Privacy settings
Settings › Privacy holds the switches that decide what Acira blocks, what it keeps and what it tells websites. This page lists each control with its default, in the order you see them.
Open it
Open the Acira menu, choose Settings (Ctrl+,, or Cmd+, on a Mac) and choose Privacy. Press / inside Settings to search for a control by name.
In a private window most of these controls are dimmed. Change them from a regular window. Choices made for a profile apply to that profile. The network and DNS choices apply to the whole app.
Protection
| Control | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Phishing and malware protection | On | Warns before a page on a public phishing or malware list opens. Lists are downloaded daily and matched on this computer. See Dangerous pages and certificates. |
| Block ads and trackers | On | Blocks known ad and tracker requests for this profile. See Ads and trackers. |
| Protection is on row | Shows how many protections are active. Each has its own switch below. |
Anti-tracking
| Control | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Block hidden trackers | On | Catches trackers that hide behind a site's own subdomain (CNAME cloaking). |
| Skip tracking redirects | On | Goes straight to the destination of known tracking redirect links. |
| Remove tracking parameters | On | Removes click IDs such as fbclid and gclid from the address when you open a link to another site. |
| Open original pages instead of AMP | On | Opens the publisher's own page instead of a Google AMP version. |
| Fingerprint protection | Standard | Choose Off, Standard or Strict (can break sites). |
A row can show how many items it caught so far in the current session. These choices apply at once, and fingerprint protection applies to pages you open next.
Fingerprint protection
Some sites recognize a device by reading small details of it. Standard makes your device look slightly different to each site by adding small random differences to canvas, WebGL, audio and device counts. Strict adds generic graphics and language details. Some games, maps and web apps may misbehave with Strict. Switch back to Standard if one does.
Cookies and secure connections
| Control | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Third-party cookies | Block | Choose Block or Allow. Cookies set by other websites are blocked by the browser engine. Signing in to a site directly still works. Embedded sign-in or payment frames may need Allow. It applies after you restart Acira, and Settings says so. |
| Always use HTTPS | Off | Upgrades sites to HTTPS. If a site has no HTTPS, Acira asks before using HTTP for that tab. Reload open pages after changing it. Local addresses and private network addresses are left alone. |
When you allow HTTP, the dialog Allow an HTTP connection? says the exception applies to that site in that tab until you leave it or close the tab. Insecure WebSockets stay blocked.
Protection lists
The lists behind ad and tracker blocking have their own group, Protection lists. Update lists automatically is on by default and refreshes them every four days. Update lists now, Use previous lists and List sources are in the same place. See Ads and trackers.
Network privacy
| Control | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Send Global Privacy Control | Off | Sends websites a signal asking them not to sell or share your data. A website decides how to respond. |
Choose Save network preferences to apply it. The setting applies to all normal and private windows after you restart Acira. Secure DNS and the proxy are in Settings › Connection. See DNS, proxy and VPN.
Scripts
The Scripts group in Settings › Privacy has Block scripts everywhere, off by default, and a list of sites. With the switch off the list holds the sites where scripts are blocked. With it on the list holds the sites where scripts are allowed. Change it from a regular window. See Ads and trackers.
Content filters
| Control | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| AI-free mode | Off | Hides AI answers and AI buttons on supported sites. See AI-free mode. |
| Hide cookie banners | On | Hides cookie and consent banners. It never accepts or rejects for you. |
| Hide selected sources | None | Hides search results from websites you add. |
| Reset profile filters | Clears every content filter choice. |
Clear browsing data on exit
Off by default. When you switch Clear selected data on exit on, Acira removes the data you picked when you finish browsing. Bookmarks and downloads are kept.
| Choice | What it removes |
|---|---|
| Cookies and sign-ins | Can sign you out of websites. |
| Site storage and cached files | Saved website data and offline files. |
| Browsing history | Includes older back, forward and recently closed entries. |
| Site permissions | Websites may need to ask for permission again. |
Nothing is selected until you choose at least one kind. Under Sites to keep add one site per line, such as https://mail.example.com, with no path or sign-in details. Cookies are kept for the listed site's whole registrable domain and its subdomains. Storage and history use the exact origin, including scheme and port. If cleanup is interrupted, it finishes the next time Acira starts, and websites do not open until it has. Private windows use their own temporary storage.
Clear browsing data now
Open the Clear browsing data group in Settings. Switch the kinds you want, choose a Time range and choose Clear data…. Acira asks Clear these now? This cannot be undone. and you choose Clear data.
| Kind | Default | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Browsing history | On | Pages you visited and the suggestions built from them. |
| Download records | Off | The list of downloads. Downloaded files stay on disk. |
| Cookies | Off | Signs you out of websites in this profile. |
| Site storage | Off | Local storage, IndexedDB and service workers. |
| Cached files | Off | Images and files saved to speed up pages. |
The Time range is All time by default. You can also choose Last hour, Last 24 hours, Last 7 days or Last 4 weeks. Cookies, site storage and cached files cannot be cleared for a shorter range, so the range is fixed at all time when you pick one of them. Bookmarks and downloaded files are never removed here.
The Clear browsing data… row in the Acira menu (Ctrl+Shift+Delete, Cmd+Shift+Delete on a Mac) is smaller. It asks Clear website data for your profile and removes website sign-ins, cookies, site storage and cached files. It leaves history alone. Its confirmation also mentions saved site permissions, but this command does not reset them. To reset those, use Reset all in Settings › Privacy › Site permissions.
To remove one site's history, data and permissions, use Forget this site in the Page information panel. See Site permissions and data.
Scam pages, passkeys and Safe Browsing
| Control | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Warn about scam pages | On | Stops ClickFix clipboard commands and flags look-alike addresses and sign-in pages. Fixed rules on this computer. |
| Passkeys and security keys | Off | On Windows, lets sites ask Windows for a passkey or security key. When off, sites use your password instead. Reload pages that are already open to use passkeys on them. |
| Safe Browsing with your own key | Off | An optional extra. Paste a Google Safe Browsing API key and choose Turn on. Choose Remove key to stop. |
The passkey switch is built for the Windows passkey prompt. On a Mac, passkeys are handled by macOS through a separate path that this switch does not control, and passkeys may not be available in every Mac build.
With a Safe Browsing key, Acira keeps Google's lists of short hash prefixes on this computer and checks sites against them there. While the key is set, Acira contacts Google regularly (about every 30 minutes, or as often as Google allows) to refresh the lists, using your key. When a site might match, Google also receives that short hash prefix. Google can see your network address in these requests. No key is needed for the default warnings.
Secured workspaces
The Lock secured workspaces row (Beta) sets when an open locked workspace locks itself: After 1 min away, After 5 min away (default), After 15 min away, After 30 min away or Only when Windows locks. Leaving the workspace, minimizing the window, locking Windows or quitting Acira always locks it. See Locked workspaces.
Anonymous usage
An optional daily message of coarse counts. In first-time setup, the Share anonymous usage switch is already on when the step opens, and the first message can be sent within seconds. You can turn it off on that screen to stop later ones. In a profile that never saw that screen, nothing is sent until you turn it on in Settings. See Usage data for what the message holds and how to turn it off.
Private browsing and Rewind
The Private window row has an Open window button. It opens a window where browsing is not saved or restored. Downloaded files remain on your computer. See Private tabs and windows. A link in the same group opens Rewind settings. See Rewind and closed tabs.
Site permissions
The last group lists saved choices for the camera, microphone, location, notifications and clipboard. See Site permissions and data.
What Acira fetches in the background
With Anonymous usage off, Acira sends no analytics or crash reports. It does fetch these things on its own:
- Ad and tracker filter lists, from easylist.to and raw.githubusercontent.com, about every four days while Update lists automatically is on.
- The phishing and malware lists, once a day: two from malware-filter.gitlab.io (with a mirror on curbengh.github.io) and one from raw.githubusercontent.com.
- For a spelling language that Windows does not provide, its dictionary from Acira's own release on github.com.
- Acira's own update checks, every couple of hours, to update.acirabrowser.com first and to a GitHub feed if that does not answer. See Updates.
- Tor updates, about once a week when Tor starts, from the Tor Project through Tor. This is on by default. See Tor tabs and windows.
On a new install, the filter lists, the phishing and malware lists and the update check wait until setup is finished or skipped. The optional anonymous usage message follows your own answer on the setup privacy step.
Three more things happen only when you start them: a Chrome Web Store download when you add or update an extension, the new tab pictures of an online collection if you choose one, and, if you add a Pull requests folder to the sidebar, a check of github.com for your pull requests about every five minutes while an Acira window is showing. The folder uses the github.com sign-in that profile already has. It sends nothing to Acira, and Acira keeps no GitHub password or token. See Sidebar. None of the background fetches above goes to Google. Google receives requests only if you add a Safe Browsing key or use the Chrome Web Store.
Address bar suggestions are built on this computer from your tabs, bookmarks and history. Acira has no setting that sends what you type to a suggestion service.
Limits
- Acira has no account and no cloud sync. Your data stays on this computer. See Where your data lives.
- These settings reduce tracking. They do not make you anonymous.
- Allowing third-party cookies or turning off protections can let sites follow you across pages.
Last updated November 8, 2026