Take your privacy settings into your own hands by optimizing your Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, or Brave browsers. Browser developers do their best to protect users' data from being tracked and collected, but you can outsmart this tracking even further with just a moment's effort.
There are some basic privacy settings in browser that can help you keep your online activity safe from prying eyes. In this post, we will discuss the basic browser settings for better online privacy.
In the wake of Silicon Valley ’s Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018, protecting your privacy through privacy settings has become a top priority, as it has been revealed how companies collect data as you travel the web. Their goal? To curate a user profile so they can bombard you with more engaging and profitable ads. One of the simplest ways to start defending your online security is to tweak some browser settings.
Apple and Google are engaged in a fierce battle for dominance on the internet, with the former taking a more cautious approach to privacy concerns, while the latter is pushing hard for interactive websites that could compete with native apps. Choosing a browser shouldn't just be about security and privacy settings, but also how comfortable you are with giving access to your personal data.
Apple has made privacy a primary goal across all of its components, including Safari . Privacy is a central mission of Brave , while Mozilla and Microsoft are moving in the same direction to separate their browsers from Google Chrome . Despite Google ’s reliance on advertising revenue, Chrome engineers have developed Topics — a new privacy-preserving ad targeting technology — as an alternative to the failed FLOC project they were testing.
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To ensure the highest level of privacy protection possible, consider disabling your browser's location tracking and search engine autofill features, disabling password autofill, and regularly clearing your browsing history. If you want to take the extra step for online security, a virtual private network (VPN) is one of the best solutions available.
To protect your online browsing activity, it's important to adjust some privacy settings in your browser. With these simple adjustments, you can effectively minimize many ad trackers and maintain greater privacy while browsing the web.
Chrome browser
Chrome of privacy protection and privacy settings. Fortunately, its open-source architecture allows developers to create a variety of extensions that make browsing more secure and private. These tools can keep trackers at bay while allowing you to browse without worrying about your data being collected while you're browsing.
To find the desired extension in the Chrome Web Store , go to the Extensions tab and type its name in the search bar. When you find it among other results, click the Add to Chrome button . A small pop-up window will appear with information about the permissions for this extension – check them carefully before clicking the “Add extension” button that adds it to your browser.
If you need to make adjustments, no problem! Just open Chrome and click the More with the three dots on the right. Then, select More Tools and then Extensions– this is also where you can access additional information about each extension, such as Details. To get started, these four extensions are great to try: Cookie Autodelete, uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, and HTTPS Everywhere.
Unfortunately, if you are using an Android, the extensions are not compatible.
To block third-party cookies, simply open the three-dot menu and select Settings. Then, scroll down to the Privacy and security and click Cookies and other site data. At this point, you can select Block third-party cookies. To further protect your online privacy, there are several other settings that can be disabled in the “Privacy and security” of Chrome’s settings – check them out for extra protection!
Clear browsing data > Advanced > select an option in Time range and tap Clear data.
Security > Under Safe Browsing, select Standard protection > disable Help improve security on the web for everyone.
Security > Under Advanced, enable Always use secure connections
While it may seem like a simple process, digging into Chrome reveals a number of privacy-related options. You can access them by navigating to the Settings or by typing “chrome://settings” into your address bar. While listing all of the available options would require an article dedicated solely to that purpose, here are some basic options to get you started.
Settings > You and Google > Sync and Google services > enable Allow Chrome sign-in.
On this screen, make sure you turn off these privacy settings so Chrome doesn't associate your browser activities with your Google Account until you sign in:
- Autocomplete searches and URLs
- Help improve Chrome's features and performance
- Make searches and browsing better
To ensure your basic privacy is secure, you should disable all features in the Settings > Autofill menu . If you want to maintain convenience while frequently logging into websites, don't save passwords in Chrome and instead choose a password manager like Bitwarden that provides a Chrome extension .
Chrome browser that accesses data about your activity outside of it. As a MacOS, you can control the amount of information Chrome by performing two simple steps. First, disabling IPv6 will make a huge difference in terms of privacy. Then select System Preferences from the Apple menu and then click Security & Privacy for privacy settings.
To start making changes to your privacy settings, click the lock icon at the bottom of this window. Then, carefully step through each item in the left pane. When Chrome appears as an option in the right sidebar for a particular item, select it, then tap the minus sign below the same box to revoke access from Chrome —giving you a full view of all of your personal data that other apps may have access to.
Be sure to click the lock icon again to ensure your desired options are saved before exiting the window.
Safari browser
Safari has been rolling out its Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature since 2017 to preserve your privacy and protect you from annoying digital predators. Unfortunately, the tool was initially prone to abuse by trackers—until Apple quickly stepped in with a fix in its privacy settings.
Safari gives you insight into the exact ad trackers running during your browsing session and provides a comprehensive 30-day report of known trackers it detects. In addition, Safari reveals which websites these tracking technologies came from. This allows you to make informed decisions about the data collected while you browse the web!
To make sure blocking is enabled in your browser’s privacy settings, open Safari and click Preferences , then select the Privacy. The box next to “Prevent cross-site tracking” should be checked. While you’re there, don’t forget to clear any cookies stored on your device too! Select “Manage Website Data” to get a list of websites with trackers or cookies in your browser data – remove them one by one, or simply tap “Remove All” at the bottom of your screen for a complete cleanup.
Cookies can be useful, not just annoying. However, for greater privacy you can block them completely. To do this, check the box next to Block all cookies .
Keep your IP address hidden from online trackers by enabling the “Hide IP address from trackers” feature in the “Privacy” menu . Additionally, if you’re an iCloud Plus subscriber , be sure to take advantage of Private Relay – an effective and secure way to keep trackers and websites from tracking you online.
See also: Bug on Apple devices causes Safari to crash when certain letters are typed
If you're looking for an extra measure of privacy, there are several useful extensions available in the App Store to protect your data, such as AdBlock Plus and Ghostery Lite for Safari.
Edge browser
To take advantage of the simplified privacy and tracking blocking features of the Microsoft Edge browser, simply open the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner and select Settings. Then, select Privacy and services from the left sidebar to access the Tracker prevention!
The Edge browser has three privacy settings to choose from: Basic, Balanced, and Strict. The default setting is Balanced, which blocks tracking from websites you don't visit but allows most of them to remain undisturbed for better load times. Its strictest setting can have a significant impact on how some websites work, but it keeps your data safe by blocking the largest number of trackers out there. Even with its less strict mode, Edge still ensures that no crypto mining or fingerprinting activities are taking place without your consent.
Edge may transmit your browsing history and diagnostic data to Microsoft , depending on how you set it up. If this is something you want to stop, simply go to the Privacy, search , and services tab in the Settings menu to turn off the Help improve Microsoft products by sending optional diagnostic data about how you use the browser, websites you visit, and crash reports feature.
Firefox browser
Firefox 's native privacy settings are much more protective than other well-known browsers, such as Chrome and Edge , with a variety of additional privacy options that allow you to further customize your browsing experience.
To access Firefox , simply select “Settings” from the main menu or from the three-line toolbar on the right. When you click on this option, a Settings and you will need to click Privacy & Security.
You are presented with three different options for blocking trackers in your browser's privacy settings: Standard, Strict , and Custom . Firefox 's Standard setting stops third-party tracking cookies, crypto miners, and all trackers in private windows. The Strict option is more thorough, as it also blocks fingerprinting and any trackers used in both browser windows - however, some websites may become inaccessible as a result of this option. If you need to customize how trackers are blocked when using Firefox , then choose the Custom option instead - it provides extensive control when deciding which types of tracking to block or allow.
Through the Privacy & Security, you can instruct Firefox to send a “Do Not Track” to websites when you visit them. You can set this signal to Always or only when Firefox blocks only known trackers.
Brave browser
When it comes to anti-tracking tools, the Brave still beats the latest Safari browser privacy settings updates. By default, Brave blocks ads, trackers, and third-party cookies while maintaining extremely capable speeds. Additionally, users can take advantage of a built-in Tor private browsing feature for extra protection, as well as an advanced tracker blocking option on both iOS and Android, and even a VPN!
To improve your privacy and security settings, explore Brave 's Settings menu . In Shields , you can choose how aggressive trackers and ad blocking are displayed with Standard or Aggressive options , set Block fingerprinting to either Standard or Strict , block login buttons from Facebook , Twitter , Google , and LinkedIn via the Social media blocking tab in Settings , and discover more ways to fine-tune your protection in Privacy and Security .
Source: cnet.com
