Skills and Apps
Reviewing what you installed, twice a year
The tools with the most access to your accounts are usually the ones you forgot about. A short, repeatable review that takes about twenty minutes.
Updated 5 min readqikfox
The short answer
Twice a year, list every browser extension, connected application and granted skill across your main accounts, remove anything you do not currently use, and narrow the access of what remains. Most people find several tools they had forgotten, and forgotten tools keep every permission they were given.
Key points
- Access does not expire on its own when you stop using something.
- Third party account connections are usually the most powerful and least remembered.
- Removing a tool is reversible; leaving stale access in place is not risk free.
- A calendar reminder makes this happen; good intentions do not.
The four places to check
Access accumulates in a small number of predictable locations, and none of them show you the others.
- Browser extensions, on every browser and profile you use.
- Third party apps connected to your main identity accounts.
- Skills, plugins and integrations enabled inside assistants and workspaces.
- Applications on phones and laptops that hold broad permissions such as accessibility, screen recording or full disk access.
One question per item
Did I use this in the last six months, and if I met it today for the first time, would I grant it this access for this purpose. If either answer is no, remove it. You can reinstall in a minute if you were wrong.
Where the answer is yes, check whether the access can be narrowed. Many connections that were granted broadly work fine on a single folder, a single site or read only.
Signals that something is worth removing now
A tool that has changed name or ownership, one that started showing content it never used to, one that requested new permissions after an update, and one whose developer page no longer exists. Any of those justifies removing it and finding a maintained alternative.
Sudden new behaviour in a tool you have used for years is the classic sign that it changed hands. It is not paranoia to act on that.
Make it a habit rather than a project
Put two dates in the calendar, do it in one sitting, and keep a short note of what you removed and why. The second review takes half as long as the first, because most of the work is the accumulated backlog.
For shared or family devices, do it together. The person who installed the thing is usually the one who can say whether it is still needed.
Questions and answers
Related qikfox pages
What a permission prompt should tell you
How to read the request in the first place.
How malware arrives through downloads
The other common install route.
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Back to The Perspective · Written and reviewed by the qikfox editorial team. Published .
Put the advice into practice
qikfox Safe Browser applies most of what this article describes by default, and works alongside qikfox Search, Antivirus and VPN.