How I broke my browser vetting a "productivity" tool

_{Day 72/100}

Hey—It's Tim.

Downloaded a Chrome extension once.
Gained 4 viruses and a new personality.
Never again.

I test a lot of tools.
I’d say it’s part of my job, but it’s more a character trait.
And I’ve learned the hard way that “looks cool” is not a real vetting process.
So here’s mine now - refined through mild trauma and a dozen system crashes.

1. Gut check: What problem is this solving?

Be ruthless here.
If I can’t point to a specific, current pain in my workflow, it’s a no.
Not a “might be useful someday.” Not a “could come in handy.”

I have a terrible habit of getting tools for problems I don’t even have yet.
Big f*ckin ooof.
Don’t do this. Don’t do what I did.

2. Price > Free

I trust paid tools more than free ones.
Because free tools still need to eat.
And what they’re usually eating… is you.

If I don’t know how a free tool makes money, I assume it’s siphoning data, injecting tracking scripts, or selling my browsing history to a guy named Vlad.

A free tool with no monetization plan is just malware in beta.

3. Use a burner zone

New tool? New browser profile.
Fake login. Disposable data.
Don’t let it anywhere near your real accounts.

I’ve had a GPT plugin scrape my history and send it back to a random API in who-knows-where.
That was a fun Tuesday.

Now, every new tool gets quarantined until it proves itself.

4. Watch what power users are saying

Search:

• “[tool name] + Twitter”

• “[tool name] + Reddit”

• “[tool name] + scam”

Real users will tell you what the marketing doesn’t.
Sketchy permissions? Fake testimonials? Endless bugs? They’ll spill it.

If no one's talking about it, there’s usually a reason. And it’s not because it’s secretly great.

Oh—speaking of testimonials...

5. Don’t stack what you can swap

If it’s not replacing something, it’s just extra complexity.
More logins. More data. More chances to break.

Your stack isn’t a fridge. You don’t need to keep shoving stuff in "just in case.”
Keep it lean. Keep it clean. Keep it useful.

That’s the system.
I still try new tools all the time. But I don't let them wreck my setup anymore.
Hope this helps you dodge the same chaos.

See you tomorrow.

✌️Tim "Installed Malware for Fun" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. If this email mysteriously installs a Chrome extension called “Tim’s Terrible Tech Decisions”... please uninstall immediately and then forward it to a friend. They need this more than you.

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