Day Seven: Settle In

Changing Habits Ain't Like Dusting Crops, Boy

You've just made a lot of changes in a short time. But setting up new accounts and downloading software and emails doesn't make for instant new habits. You need some time to make these systems stick, to settle in, to complete the transformation.

On a more practical note, you also need time to transfer your emails, switch accounts over to a mask, and finish that Data Roadmap! So let's give you some breathing space... to get those tasks wrapped up.

Today we will settle in, make a few updates to your new browser(s), ensure your new email systems are on track, and give you some time to catch up.

I already told you Rome wasn't built in a day -- and you won't be able to transfer all your emails to new accounts in a day either. But with an extra day, you can tackle more of this tedious work and get set up on the right foot for resuming our breakneck next steps.

Don't get complacent though: this isn't a day of rest. You'll need this time to get caught up and get these elements down pat, so we can move on to the rest of your digital life. 

(And if you haven't even gotten started yet because you've been overwhelmed by the prospect, well, now's the time to dig in!)

Email ... and More Email

Most of what you will do today is continue dragging and dropping, copying and pasting emails from one account to another.

Once you have most of the emails where you want them to move forward, remove the Gmail account from your email application. 

Make sure you have a "forward" working on your Gmail to one of your new accounts. Bonus points if you use a mask for this forwarding setup.

Also write a message to your friends, family, or others who use this email address frequently informing them of your address change. You can get really clever and set this up as a Signature on your new email address (**Note address change: I'm leaving Gmail, update your contacts please!**)

You will keep your Gmail account active for a few months until the "new" mails settle down and you feel you have successfully transferred over subscriptions and other info. You will also delete as much as you possibly can, and empty your trash.

Fun fact: when you have an ENTIRELY EMPTY Gmail Inbox, the system sends you forlorn messages like, "You don't have any mail! Our servers are feeling unloved!"  Cry me a river, Google, you codependent AI-generating baby. We are cutting the strings and settings ourselves free!

Fun with Browsers

How is the new browser working out for you? Did you find something you liked? Are you on Firefox, or have you tried Vivaldi or DuckDuckGo? Return to the Browser post and give yourself a little time to play around, load your favorite sites, and get a sense of where the settings are.

Let's make sure you have strong security settings on Firefox as your "daily driver" (a general-purpose browser-- and if you're on a different browser, make sure you know where these privacy options are).

Load the Settings panel by clicking on the three lines on the top right. Then, under Privacy & Security:

• Select Strict under Enhanced Tracking Protection
• Click Tell websites not to sell or share my data
• Click Send websites a “Do Not Track” request
• Delete cookies when Firefox is closed (you can add exceptions if there are any)
• Select a time period for Firefox forgetting your browsinghistory
• Deselect sending firefox data to improve their produce
• Check and restrict permissions for location, camera, microphone, etc.

Here are some ideas for extensions, many of which are available for other browsers as well:

• Firefox Multi-Account Containers and Facebook Container: These extensions makes sure that your accounts stay "contained" within their tabs and don't follow you around the web.
• Privacy Badger: By the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is good at stopping browser fingerprinting. 
• uBlockOrigin is a well-loved ad blocker that also stops cookies, beacons, and trackers, not just ads. I personally used Ghostery for many years and also appreciate disconnect.me .
• For Firefox, I like Lightbeam as a revealing data privacy visualizer. It shows a network graph of all the sites you've visited (since last clearing your cache) and how they are connected through third party advertising.
• A contact online recommended https://noscript.net which blocks scripts from running on your browser and also stops fingerprinting. It is available for Firefox.

A thought about adblockers. Many of them stop you from seeing ads, but they don't stop companies from seeing you when you visit their site. You want to be sure to find an adblocker that blocks the trackers, not just ads.

Second, I actually find ads useful as a form of feedback on my privacy practices. If I go shoe shopping and I'm tracked, I'll start seeing shoe ads. I know I've been tracked and I know who did it; I can probably guess how or why. But if I go shoe shopping and my ads are blocked, I'll never know that my data was collected in the first place.

Roadmap, Revisited

While you're moving emails, make a minute to revisit your Data Roadmap.  Did you suddenly remember eighteen more sites and services?  Can you update any of these on the roadmap and click DONE perhaps?

Reflect on what you've written down. Are there some systems you're willing to dump? For the rest, will you bring the data home, balkanize your accounts, render to Caesar, or run your own show?

***

Make sure you have these final tweaks and settings under your belt before we move on. Next up: contacts, calendars, secure messaging and of course, social media.