K-Meleon offers many privacy benefits. It comes with a built-in ad blocker and Privacy Bar, and it offers more control than common browsers. K-Meleon also uses more private default settings. It does not expose data on the Windows lock screen. It is a telemetry-free web browser. (Common web browsers use telemetry to send personal data back to Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Samsung.) K-Meleon also defaults to the privacy-focused Duck Duck Go search engine.

Privacy Bar

K-Meleon's built-in Privacy Bar can block Java, JavaScript, popups, cookies, and images with a single click. To enable it, go to View > Toolbars > Privacy Bar and click to activate.

To see all blocking options right-click one, or go to Tools > Privacy > in the menu. You can see options to clear personal data from the menu or by right-clicking a clear option like Clear Cache in the Privacy Bar. You can also toggle commonly blocked elements from the keyboard:

• F7: JavaScript
• F8: Popups
• F9: Images

You can give other elements their own keyboard shortcut by opening your config file through Configuration > Accelerators. You can also customize the Privacy Bar interface by editing your config file. To customize your Privacy Bar:

• Open toolbars.cfg in any text editor. You can open it through Configuration > Toolbars in the menu.
• Save a backup copy before editing.
• Press Ctrl+F to find Privacy Bar in your toolbar.cfg file.
• To hide an option comment it out by placing a # sign at the beginning of each line. To display an option remove the # signs at the beginning of each line.

Manage cookies

Cookies allow websites to store information on your computer. Cookies have many legitimate uses but can also track your browsing history. Tracking cookies store your location, IP address, sites that you've visited, links that you've clicked, and sometimes purchase history. Advertisers use tracking cookies to serve targeted ads based on your online activities.

To reduce tracking cookies, you can use K-Meleon's cookie management. To manage them go to Edit > Preferences (F2) >> Privacy & Security where you will see options for blocking and clearing. Many cookies will have reasonable expiration dates. Upon their expiration, the browser will clear the old cookies. Tracking cookies linger as long as possible, but you can set cookies to expire either at the end of session or after a certain number of days.

You can also allow cookies from the originating website only because nearly all tracking cookies are third-party cookies. This will block most tracking cookies. Unfortunately, it will also block some legitimate cookies for embedded content.

You can block all cookies, but some websites will stop working. If you are blocking cookies, you can create exceptions for trusted sites. To create an exception, type about:preferences into the address bar, press enter, open the Privacy tab, and click the Exceptions button.

Manage passwords

K-Meleon can remember passwords for you. This can be convenient if you have many obscure passwords. However, anyone with access to your computer can also access your personal information. If you do use the password manager, you can set a master password for the manager itself. To set the master password:

1. In K-Meleon's menus, go to Edit > Configuration > Preferences (F2) >> Privacy > Encryption.
2. Check the Use a master password box and choose a password.

You can disable stored passwords by going to Edit > Preferences > General and unchecking Remember passwords.

You can also clear your stored passwords by going to Tools > Privacy > Clear Passwords.

Manage plugins

K-Meleon supports several types of legacy content through third-party plugins that other browsers have abandoned. They are convenient for accessing older webpages but come with security risks. Flash, Java, and Quicktime are no longer receiving security updates. To disable third-party plugins for legacy content, type about:addons into the URL bar, navigate to Plugins, and choose Never Activate next to a plugin.

You can temporarily block Java with the Privacy Bar. You can also temporarily block both Flash and Java by going to Tools > Privacy > and clicking on them.

Finally, FlashBlock offers a way to run Flash on trusted sites. To enable FlashBlock, go to Edit > Preferences (F2) >> Page Display > Content Filters and check Enable Flashblock. You can then allow Flash on a trusted site, by going to Tools > Privacy > Flashblock > and choosing enable.

Clear data

K-Meleon can clear the Cookies, Disk Cache, History, Address Bar History, and Saved Passwords. Go to Tools > Privacy > Clear Data and select which type of data you'd like to clear or Clear All to clear everything. K-Meleon can also automatically clear data (similar to "private browsing" on other browsers). Navigate to Tools > Privacy > Clear Data > Clear Automatically and check data types to be cleared.

Proxy and VPN

An anonymous proxy or a VPN can increase your anonymity online. Both route your online activities through a server to hide your IP address and location. Only use a trusted proxy or VPN service. Because they route your data through an external server, both are vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. You can set up a proxy in the preferences at Preferences (F2) >> Network > Proxy.

A VPN is the more secure option because it can encrypt all data between your device and the VPN server. If you set up a VPN on your computer, K-Meleon will automatically use it.

A proxy can hide your IP address and location from websites. They are less secure but have several advantages. Proxies can be run on any computer using a portable installation of K-Meleon on external media like a thumb drive. Proxy services are also usually less expensive than a VPN.

You can use a proxy and a VPN together. If you use both, K-Meleon will have a separate IP address from other software on your computer. This can reduce finger-printing when using multiple web browsers.

Finally, you can use a self-hosted VPN or proxy like Privoxy. These will use your actual IP address but offer other benefits. A self-hosted proxy can block ads and trackers at the proxy level rather than the browser level.