MARCH 2020 • TECH ADVISOR 69whichworksvia
TrendMicro’s browser
add-on, automatically
scans social networks
like Facebook, Twitter,
and LinkedIn to
optimize your privacy
settings, for example.
You can also scan your
web browsers to make
sure they are as private
as possible too.
In theory, scanning social networks is a great
option, especially given Facebook’s always confusing
privacy settings. However, its effectiveness was hit-
and-miss in my experience. In Chrome and Firefox,
the app produced a set of results that claimed I was
offline. Later, I went back to Twitter on Chrome and
Trend Micro displayed a privacy analysis summary
within Twitter. Clicking through to see the scan’s results
tookmebacktothebrowseradd-onpagethatstill
claimedit couldn’t connect to the Internet. Thus, no
security summary. A better approach would be to
manage social networking protection features inside
theMaximumSecuritydesktopapp– includinglogging
in.Thatwouldoffer a more reliable and centralized
experience, similar to how Vipre Advanced Security
handles its Social Watch feature.
When I asked Trend Micro about my troubles, the
company said this issue was probably due to some
browser-specific issues. “In Chrome, the feature will
not work when the user is also logged in with [a]
Maximum Security’s
Privacy tab