In times like the one we live in, digital and very fast, most if not all of us have accounts that are never used by anyone. They are accounts for sites that initially interested us a lot, but after a while we forgot about them. Or accounts for free trials, which we ultimately did not have the time to deal with. Or accounts in online shops that were not what we expected in the end.
Many might say that these old accounts don't cause any problems as long as no one uses them, and indeed in some cases this is true. However, having many inactive logins can potentially cause security problems.
If hackers were to attack the database, they would not only discover personal information about users, such as email or even home addresses, but they could also lead to your most important accounts. This can happen if you use the same username and password for different services, which is not recommended for this very reason.
So a wise tactic is to tidy up your digital accounts, especially those that are no longer used.
- For starters, try to remember such accounts and do a search on your mobile apps. Delete the ones you are no longer active on.
- The next step can only be to research your email. This can be time-consuming, if you consider how many emails you receive every day in general, but also how many you receive when creating an account.
- Next, go to your Facebook, Twitter, and Google accounts. Look at the apps and services you've linked to those accounts. If you unlink accounts from there, you're essentially blocking them from reaching your main accounts, not deleting them completely.
- Finally, don't forget to take a look at the programs you use to manage your passwords. These may show some accounts that you've forgotten.
At this point, we should emphasize that it is not enough to simply remove an application from your phone to deactivate it, but it is a basic requirement.
- If you can't remember the credentials for each account, take some time to reset the password provided by each service.
- If you wish to preserve your account history, look for the backup or export options.
- Permanently deleting your accounts will vary by service and app. A simple search on the internet or databases like JustDeleteMe.
- Read the information you are presented with carefully, particularly when it comes to data.
- Wait for the confirmation message and you're done.
