Setup questions. Many different devices with different purposes.

[ThisOtherGuy 0]

I am new into all this security and privacy stuff but i am sick of Big Data and i want to do all i can to get rid of it. Just started a AirVPN subscription. But how exactly should i set it all up?

First of all, my devices:
- Gaming PC, Windows 10 (I can´t have a VPN here)
- Macbook (for banking, shopping, crypto. That is my secure device, i dont do anything else with it.)
- iPhone (i will sell it and buy a Pixel 4, degoogle it with LineageOS)
- iPhone from my wife with ALL kinds of cringe on it. TikTok, FB, IG, everything.

My questions:
- Should i put Linux on the banking Macbook for max. security? So far i have set the MacOS + Firefox up as secure as possible.
- Gaming PC only for gaming? Or can i at least put a VM there to surf and watch Youtube? How could i surf securely but play without VPN on it?
- How can i decouple my wife´s iPhone from my stuff? I think she can´t use a lot of her stuff, if i just put a VPN client on her phone?
- I have only a Fritz.Box, that cant access the internet with router based VPN. Do i need more hardware? Another Router or DNS server?

I´m thankful for any tips, you could also provide me with some useful YT channels.

[OpenSourcerer 1366]

Welcome. Let me tell you, it is very apparent that you are new to this topic, but it doesn't matter too much; you can start getting back what is yours any day. Let's break it down, others will surely add to the mix.
 

2 hours ago, ThisOtherGuy said:

- Gaming PC, Windows 10 (I can´t have a VPN here)

First thing: Windows does not shut up about you. You should consider using Linux everywhere.
And why is it you can't have a VPN there?
 

2 hours ago, ThisOtherGuy said:

- Macbook (for banking, shopping, crypto. That is my secure device, i dont do anything else with it.)

macOS does not care about your privacy, too. A secure device does not use a common ID used across all devices, which is what Apple ID is.
 

2 hours ago, ThisOtherGuy said:

- iPhone (i will sell it and buy a Pixel 4, degoogle it with LineageOS)

Very good first step. The next would be /e/ or something but that's scratching the hardcore line already. Android with as little Google as possible is wonderful.
 

2 hours ago, ThisOtherGuy said:

- iPhone from my wife with ALL kinds of cringe on it. TikTok, FB, IG, everything.

Her phone is like a beacon of revenue for big tech. And as it's your wife's, I don't think she will part with these things. It must come from her own will. If you tell her to delete herself from these services, you'll get a protective reaction and she will start missing it very quickly. So this "detox" must come slowly.
 

2 hours ago, ThisOtherGuy said:

- Should i put Linux on the banking Macbook for max. security? So far i have set the MacOS + Firefox up as secure as possible.

You should put Linux or BSD on all devices you'd like to use for daily tasks. For higher security stuff like banking, you may even go further and use a virtual machine or an entire separate device for it.
 

3 hours ago, ThisOtherGuy said:

- Gaming PC only for gaming? Or can i at least put a VM there to surf and watch Youtube? How could i surf securely but play without VPN on it?

If you don't trust how far Linux gaming has come in the last few years, and/or if you like to play the newest AAAs with online play and anti-cheat, then you should use one Windows device solely for gaming, probably locked down to the very smallest telemetry base possible to untie it a little from Microsoft, for example by using these tools:I used W10Privacy multiple times in the past. It's a beast and can legitimately render Windows hardly usable when you tick yellow and red boxes without understanding what they do. The green ones are safe and still enhance privacy to some extent, give it a try. Still, I'd recommend checking out Linux gaming as a whole. The only thing we can't play on Linux is anti-cheat so far (specifically, EAC and BattlEye as used in Siege, Fortnite, PUBG, Arma 3 and others). For this purpose you can start with Pop!_OS, MX Linux or elementary OS. Linux Mint, Ubuntu or EndeavourOS for a little more general purpose.
If you'd like to go down this route, let me offer you some "live" help via messages or even some messenger. You seem to come from Germany. It's just an offer.
 

3 hours ago, ThisOtherGuy said:

- How can i decouple my wife´s iPhone from my stuff? I think she can´t use a lot of her stuff, if i just put a VPN client on her phone?

Depends on what this "stuff" is.
 

3 hours ago, ThisOtherGuy said:

- I have only a Fritz.Box, that cant access the internet with router based VPN. Do i need more hardware? Another Router or DNS server?

Depends on whether you want all devices using one shared VPN connection or if you selectively want certain devices to go via VPN. For the former, a cheap router from D-Link, Netgear, Asus, etc. with DD-WRT will probably do very fine. For the latter, no additional hardware is needed. The Fritz!Box itself does not play well with OpenVPN since Fritz!OS 5 many years ago.

In general, you'd want to avoid the invisible tracking wherever you go. A VPN will not stop that tracking, your choice of OS and software and their configuration will. A safe bet, rarely a bad choice, is moving to Free/Libre Open Source Software, FLOSS hereafter, as much as possible and wherever you can possibly get alternatives. Examples:
Chrome -> Chromium, or even Ungoogled Chromium. Or even Firefox.
Windows/macOS -> Linux.
iOS -> Android, or even LineageOS/any other custom ROM, or even /e/.
MS Office -> LibreOffice.
Outlook -> Thunderbird/Evolution/KMail/whatever.
Gmail -> Posteo/Mailbox.de/Tutanota/ProtonMail.
We've got threads on most of these things, so either search yourself or kindly ask for directions.

The one big caveat: It's your choice to go private, and it's your responsibility to stay that way. People can help, but do so voluntarily. Going FLOSS sometimes means going "celibate" when it comes to integration of services. Google syncs your whole personal information with one login, including contacts, appointments, fitness data, backups, favorite places in Maps etcetc. FLOSS does not do that, it's more like UNIX philosophy: A single software does a single task excellently instead of 5 tasks mediocre. Some FLOSS offers integrations but there is rarely such a thing as login once, sync it all. So there is more work if you for example change your phone. Fortunately, there is helper software for these things all over the place. All you need is a search term or a question.

FLOSS is also very much about reading, usually documentation. Prepare to read, and read a lot. You will truly see what I mean shortly after you dive into the world of Linux. Read to grind™. But for now, head over to Mr. LZ1's New User Guide on AirVPN, link is in my signature.
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TL;DR: There is no TL;DR in documentation. Get used to walls of text.