3 Strategies for Websites Not to Catch You With Their Cookies.
A call to privacy on the web. VPNs are omitted.
We often find ourselves searching for sensitive things online, and later the websites remind us of this. Can you imagine lending your computer or phone to a family member or friend, and they find out what you were looking for online? Keep reading this article if you want to know strategies to prevent store in browser your searches, compromising visits to websites, reproduced videos, or that excellent surprise for your loved one.
By the way, cookies hosted on the browsers are responsible for remembering your activity on the Internet, to a large extent. I invite you to read my article on the role of cookies in Internet ads. It will help you understand the importance of your position about cookies.
Have you ever typed the letters “p” and “o” together in your favorite search engine? I invite you to try it to find out how much you have saved. Look at the screenshot below with the result of this little experiment.
Hey, nothing to hide 😁.
The consequences of surfing the Internet without caution or not giving importance to the trace that we leave in each click or website visited are varied. Starting with personalized ads; search suggestions, the possibility of knowing our interests; analytics for companies; construction of profiles; saving credentials, among others.
Without a doubt, cookies are a useful tool to personalize the experience when visiting a website; but, used for spying purposes or as a resource for theft of information leads to fatal consequences.
We now have essential information to weigh the application of at least one of the following strategies. The three methods I will give you do not involve downloading a program or using a VPN. Here we go.
1) Clear Browsing Data every time you finish surfing the Internet.
This strategy’s title is very descriptive for the purpose; therefore, I will describe how your experience will work before applying the method. It consists of surfing the Internet like any other day. Cookies will be enabled and collecting information. Websites will have no excuse for not working correctly. The ads you will see will undoubtedly be from the sites you visit when you use your browser. Suggestions will hardly be saved in search engines.
When you finish your workday or finish your task on the Internet, the browser will remove the information collected. This implies that every time you enter the Internet, the data will have to be collected again. A reset of everything will be done.
Now you know what you will achieve with this strategy. It is time to teach you the steps to follow to apply the strategy.
There is a settings section in browsers to manage the information that is processed in it. In Chrome and Microsoft Edge, you can locate three dots in the upper right. Clicking on these will bring up a window with many options. Select the “Settings” option.
A window with a sidebar will open. Select the “Privacy and Security” or “Privacy and Search” section. The category name can vary, but the word “Privacy” will always be there. In this new window, you will see the “Clear browsing data” section. Click on this option. A dialog box will appear asking you what you want to delete and since when. I recommend that you delete your browsing history, download history, and cookies. If it is the first time you delete this information, it will be vital to select “All time” in the time range. Then, click the “Clear Now” button.
Well, here is the first strategy to delete your trace on the Internet. If it seems a bit tedious to do it every time you finish browsing the Internet, in the second strategy, I show you how to configure it so as not to do it manually.
2) Clear cookies and browsing data on close the browser
As I mentioned above, this strategy shows how to configure your browser to automatically delete your Internet browsing data.
The first steps are the same as the previous strategy until reaching the “Privacy and Security” section. There may be a variation in the settings between browsers. Let me make a description for the Microsoft Edge browser, and then I will make one for Chrome.
In Edge, select the “Choose what to clear every time you close the browser” option. It is just below the option to remove browsing data from the previous strategy. It will open a window to choose the information we want to delete. Check the screenshot that I leave you below. It is important not to save passwords in your browser; this makes things easy for anyone who enters your computer. After enabling the options, you want, there is nothing more to do. The settings are saved automatically.
In Chrome, the option to select is “Cookies and other website data.” It is below the option to delete browsing history. The new window generated shows us very aggressive options such as “Block third-party cookies” or “Block all cookies.” As attractive as they may seem, these options would cause poor website performance. Therefore, we must enable the option “Clear cookies and website data when close Chrome.” We enable it with a simple click on the checked button.
3) Use the browser’s incognito mode
An even easier option that does not involve setting things in the browser is to use the incognito mode that each browser offers. This mode can use the cookies necessary for websites to work and delete them when the browser is closed. It does not save passwords; it does not save browsing history; it does not hold the permissions allowed to websites; searches do not associate with you, and more.
Browsing in incognito browser mode saves time setting up strategies 1 or 2 that I provided. You can use the incognito mode for those things that you don’t want to be associated with you and use the regular mode for insensitive information (like ordering some eggplants).
To enter an incognito mode in Edge and Chrome, click on the three dots at the top right of each browser window, and select the option “New Incognito Window” or “New InPrivate Window.”
Browsing incognito does not mean that you are out of reach for everyone. It means that there is information that will not be saved and will not be associated with you.
Browse responsibly. I have given you enough information so that you can choose the most suitable strategy for you. Enjoy your browsing ability. Remember that depending on the browser you use, there will be variations for the configuration that exists.
Greetings.
