How to Delete Your Facebook Account, Google Search History, and More
If you need to ensure that your online privacy stays intact, you might find it necessary to take some drastic action of deleting your online accounts. Your actions right from when you wake up in the morning to what you do before you sleep at night are enough to give enough information about you to companies. From the first thing you do in the morning when you wake up, which is most likely to be visiting Facebook, you try to catch up with the latest gossip and check out available events you can attend with friends.
Table of Content
1. Learn How to Remove Chrome Extensions
2. How to Uninstall and Remove Dropbox for both Windows and Mac
3. How to Delete Your Facebook Account Permanently?
4. Uninstalling Facebook Messenger
5. How to Remove Your Device from ‘Find My iPhone’, ‘Find My Ipad’, and ‘Find My Mac’ List
6. How to Delete Your Gmail Account Permanently
7. How to Delete Your Google History
8. How to Delete Your Google Photos
9. How to Delete Your Hard Drive Browsing History
10. How to Delete Your Instagram Account Permanently
11. How You Can Delete Your Internet Explorer History
12. How to Delete Your Pokémon Go Account
13. How to Remove Safari on Your Apple Device
14. How to Delete Your Snapchat Account
15. How to Delete Your Tinder Account
16. How to Delete Your Twitter Account
18. How to Delete Your Yahoo Mail Account
In the afternoon, you could have a preference for Twitter, retweeting some story you read, and also catching up on Pokémon or watch a YouTube video as you move from place to place and go about your daily activities. You could also enjoy the thrill of chatting with your friends throughout the day on WhatsApp.
With your continuous online presence, it is possible to be tracked by online companies and they can learn about your online preference and make tons of cash by providing you with what you may want by the information they have of you.
Learn How to Remove Chrome Extensions
Chrome extensions are very important as they provide us with a variety of tools to work with. In the long run, these features help us find information a lot faster and can be a source of entertainment for us also. It is great to have extensions in your browser, but having too many can slow down your browser, cause it to shut down, or download malware into your computer. So if you are suffering from any of the above, and you want to have a faster and safer chrome browsing experience, we will show you how to remove an extension from your chrome browser.
1 . Can Chrome Extensions Be Dangerous
Chrome extensions are basically bits of code added to your browser to enable you to perform a variety of functions like spell checks, store your passwords so you do not have to put them in each time you want to log in, and they are generally safe to use.
Google is very strict when testing chrome extensions and these extensions have to be found safe before being added to the store for download, but it is not far-fetched to say that even a safe extension can be modified to include some malicious codes. For example, the developer of an extension may have sold the codes and the entire work to a different company which then modifies the extension to suit their agenda. This could be by adding tracking scripts, advert scripts, and a lot more codes that are not wanted.
Interesting Read : Net Neutrality and your privacy
Since you can never be too careful with extensions, it is best to be vigilant at all times even when an extension is deemed to be safe for use. Ways in which you can use google chrome extensions and stay safe are:
- Ponder on the reason for the download and be sure that you really need the extension
- Do proper research before download and ask yourself if there is a large user base for the extension. Was the google chrome extension built by a developer that is trustworthy? Are there any reviews for the extension? And if yes what do they say?
- Monitor the performance of your computer and take note of changes that may follow. These changes could include seeing ads you have no business with, pages loading slowly all of a sudden, and the general lag of your computer.
2. How to Remove Google Chrome Extensions Manually
The following steps can be used to remove chrome extensions;
#1: while in chrome, click on the menu icon at the top right hand of the screen.
#2: from the drop-down, go to more tools and select extensions
#3: clicking on extensions will show you a list of all chrome extensions that you have installed. To delete an extension, click on the trash can icon that can be found on the right side of the extension.
#4: a confirmation message will pop up asking if you are sure to remove the extension. Click remove to proceed.
If the extension you would like to remove has an icon in your chrome toolbar, you can right-click on the icon and select the remove from the chrome option. This will remove the extension and is a faster way to delete an extension.
If after deleting your chrome extensions, you miss them and want to get one or more back, you can simply go to the chrome web store, search for the extension and download it again.
How to Uninstall and Remove Dropbox for both Windows and Mac
Dropbox is a popular cloud service that allows you to store and share files. There are other services but Dropbox has been the most popular and due to the rising concern about the privacy of files on Dropbox, people are now opting for other cloud services. If you feel the need to choose another cloud storage service and want to delete Dropbox from your computer, the steps in this guide will be of great help to you.
Is Dropbox Safe?
Dropbox is an online file hosting service that allows its users to upload, store, and share their files. Dropbox is a free service and it also demands a lot of information from you as you make use of their service. The information collected includes:
- Your account information which includes your name, email address, payment info, physical address, and phone number.
- User upload information which includes information that relates to your uploaded files like location tags, and also the contact of the people you share the files with.
- Usage information which includes the model of your device, the web browser you use, and your IP address.
- Dropbox makes use of cookies so that your login information can be remembered and also to learn about your interactions as you use the service. This information gotten is used to improve their services for a better experience.
While Dropbox reserves the right to share your information with anyone else, those who may get the information they collect from you include third parties in affiliation with Dropbox and law enforcement agencies. Dropbox tries to ensure that all your details and secure and that you get privacy by their use of two-step verification. But you too should be conscious of your security and try to ponder on the following questions before you make use of Dropbox service:
Can you trust that their employees will not access your files unless they are authorized to do so?
Are you okay with Dropbox giving your information to third parties?
Do you really trust that Dropbox can secure your files away from the attacks of hackers?
How to Delete Dropbox on Windows?
Windows 10
#1: click on ‘start menu’ and from the list of programs, locate Dropbox
#2: right-click on ‘Dropbox’ and click on ‘uninstall’
#3: go to the programs and features window and select Dropbox. Click on uninstall
#4: follow the proceeding instructions to complete the process
Windows 8
#1: click on ‘start menu’ and in the search bar type in ‘control panel’
#2: select ‘programs’ and click on the ‘uninstall a program’ option
#3: Select Dropbox and click ‘uninstall’
#4: Follow the instructions that come after to complete the process
Windows Vista and Windows 7
#1: click on ‘start menu’ and open the ‘control panel’
#2: Under the option ‘programs’ click on ‘uninstall a program’
#3: select the Dropbox option and click ‘uninstall’
#4: follow the proceeding instructions to complete the process
How to Uninstall and Delete Dropbox on Mac?
#1: from your menu bar, click on the ‘Dropbox icon’ and then click on the ‘gear icon’
#2: Click on ‘preferences’
#3: Click on ‘account’ and then click on ‘unlink this Dropbox’
#4: go back to the menu bar and click on the Dropbox icon and gearbox icon
#5: click on ‘quit Dropbox’
#6: drag the Dropbox icon and drop it in the trash
How to Delete Your Facebook Account Permanently?
Facebook is a social media platform that has a whopping 1.59 billion users and more. The statistics of users are at an ever-increasing rate having an average of five new accounts and profiles created every second, and 300 million photos being uploaded every day. Facebook has been around for long and has become an important part of people’s lives and daily routine so it can be terrifying to want to give it up. But what if you wanted to? Is it actually possible?
For those who need to leave Facebook for the greater good of better privacy, this guide will show you just how you can gain a little more internet privacy by deleting your Facebook account. Note that once your account is deleted, it is gone permanently. If you want to step away from Facebook for just a while, then you should deactivate your account.
Facebook’s Privacy Policy
Have you ever considered how private and secure Facebook is? Do you know that Facebook collects and saves your information for a number of reasons? The following are the types of information Facebook gets from you;
- Your basic information which includes your name, phone number, and email address
- The information concerning the content you create and share on Facebook. It also includes information about what you create and share and who you share it with. Facebook also collects information that another user shares about you like a photo of you.
- Facebook collects information about the groups and people you are connected to like contact information you upload or sync or import from your device.
- Facebook collects and saves payment information. They get this information if you make a transaction through any of their services and the details they collect include your card number and billing address.
- Facebook makes use of links and cookies to create a better user experience for you. They observe how you relate with links and use cookies to know what you prefer. They also monitor your device and the OS you use to access their services.
How Facebook Uses Your Information
Facebook doesn’t just collect your information but they also make use of it in a number of ways;
- Advertising: Facebook will match your information with that of targeted ads to show you promotions and brands that may be of interest to you.
- Share to third parties: Facebook is affiliated with a number of third parties and they share some of your information with these parties when necessary. An example of this is if you play a game that has the option of using Facebook to sign in. choosing that option will give the game developer access to your information as well as data on your interaction with friends who play the game too.
- Personalized user experience: based on the data collected on your interaction on Facebook, you will get different suggestions for events and new friends to connect with.
Is Facebook Safe To Use?
Yes, Facebook is safe to use especially as you have control over the amount of information that you can share. No matter how safe it is, however, being vigilant and careful in your use of Facebook is the best way to protect yourself from security breaches.
Downloading Your Facebook Info
Before you proceed to delete your Facebook account, you may want to download your information. If you are this category, here is how to go about it:
#1: go to the Facebook settings page
#2: go to the bottom of the page and click on ‘download a copy of your Facebook data’
#3: click on ‘start my archive’ and provide the necessary information when asked.
Once you have completed this process, you will receive an email of your personal archive when it is ready.
Delete Your Facebook Account
#1: Visit the Facebook link to delete your account
#2: read the information that will pop up so you can understand the consequences of your action before you proceed to click on ‘delete my account’
#3: some verification processes will be required and after you have completed them, click on ‘okay’.
That’s all it takes to delete your Facebook account permanently.
Uninstalling Facebook Messenger
Before you proceed to delete Facebook messenger, you have to understand that your messages and conversations with the other party will remain. There are some permissions Facebook messenger requires for you to enjoy all of its functions. These permissions include:
- Microphone permission: as part of communicating with a friend, you may need to make a voice call or video call from the app. Facebook messenger will need to gain access to your phone’s microphone for this to be possible.
- Contact permission: you will need to grant this permission if you want to make use of the messenger app to call a contact, or add a contact to your phone as a messenger contact.
- Camera permission: you need to grant this permission so that Facebook messenger can access your camera and you can then take photos or make video calls using the app.
Is Facebook Messenger Safe?
Facebook messenger is safe to use because of its ability to allow you to send secret and encrypted messages. This doesn’t mean you have to be careless with your use of the service as you need to stay vigilant and be careful of the information you share.
Deleting Facebook Messenger for Android
#1: From your home screen, go-to apps and select ‘google play store’ by tapping on the icon
#2: while in the play store, search for ‘Facebook messenger’
#3: from the search results, tap on the Facebook messenger icon
#4: click on ‘uninstall’ option in the page that opens
#5: a confirmation message will pop up asking you if you want to uninstall the app. Click on ‘ok’ and with that Facebook messenger will be deleted from your phone.
Deleting Facebook Messenger from IOS
#1: press and hold on the Facebook messenger icon from the home screen until you see the icon shake
#2: a small “X” will appear at the top left corner of the icon at this point. Tap it.
#3: you will be asked to confirm the deletion of the app. Tap ‘delete’ and with that Facebook messenger will be deleted from your phone.
How to Remove Your Device from ‘Find My iPhone’, ‘Find My Ipad’, and ‘Find My Mac’ List
If you are no longer using an IOS device, you may want to remove it from ‘find my device’ list so as not to cause unnecessary alarms. Ensure that you clear out all your data from your phone of you will be selling it or giving it out to ensure that your privacy stays secure. You can do this by following the arrow: Settings > General > Reset > Erase all content. In this guide, you will learn how to remove your device from the Find my iPhone/iPad/mac list.
Find My iPhone and Your Privacy
The ‘find my iPhone/iPad/mad’ option makes use of your device’s location to enable you to track it down. You might get worried because of this as the app could share your location even when you are not in need of this feature. This is nothing to be concerned about as apple has some features put in place to ensure privacy. Some of their promises include:
- Location data is only sent when requested. If you do not make this request, no data regarding your location will be recorded or even sent.
- The last known location of your device is a piece of encrypted information that is stored in Apple’s servers for 24 hours after which it will be deleted permanently.
- Lost mode data is stored on a lost mode device and can only be retrieved if you request for it.
- After 15 minutes of inactivity, you will be signed out of finding my phone
- With the use of a remote lock, you can lock your phone’s screen and prevent unauthorized usage by others
- You can also make use of remote wipe to permanently erase your data from your device
- Even if you are using family sharing, your device’s location will be shared with family members if you choose to, and not automatically.
How to Remove Find My iPhone And Find My IPad
Since the steps to remove a device from finding my iPhone and find my iPad are the same, we will make use of an iPhone as an example in this guide.
#1: Tap on the Settings icon from your home screen
#2: scroll and locate iCloud from the settings menu
#3: from the iCloud menu, tap on ‘Find my iPhone’ if it is an iPhone or ‘find my iPad’ if it is an iPad
#4: you will see a switch that toggles ‘find my iPhone’ on and off from the find my iPhone menu. Put the switch off.
#5: put in your Apple ID password and then tap ‘turn off’ to confirm
After doing this your device will have been removed from the find my iPhone list.
How to Remove Your Mac Device from Find My Mac
#1: click on ‘Apple menu’ and then click on ‘system preferences’
#2: from the system’s preference menu, click on ‘iCloud’
#3: Click on ‘find my mac’ checkbox from the iCloud settings menu to deselect it
#4: enter your mac password to confirm your request.
Having followed these steps, you will have your device no longer under find my mac list
Security Tips for Apple Devices
The find my iPhone/iPad/mac feature allows you to locate your device and remotely delete your data or lock your screen. This is a great feature as it allows you a level of security and to further ensure that your data stays safe, here are some things you need to do:
- Make use of a passcode: making use of a passcode is the easiest form of security but it is very important. It undoubtedly has a level of inconvenience attached to it and for this reason, many people keep it out but do you know what it implies? Not having a passcode set leaves your data accessible to anyone who picks up your phone. When choosing a passcode, go for one that will be difficult to guess, and that does not include your personal details.
- Make use of touch ID: this is an added security feature and it makes it more convenient for you to access your phone while retaining its security. The good thing about the use of touch ID is that Apple does not store the image of your fingerprint so you alone have the access to your device.
- Make your Apple ID secure: your Apple ID gives you access to all of Apple’s services and as such it should be very secure. You need to change it often to make it more difficult for someone else to gain access and you also need to adhere to the following safety practices; make sure your Apple ID has at least one letter, has at least one capital letter, doesn’t not have a consecutive order of identical characters, contains at least one number, is not the same as your account name, has not been used in the past year, is not a common password, and has at least 8 characters.
- Set up security questions: answering security questions are alternative ways of getting into your Apple account. Making the answers hard to guess and unique are ways in which you can prevent unauthorized entry to your account.
- Make use of two-step verification: enabling two-step verification allows Apple to send a verification code to one of your trusted devices each time changes are to be made on your device. This adds a layer of protection to your device and the data in it and it helps you guard against phishing and password related scams.
How to Delete Your Gmail Account Permanently
If you have any reason for wanting to delete your Gmail account, we will take you through everything you need to know in this guide from start to finish. Take note that after you delete your Gmail account, all your emails will also be deleted but will still exist in the accounts of the people you sent and received messages from unless they too have deleted their accounts. After you have deleted your account, any email sent to that address will simply bounce back.
6 Considerations to Be Made Before Deleting Your Gmail Account
1 . You Will No Longer Have Access to the Account
Once your Gmail account has been deleted, you will not have any form of access to it again. This means you won’t be able to send messages or receive any more. To avoid any issues in the future, it is better you inform all those concerned about this action before carrying it out.
2. You May Lose Access to Third-Party Services That Are Linked To Your Gmail Account
Most accounts are linked to our emails and if you have an account that is linked with your Gmail account, you might find that you do not have access to the services you get by that link anymore. So before you delete your Gmail account, make sure to update with those accounts so you do not miss out on the services you would normally benefit.
The following are scenarios you could face if you delete your Gmail without first making an update with the other accounts:
First scenario: your Gmail account is usually associated with your social media accounts and it is necessary for you to get notifications and reset your password when necessary. If you delete your Gmail you may find that you can’t reset your password or even recover your social media account.
Second scenario: if your Gmail account is linked to your bank account, you may get a hard time staying abreast with updates from your bank and account notifications.
All of these scenarios can be prevented of course if you update another means of contact before deleting your Gmail.
3. You Should Consider Having a Backup of All Your Emails
Before you permanently delete your Gmail account, it may be wise to have a backup of your email downloaded for future references. You can learn to do this by following this guide. If your aim is to cancel every trace of information from your Gmail, then this may not be applicable to you.
4. Deleting Your Gmail Account Doesn’t Make Your Old Email Username Available For Use
After you delete your Gmail account, nobody will be able to make use of it, not even you. This is to prevent impersonation and keep your identity secure.
5. Deleting Your Gmail Account Doesn’t Affect Your Google Account
Deleting your Gmail account will not disassociate your google account with your search history and other things like your YouTube account.
6. It Is Not Impossible To Recover Your Gmail Account But the Window Is Limited
If you change your mind after deleting your account and you want to recover your Gmail account, you should know that you have a few weeks to do it before it is permanently gone. You can find out how to recover your deleted Gmail account by following this guide.
Deleting Your Gmail Account
#1: You need to first sign in to your Google account by going here and then click on the ‘sign in’ option.
#2: You will be given an interface to input your account login details. Put them in and then click on ‘sign in’.
#3: Go to ‘my account’ and under account preferences, click on ‘delete your account or services’
#4: Click on ‘delete products’
#5: You will be asked to re-enter your password. Re-enter your password and click on ‘sign in’
#6: You will see a trash can icon beside your Gmail account. Click on it
#7: Put in a new primary email and enter your current password and then click on ‘remove Gmail’
#8: A message will come up telling you to open your primary email. Click on ‘ok, got it’
#9: Open your email and open the Gmail removal confirmation mail. Click on the confirmation link
#10: You will then be asked to confirm that you want to delete Gmail from your Google account. Entering your password at this point confirms it and once you do that, click on ‘confirm’.
#11: A confirmation message will come up and it looks like this;
With this, your Gmail account has been deleted and you can now live your life with a new level of internet privacy.
How to Delete Your Google History
As long as you have made use of a smartphone, and you have a google account, Google knows a lot about you. Your google activity knows everything you have ever searched for, every coworker you have tried to hit on, and can even predict every smartphone you have considered buying. If you want to permanently delete your google history and clear off your browser history and search from showing up every time you try to type something in the search bar, then this guide is for you.
You need to know that there is a difference between clearing your browser history and clearing your google web and activity history. Clearing your browser history only clears up the data from your computer and has nothing on your data that is stored in Google servers.
1 . Your Online Activities Should Be Your Privacy
Everyone has the right to their own privacy and what you do online should not be monitored except with your permission of course and that is what we believe in; online privacy and anonymity. Unless your Google activity isn’t active, all of your searches and browsing history is being stored in Google’s server. Every link you have followed, every image you have clicked on, every search you have made, every address you have typed in, google knows all.
Interesting Read : The Top 10 best browsers for privacy and security in 2020
When putting together, these data can be used to create a profile about you that contains your age, your gender, the languages you speak, and also your general interest. With such profile, search results and ads are filtered so that what you see is based on your preferences. It is a clever move to give you a better user experience but it is also an invasion of your privacy nonetheless.
You Can Back up Your Data before You Delete It
Google has had a feature that allows you to download your data from their server since April 2015. So if you feel uncomfortable leaving your search and browsing data stored online, you can delete and disable it but you can also download it for yourself first.
2. How to Download Your Google Data
With Google’s takeout feature, you can download your data from all of Google’s products that you use. This includes your Google search history, chrome, google maps, google photos, Gmail, and other products. This guide will teach you how to download all your data using takeout.
#1: go to download your data page on google takeout and select the data you would want to download. By default, you will see that all of the boxes are marked. Select ‘next’
#2: you will now select your archive format and delivery method. Select ‘create archive’ to proceed. Note that here we went with the default setting
#3: when the archiving process is done, you will get a notification and in this example, an email was received with a link to download the archive.
Having downloaded your archive, you may now proceed to delete your Google history
3. How to Delete Your Google History
With the following steps, you can delete data on all your google activities that include searches, videos, and ads you have clicked on.
#1: go to the ‘my activity’ page and select the three vertical dots at the top right hand of the page. Then from the drop-down select ‘delete activity by’
#2: change the date from ‘today’ and choose ‘all-time’. Select ‘all products’ from the resulting drop-down and then select ‘delete’.
#3: Google will at this point tell you how it makes use of your data to provide a better service to you. Select ‘ok’.
#4: Google will ask to confirm if you really want to delete your activity. Select ‘delete’.
#5: your screen should now look like this:
At this point, you have completely deleted your google search history.
4. How to Stop Google from Saving Your Online Activity
There is no provision made for you to permanently disable Google from saving your activity, but you can pause the action with the following steps:
#1: go to ‘activity controls page’ and you will see the ‘web & app activity’ section. Slide the switch to the left putting it off.
#2: Google will want to know if you would like to pause your web & app activity. Select the ‘pause’ option.
#3: if your web & app activity is paused, the screen should state the same and the toggle should be grey.
#4: if you want to pause google from logging all your activities on google apps and services, slide all the switches to the left. It is advisable that you read the important information for each item before you pause each step.
After doing this, google won’t save your online data anymore.
5. The Consequences of Deleting and Disabling Your Google Search History
Deleting your Google search history has some consequences and you need to understand them. Google personalizes your search results using your search activity. So what this implies, for instance, is that if you frequently search for recipes and click on links from a particular recipe website than other websites, then Google will rank that website above other websites whenever you search for recipes.
This makes it easier for you to find your favorite site and deleting and disabling your search history will result in a broader and less specific result when you search.
6. Deleting and Disabling Your Google Search History Doesn’t Make You Invincible
Even if you delete and disable your google search history, you will not be invincible to google. This is especially so if you still have a google account for google apps and services like Gmail and YouTube.
You can try to stay hidden to an extent by avoiding the use of google apps and services and make use of search engines that do not save and track your search activity. Examples of such search engines are DuckDuckGo and Startpage.
How to Delete Your Google Photos
Google photos together with Instagram and Facebook are all great platforms to save and share your photos. This implies that your photos will be available and accessible online so if you are worried about this and have great concern for your internet privacy, then this guide will help you delete your google photos.
How Google Photos Affects Your Privacy
Google photo is a service that offers you unlimited storage and file backup for your photos and videos. The app makes it easy for you to store your memories online but you should read the Google terms of service before taking the step.
Even though google states that your permission will be gotten before your content will be used for any commercial or advertising purpose, you should take note that Google uses your information to know your preferences and show you targeted ads. If you do not want to see personalized ads, follow this link.
Google photos are safe to use and you can be sure that they protect your content. But before you make use of their services, you should ponder on questions like how much do you trust Google photos to keep your data safe? And are you really okay with giving up some level of internet privacy for convenience if media storage?
How to Delete Photos from Your Device
This guide will show you how to delete your photos from your device, but with a backup stored in the cloud.
#1: go to apps and open google photos
#2: Tap on the menu icon > settings > back up and sync
#3: put the backup and sync switch on
#4: go back to the main screen of the photos app. You will have to wait for back up to be complete and the time depends on the number of photos you have.
#5: from the main screen of the app tap on the menu icon again and then settings > free up device storage and then follow the instruction promptly.
#6: if you want to view your photos that are backed up to the cloud, go to the ‘photos’ part of your google photos app.
Delete Photos from Your Device and Google Accounts
Following this guide will delete your photos from google photos and every other device that syncs with your photos library.
#1: go to your apps and open google photos
#2: Tap on the menu icon > settings > back up and sync
#3: put on the switch for back up and sync
#4: tap and hold the photo you want to delete to select it. Do this for every photo you want to delete.
#5: After selecting the photos you want to delete, tap the trash icon to confirm the delete.
How to Restore Deleted Google Photos
If you accidentally marked and deleted some photos you love, you don’t have to panic as you can recover them back. All photos deleted within 60 days can be recovered and here is how to go about it:
#1: go to your phone apps and open google photos
#2: Tap on the menu icon > trash. You will find all your recently deleted photos here.
#3: tap and hold the photos you want to recover to select them, and then tap on restore.
How to Delete Your Hard Drive Browsing History
Deleting your browser history is a commonly used approach to keeping your internet privacy secure as it helps keep your personal data safe. You can even take the step further by deleting the entire search history on your hard drive by following this guide.
Why Do You Need To Delete Your Search History From Your Hard Drive?
Your browser history could be kept private just by deleting your search history, but for someone who knows what he is doing, this act alone is not enough to ensure your privacy. The following are reasons why you may need to delete your hard drive search history:
- Clearing your browser history for a particular browser only clears it for that browser and if you have more than one browser, you will have to repeat the process.
- Clearing up the search history on your hard drive also clears up space.
It is very easy to do, doesn’t take time, and you do not need any special software to help you with the process.
How to Delete Your Hard Drive Search History
#1: in your computer’s search bar type run and click on the result ‘run’.
#2: in the text box that follows, type ‘Regedit’ and click on ‘ok’
#3: the user account dialogue box will now come up. Click on ‘yes’ to proceed.
#4: Open the following folders in the registry editor; HKEY_CURRENT_USER > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Internet Explorer > TypedURLs
#5: on each entry, right-click and then click on ‘delete’. If you are asked to confirm delete click on ‘yes’.
This does not permanently shut out your hard drive from filling up with search results, so repeat this process every once in a while.
How to Delete Your Instagram Account Permanently
No one can deny the thrill that comes with sharing those moments you have with your friends and other followers on Instagram, but doing so takes away a bit of your internet privacy. Instagram is a social network that sees a tremendous growth of 1 billion users monthly and if you are thinking twice and considering leaving the platform, this guide will show you how. Have it at the back of your mind that when you delete your Instagram account, you will lose all your pictures and videos uploaded to the platform and once deleted it can’t be reactivated. So if you are not sure of taking a permanent action, you can just temporarily disable your account.
Instagram’s Privacy Policy
If you are wondering about just how private Instagram is, and about any other information it may collect from you apart from your photos and videos, then you are not alone. Instagram collects information about you and they include:
- Basic information for your account like your name, email address, phone number, username, and password.
- Information on the content you post like the photos and comments
- Information on communication between you and Instagram in the form of service-related emails and account notifications.
- Instagram can also get information about the type of device you use to access the service with the use of device identifiers.
- Instagram also makes use of cookies to monitor your usage of their service
How Does Instagram Use Your Information?
Instagram collects your information and makes use of it in any of the following ways:
- For Advertising: Instagram will make use of the information they have gathered about you to show you targeted ads.
- Shares with Third Party: Instagram and Facebook are owned by the same company and work with other third party services. These services include advertising and your data from Instagram may be shared with those third party services. Apart from sharing your data with the third party, Instagram may need to submit your information to law enforcement if there is a need for an investigation.
- Personalized Experience: with the cookies Instagram use to monitor your interactions, Instagram may use this data to improve your user experience by suggesting users to you or by suggesting you as a user for others.
- Product Testing: with the data Instagram collects from you, it may use it to help in product and services development.
Instagram is safe for you to use as it ensures your privacy and puts you in charge of what to share online. So to ensure your safety and privacy, stay alert and play safe.
How to Temporarily Disable Your Instagram Account
#1: you will have to log into your Instagram account from a browser and not the app because you cannot disable your Instagram account from the app.
#2: you will see a ‘my profile’ icon at the top right corner of your screen. Click on it.
#3: click on ‘edit profile’
#4: check at the bottom of the screen for a ‘temporarily disable my account’ option
How to Permanently Disable Your Instagram Account
#1: log in to your Instagram account via the web and access the delete Instagram page.
#2: you will see a text box next to ‘Why are you deleting your account’ option. Select your reason from the drop-down options.
#3: you will be asked to enter your password to confirm and then click on ‘permanently delete my account’ option.
How You Can Delete Your Internet Explorer History
If you are looking for more ways to ensure that your internet privacy is at its peak, deleting your internet explorer history frequently can help.
Why Is It Important That You Delete Your Internet Explorer History?
It is a healthy habit to frequently delete your browser history and it goes without saying. It is unfortunate that some people do not know what they stand to benefit by doing this, and so we bring you the benefits of deleting your internet explorer history regularly:
- It gives you more space on your hard drive
- It prevents the buildup of temporary files on your computer that over time slows down your PC
- It effectively combats cache corruption
- It prevents others from seeing what you have been doing online especially if the computer you are using is shared.
How to Delete Your Internet Explorer History
#1: launch your internet explorer browser and click on the gear icon, after which you select ‘safety’.
#2: click on ‘delete browsing history’ in the menu that appears after you click on ‘safety’
#3: a checkbox will come up and you have to check every box except ‘preserve favorites website data’. After checking all other boxes, click ‘delete’.
How to Delete Your Pokémon Go Account
Pokémon go is at the top of mobile games with over 20 million users from the US alone. If you are worried that having a Pokémon go account compromises the internet privacy you are keen about, then this guide is for you as it will show you how to remove your Pokémon go account. Note that removing your account will cause you to lose all your game data and you can’t reverse it.
How Pokémon Go Handles Your Privacy
The following are the types of information Pokémon go gets from you:
- They get basic information from you for your account. These include your name, birthday, Gmail, and your Pokémon trainer club email.
- They also make use of cookies to monitor your interaction with the network and to identify you.
- With device identifiers, they can determine the type of device you are using to access the game and your settings too.
- Your location and username will also be collected and stored on the server.
Interesting Read : 5 macOS privacy measures you need to take now
What Does Pokémon Go Use Your Information For?
Niantic (the developers of Pokémon go) collect your information and only share it when necessary with the following:
- Third parties: third party service providers work in collaboration with Niantic to bring Pokémon to go to you. So while playing the game, it is possible that your information is shared with these companies for research and the provision of better services.
- Pokémon Company: while signing up for Pokémon go, the information you enter may be shared with the Pokémon Company and Niantic is not responsible for what happens with that information.
- Legal bodies: the information collected from you may be given to law enforcement bodies in the case of an investigation involving you.
- Other businesses: if Niantic gets involves in businesses with another company, or gets bought by another company, your information may be transferred to the other company as part of the agreement.
It is not compulsory to provide Pokémon go with all the information they may ask, but it is necessary if you want to enjoy all the features of the game.
Is It Safe To Play Pokémon Go?
Generally, Pokémon go is safe to play and it all depends on how security conscious you are. So to ensure that your privacy is secure, be careful of the information you provide online when you play the game.
They have been incidents of players being mugged by criminals who pretend to offer rare Pokémon. Incidents like this are possible in a game that collects your information including your location. So to be safe, do not play alone and be careful about your surroundings. It is a good idea to make use of a pseudonym when opening an account as a measure to stay safe.
How to Remove Your Pokémon Go Account
#1: go to the official Pokémon go support website and access the Pokémon go profile deletion request form.
#2: Check all boxes marked with red asterisks and answer all the questions.
#3: if you are deleting an account for a child under 13, check the appropriate box.
#4: before you submit the form, click on the box that asks you to verify that you are human.
#5: click on ‘submit’ and your request to delete your profile will be submitted.
How to Remove Safari on Your Apple Device
Apple devices come with safari installed as the default browser. Sometimes, some users have the need to delete it because they use and prefer other browsers. If you are in this category, this guide will teach you how to remove safari from your device.
Why Should You Delete Safari?
Safari has all it takes to guarantee your safety and speed as you browse, but usually, you may have the need to delete it for one or more of the following reasons;
- If you prefer browsers that have more safety updates
- If you prefer browsers that are much more customizable
- Safari has trouble sometimes with Google’s built-in search
- If you want to clear up drive space
How to Remove Safari on Mac
If you want to ensure that safari is thoroughly uninstalled from your Mac, then you should make use of CleanMyMac 3. You should use this software because;
- Simply dragging safari into the trash will not delete remnant files from your system
- Using the command line to remove safari is likely to remove other files that are necessary to the operation of your mac, resulting in malfunctions.
#1: download CleanMyMac
#2: double click on the .dmg file in the folder where you downloaded the software to install
#3: drag the CleanMyMac 3 icon into the applications folder
#4; from your applications folder, click twice on CleanMyMac to launch the application
#5: After launching CleanMyMac, go to applications and drag safari into CleanMyMac.
#6: click ‘remove’ after selecting all files
How to Remove Safari on iPhone and IPad
Safari is an important IOS application and so it is not possible to delete it. You can only erase the data and then disable it.
Erasing Safari Data on Your Phone
#1: tap on settings icon from your home screen
#2: after settings have been launched, locate safari and tap it
#3: under safari settings, tap ‘clear history and website data’
#4: tap ‘clear history and data’ when you will be asked to confirm
Disabling Safari on Your Phone
#1: tap on settings from your home screen
#2: tap on general from the settings menu
#3: from ‘general’, tap ‘restrictions’
#4: you will be asked to enter your passcode after which you will see all restrictions that exist on your phone. Go to safari and put the switch off.
How to Delete Your Snapchat Account
Snapchat is fun and one of the highly used social media platforms today. You can send an occasional goofy pic to a friend and choose from a range of filters to make it even more interesting. As fun as it all is, you may want to take a break from it all and in this guide, we will teach you how to delete your Snapchat account. If you have second thoughts after deleting the account, you are in luck as Snapchat allows you a period of 30 days within which you can recover your account.
Snapchat’s Privacy Policy
It is always advisable that you read and understand Snapchat’s privacy policy before you even begin you take and share snaps with friends. Generally, Snapchat collects this information from you:
- Your personal information which you submit for your profile to be created.
- When you make use of the platform, Snapchat also collects information that includes the content you share, the phone you use, your contact list, and others.
- Snapchat works with other third parties to give you good service. This implies that Snapchat shares your information with these third parties and also gets information from these third parties so that a better profile of you can be created.
It is also worthy to note that Snapchat makes use of the information they collect about you to improve your user experience by personalizing your experience on Snapchat and also show you targeted ads. Your information collected and the content you post may be used for commercial purposes, but you have control over the amount of information that is available online.
How to Delete Your Snapchat Account
#1: visit the Snapchat delete account link with a web browser
#2: log in to your Snapchat account by entering your username and password
#3: check the box that confirms that you are not a robot and then click on ‘log in’
#4: you will be taken to ‘manage my account’ page. Click on ‘delete my account’ option
#5: you will be asked to provide your Snapchat username and password again to confirm the action. After providing the details, click on ‘delete account’
How to Delete Your Tinder Account
Tinder is a well-known app when it comes to the matchmaking industry and has made about 9 billion matches since its inception. Matchmaking uses your details and private information so you can find someone who is best for you and so with all that information lying on the internet, you may get concerned about your internet privacy. If you are in that category and you are considering stepping back, this guide will show you how to delete your tinder account.
Your Privacy and Tinder
Tinder is a free service that makes use of your location to offer good service. It allows users to have access to each other’s information so they can make a choice and begin a conversation with whoever appeals to them most.
To create an accurate profile for you, tinder collects a lot of information on you and these includes:
- Your name, address, phone number, and email address.
- Information on a valid Facebook account
- Your specific location at the time you make use of the app
- The pictures and videos you upload on the app
Apart from making use of this information to get a perfect match for you, tinder also makes use of this information to target ads to you and for other purposes too. Before you make use of tinder, here are some questions you should consider answering:
- To what extent do you trust tinder with your personal information?
- Would you be okay if tinder makes use of your information as a revenue source?
- Do you think it is worth giving up your internet privacy to meet new people online?
- Would you be fine with the risks involved when you meet your match in person?
How to Delete Your Tinder Account
Unlike most social media accounts, tinder account deletion takes place within the app and you can do this with the following steps:
#1: go to your apps and open the tinder app
#2: while in the app, tap on the ‘profile icon’ at the top left of your screen to have access to your profile.
#3: while in your profile, tap ‘settings’
#4: go to the bottom of your settings screen and you will find the ‘delete account’ option. Tap it.
#5: a confirmation will come up asking you if you really want to delete your account. Tap on ‘delete’
How to Delete Your Twitter Account
Twitter has around 6,000 tweets per second and is a great way to get breaking news as someone is already tweeting about it once it happens. These send a lot of information and content your way on a daily basis but having a twitter account puts you out there on the internet. So if you want a little more internet privacy and have made up your mind to delete your twitter account, this guide will help you with that. Note that you cannot retrieve your twitter account once deleted.
Twitter’s Privacy Policy
Before you begin your journey on twitter, it is advisable that you take some time to know a little about how twitter handles your privacy.
The information twitter collects about you includes:
- Your name, email address, username, password, and phone number too.
- If you upload your address book on Twitter or sync it with twitter, they will have a copy of all your contacts. Also, if you send a mail to any of twitter’s services they will retain any information in the mail.
- If you share your location in a tweet, twitter will also have that information
- If you make any transaction through any of twitter’s services, they will have your payment information stored on their server. You have the option of deleting such information at any time.
- Twitter makes use of cookies to learn about how you interact with the platform and know your preferences. They also get information on the device you use, its operating system, and also the web browser you use.
How Twitter Uses This Information
- For Advertising: after collecting your information, twitter may use it to send targeted ads to you.
- Share to third parties: twitter will always ask for your permission if your information needs to be shared. Exceptions to this are in cases where law enforcement is involved or the company involved in some sort of agreement where all data has to be shared with the other party.
Twitter is safe for your use but beware that whatever you share on twitter may be viewed all around the world. So to ensure you are safe, be safe and alert as you use the platform.
How You Can Download Your Twitter Archive
If you wish to download all your data from twitter before deleting your account and everything with it, here is how:
#1: with a web browser visit the twitter website and log into your account with your twitter username and password
#2: at the top right hand of your screen you will see your profile picture. Click on it and then click on ‘settings and privacy’
#3: On the page find and click on ‘Request your archive’
#4: you will be notified that your request has been received and that you will get an email when your archive is ready for your download.
#5: once you get the email, follow the link to download your archive.
How to Delete Your Twitter Account
#1: go to twitter and log into your account using your username and password.
#2: click on your profile picture at the top right hand of your browser, and then click on ‘settings and privacy’
#3: At the bottom of the settings page you will find ‘deactivate my account’ option. Click on it.
#4: read the information that will be shown to you and then click on ‘deactivate’
#5: To confirm the deletion, you will be asked to enter your twitter username and password.
How to Delete WhatsApp
With over 1 billion users, it is an understatement to say that WhatsApp is a popular chat app. The platform sees over 700 million daily uses and this includes pictures and videos being shared between users. Even though WhatsApp has made efforts to ensure that their encryption and security is top-notch, some users are not still comfortable using the platform as they choose to maintain a high level of online privacy. If you are in this category and you want to delete your WhatsApp messenger, this guide will take you through everything.
WhatsApp’s Privacy Policy
WhatsApp collects the following types of information from its users;
- It collects basic information from you like your name, profile picture, and your mobile phone number.
- It also collects the names and mobile phone numbers of your contacts
- WhatsApp gets information about the device and operating system you use, IP address and also your browser information.
- WhatsApp keeps tabs on your usage. It stores information about when you are online when last you were online, and also when last you update your status.
- They make use of cookies to monitor your use of their platform and learn your preferences.
- If you have contacted their customer support, you may have provided some personal details and some of your WhatsApp messages. WhatsApp may store this information.
How WhatsApp Makes Use of the Information They Get From You?
When WhatsApp collects information from you, they use it to help you when you reach out to their customer service. They also make use of this information to improve their service to you. Furthermore, they make use of the information to send marketing information about themselves or their affiliated companies.
WhatsApp may also share your information with the following when necessary:
- Your contacts: your contacts may choose to store any message you send to them, or delete it if they so wish.
- Third-party: WhatsApp may share your information with the third-party service providers they work with. This is to ensure you get better services at all times and the information shared is in accordance with their privacy policy, or with your own permission. WhatsApp may also allow you to communicate with third-party businesses.
Does WhatsApp Store My Messages?
WhatsApp deletes your messages once they are sent. The only situation in which WhatsApp stores your message is when they are not sent and this is because WhatsApp tries to resend the message. If it is not still delivered to the recipient in 30 days, WhatsApp will delete the message from their server.
Is WhatsApp Safe?
WhatsApp is safer to use now with the introduction of end-to-end encryption. This encryption has made WhatsApp very secure and to ensure further security, consider the following measures;
- Be careful of the information you share while chatting
- Always upgrade to the latest version of WhatsApp when it becomes available
- Use a VPN if possible for additional privacy
How to Delete WhatsApp on Android
#1: go to your apps and tap on ‘google play store’
#2: search for ‘WhatsApp Messenger’ once in the play store
#3: select WhatsApp messenger from the search results to open the WhatsApp page on play store
#4: tap on ‘uninstall’ on WhatsApp’s play store page
#5: when asked to confirm the deletion, tap ‘ok’ and WhatsApp will be deleted from your phone.
How to Delete WhatsApp for IOS
#1: slide your home screen until you get to the WhatsApp icon. Tap and hold it until the icons start to shake.
#2: tap on a small ‘x’ at the top left corner of the icon to delete the app.
#3: tap ‘delete’ when asked to confirm the deletion.
How to Delete Your Yahoo Mail Account
You may have heard of or been involved in any of the two yahoo hacks in the past. Yahoo was a victim of an attack in august 2013 and 3 billion yahoo accounts were affected. Another hack took place in late 2014 and this affected 500 million accounts. If you are worried about your privacy and are considering deleting your yahoo mail account, this guide will be of help to you.
Yahoo Mail and Privacy Risks
Yahoo is free and provides you with the basic tools a modern webmail client should have for all its users. Once you sign up for yahoo mail, you are giving the right to yahoo to analyze all your communication. This analysis includes both your mail and messenger content.
Yahoo analyzes content to easily identify spam and malware and also to be able to provide relevant product features to you.
Yahoo is safe for your use as they guarantee that your personal data will not be targeted during analysis but to ensure that you have maximum privacy, make use of other more private channels for communication.
Interesting Read : Privacy Checklist – A Beginner’s Quick Start to Online Privacy
What You Should Know Before You Delete Your Account
Deleting your yahoo account will take away all your access to yahoo services and products. If you want to delete your account, you should:
- Have your yahoo account password handy
- Delete any accounts linked to yours
- Have it at the back of your mind that once you delete your account you can’t reverse it
How to Delete Your Yahoo Account
#1: go to yahoo account deletion page and sign in using your email and password. You may be asked to provide an account verification code also.
#2: After you have verified your yahoo ID and read the warning, enter your yahoo password again.
#3: scroll down and enter a code that may be either video or visual. If you cannot hear or see the present code clearly, you may request for another.
#4: click on ‘terminate this account’ option.
Conclusion
Your internet privacy is very difficult to maintain with all the information online accounts have of you. A good step to ensure that your information is not online anymore is to delete your social media and email accounts, and also to delete your browser history and so on as explained in this guide. Staying offline and having all your data stored offline can ensure that your identity and privacy are at its peak but it doesn’t have to be that way. You may still have the need to go online for something and that is where the use of a VPN comes in. VPNs ensure that every data exchange is encrypted and your IP is hidden and safe so that you remain anonymous.
Limevpn is a great choice of VPN services and apart from the security from their encryption, and the number of IPs you can choose from in different locations, they also offer you great internet speed. So you can improve your internet security and privacy with this service and access the internet without fear.
Rachael Chapman
A Complete gamer and a Tech Geek. Brings out all her thoughts and love in writing blogs on IOT, software, technology etc
