How to manage your youtube privacy settings
Мы реализовали эффективные и удобные средства управления конфиденциальностью данных в аккаунтах Google. Благодаря им каждый пользователь может выбирать подходящие ему настройки конфиденциальности и управлять тем, какую информацию мы собираем и как ее используем в своих сервисах.
Управляйте использованием ваших данных в сервисах Google
Управляйте данными в вашем аккаунте Google
В аккаунте Google вы можете проверять свои данные и изменять настройки конфиденциальности и безопасности. Мы создали простые и удобные инструменты, такие как “Панель инструментов” и “Мои действия”, благодаря которым вы можете контролировать информацию о своих действиях в наших сервисах. А “Отслеживание действий” и “Настройки рекламных предпочтений” позволяют включать и выключать сбор и использование ваших данных.
Обновите настройки конфиденциальности всего за несколько минут
Укажите, какие данные может собирать Google, обновите общедоступную информацию профиля или сведения, которыми вы делитесь с друзьями, и выберите рекламные предпочтения. Вы можете изменить эти параметры в любое время и даже настроить регулярные напоминания о них.
Простые элементы управления позволяют указать, какие данные должны сохраняться
Мы собираем данные, чтобы улучшать свои сервисы, например предлагать вам более удобные маршруты на Google Картах и быстрее находить для вас полезную информацию. В настройках отслеживания действий вы можете запретить сбор информации с устройств, отключить передачу истории поиска, местоположений и других данных.
Контролируйте, какие данные хранятся в вашем аккаунте, в разделе “Мои действия”
В разделе “Мои действия” хранится история ваших поисковых запросов, просмотра страниц и контента в сервисах Google. Для вашего удобства мы добавили функции поиска по теме, дате и названию сервиса. Вы можете навсегда удалить из истории определенную информацию или даже выбранные разделы целиком.
Проверяйте свои данные в Личном кабинете Google и управляйте ими
Данные о сервисах Google, которыми вы пользуетесь, и вашу информацию в каждом из них можно посмотреть в специальном разделе аккаунта Google. Вы можете проверить, какие действия вы выполняли в наших сервисах за последний месяц, посмотреть статистику по вашим письмам, документам и фотографиям, а также получить справку по настройкам Gmail.
Экспорт данных из аккаунта
Вы всегда можете скачать фотографии, письма, контакты и даже закладки, хранящиеся в аккаунте Google. Эта функция пригодится, если вы не хотите потерять свои данные или собираетесь перенести их в другой сервис.
Данные можно скачивать из сервисов Google, таких как Google Фото, Диск, Календарь и Gmail, в разных форматах или напрямую экспортировать их в Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Box и другие сторонние приложения или сервисы.
Выбирайте, какие основные персональные данные будут доступны другим
Вы можете управлять своими персональными данными, такими как имя, адрес электронной почты, номер телефона и т. п. Это поможет другим пользователям находить вас в таких сервисах Google, как Hangouts, Gmail и Фото.
Выбирайте, какую информацию Google может использовать для персонализации рекламы
В настройках рекламных предпочтений легко контролировать, какие из ваших данных используются для персонализации рекламы. К таким данным относится информация, которую вы указали в своем аккаунте Google, сведения о ваших интересах, которые мы получили из истории посещений сайтов, и о взаимодействиях с рекламой наших партнеров.
Мы используем данные о ваших действиях для подбора рекламы, но вы можете это контролировать. Например, если вы смотрели на YouTube обзор недавнего матча или искали в Google Поиске ближайшие стадионы, мы сделаем вывод, что вы любитель футбола. А если нам известно, что вы посетили сайт нашего рекламного партнера, то мы можем показать вам рекламу, связанную с содержанием этого сайта.
Вы можете указать, какие именно из ваших данных мы можем использовать для персонализации рекламы (возраст, пол, предполагаемые интересы или предыдущие взаимодействия с рекламодателями), и посмотреть подробные сведения о том, почему учитывается та или иная информация. Вы также можете полностью отключить персонализацию. В этом случае реклама по-прежнему будет вам показываться, но она будет менее актуальной для вас.
Конфиденциальное посещение сайтов в режиме инкогнито
Представьте, что вы собираетесь купить в Интернете подарок близкому человеку и не хотите, чтобы он случайно узнал об этом из истории поиска. Откройте браузер Chrome и выполните поиск в режиме инкогнито. В результате информация о ваших поисковых запросах и посещенных сайтах не сохранится в результатах поиска.
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Photograph: Drew Angerer/AFP/Getty Images
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If you’re at all concerned about the privacy of your data, you don’t want to leave the default settings in place on your devices—and that includes anything that runs Windows 10.
Microsoft’s operating system comes with a variety of controls and options you can modify to lock down the use of your data, from the information you share with Microsoft to the access that individual apps have to your location, camera, and microphone. Check these privacy-related settings as soon as you’ve got your Windows 10 computer set up—or now, in case you’re a longtime user who hasn’t gotten around to it yet.
Windows 10 comes with its very own Privacy screen in the Settings panel; click the cog icon on the Start menu to find it. Right at the top of the General tab is an option to enable or disable apps’ access to your advertising ID.
This is basically Microsoft’s profile of you and what it thinks you’re interested in. If you disable this toggle switch, you won’t see fewer ads in Windows 10—in the Windows Store, for example—or in the apps you’ve installed, but they won’t be specifically targeted toward you.
Flicking the switch to Off actually resets your advertising ID, so you can turn it off and on again to start with a clean slate, if you don’t mind targeted ads but think the various tracking services Microsoft uses have you all wrong.
If you let it, Microsoft will monitor the websites you browse and the apps you use in order to personalize your Windows experience. You can read more about its policies here. It uses browsing data to improve Bing search results, for example, and app data to spot malfunctioning installs.
This sounds a little scary, but you can at least see what data Microsoft collects: Under the Diagnostics & feedback tab in the Privacy section of Settings, turn on the option to view diagnostic data. You can also delete everything that Microsoft has collected so far.
If you think Microsoft is overreaching here, change the data collection from Full to Basic using the checkboxes at the top. On the Basic setting, your computer only sends back information about your device, how it’s configured, and whether it’s currently working properly. There’s unfortunately not currently a way to turn it off altogether.
Windows 10 wants to track everything you do on the OS. Microsoft would argue that’s not to check up on you but, rather, to enable you to jump back to whatever website or document you were looking at, even if you’ve switched computers. You can control that behavior under Activity history on the Privacy page of Settings.
You can opt to stop sending Microsoft this data, and stop collecting it altogether, using the tick boxes at the top of the page. You won’t be able to make use of the Timeline feature in Windows 10 if you do (click the Task View button on the taskbar to see it in action), so read Microsoft’s privacy policy if you’re undecided.
On the same dialog you can turn activity tracking on or off for different accounts, if you’ve got multiple accounts set up on your computer, as well as clear all of the history that Microsoft has accumulated so far.
Open up the Location page in Privacy under Settings, and you can turn off location tracking for the device that you’re currently using. You won’t be able to use mapping apps, localized search, and so on, but Microsoft won’t know where you are.
Further down the page you can grant individual apps access to your location. This is useful if you want to let certain apps know where you are (like your weather app) but would rather not share your whereabouts with others (like the webcam app). Use the toggle switches to make your choices.
Here you’ll also find options for blocking off access to your location for all your apps, and clearing your location history on the local device—which Windows 10 says is kept “for a limited time,” in case it’s needed.
Any computer that has a webcam—so just about all of them—comes with the worry that someone, somewhere, is spying on you through your camera. One way to put your mind at rest is to block app access to the camera at the OS level.
To do this, open up Privacy from Settings and then click the Camera link on the left. From there you can use the toggle switches to choose which apps can access your webcam—and camera, if you’re on a 2-in-1 or tablet—and which can’t. Video calling apps need access, for example, but not much else does.
You can also disable camera access completely, or let Windows 10 access the camera but not any of the apps that you’ve got installed. It’s also worth checking inside the apps you use regularly for extra permissions regarding the camera.
You might not worry about anyone watching you through your webcam, but what about people listening in? Besides Cortana, of course. As with the camera, Windows 10 lets you restrict which apps can use the microphone, and you can even disable it altogether.
The options you need here are under the Microphone entry on the Privacy page of Windows 10 Settings. If you want app-by-app control, go down the list of apps and turn microphone access on or off as necessary. If an app hasn’t asked for permission to use the microphone, it won’t appear here.
You can also turn off microphone access for all the apps on your system using the toggle switch above the app list. If you want to block all apps and Windows 10 itself from accessing the microphone, click the Change button at the top of the page.
Some apps want to take a peek at the information associated with your Microsoft account. It’s like when you log into a new site or app using your Facebook credentials, in that you give away some details associated with that account to the app or site.
If you’d understandably rather apps not do this, open up the Account info tab under the Privacy section of Settings, then use the toggle switches to stop individual apps from accessing any data, like your email address or profile picture, linked to your Microsoft account.
At the top you can click Change to block any app from accessing the account information for anyone who uses the computer you’re on. If the switch breaks any functionality in certain apps, you can always revert back to the previous settings.
The email addresses and phone numbers you have associated with your friends, relatives, and colleagues represent a chunk of the most private data on your computer, so you want to be absolutely sure these details aren’t leaking to places that they shouldn’t.
Windows 10 lets you manage all this. Open up Settings, then choose Privacy and Contacts to get to the relevant section. Here you can see which apps have access to your contact data, for whatever reason; maybe sharing files with them, for example. If you see an app in the list that you’re not happy with, just turn the toggle switch to off.
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If you don’t want your digital running group to know where you live, it might be time to revisit some of your app’s settings. Getty Images
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Think of your fitness tracker like a personal trainer—one that happens to live on your smartphone. There are things you want it to do, like monitor your heart rate, your pace, the time it took for you to complete your last sprint, and whether your sprints are getting faster over time. And then there are things you don’t particularly want it to do, like stalk your every move and follow you home at night.
With fitness apps that hoover up more and more data, it can be hard to split the difference. Consider Strava. The fitness app, which shares running and cycling routes on its social network, came under fire this week after releasing a heatmap that showed the global activity of its millions of users. The map revealed more than just where people like to jog. By looking at the data, you could find the borders of secret military outposts, as well as track patrol routes of soldiers at those bases. As a national security issue the implications are huge. It should also be a reminder to consumers that data collected by fitness apps reveal a lot about you and how you move about the world. And that data doesn’t always stay on your phone.
Strava sells itself as an activity tracker turned social network: You can see the most popular bike paths among other Strava cyclists, follow your friends’ running routes, or log your team 5K as a group exercise. It’s almost integral to the app that you share your location data in order to get the most out of it. And that comes with a privacy trade-off.
Right out of the box, Strava is configured to upload all of your activity to the Strava feed. That means that if you do nothing, the app automatically shares your fitness data with the rest of the Strava community, enabling others to follow your jogging route, “give kudos” on your sprint, or even see your full name and photo if they happen to be exercising nearby. Similar apps, like MapMyRun and Nike + RunClub, work the same way, automatically sharing users’ activity stats unless they deliberately opt out. Those features can be nice—they’re designed to make the app feel like a digital community, not just an exercise log. But they can also expose more information than you’d expect.
Consider, for example, Strava’s “FlyBy” feature, which shows who you’ve passed on a bike ride or a run. It’s supposed to offer more granular performance data and also to connect Strava users IRL by pointing them out to others when they cross paths. But it also shows users full names and their entire route, even if you only passed them for a moment. You could then find that user’s public data on the app, searching the routes they habitually take. By searching a user’s regular routes, you could easily figure out where they live, work, or how to track them down in the real world.
Creeped out yet? Consider, also, that it’s possible to de-anonymize some of Strava’s data by making a request to the company’s API. And Strava doesn’t make any promises about what it won’t do with your data. In the past, it’s sold its location data to cities looking to parlay information about where cyclists bike to create better bike lanes. Mostly harmless, sure, but Strava has the potential to sell your data elsewhere too.
If you’re concerned about keeping your location private, you can manually opt out from many of Strava’s sharing features by opening Settings → Privacy on the app, then toggling off individual features. You can disable sharing activity, hide your activity from leaderboards, or make activity information visible only to your followers and the people you follow. Confusingly, the app includes a feature called “Enhanced Privacy,” which hides some activity but keeps your data public on leaderboards, during FlyBys, and during group activity. For the most heightened privacy, you’ll need to individually change the settings for activity, group activity, leaderboards, and FlyBys.
Privacy is built in from the beginning, from the moment you open your new device to every time you use an app. Here are a few things to know so you can be even more secure.
Learn about privacy settings and controls.
Settings have been carefully designed to put you in control of your data. You can adjust what information is shared, where you share it, and when it is backed up. And starting with iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, you’re more in control of how apps use your personal data to track you.
Privacy information on the App Store
Starting in December 2020, product pages on the App Store feature a new section that provides developers’ self‑reported summaries of some of their privacy practices in a simple, easy‑to‑read format. This shows how developers are collecting and using your data, including information like your location, browsing history, and contacts. This is part of ongoing work to increase transparency and control over your data, and Apple will continue to update this feature and work with developers to ensure that users can make informed choices.
App tracking controls and transparency
Your devices carry the story of your life. We believe you should have a choice in how apps track and share your data with other companies for advertising or with data brokers.
Starting in early 2021, apps will be required to ask your permission when they want to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies. You’ll be able to change your preference for any app or prevent apps from asking for permission entirely in Settings.
Third-party apps and permissions
Apple gives you transparency and control over the data you share with apps. Apps may request access to things such as your location, contacts, calendars, or photos. You’ll receive a prompt with an explanation the first time a third-party app wants to use this data, so you can make an informed decision about granting permission. Even if you grant access once, you can always change it later in Settings. Starting in early 2021, iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 will also require developers to get your permission before tracking you or your device across apps and websites owned by other companies for targeted ads or ad measurement purposes, or to share your data with data brokers.
No app can access the microphone or camera without your permission. In iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, when an app uses the microphone or camera, your device displays an indicator to let you know they are being used –– whether you are in the app, in another app, or on the Home Screen. And Control Center shows you when an app has recently used the microphone or camera. In iOS and iPadOS, access to the camera is disabled for an app when it is in the background.
Sometimes apps need to know what other devices are on your local network, like when you’re trying to connect to a smart TV or printer. Starting with iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, apps need to ask your permission before scanning your local network.
iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 also let you know when an app accesses your Clipboard, so you can confirm that it receives access to only the items you expect.
Data and privacy information
Data and privacy information screens make it easy to understand how Apple will use your personal information before you sign in or start using new features. When you see the Data and Privacy icon, you’ll find helpful information on what personal data may be shared and how it will be used to improve your experience.
Location data
Sometimes it’s useful for your device to know your location, like when you’re setting up meetings in Calendar or getting directions. Location Services on your device uses a combination of GPS, Bluetooth, and crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile towers to figure out where you are. Apple gives you control over the collection and use of this location data on all your devices. With iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7, you can choose whether apps have access to your approximate location — an area of about 10 square miles — rather than your precise location. Location Services is not on by default. You can enable it when you first set up your device, and you can always turn it off if you change your mind.
Data and Privacy page
To give you more control over your personal information, we provide a set of dedicated privacy management tools on your Data and Privacy page. These tools give you the ability to get a copy of your data, request a correction to your data, deactivate your account, or delete your account.
Analytics
If you choose to opt in, your iOS and iPadOS devices can collect analytics about your device and any paired Apple Watch and send it to Apple for analysis. This analysis helps Apple improve products and reduce problems like apps crashing. The collected information does not identify you personally and can be sent to Apple only with your explicit consent. Analytics may include details about hardware and operating system specifications, performance statistics, and data about how you use your devices and applications. When it’s collected, personal data is either not logged at all, removed from reports before they’re sent to Apple, or protected by techniques such as Differential Privacy.
The information we gather using Differential Privacy helps us improve our services without compromising individual privacy. For example, this technology improves QuickType and emoji suggestions, as well as Lookup Hints in Notes.
We identify commonly used data types in the Health app and web domains in Safari that cause performance issues. This information allows us to work with developers to improve your experience without revealing anything about your individual behavior.
If you give your explicit consent to share iCloud Analytics, Apple can improve Siri and other intelligent features by analyzing how you use iCloud data from your account, such as text snippets from email messages. Analysis happens only after the data has gone through privacy-enhancing techniques like Differential Privacy so that it cannot be associated with you or your account.
Advertising
Apple is committed to delivering advertising in a way that respects your privacy. Apple‑delivered ads may appear on the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks. The Apple advertising platform does not track you, nor does it buy or share your personal information with other companies. Your Apple Pay transactions, Health app data, and HomeKit app data are not used by the Apple advertising platform to deliver ads. Your App Store search and download history may be used to to serve you relevant ads. In the Apple News and Stocks apps, ads are served based partly on what you read or follow. This includes the topics and categories of the stories you read and the publications you follow, subscribe to, or enable notifications from. The stories you read are not used to serve targeted ads to you outside these apps. You can view the information Apple uses to deliver relevant ads to you in Settings. You can also turn off Personalized Ads at any time in Settings to stop receiving targeted ads on the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks. Turning off Personalized Ads will limit Apple’s ability to deliver relevant ads to you but may not reduce the number of ads you receive. The Apple advertising platform doesn’t serve ads to children under 13 years old and Managed Apple IDs. In addition, Apple has strong guidelines for apps in the Kids category of the App Store, including prohibiting apps in the category from including third-party analytics or third-party advertising.
Secure your devices.
Prevent anyone except you from using your devices and accessing your information.
Ключевой принцип компании Google – уважать интересы пользователя во всех аспектах нашей деятельности. По мере развития Интернета мы постоянно совершенствуем наши средства обеспечения безопасности и конфиденциальности, так как хотим, чтобы вы и ваши близкие не подвергались риску или угрозам во Всемирной паутине.
Узнайте, какие средства мы используем, чтобы обеспечить вашу безопасность
Когда вы работаете в Интернете, мы используем передовые средства защиты, чтобы обеспечивать вашу безопасность.
Во всех наших продуктах реализованы технологии защиты данных, позволяющие обнаруживать и блокировать угрозы, такие как спам, вредоносное ПО и вирусы. Мы также предоставляем эти технологии партнерам и конкурентам, чтобы повышать отраслевые стандарты и обеспечивать безопасность всех пользователей Интернета.
Мы обеспечиваем конфиденциальность данных всех пользователей.
Данные помогают сделать сервисы Google более полезными и актуальными, однако вы полностью управляете тем, как мы используем эту информацию. Мы сообщаем вам, какие данные отправляются в Google и как они обрабатываются. Кроме того, в ваш аккаунт Google встроены эффективные инструменты управления информацией, и вы можете выбирать подходящие настройки конфиденциальности.
Безопасность всех членов семьи
Мы помогаем пользователям решать, какой контент подходит им и их близким.
В наше время технологии помогают детям расти и развиваться. Вместе с различными специалистами и преподавателями мы разрабатываем средства, позволяющие вам решать, как будут взаимодействовать с устройствами и онлайн-контентом вы и ваши близкие.
Taking back the operating system, one privacy setting at a time.
Microsoft has made attempts to be more transparent with its privacy settings and, while it may have simplified some of the language of its policies, there is still work to be done. Here are five privacy-related settings you can change for a less invasive and more secure Windows 10 experience.
Turn off your location
If you’re using a mobile device, such as a tablet or a laptop, there are plenty of times when allowing Windows 10 and third-party apps to access your location is convenient. But that doesn’t mean that you should leave your location switched on at all times. When your location is switched on, Windows 10 stores your device’s location history for up to 24 hours and allows apps with location permission to access that data.
If you turn your location off, apps that use your location (such as the Maps app) will not be able to find you. You can, however, manually set a default location that apps can use as a stand-in.
To turn off your location, go to Settings > Privacy > Location and the Change button under Location for this device is on and toggle it Off. Below, you can set permissions to allow or restrict individual apps from knowing your location.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
Stop syncing
There’s a lot of syncing going on in Windows 10. If you sign in with a Microsoft account, your settings — including passwords — may be synced across other devices you sign into with the same account. If you turn off syncing, your settings and passwords will not be synced across other devices when you sign in with your Microsoft account, so you’ll need to do things like enter passwords in manually.
To turn off settings syncing, got to Settings > Accounts > Sync your settings. You can either turn off all syncing at once, or you can toggle individual sync settings off.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
Use a local account
If you’ve disabled syncing across your devices, then there’s little reason to use your Microsoft account to log into your PC. You can use a local account instead that doesn’t require an email, which will prevent Microsoft from collecting information about you. With a local account, you create a username and password for your PC and that’s it. (You will still need a Microsoft account to buy apps from the Windows Store and if you do want to sync files with Microsoft services such as OneDrive, OneNote and Office 365.)
To create a local account, go to Settings > Accounts > Your info, click Sign in with a local account instead and follow the instructions to create a username, password and password hint.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
Lock down your lock screen
The lock screen is the first thing anyone sees when they open up your device, and this screen can have a lot of information that you might not want strangers to access.
Here are three things you need to do to lock down your lock and log-in screens:
Make sure your notifications aren’t appearing on the lock screen. Go to Settings > System > Notifications & actions and toggle off Show notifications on the lock screen. The downside to turning this feature off, of course, is that you won’t be able to see any notifications until you unlock your device.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
Turn off Cortana on the lock screen by opening Cortana and going to Settings > Cortana > Talk to Cortana and toggle off Use Cortana even when my device is locked. The downside to turning this feature off is that you won’t be able to use Cortana while your device is locked. You can also limit her scope on the lock screen (instead of turning her off completely) by unchecking the box for Let Cortana access my calendar, email, messages and Power BI when my device is locked. This way, you’ll still be able to ask Cortana to answer questions that don’t reveal any personal information while your device is locked.
Hide your email address on the login screen by going to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options and making sure that Show account details (e.g. email address) on sign-in screen is toggled off. There’s no downside to turning this feature off, unless you really like seeing your email address.
Turn off your advertising ID
Each Microsoft account has a unique advertising ID that lets the company collect information about you and deliver a personalized ad experience across different platforms. If you sign into Windows 10 with a Microsoft account, those personalized ads will follow you onto your computer — you’ll see them in apps and possibly in the operating system itself (in the Start menu, for example).
To turn these ads off in Windows 10, go to Settings > Privacy > General and toggle off Let apps use advertising ID to make ads more interesting to you based on your app usage. You’ll still see ads, but they won’t be eerily personalized to your tastes and preferences.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
Turning this feature off will prevent personalized ads from popping up in your Windows 10 experience, but won’t necessarily keep you from seeing personalized ads when you’re using your Microsoft account on other platforms. To get rid of ads on other platforms, such as in browsers, head to Microsoft’s advertising opt-out page.
Lastly, you can visit Microsoft’s privacy dashboard for your account to see what information it’s storing in the cloud about you, including your browsing and search history in Microsoft Edge and your location data.
Editors’ note: First published Oct. 13, 2016, this article was updated Nov. 8, 2018 with information about the Windows 10 October 2018 Update.
Microsoft’s brand-new Edge browser lets you control how much data you share when browsing.
Microsoft’s new Edge browser may share the same underpinnings as the popular Chrome web browser, but it takes a much more active role in minding your privacy than Google’s browser does . Microsoft’s Chromium-based browser for Windows 10 ($150 at Amazon) and MacOS gives you control over how you are tracked across the web and what browsing data Edge keeps. And it comes with an anti-phishing and anti-malware tool called Microsoft Defender SmartScreen that monitors the websites you visit for fishy behavior.
With the goal of minding your personal information, Microsoft Edge joins the Brave and Firefox browsers in protecting you from trackers that gather your browsing history, cryptominers that use your device’s resources to mine cryptocurrency and fingerprinters that uniquely identify you based on your device. Meanwhile, Google Chrome’s privacy tools are limited, although Google said it intended to beef up the browser’s privacy-protection tools soon.
Here’s how to use Edge’s privacy tools to guard your browsing data.
How to use Microsoft Edge tracking prevention settings
Like Brave and Firefox, the new Edge browser lets you tune your browser privacy settings to block trackers that monitor and collect your activity as you visit sites across the web. Here’s how to manage Edge’s privacy settings.
Edge lets you control your level of tracking protection.
Screenshot by Clifford Colby/CNET
1. Tap the three-dot menu in the top right, and select Settings.
2. Now, on the left, tap Privacy and services.
Edge gives you three tracking-prevention tiers to help you find a balance between how much you are tracked and the website functionality you may lose by blocking tracking.
3. Choose Edge’s Basic prevention to allow most trackers but block the most harmful ones — those used for cryptomining and those used for fingerprinting, which collect your browser and computer settings to create a unique profile of you. Select Balanced to block trackers from sites you haven’t visited, as well as harmful trackers. And pick Strict to block most trackers from all sites. As you crank you the prevention, some sites may not work as you’d expect.
By default, Edge uses the Balanced setting.
How to clear Edge’s browsing data
Edge also lets you clear your browsing history, either manually or automatically every time you close your browser.
1. In Edge’s Privacy and services settings window, scroll down to the Clear browsing data section.
2. Tap the Choose What to Clear button to immediately clear out your browsing and download history, cookies and cached files. Tap the arrow to the right of Choose what to clear every time you close the browser to select which data you want Edge to wipe out each time you close the window.
More on browsers
- With Firefox, stop leaking your data across the internet
- If you care about privacy, this is the browser to use
- Chrome is not minding your privacy. Here’s how to help it
How to use Edge’s other privacy and security tools
In the Privacy and Services sections of the Privacy and Services setting window, you can turn on and off other Edge tools that mind your data.
In the Privacy section, you turn on Send “Do Not Track” requests to ask websites to not track you. Unhelpfully, websites can use that request to build your online profile , and Apple has removed the Do Not Track request from Safari because of that. By default, Edge has this turned off.
Edge can steer you away from shady sites and apps.
Screenshot by Clifford Colby/CNET
In the Services section, you can use the Microsoft Defender SmartScreen tool to steer you away from shady sites. The tool checks the site you want to visit against a dynamic list of reported phishing, malware, exploit and scam sites to warn you of fraudulent websites.
Still in the Services section, you can have Edge block shady software by toggling on Block potentially unwanted apps.
Microsoft’s brand-new Edge browser lets you control how much data you share when browsing.
Microsoft’s new Edge browser may share the same underpinnings as the popular Chrome web browser, but it takes a much more active role in minding your privacy than Google’s browser does . Microsoft’s Chromium-based browser for Windows 10 ($150 at Amazon) and MacOS gives you control over how you are tracked across the web and what browsing data Edge keeps. And it comes with an anti-phishing and anti-malware tool called Microsoft Defender SmartScreen that monitors the websites you visit for fishy behavior.
With the goal of minding your personal information, Microsoft Edge joins the Brave and Firefox browsers in protecting you from trackers that gather your browsing history, cryptominers that use your device’s resources to mine cryptocurrency and fingerprinters that uniquely identify you based on your device. Meanwhile, Google Chrome’s privacy tools are limited, although Google said it intended to beef up the browser’s privacy-protection tools soon.
Here’s how to use Edge’s privacy tools to guard your browsing data.
How to use Microsoft Edge tracking prevention settings
Like Brave and Firefox, the new Edge browser lets you tune your browser privacy settings to block trackers that monitor and collect your activity as you visit sites across the web. Here’s how to manage Edge’s privacy settings.
Edge lets you control your level of tracking protection.
Screenshot by Clifford Colby/CNET
1. Tap the three-dot menu in the top right, and select Settings.
2. Now, on the left, tap Privacy and services.
Edge gives you three tracking-prevention tiers to help you find a balance between how much you are tracked and the website functionality you may lose by blocking tracking.
3. Choose Edge’s Basic prevention to allow most trackers but block the most harmful ones — those used for cryptomining and those used for fingerprinting, which collect your browser and computer settings to create a unique profile of you. Select Balanced to block trackers from sites you haven’t visited, as well as harmful trackers. And pick Strict to block most trackers from all sites. As you crank you the prevention, some sites may not work as you’d expect.
By default, Edge uses the Balanced setting.
How to clear Edge’s browsing data
Edge also lets you clear your browsing history, either manually or automatically every time you close your browser.
1. In Edge’s Privacy and services settings window, scroll down to the Clear browsing data section.
2. Tap the Choose What to Clear button to immediately clear out your browsing and download history, cookies and cached files. Tap the arrow to the right of Choose what to clear every time you close the browser to select which data you want Edge to wipe out each time you close the window.
More on browsers
- With Firefox, stop leaking your data across the internet
- If you care about privacy, this is the browser to use
- Chrome is not minding your privacy. Here’s how to help it
How to use Edge’s other privacy and security tools
In the Privacy and Services sections of the Privacy and Services setting window, you can turn on and off other Edge tools that mind your data.
In the Privacy section, you turn on Send “Do Not Track” requests to ask websites to not track you. Unhelpfully, websites can use that request to build your online profile , and Apple has removed the Do Not Track request from Safari because of that. By default, Edge has this turned off.
Edge can steer you away from shady sites and apps.
Screenshot by Clifford Colby/CNET
In the Services section, you can use the Microsoft Defender SmartScreen tool to steer you away from shady sites. The tool checks the site you want to visit against a dynamic list of reported phishing, malware, exploit and scam sites to warn you of fraudulent websites.
Still in the Services section, you can have Edge block shady software by toggling on Block potentially unwanted apps.
Google will auto-delete data — for some users — but only after a year and a half. You can do better than that. We’ll show you how.
Google may have more data on you than you know, but you can limit how long the company holds onto that information by following these steps.
Google might collect far more personal data about its users than you might even realize. The company records every search you perform and every YouTube video you watch . Whether you have an iPhone ($599 at Apple) or an Android, Google Maps logs everywhere you go , the route you use to get there and how long you stay — even if you never open the app . When you look closer at everything Google knows about you, the results can be eye-opening, and maybe even a little unsettling. Thankfully, there’s something you can do about it.
Starting in June, new Google accounts will automatically delete private data for you. But only after 18 months by default. And only if you’re a brand-new Google user. That’s great if you’re just now deciding to create a Gmail address or you just got your first Android phone, but if you’re among the 1.5 billion people on Gmail or the 2.5 billion people using Android already, your account is set to hold onto your private data forever unless you tell Google otherwise.
Get more out of your tech
We’re going to cut through all the clutter and show you how to access the private data Google has on you, as well as how to delete some or all of it. Then we’re going to help you find the right balance between your privacy and the Google services you rely on by choosing settings that limit Google’s access to your information without impairing your experience.
Find out what private information Google considers ‘public’
Chances are, Google knows your name, your face, your birthday, gender, other email addresses you use, your password and phone number. Some of this is listed as public information (not your password, of course). Here’s how to see what Google shares with the world about you.
1. Open a browser window and navigate to your Google Account page.
2. Type your Google username (with or without “@gmail.com”).
3. From the menu bar, choose Personal info and review the information. You can change or delete your photo, name, birthday, gender, password, other emails and phone number.
4. If you’d like to see what information of yours is available publicly, scroll to the bottom and select Go to About me.
5. On this page, each line is labeled with either a people icon (visible to anyone), office building icon (only visible to your organization) or lock icon (visible only to you). Select an item to choose whether to make it public, semi-public or private. There’s currently no way to make your account totally private.
Google has adapted its privacy-control dashboard for mobile devices as well as desktop browsers.
Take a look at Google’s record of your online activity
If you want to see the motherlode of data Google has on you, follow these steps to find it, review it, delete it or set it to automatically delete after a period of time.
If your goal is to exert more control over your data but you still want Google services like search and maps to personalize your results, we recommend setting your data to auto-delete after three months. Otherwise, feel free to delete all your data and set Google to stop tracking you. For most of the day-to-day things you do with Google you won’t even notice the difference.
1. Sign into your Google Account and choose Data & Personalization from the navigation bar.
2. To see a list of all your activity that Google has logged, scroll to Activity controls and select Web & App Activity. This is where all your Google searches, YouTube viewing history, Google Assistant commands and other interactions with Google apps and services get recorded.
3. To turn it completely off, move the toggle to the off position. But beware — changing this setting will most likely make any Google Assistant devices you use, including Google Home and Google Nest smart speakers and displays, virtually unusable.
4. If you want Google to stop tracking just your Chrome browser history and activity from sites you sign into with your Google account, uncheck the first box. If you don’t want Google to keep audio recordings of your interactions with Google Assistant, uncheck the second box. Otherwise, move on to step 5.
5. To set Google to automatically delete this kind of data either never or every three or 18 months, select Auto-delete and pick the time frame you feel most comfortable with. Google will immediately delete any current data older than the time frame you specify. For example, if you choose three months, any information older than three months will be deleted right away.
6. Once you choose an Auto-delete setting, a popup will appear and ask you to confirm. Select Delete or Confirm.
7. Next, click Manage Activity. This page displays all the information Google has collected on you from the activities mentioned in the previous steps, arranged by date, all the way back to the day you created your account or the last time you purged this list.
8. To delete specific days, select the trash can icon to the right of the day then choose Got it. To get more specific details or to delete individual items, select the three stacked dots icon beside the item then choose either Delete or Details.
9. If you’d rather delete part or all of your history manually, select the three stacked dots icon to the right of the search bar at the top of the page and choose Delete activity by then choose either Last hour, Last day, All time or Custom range.
10. To make sure your new settings took, head back to Manage Activity (step 4) and make sure whatever’s there only goes back the three or 18 months you selected in step 5.
Here’s how to change a home Wi-Fi network’s name, password, and other elements.
Your router stores the settings for your home Wi-Fi network. If you want to change something on your network, you have to log into your router’s software, also known as firmware. From there, you can rename your network, modify the password, adjust the security level, create a guest network, and set up or alter a variety of other options. But how do you first get into your router to make those changes?
The process for logging into your router should be the same whether you use your internet provider’s router or you purchased your own router. It should also be the same whether you use a dedicated router or a combination modem/router supplied by your provider.
Find Your Router’s IP Address
You log into your router’s firmware through a browser. Any browser will do. At the address field, type the IP address of your router. Most routers use an address of 192.168.1.1. But that’s not always the case, so first you want to confirm the address of your router.
If you need to find your router’s IP address, type cmd in the search window and press Enter to open the command prompt. Type ipconfig in the command prompt and press Enter to run the command. Scroll until you see a setting for Default Gateway under Ethernet or Wi-Fi. That’s your router, and the number next to it is your router’s IP address. Now type your router’s IP address in your browser’s address field and press Enter.
Username and Password
You’re asked for a username and password to access your router’s firmware. This is either the default username and password for your router, or a unique username and password that you may have created when you set up the router.
If you created your own username and password, login in with these credentials now to view your router’s firmware settings. However, if you don’t remember your login credentials or you never changed them from the unit’s default, things may become a little more difficult.
Some routers offer a password-recovery feature. If this is true of your router, this option should appear if you enter the wrong username and password a certain number of times. Typically, this window will ask for your router’s serial number, which you can find on the bottom or side of the router.
If you never changed the router’s login to begin with, many routers use a default username of admin and a default password of password. You can try those to see if they work, otherwise your best bet is to do a web search for the default username and password of the brand name of your router.
Another option is to search a database for your specific router model’s default login credentials. Once you find the correct login information, try logging into your router. Hopefully, that will get you in.
If you still can’t log into your router’s firmware, it’s time to reset the device to revert all settings back to their defaults. You’ll usually find a small reset button on your router. Use a pointed object, like a pen or paper clip, to push in and hold the reset button for around 10 seconds. You should now be able to log into your router using the default username and password.
Change Router Settings
Once you gain access to the router’s firmware, you will be free to change whatever elements need to be changed. These include network name and password, or the security level.
From the router’s main screen, parental controls can be implemented, a guest network can be created, and attached devices can be managed. Just remember to apply any changes before you move onto the next screen.
Documentation and built-in help should be available to assist you with these settings if you’re not sure how to set them. Most current or recent routers also have setup wizards that can take care of some of this labor for you.
Change Router Login
As one example, you should change your router’s username and password from their default values. This better secures your router so only you can access the firmware. With some routers, you can change both the username and password. With others, only the password can be changed, while the username is typically stuck as admin.
To change the password, look for an option that is typically nested under the Administration tab. The screen will likely ask for your current router password and then ask you to enter a new password.
As you create the new password, remember the usual recommendations for creating a secure password. You should use one that’s not too difficult for you to remember but complex enough so it’s not easy to guess. A passphrase, which uses a combination of easy-to-remember words is also a good option.
Just be sure to remember the new password so you don’t have to struggle to think of it or ultimately reset the router in the future. Your router’s firmware may also ask you to set up security questions and answers, another handy way to prove your identity. You’ll then have to apply the settings and log back into your router.
Review Wi-Fi Password
Next, you should review the password for your Wi-Fi network to make sure it’s strong and secure. To do this, look for a wireless or Wi-Fi section in the router’s firmware. You should see your current Wi-Fi name and password listed.
If you’re still using the default Wi-Fi name, such as Netgear or Linksys, change that to something more unique. Under Security Options or a similar section, make sure the security for your network is set to WPA2-PSK [AES], which is currently the strongest level available for home wireless networks.
Create a more secure password if you feel the current one is too weak. Again, keep the usual password recommendations in mind as you do this. Then apply your new settings. After you’re finished, just close your browser.
