Bits In A Generated Key” type in “4096.” Another alternative is to select “EdDSA,” and then from the drop-down menu that appears below it make sure “Ed25519 (255 bits)” is selected.

Putty Key Generator with red arrows pointing at the key creation options at the bottom of the window.

Now, all you have to do is click “Generate,” and PuTTY will start working. This shouldn’t take too long depending on the strength of your system, and PuTTy will ask you to move your mouse around inside the window to help create a little more randomness during key generation.

Once that’s done click “Save Public Key” to save your public key, and save it where you want with the name “id_rsa.pub” or “id_ed25519.pub” depending on whether you selected RSA or Ed25519 in the earlier step.

Click the 'Save public key' button in PuTTY.

Then to get your private key it takes an extra step. By default, PuTTY generates PPK keys for use with the PuTTy client. If you want OpenSSH, however, at the top of the window select Conversions  > Export OpenSSH Key and then save the file as “id_rsa” or “id_ed25519” with no file ending.

Select the export SSH key option in Putty.

Generating SSH keys is really easy whichever method you choose. We’d recommend going with the Windows Command Prompt option unless you already have PuTTY installed, or prefer Linux and understand that system.

[mai mult...]

How to Hide Your WhatsApp Status From Specific Friends

Unlike Facebook, WhatsApp doesn’t allow you to limit specific status updates to select folks. However, you can limit who all can see your status updates. To get started, open the WhatsApp app on your iPhone or Android.

Tap on the “Settings” button in the bottom-left on iPhone. On Android, you’ll have to tap the three vertical dots and select “Settings.”

Select "Settings" button in the bottom-right corner.

Select “Account.”

Select "Account."

Next, tap “Privacy.”

Select "Privacy."

Then tap “Status.”

Select "Status."

Select the “My Contacts Except” option, and you’ll then need to pick the specific friends from whom you want to hide your future WhatsApp status. You can scroll and select the contacts or search for them by name.

Select contacts or friends you want to hide your future status updates from.

Tap “Done” after you’ve selected the relevant contacts.

Tap "Done" after selecting contacts to exclude.

Now select the “Status” button in the bottom-left corner, tap on your profile icon and add a new status to test the new changes.

Select the "Status" button in the bottom-left corner."

Besides that, you can also disable read reciepts to stop those friends from knowing that you’ve read their messages.

[mai mult...]

How to Check If Signal Is Down

Is Signal down? At the start of 2021, the encrypted chat app has seen a wave of new users who want to keep their conversations private. Here’s how to check whether Signal is down for everyone else.Head to the project’s official Signal Status website (status.signal.org) to see the latest details about any outage.

If Signal’s status website doesn’t say there’s a problem—or isn’t loading—you should look at the SIgnal page on Downdetector. This website relies on reports from actual users. If other people are experiencing a problem, you’ll see how many people are reporting issues. You can see a timeline of problem reports over the last 24 hours to get an idea of when the problem started, too.

In other words: Even if Signal’s official website hasn’t been updated with any information yet, Downdetector might be your first clue that other people are experiencing problems, too.

Look at Signal’s Social Media Accounts

Signal shares information about its status on Twitter. The Signal Twitter account is a great place to get updates about what’s going on. You can read Signal’s latest updates on Twitter even if you don’t have a Twitter account.

In fact, on January 15, 2021, the SIgnal Status website was embedding tweets to share information about what was going on.

[mai mult...]

How to Delete Specific Website History From Safari on iPhone or iPad

It’s not always convenient to delete your entire history, but you can instead choose to delete specific websites from your history (and the data they leave behind on your device). Here’s how to do it in Safari for iPhone and iPad.

How to Remove Websites from Safari History

Safari will record any websites you visit unless you use Private Browsing. Once a website is in your history it will appear in the URL bar when you start typing a related term. There are all sorts of reasons you may want to prune specific websites, and it’s easy to do so.

  • Open Safari and tap on the “Bookmarks” icon at the bottom of the screen (it looks like an open book).
  • A pop-up will appear with three tabs for your Bookmarks, Reading List, and History. Tap on the clock icon to see your history.
  • You can now swipe left on any entry in your history and tap “Delete” to remove it for good.

Rather than scrolling through your entire history of visited websites, you can also search for specific terms or URLs using the on-screen search box. But that’s not the only evidence a website may have left behind on your device.

How to Delete Specific Website Data

Websites leave all sorts of data on your device including cached images and cookies. If you want to remove all signs of a website, it’s important to remove website data as well.

You can also search for specific websites using the search bar at the top of the screen, or nuke everything using the “Remove All Website Data” button at the bottom of the list.

Note that if you do remove website data (or wipe everything) that there may be some drawbacks like having to log in again or having your shopping cart emptied.

Don’t Forget About Private Browsing Mode

You can use Private Browsing mode in Safari at any point to visit a website without it being recorded to your device. To do this, tap on the tab icon in the lower right corner of the screen followed by the number of tabs you have open at the bottom of the screen. From here tap “Private” to switch to a private browsing session.

[mai mult...]

How to Change Which Desktop Icons Appear on Windows 11

By default, Windows 11 doesn’t display any special icons (such as “This PC” or “Recycle Bin”) on your desktop. If you’d like a classic Windows look, you can enable special desktop icons easily. Here’s how to do it.

  • First, right-click an empty spot on the desktop and select “Personalize” in the menu that appears.

Right-click the desktop and select "Personalize."

The Windows Settings app will open to the “Personalization” page. In the list of Personalization categories, select “Themes.”

In Windows 11 Personalization settings, click "Themes."

In Themes, scroll down and click “Desktop Icon Settings.”

A special window titled “Desktop Icon Settings” will appear. Using the “Desktop Icons” section near the top of the window, place check marks beside the special icons you’d like to appear on the desktop. For example, if you’d like to see the Recycle Bin on your desktop, check “Recycle Bin.” When you’re done, click “OK.”

After clicking “OK,” the window will close. You can close Settings as well. Take a look at your desktop, and you’ll see the special icons that you checked in the “Desktop Icon Settings” window.

Tip: You can make your desktop icons bigger or smaller by holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and scrolling your mouse wheel up or down.

If you change your mind and want to hide certain special desktop icons, just revisit Settings > Personalization > Themes > Desktop Icon Settings and uncheck the icons you no longer want to see.

[mai mult...]

How to Get Rid of Teams on Windows 11

If Microsoft Teams is getting on your nerves in Windows 11—popping up when you log in, always running in the background, or launching when you click the “Chat” taskbar icon—here’s how to get rid of it.

Why Does Microsoft Want Me To Use Teams?

Teams is Microsoft’s collaboration and chat app. It supports audio and video calls, text-based chat, group chat, and synchronizing schedules, among other features. Teams is a competitor to services such as Zoom, Google Chat, and Slack, and can be considered a replacement for Skype, another Microsoft Product. Microsoft adds value to its Windows platform by getting people to use its services, which helps it make more money. That’s why it wants you to use Teams.

While Teams can be handy for some people, if you don’t use it, having it always running on your system can be an annoyance. Luckily, it’s possible to avoid or disable Teams, although you can’t remove it completely without potentially damaging your Windows 11 installation, because Microsoft considers it an essential part of Windows. We’ll go over several strategies in the sections ahead—ranging from least-to-most drastic removal measures.

By default, Windows 11 shows a Teams Chat icon in your taskbar (that looks like a purple word bubble with a camera icon inside). If you’d like to hide it, right-click the taskbar and select “Taskbar Settings.” When Settings opens to the Personalization > Taskbar page, expand the “Taskbar Items” section if necessary, then flip the switch beside “Chat” to “Off.”

In Personalization > Taskbar, switch "Chat" to "Off."

The Chat icon will disappear immediately from your taskbar. This doesn’t stop Teams from running in the background, but it does put it one step further out of sight.

If you’ve used Windows 11 for a while, you’ll notice that Teams likes to pop up whenever you log into your Windows user account. Luckily it’s easy to make it stop. First, open Settings by pressing Windows+i. Or you can right-click the Start button and select “Settings.”

In Windows 11, right-click the Start button and select "Settings."

When Settings appears, click “Apps” in the sidebar, then select “Startup.”

In Settings, select "Apps," then click "Startup."

In Startup settings, you’ll see a list of “Startup Apps” that launch whenever you log in. Locate “Microsoft Teams” in the list and flip the switch beside it to “Off.”

Click the switch beside "Microsoft Teams" to turn it "Off."

After that, close Settings. If Teams is still running in the background, quit it by clicking the caret arrow beside the speaker and Wi-Fi icons in the taskbar (also, near the clock). When a tiny bubble menu appears, right-click the Teams icon (purple with a “T” on it) and click “Quit.”

At this point, Teams won’t run again unless you launch it manually, although it’s still on your system. If that’s a problem, move on to the next section.

If you’d like to remove Microsoft Teams from your application list, it’s fairly easy to do. First, open Settings by pressing Windows+i (or right-clicking the Start button and selecting “Settings”). In Settings, click “Apps,” then select “Apps & Features.”

In Windows Settings, select "Apps," then choose "Apps & Features."

Scroll down in the Apps List and locate “Microsoft Teams.” Click the three vertical dots button beside its entry in and select “Uninstall.”

Click the three-dots button beside "Microsoft Teams" in the list and select "Uninstall."

Settings will ask you to confirm with a pop-up. Click “Uninstall” again. After a moment, Microsoft Teams will completely vanish from the list of installed Apps. But surprise! Teams is not completely gone from your system, because it’s an essential part of how the “Chat” taskbar icon works. To keep Teams from coming back, disable the “Chat” icon in the taskbar (see the section above). If you click that icon, Teams will automatically reinstall itself again and undo every step in the sections above.

If you previously uninstalled Microsoft Teams but you need to get it back, it’s actually just a click away. It seems that even if you uninstall Teams, Windows 11 always keeps a backup copy to load again when you click the “Chat” icon in the toolbar.

To re-install teams, all you need to do is enable the taskbar Chat icon (if it isn’t already) and click it. To see the Chat icon, open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and expand “Taskbar Items.” Click the switch beside “Chat” to turn it “On.”

In Personalization > Taskbar, switch "Chat" to "On."

After that, click the Chat icon (the purple word balloon) in your taskbar.

Teams will automatically reinstall itself—and will also make itself launch at startup again.

[mai mult...]

How to Upgrade Your PC to Windows 11

Windows 11 is now available. If you’ve decided you want to upgrade from Windows 10, here’s how you can get the free upgrade—even if Windows Update doesn’t offer it. This works if Windows 11 doesn’t officially support your PC, too.

The Safe and Slow Way: Windows Update

For the safest possible update process, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update on your Windows 10 PC. (You can press Windows+i to quickly open the Settings app.)

Note: Microsoft is slowly offering this update to more and more PCs over time. If you don’t see the banner offering you the update here yet, you may see it in a few weeks—or a few months. For the best possible update experience on your hardware, Microsoft recommends waiting for Windows Update to offer the update to your PC. When Microsoft is confident your PC is ready, you’ll get the update.

If Windows 11 doesn’t officially support your PC, you will never see the update offered via Windows Update. (But don’t worry, Windows 10 will still be officially supported until October 2025).

Windows Update offering Windows 11 on Windows 10.
Microsoft
The Fast Way: Download Windows 11

Microsoft offers a variety of tools for downloading Windows 11 immediately. These will skip the slow, careful upgrade process and let you skip the line and install Windows 11 right now—even if your PC doesn’t officially support Windows 11.

To get started, visit Microsoft’s Download Windows 11 page. We recommend you download and run the Windows 11 Update Assistant. It will update your current PC to Windows 11 for you. (You can also use the Create Windows 11 Installation Media tool to create installation media on a bootable USB or DVD, or download a Windows 11 ISO for use in a virtual machine).

Warning: By installing Windows 11 immediately, you’re skipping Microsoft’s slow-and-steady rollout process. You may encounter bugs with Windows 11 on your hardware. If that’s a deal-breaker for you, we encourage you to wait a few months before you’re offered the upgrade.

If you encounter a problem, note that you can downgrade back to Windows 10 within the first ten days after upgrading.

Microsoft says these tools will also let you upgrade a Windows 10 PC to Windows 11, even if the PC’s hardware isn’t officially supported by Windows 11. You’ll just have to agree to a warning first. (Whether you actually want to accept the risk of problems is up to you, but we encourage you to keep older PCs on Windows 10 unless you’re enthusiastic about upgrading them for a particular reason).

[mai mult...]