Iolo Privacy Guardian Reviews & Ratings

4.5/5

“Iolo Privacy Guardian”

I love how Privacy Guardian just quietly scrubs tracking cookies and web fingerprints without me having to think about it. The daily privacy report is cool—shows a bunch of scripts blocked that I never even realized were sneaking around. But installing it separate from System Mechanic threw me off, and the settings menu felt busy. After tinkering a bit I got it all sorted, but the initial learning curve was steeper than expected.

Pros : Auto-deletes trackers, anti-fingerprinting works well, private search shortcut.

Cons : Installation in a separate app felt clunky, settings were confusing at first.

Switched from : Ghostery

Reason to switch : Switched from Ghostery because I wanted comprehensive Windows-wide cleanup in addition to tracker blocking.

4.5/5

“Comforting Privacy Score Tracker”

I check the Privacy Guardian dashboard nearly every day now—seeing my privacy score rise or dip makes me feel in control. It tells me, like, “you’re vulnerable” after a browsing session with lots of trackers, which pushes me to run a cleanup. I just wish it told me how to improve the score in more detail—like, “disable X or Y” instead of vague tips.

Pros : Personal privacy score gives real-time feedback, easy to interpret.

Cons : Score guidance is basic—could use more detail.

Switched from : Avira

Reason to switch : Switched to Privacy Guardian for auto-deletion and fingerprint blocking, plus an easy-to-view privacy tracking rating.

4.5/5

“Shows Exactly What It's Blocking—Cool!”

Loved that Privacy Guardian logs the exact URLs and scripts it blocked. I opened it and saw like 50 scripts from sites I visited—kind of mind-blowing. It’s empowering to know exactly what’s going on behind the scenes. But the list is huge and not neatly filterable, making it hard to parse unless you’re tech-savvy enough.

Pros : Provides list of blocked URLs/scripts, transparent protection.

Cons : The URL list is long and not easily filterable.

Switched from : Privacy Badger

Reason to switch : Wanted more transparency and deep OS-level features, not just browser blocking.

4.5/5

“Anti-Fingerprinting Works Great—Fewer Targeted Ads”

I immediately noticed fewer “we saw you looked at X, buy now” ads after enabling anti-fingerprinting—pretty satisfying. Privacy Guardian lets me browse more anonymously. But I’m a Brave user, and it doesn’t support it yet—so I had to drop back to Chrome for full protection. Hoping they add more browser support soon.

Pros : Effectively disrupts fingerprinting scripts, noticeable ad reduction.

Cons : Not all browsers supported yet.

Switched from : Brave Shields

Reason to switch : Left Brave’s shields to get scheduling, OS-level cleanup, and telemetry controls along with fingerprint defense.

4.5/5

“Private Search Shortcut Is Handy”

I like the Private Search panel—it pops right into DuckDuckGo so I don’t have to type it every time. And it wipes the search data once I close the browser, which is neat. That said, it’s really just a button that fires off DDG—it doesn’t feel like a full integrated search feature. Still, better than nothing, and it’s quick to use.

Pros : Adds DuckDuckGo search option, clears search data.

Cons : It’s just a link—no real in-app search feature.

Switched from : NordVPN

Reason to switch : Wanted integrated cookie cleanup and telemetry control plus a private search tool, all in the same suite.

4.3/5

“Perfect for Non-Techies, but Could Use a Fresh UI”

My mom could use this—Privacy Guardian’s wizard takes you step-by-step through telemetry, cookie cleanup, history erasure, and more. The dashboard clearly shows what’s happening and why it matters for privacy. Visually, though, it’s a bit clunky—menus feel old-school Windows. Would love a cleaner, more modern look.

Pros : Easy wizard style, informative dashboards, good explanations.

Cons : Interface feels dated compared to modern apps.

Switched from : AVG Antivirus

Reason to switch : Wanted a simple, guided tool that covered browser + OS privacy without needing multiple apps.

4.3/5

“Great Fingerprint Defense, Needs Smoother Integration”

I rolled with Privacy Guardian because I was tired of ads following me everywhere. The anti-fingerprinting is legit—it screws up the fingerprint scripts and I noticed fewer targeted ads. Love how I get notified of sites trying to track me. But having a separate browser extension and app is annoying—felt like extra clutter on my screen.

Pros : Anti-fingerprinting is top-notch, shows tracking attempts.

Cons : Doesn’t integrate seamlessly into the main app.

Switched from : uBlock Origin

Reason to switch : Wanted auto-deletion of cookies and fingerprint protection baked into one suite.

4.3/5

“Heavy but Thorough Browser Cleanup”

When I run a full cleanup, it strips away browser history, cache, cookies, and even form data. It’s deeper than anything I’ve used before. But the app takes its time—it feels like it’s trudging through everything and my PC slows during that. I just schedule it for overnight so I don’t notice the lag.

Pros : Removes history, cache, cookies, autofill data deeply.

Cons : The cleanup takes a while, and the app feels heavy.

Switched from : BleachBit

Reason to switch : Needed deeper cleanup and fingerprint protection in a single, polished Windows app.

4.3/5

“Custom Cookie Clearing Is a Life-Saver”

Privacy Guardian’s ability to schedule cookie clearances is super helpful—no more clearing my history manually. I also appreciate the whitelist filter so it doesn’t log me out of sites I care about. The interface could use a refresh: felt cluttered with too many toggles, so I had to dive deep into menus to find what I needed. But once set up, it runs flawlessly in the background.

Pros : Automates cookie cleanup, whitelist feature works well.

Cons : Design feels a bit dated and complicated.

Switched from : CCleaner

Reason to switch : Switched to Privacy Guardian for auto-scheduling and deep tracker removal on top of cookie cleaning.

4.2/5

“Stops Windows Telemetry—Feels Empowering”

I felt weird knowing Windows was constantly phoning home—Privacy Guardian made it super easy to shut down all those telemetry options in one go. The wizard walked me through disabling feedback, location services, and more. My privacy score went up and I feel less exposed now. Only thing is, I dug around and found a few Microsoft services still tweaking settings… so it’s not a one-click total lockdown.

Pros : Disables Windows data collection, customizable wizard is easy to use.

Cons : Didn’t disable every telemetry setting I expected.

Switched from : O&O ShutUp10

Reason to switch : Moved from ShutUp10 to get browser cleanup, anti-fingerprinting, and Windows telemetry control all in one package.