What do you mean when you say "when you save items it connects to the open web?" I do not use any browser connectors to store books or papers. I add every book and paper by hand, usually when I am not connected to the internet. I hope you are not saying that Zotero is monitoring me when I type in catalog information for a book or paper into one of my libraries. I used to occasionally use the ISBN and DOI look-up feature to populate my library catalogs, but I haven't for months. Many of the books and papers I collect are old and have no ISBNs or DOIs. Everything I add is by hand now.
When I start up Zotero, I am given a choice between two profiles. It's not clear to me how Zotero knows that I have two profiles. When I asked adamsmith if I could just delete all the files that Zotero added to my home directory when it created the second profile, he gave me other instructions. If, as you say, the only knowledge Zotero has about my second profile is in the "profile directory," which is now my home folder, then why didn't he just tell me I could delete those items. That would be the easiest way to solve the problem. The fact that he gave me other instructions made me think that there were other things about the profile that weren't in the home folder. That made me think that I just want to get rid of the current installation and start over since I just don't know how else the current installation is affected.
I have to go out now, so I won't be able to respond again tonight. But I will check in when I get back.
@dstillman -- I'd suggest closing this. All relevant information is in the original thread and there's really no reason anyone else should waste time on this. cl417 can decide to take or leave my advice there.
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What do you mean when you say "when you save items it connects to the open web?" I do not use any browser connectors to store books or papers. I add every book and paper by hand, usually when I am not connected to the internet. I hope you are not saying that Zotero is monitoring me when I type in catalog information for a book or paper into one of my libraries. I used to occasionally use the ISBN and DOI look-up feature to populate my library catalogs, but I haven't for months. Many of the books and papers I collect are old and have no ISBNs or DOIs. Everything I add is by hand now.
When I start up Zotero, I am given a choice between two profiles. It's not clear to me how Zotero knows that I have two profiles. When I asked adamsmith if I could just delete all the files that Zotero added to my home directory when it created the second profile, he gave me other instructions. If, as you say, the only knowledge Zotero has about my second profile is in the "profile directory," which is now my home folder, then why didn't he just tell me I could delete those items. That would be the easiest way to solve the problem. The fact that he gave me other instructions made me think that there were other things about the profile that weren't in the home folder. That made me think that I just want to get rid of the current installation and start over since I just don't know how else the current installation is affected.
I have to go out now, so I won't be able to respond again tonight. But I will check in when I get back.
@cl417 This has all been explained before. When you have time, go back and read through both of your threads. There is nothing new to add.
If you want to be certain that nothing in your PC communicates over the Net in any way, you need to air-gap the machine. It's the only way to be sure.