FixDecoded collects as little personal data as possible. You can read every guide without creating an account, and we do not sell personal data. This policy explains what is collected, why, and the choices you have. It covers this website only.
Who we are and how to contact us
FixDecoded (https://fixdecoded.com/) is a small, independently run publication of troubleshooting guides. For anything in this policy, including requests about your data, email contact@fixdecoded.com.
What we collect and why
Server logs
Like almost every website, our hosting infrastructure records standard technical information about requests — IP address, browser type, the page requested, referring page, and time. This is used for security, to keep the site running and to diagnose problems. Logs are retained only as long as needed for those purposes.
Analytics
With your consent we use Google Analytics to understand which guides help people and which searches return nothing, so we can decide what to write next. Google Analytics sets cookies and processes your IP address and browsing data on our behalf. Analytics cookies are not set until you allow them, and the site works fully without them.
Advertising
To keep the guides free, FixDecoded could show advertising served by Google AdSense or any other ads platform in future. Third-party vendors, including Google and others, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites. For instance, Google’s use of advertising cookies (such as the DoubleClick / DART cookie) enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the internet.
In the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland, personalised advertising and its cookies are only used if you allow “Advertising” in our cookie banner. If you decline, ads platform still shows ads, but non-personalised ones, with limited measurement that does not build a profile of you. Elsewhere you can also opt out at any time.
You can opt out of personalised advertising at Google Ads Settings or relevant ads platform settings, and out of many other vendors’ personalised advertising at aboutads.info or, in Europe, youronlinechoices.eu. For reference, how Google uses data when you use our site is explained at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Contact
If you email us, we keep your message and address for as long as needed to reply and to act on what you told us (for example, correcting a guide). We do not add you to any mailing list.
Comments and accounts
We do not offer user accounts, and comments are closed on guides. If that changes, this policy will be updated first.
Cookies and your choices
The site itself needs no cookies to read. Your cookie choices are remembered in your browser (local storage, or a single first-party cookie if storage is unavailable). Analytics and advertising cookies are only set after you allow them in the banner, and you can change your mind at any time:
The full list of cookies, who sets them and how long they last is on the Cookie Policy page. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the site keeps working, though your choice may then be asked for again.
We honour the Global Privacy Control signal: if your browser sends it, we treat it as a refusal of advertising cookies and of any “sale” or “sharing” of your data for targeted advertising.
Legal basis (EEA, UK and Switzerland)
- Consent — analytics and advertising cookies and the personalised advertising that depends on them. You can withdraw consent at any time using the link above.
- Legitimate interests — server logs, security tooling and non-personalised advertising that keeps the site free, balanced against your rights.
- Legal obligation — keeping records we are required to keep, and responding to lawful requests.
Third-party services and international transfers
We rely on a small number of providers to run the site: web hosting, security and caching, Google Analytics, Google AdSense or other ads platform (in future) and, if enabled, a translation service. They process data on our behalf under their own privacy terms and only for the purpose of providing the service. Google LLC is based in the United States; transfers are covered by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and standard contractual clauses. Guides may link to manufacturer and other external websites; their privacy practices are their own.
How long we keep data
Technical logs: for the period needed for security and operations. Contact emails: until the matter is resolved and for a reasonable period afterwards in case of follow-up. Your cookie choice: for the period shown on the Cookie Policy page, then we ask again. Analytics: according to the retention setting of the analytics provider, which we keep to the shortest practical period.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to or restrict its processing, to receive a copy of it, to withdraw consent, and to complain to a data-protection authority. To exercise any of these, email contact@fixdecoded.com with “Privacy request” in the subject. We will need enough information to identify the data concerned, and we respond within the time the law allows.
United States state privacy laws (California and others): we do not sell personal information for money. Cookies used for personalised advertising can count as “sharing” or “targeted advertising” under some state laws; you can opt out at any time with the cookie settings link above or by sending a Global Privacy Control signal. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.
Children
The site is written for adults working on their own equipment. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has sent us personal data, email us and we will delete it.
Security
The site is served over HTTPS. Access to the systems that hold any personal data is restricted, and we use security tooling to detect and block abuse. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable measures appropriate to the small amount of data involved.
Changes to this policy
When this policy changes, the “last updated” date at the top changes. Significant changes will be explained on this page.
Contact
Questions about privacy: contact@fixdecoded.com, or see the Contact page.