I built a Chrome extension after a screen-share disaster reminded me how fragile browsing is

A founder shared her screen during a work call with a CEO. The CEO asked her to verify a lead's website. She searched the domain, clicked it, and an adult website appeared on the shared screen. This incident, as seen on X, serves as a potent reminder of the fragility of browsing.

It's easy to dismiss such mishaps as isolated events. However, the underlying pattern is serious. A domain can be mistyped, a search result misleading, a link redirect, or a page can reveal sensitive information at an inopportune moment. When sharing screens, the private moment of clicking and viewing the result is lost. For professionals who demo products, support customers, teach, interview, or work with clients, this represents a small yet significant risk.

The extension, named ScreenGuard, aims to address this risk. It offers two primary functions. Firstly, it provides a warning before dangerous destinations open. It identifies potential threats like unsafe adult domains, phishing-style lookalike domains, and suspicious navigation patterns. This warning is not meant to flag every unfamiliar link as dangerous but to create a brief pause when a link requires one.

Secondly, ScreenGuard offers screen-share protection mode. When activated, it can blur sensitive information on the page, such as API keys, tokens, email addresses, and payment-card-style numbers. Users are alerted to the number of items hidden and can choose to reveal them when needed.

The extension operates locally in the browser without sending browsing history or page contents to a server for decision-making. The privacy-focused design is layered, allowing known dangerous destinations to be blocked while heuristic matches receive a warning with a choice. Sensitive-content protection is specific to screen-sharing mode, not permanently hiding useful information during regular browsing.

ScreenGuard is currently at version 1.0.15 and is free to use. The founder seeks early feedback from individuals who frequently share their screens, asking for insights into the worst accidental shows during calls or demos. The founder is particularly interested in feedback from developers, founders, sales and support teams, recruiters, educators, and freelancers.

They want to know what protection features would be most useful and where warnings could become annoying. The goal is to build a safety layer that prevents embarrassing moments during screen-sharing without disrupting everyday browsing.