If you’re like most internet users, you Google something pretty much every day. Did you know that Google can – and does – store that information? If you’re a Google user, you can even see all of your searches for years by heading to Google.com/history and checking out your search results. You have to enable Web History to see it yourself, but Google stores the data regardless of whether you’ve enabled it or not. That’s how they give you better search results; these are nice, but do you really want anyone else to see all of the searches you’ve conducted?
If you don’t want all of these searches to be attached to your account, the solution is simple; sign out of your account before you search. Take care of your account business first then leave yourself signed out of your account for the rest of the day. If you’ve already activated Web History, you can deactivate it permanently. Google will still have your info, but at least no one hacking your account will. To get rid of this, head into Settings, then Google Account settings. Click edit, which is next to My Products in the middle of the page, and choose to remove Web History. If this doesn’t show up, then you never activated it in the first place.
Keep in mind, however, that Google will still track your IP address, browser, and operating system, which is probably enough for any hacker to identify you. If you really have to search for sensitive information, or if this just bothers you beyond belief, use a website that will shield your activity and make you anonymous. Many other websites beyond Google track you when you land on their websites, although many of them use Google Analytics to do it. They will record such information as your location, what site you came from, what search terms you used to get there, and how long you stayed on the site. So if you don’t want anyone to collect this information about you, it’s best to use a proxy website.
Many browsers will also allow you to set your browsing privacy levels. If you’re in private mode, the browser will delete all of your cookies, passwords and web history as soon as you close it. This is a good choice for shared computers, whether at home or at work, but it could be difficult to remember to change the privacy options before you do anything on the internet. You could also choose to block scripts, since most ads and tracking cookies run on JavaScript, but keep in mind that many websites will break if you implement this.
Finally, it’s very important to remember that nothing you put on the internet is truly secure. It doesn’t matter how many layers of security you think your data lies behind, because they can all be breached. Your password can probably be guessed, especially if you’re one of many users who use the same password in multiple accounts – and worse, choose a common English language word without any numbers attached. Most people’s passwords can be guessed just by someone that knows them, because we do all want to remember our passwords. Security in this respect is best gained by using different, varied passwords with letters, numbers, and case changes.
Do you have any tips for keeping secure on the web? Share them in the comments.