--- title: "Read-only until you select something · Space Wizard" description: "What it will and will not touch, and why it needs no account, no sync and no telemetry." url: "https://royalsoftworks.com/products/space-wizard/security/read-only/" source: "https://royalsoftworks.com" format: "markdown" note: "Markdown rendering of the HTML page at `url`. Same content, same canonical URL." --- Security & privacy · 2 of 3 # Read-only until you select something. What it will and will not touch, and why it needs no account, no sync and no telemetry. What a scan does to a machine ## Read-only until you select something. ### A scan reads; it does not write Locally it lists directories and reads sizes. Remotely it runs \`find\`, \`df\` and \`sha1sum\` — enumeration and hashing, nothing that modifies state. Nothing is moved, changed or removed unless you select files and confirm. ### Over SSH, file contents stay on the server On an SSH account with a shell, remote duplicate detection hashes on the remote host, so what returns is a list of digests. FTP, FTPS and shell-less SFTP accounts cannot run commands, so there the first pass reads 4 KB per candidate and the final pass reads each surviving candidate in full. ### Deletion is reversible where the OS allows it Local deletes go through the system recycle bin or trash, recoverable the normal way. A remote filesystem has no trash to move a file into, so remote deletes are permanent — the button changes from "Move to trash" to "Delete" so the difference isn't a surprise. ### Keep-one protection on duplicates Selecting every copy in a duplicate group is blocked and flagged in the UI. There is no path through the duplicates view that removes the last remaining copy of a file. ### Administrator rights, asked for up front Without Administrator rights, parts of a Windows system drive simply can't be read, so Space Wizard asks for them at launch. Any folder that still can't be opened is counted and named in a banner — rather than reporting a smaller number as if it were the truth. ### Licensing that never locks you out Activation checks the key with the licensing service, and the app re-checks it when it starts. If the server is unreachable, the cached tier is kept rather than downgrading a paying user. Air-gapped machines activate from a signed licence file bound to that device, with no network at all. ## No account. No sync. No telemetry. Scanning never touches the network. Space Wizard goes online for two things only, and neither is about your files: checking your licence key, when you activate it and when the app starts, and checking for a new version once after each launch. Without a connection both simply fail — and there is an offline licence file for machines that never go online. [Previous The credential is never the first thing sent.](https://royalsoftworks.com/products/space-wizard/security/credentials/) [Next What we are not claiming.](https://royalsoftworks.com/products/space-wizard/security/not-claiming/) [All of Space Wizard security](https://royalsoftworks.com/products/space-wizard/security/)