MasDesk privacy policy.

What data MasDesk, the program that organizes the Windows desktop, processes, and what happens when you write to support. For the massoftworks.com website, the website privacy policy applies.

last updated ·

01Controller and contact

The data controller is Massimo Fava (Italy), who publishes MasDesk under the name MAS Softworks. Further details are in the legal notice. For any privacy question, or to exercise your rights, write to the address below.

02In short

  • MasDesk does not collect, send or sell personal data. It has no telemetry, no ads and no MAS Softworks account, and MAS Softworks has no servers receiving data from the app.
  • Settings, layouts and logs stay on your PC.
  • Data leaves your PC only when you decide to send it: buying MasDesk Pro or starting the trial through the Microsoft Store, an email to support and, if you turn it on, the optional classification with artificial intelligence.

03Data that stays on your PC

MasDesk saves on your computer:

  • settings (settings.json): theme, options, language and, if you started the MasDesk Pro trial, its start date;
  • layouts (layout.json, profiles.json): position and size of the boxes, and the paths of the desktop items they contain;
  • logs (logs\masdesk.log): events and errors, useful to understand a problem. They may contain file names and paths, including the name of your user folder.

Where they are: %AppData%\MasDesk for the version installed from the website, the Data\MasDesk folder next to the program in portable mode, the app’s private folder for the Microsoft Store version.

To sort desktop items, MasDesk reads names, icons and shortcut targets and, for programs, the file’s identification data (product name, description, publisher). It does not read the content of your documents.

Keyboard and mouse. For the shortcuts (Quick Search, Peek) and the double-click on the desktop, MasDesk watches the keys and clicks in Windows. It only recognizes the combination you chose and a double-click on an empty spot of the desktop: it does not record, store or send what you type or click. For combinations with the Windows key (for example Win+Space for Peek) it uses a Windows keyboard hook, active only while that shortcut is in use.

We have no access to these files. Uninstalling leaves them on the PC, so a reinstall finds your layout again: to remove them, delete the folder listed above.

04Internet connections

  • MasDesk Pro and trial. The purchase, the 14-day trial and license checks go through the Microsoft Store in Windows, on your Microsoft account. Microsoft processes the purchase data (Microsoft account, payment) as an independent controller, under its own privacy statement. We do not receive your payment details.
  • Trial date. To count the trial days, MasDesk reads from the Microsoft Store the date you got the trial. It uses it only on your PC and keeps a copy in the settings, for when the Store does not respond. MAS Softworks does not receive it.
  • Store statistics. In Partner Center Microsoft shows us aggregated data about downloads, purchases and reviews. If sending diagnostic data is turned on in your Windows settings, Windows may send Microsoft crash reports for the app, which Microsoft shows us in aggregated form. This data does not allow us to identify you.
  • Reviews. If you write a review in the Store, we see it with the public name you chose and we may reply publicly. We can write to you privately only if you allowed Microsoft to let us.
  • Links. Buttons to the website, the support page or the Store open your browser or the Microsoft Store app; from then on the privacy policies of those services apply.
  • Report a problem opens your email program: MasDesk sends nothing on its own (section 05).
  • AI classification, only if you turn it on (section 06).

All other features (boxes, sorting, search, system icons, start with Windows) work without a connection.

05Support by email

If you write to support@massoftworks.com we receive your email address, your message and any attachments. Emails pass through Cloudflare’s forwarding service (Email Routing) before reaching our mailbox.

  • Why: only to answer you and fix the problem. Legal basis: your request and the performance of the license terms (Article 6(1)(b) GDPR). We do not use your address for newsletters or advertising.
  • “Report a problem” in the app: it prepares an email and a zip file with the log and some technical information (MasDesk and Windows version, language, displays, main options, license status: free, trial or Pro). In the attached copy the path of your user folder is replaced by %USERPROFILE%. You can look at the content before sending it and decide not to attach it. Settings and layouts, which contain the paths of the files on your desktop, are attached only if you tick the dedicated box, which is off.
  • How long: we delete attachments (logs and zip files) when the request is closed, at the latest within 30 days. We keep messages for at most 24 months, to find the history of a problem that comes back. You can ask us to delete them sooner at any time.
  • Who else processes them: the provider of the email service we use, as a processor on our behalf. If it is based outside the European Union, the transfer relies on the safeguards provided by the GDPR (for example an adequacy decision or standard contractual clauses).

06Optional classification with artificial intelligence

MasDesk Pro can ask an artificial intelligence service where to put items that it cannot classify on its own. You choose the service: a cloud provider, with your own API key, or a model running on your PC.

  • It is off by default. You turn it on only in the Settings, by choosing the service and accepting the notice that summarizes this section for that service. If you change the service, or the address of the server, the notice is shown again. Any API key stays saved on your PC, encrypted with Windows data protection.
  • What is sent: only for the items left in the Desktop Inbox, their name, extension and type (file, folder or shortcut); for shortcuts, the path they point to, with your user folder replaced by %USERPROFILE% (for shortcuts to websites only the site name, for example https://example.com); the titles of your boxes, to choose among them. Never the content of the files nor the path of the files on the desktop.
  • To whom: the request goes from your PC directly to the service you chose, with your key when one is needed, and therefore under your own account with that provider. MAS Softworks does not receive or see this data.
  • The services you can choose:
    • Groq (Groq, Inc., United States): data may be processed outside the European Union. Under its terms Groq does not use requests and answers to train models and keeps technical logs against abuse for at most 30 days. Groq privacy policy.
    • Mistral (Mistral AI, France): by default data are hosted in the European Union. On the free plan Mistral may use requests and answers to train its models, until you turn this off in its admin panel (Privacy, “Anonymous improvement data”): how to turn off training. The notice in the app reminds you of this before you turn the feature on. Mistral privacy policy.
    • Local (Ollama, LM Studio or similar programs installed on your PC): the data do not leave your computer and no provider receives them. If you enter the address of another computer in your local network, the data reach that computer.
    • Custom: a compatible service that you enter with its address. MAS Softworks does not choose or control it: the terms and privacy policy of that provider apply, including where it processes the data and whether it uses them to train models.
  • How the provider handles it: under its own terms, which you accept when you create the key, and the plan of your key (free or paid). The terms of free plans can change: check those of the provider you use.
  • How to stop: turn the feature off in the Settings. From then on MasDesk sends nothing. Classifications already received stay only on your PC.

07Children

MasDesk is not specifically aimed at children and does not collect personal data.

08Your rights

You can ask at any time to access the data about you, to correct or delete it, to restrict its processing, to object, and to receive it in a readable format (Articles 15 to 22 GDPR). Write to support@massoftworks.com.

If you believe the processing breaks the law, you can lodge a complaint with the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) or with the supervisory authority of the country where you live.

09Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top is updated. Important changes, for example a new feature that sends data, are also announced in the MasDesk release notes and, when needed, ask for your consent again in the app.

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