Joseph's Safety Tips

The idea of using a VPN, ad blocker, or phone cleaner sounds like a smart way to protect your privacy and improve your device’s performance. We all want to stay anonymous online—and don’t even get me started on those annoying ads. But here’s the thing: while some of these apps are safe and useful, others aren’t. In fact, some can actually charge you money without your permission, increase how often you see ads, or even expose you to scams.

Take VPNs for example. When clients ask us if they need one, 9 times out of 10, our answer is no. VPNs often cause more problems than they solve. They can interfere with things like printing, Bluetooth, or even your Wi-Fi connection. And now, some VPN apps are actually being used to push scams instead of keeping you and your cookies anonymous. If you absolutely feel the need for a VPN, here are a few trusted options: Mozilla VPN, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, TunnelBear, and Surfshark.

Let’s talk about ad blockers. I once sat down with a client who had - no joke! - around 70 ad blockers and phone cleaners installed. She didn’t realize she was about to be charged nearly $600 per week through hidden Apple subscriptions for these apps. Many of them were pushing more ads and scam links instead of blocking them.

Here are some trusted ad blockers you can actually rely on:

●    iOS/Apple: 1Blocker, AdGuard

●    Android: AdGuard, ReThinkDNS

●    PC (Windows/Mac): uBlock Origin, Brave Browser (built-in ad blocker), AdGuard

Lastly, let’s address cleaning apps. These are, in our opinion, completely unnecessary. They don’t make your phone or computer faster—they actually slow things down by adding more background processes. Worse, they sometimes delete important photos or documents automatically, which is never a good thing. If something needs to go, it’s always better to delete it yourself.