#instant messaging

[oldinterneticons]

[opendirectories]

[oldwindowsicons]

Yahoo! Messenger 4.1 (2001)

[fuzzyghost]

[amalgamasreal]

On Personal InfoSec

Been awhile since I've had one of these posts but I figure with all that's going on in the world it's time to make another one of these posts and get some stuff out there for people. A lot of the information I'm going to go over you can find here:

So if you'd like to just click the link and ignore the rest of the post that's fine, I strongly recommend checking out the Privacy Guides.

Browsers:

There's a number to go with but for this post going forward I'm going to recommend Firefox. I know that the Privacy Guides lists Brave and Safari as possible options but Brave is Chrome based now and Safari has ties to Apple. Mullvad is also an option but that's for your more experienced users so I'll leave that up to them to work out.

Browser Extensions:

uBlock Origin: content blocker that blocks ads, trackers, and fingerprinting scripts. Notable for being the only ad blocker that still works on Youtube.

Privacy Badger: Content blocker that specifically blocks trackers and fingerprinting scripts. This one will catch things that uBlock doesn't catch but does not work for ads.

Facebook Container: "but I don't have facebook" you might say. Doesn't matter, Meta/Facebook still has trackers out there in EVERYTHING and this containerizes them off away from everything else.

Bitwarden: Password vaulting software, don't trust the password saving features of your browsers, this has multiple layers of security to prevent your passwords from being stolen.

ClearURLs: Allows you to copy and paste URL's without any trackers attached to them.

VPN:

Note: VPN software doesn't make you anonymous, no matter what your favorite youtuber tells you, but it does make it harder for your data to be tracked and it makes it less open for whatever network you're presently connected to.

Mozilla VPN: If you get the annual subscription it's ~$60/year and it comes with an extension that you can install into Firefox.

Proton VPN: Has easily the most amount of countries serviced, can take cash payments, and does offer port forwarding.

Email Provider:

Note: By now you've probably realized that Gmail, Outlook, and basically all of the major "free" e-mail service providers are scraping your e-mail data to use for ad data. There are more secure services that can get you away from that but if you'd like the same storage levels you have on Gmail/Outlook.com you'll need to pay.

Proton Mail: Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and fairly easy to setup and use. Offers a free option up to 1gb

Tuta: Secure, end-to-end encrypted, been around a very long time, and offers a free option up to 1gb.

Email Client:

Thunderbird if you're on Windows or Linux

Apple Mail if you're on macOS

Cloud Storage:

Proton Drive: Encrypted cloud storage from the same people as Proton Mail.

Tresorit: Encrypted cloud storage owned by the national postal service of Switzerland. Received MULTIPLE awards for their security stats.

Peergos: decentralized and open-source, allows for you to set up your own cloud storage, but will require a certain level of expertise.

Microsoft Office Replacements:

LibreOffice: free and open-source, updates regularly, and has the majority of the same functions as base level Microsoft Office.

OnlyOffice: cloud-based, free, and open source.

Chat Clients:

Note: As you've heard SMS and even WhatsApp and some other popular chat clients are basically open season right now. These are a couple of options to replace those.

Signal: Provides IM and calling securely and encrypted, has multiple layers of data hardening to prevent intrusion and exfil of data.

Molly (Android OS only): Alternative client to Signal. Routes communications through the TOR Network.

Briar: Encrypted IM client that connects to other clients through the TOR Network, can also chat via wifi or bluetooth.

Now for the last bit, I know that the majority of people are on Windows or macOS, but if you can get on Linux I would strongly recommend it. pop_OS, Ubuntu, and Mint are super easy distros to use and install. They all have very easy to follow instructions on how to install them on your PC and if you'd like to just test them out all you need is a thumb drive to boot off of to run in demo mode.

If you game through Steam their Proton emulator in compatibility mode works wonders, I'm presently playing a major studio game that released in 2024 with no Linux support on it and once I got my drivers installed it's looked great. There are some learning curves to get around, but the benefit of the Linux community is that there's always people out there willing to help.

I hope some of this information helps you and look out for yourself, it's starting to look scarier than normal out there.

[webdiggerxxx]

꧁★꧂

[icqmuseum24]

📞💔 To our great regret, following in the footsteps of Russia’s VK Group and its quiet farewell to ICQ, Microsoft has now officially shut down Skype — a true legend of the 2000s internet era. What once defined how we connected, called, and chatted across the globe has been silenced… not by users, but by boardroom decisions.

💻 Skype wasn't just software — it was a cultural milestone. It brought faces to voices, bridged continents in seconds, and made "Skyping" a verb in dozens of languages. Its shutdown is not just sad — it's irreplaceable. Another digital monument lost to corporate fatigue.

📉 This only proves one thing: well-paid marketers and project managers have repeatedly failed to breathe new life into legacy platforms. Instead of adapting tradition to modern times, they let icons wither. And for what? Another feature-bloated app with no soul?

🌐 But we haven’t lost hope. If Winamp can rise from the ashes, why not Skype? Why not AIM? Why not ICQ? Maybe, just maybe, it won’t be Microsoft or VK who lead the resurrection — maybe it’ll be an indie developer or a bold startup that understands nostalgia can be modern.

👀 Paging Yahoo Inc. and AOL… We’re waiting.

[squidhominid]

This genuinely sucks. RIP ICQ. RIP to that entire era of online communication. All four of the major, big IM platforms of the 00s, reduced to just a burning memory.

I may be 31, but this coming June 26th, that's the day my childhood ends.

Like, man, idk, I'm genuinely mourning the final death of the environment in which I experienced my adolescence.

Not ICQ, I didn't really use ICQ, but like, what it means symbolically that all four of those platforms are going to be gone.

It's a lot.

[praxis-app]

Exciting News: Group Chat is Here!

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Group Chat for Praxis. Now, every group has its own chat where members can discuss various topics, collaborate on projects, and stay connected more easily.

Here’s how it works: Each group on Praxis now features a dedicated chat room. Group members can access their chat directly from the group page and start discussing anything from planning events to hashing out the details of new proposals.

What’s Next? With the addition of group chat, we’re taking another step towards making Praxis a comprehensive platform for collaborative decision-making and community building.

As always, we value your feedback. Let us know how you’re finding the new group chat feature and any suggestions you might have for further improvements.

Join the Praxis Discord - Sign up - GitHub

[hobbitprincess]

you know a random thing I miss? instant messaging. I'd get done with school or work and hop online, and friends and I would message each other for ages. texting just isn't the same. texting feels more 'aggressive' or sometimes you wanna just have a little conversation but you accidentally text your friend while they're busy and it's pure luck of the draw when you catch them also wanting to have a conversation. with instant messaging you sign on and if someone was online you know they were around to hang out, they weren't like, in the middle of work or class or errands or something. my friends used aim and then skype instant messaging for a really long time (we almost never used the video feature) and I loved just signing on and hanging out with my buddies. there's nothing really like that anymore, at least not that I'm aware of.

[oldinterneticons]

[opendirectories]

[oldwindowsicons]

AIM 5.5 (2004)

[agmagazinescans]

IM Smart

American Girl Magazine, May/June 2003

[Ko-Fi Donations]

[mattsmemes]