How To Protect Yourself If Anyone See Your Entire Google Search History
Every single search that you’ve ever made on Google and every page you’ve ever visited has also been stored in Google’s Servers. Did you think that the option: “Clear Browser History”, will be wiped out any evidence of you being on the web? Then note again, all those buttons does is to clear the data from your system – not Google’s.
How to see your entire Google search history:
The entire
history of your Googled content is there and anyone can see, if they know ‘where
to look’. If you’re using a shared machine, learn how to disable this alarming
functionality and keep your searches private. You still can’t stop Google from
gathering that information but you can definitely protect your local system from
prying eyes. Finding these data is the simplest of tasks.
On your browser,
click on the three vertical bars at the right of your address bar and select
“History –> History”. You can go back as far as you like and see what you’ve
been searching for ever since you first signed into your Google account on that
machine.
Alternatively, visit this URL: http://history.google.com/history,
from your machine, which is great if you want to remember something you
searched in the past – but couldn’t find later, or if you just have a half
day to waste going through a list that might just make you go - “huh, when did
I search for that!”
But remember it’s not so great, if someone else is using
your PC, laptop, tablet or even smartphone. And the problem is exacerbated by
the fact that Google can sync (on your command, of course) your browser data
with any device that you’ve signed into your Google account on.
How to delete your browsing history:
So what do you do if you want to delete everything? That’s also very simple. Just go to Settings, click on the Advanced Settings link at the bottom, scroll down to Privacy and click on Clear Browsing Data. When you get the pop-up window, select everything you want to erase and the timeline you want erased and hit the Clear Browsing Data button in the pop-up.
How to delete your browsing history:
So what do you do if you want to delete everything? That’s also very simple. Just go to Settings, click on the Advanced Settings link at the bottom, scroll down to Privacy and click on Clear Browsing Data. When you get the pop-up window, select everything you want to erase and the timeline you want erased and hit the Clear Browsing Data button in the pop-up.
In a flash, it’s gone - only from that device. If your
data may synced with other devices where you’re signed in to the same account, then
be sure to check all those devices to see, whether the history deletion has
indeed taken effect or not.
Safeguard Future Searches:
Follow these steps to prevent your future activities from being tracked:
Again, go to Settings, click on the Advanced Settings link and go to Privacy, but this time click on the Content Settings button.
Similar settings are also available on other versions of popular browsers including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera and UC Browser.
A Warning:
Your Internet Service Provider (ISP), browser provider and many of the other sites you use have every capability to track
your activity on the internet despite what your settings tell you. Even you use, for
example, Incognito on Chrome and think you’re safe, but you’re not 100%
protected from everyone.
To prevent websites from tracking your
activity on the internet, you can use a service such as disconnect me or use
any premium Virtual Private Network service for a few bucks a month. But be
warned that your data is never 100% safe. And keep in mind that large companies
spent billions of dollars each year over cyber security.
A complete insulated environment is
impossible to achieve unless you’re completely unplugged from the internet – an
impractical situation at best. The next, best thing is to be aware
of the risks and protect yourself from the most obvious security breaches.
These settings and
tools are there to protect your system from local snoopers – not necessary the ones online that start getting your data the moment you log in. So be aware
of this lack of privacy when using the internet and behave accordingly.
