Tech Tips: Follow these 5 steps to erase your digital footprint from the internet and avoid hacking...

Nowadays, everyone uses the internet. Just as footprints are left on sand, a digital footprint is created on the internet. Therefore, this puts you at risk of data breaches and hacking. If you wish, you can completely erase your digital footprint from the internet. To do this, you'll need to adopt measures that will either clean up data before it's leaked or prevent others from leaking it. Let's explore five ways to erase your footprint on the internet.

Delete Google Activity

The first step is to clear your Google activity. To do this, go to myactivity.google.com and log in to your Google account. Here, you'll see all your activities, such as Google Maps searches, YouTube videos, or image searches. To delete this data, click Delete activity by. A box will open with options such as Last Hour, Last Day, All Time, or Custom Range. Selecting 'All Time' will display a list of Google products you've used (such as Maps, Search, and YouTube). You can select and delete specific data.

Prevent Tracking Activities

To erase your digital footprint, prevent future activities from being tracked. Go to the Activity Control section of your Google Account. Here, turn off Web and App Activity, Location History, and YouTube History. This will prevent Google from tracking your future searches, locations, or videos.

Prevent Data Storage

After deleting old data, it's important to prevent new data from being collected. To do this, go to your Google Account Settings and turn off all activity tracking options in the 'Data & Privacy' section. This will prevent your web and app usage, location data, and YouTube history from being recorded in the background. This step further strengthens your privacy.

Set Auto-Delete

You can use the auto-delete feature, which will delete data every few months. Go to myactivity.google.com/auto-delete and select Web & App Activity, Timeline, or YouTube History. Then, in the auto-delete option, set a time limit of 3, 18, or 36 months for data to be automatically deleted.

Use a VPN

Cleaning your account is pointless if your internet connection isn't secure. Use a virtual private network (VPN) to do this. Also, choose a privacy-first search engine like DuckDuckGo, Brave Search, or Startpage, and a privacy-focused browser like Tor Browser or Firefox. Also, change your password every three to six months. This is a simple but important way to protect yourself from hackers.

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