Online privacy suggestions

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OutOfPlaceNinja
Posts: 49
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 3:37 pm
Location: USA

Online privacy suggestions

Post by OutOfPlaceNinja » Wed Sep 30, 2015 10:55 pm

So I was just watching Troys latest video and noticed his forum ads targeted his recent search history and I couldn't help but think he could use some tips to prevent such profiling.

I could cover the topic very well but it would hinder some of Troys earnings so I will just cover some privacy basics (and general good practices).

First off, never use IE. Get and use Firefox. Once Firefox is installed, click the little three horizontal lines in the top right corner then click on Add-ons. In the little "Search add-ons" box, search for and install the following addons:
* Google Privacy
* Fasterfox (optional)

You can leave their settings default and it will work fine.


Google Privacy changes some things in the browser to keep Google from tracking you so easily. Fasterfox just tweaks the connection settings to speed up most browsing. If you have a slow computer, don't install Fasterfox.


Some more suggestions:
* Set Firefox to clear all history when closing. If you do this, you will have to log back into every account on each browser launch but it helps to prevent too much tracking. Setting it to clear cookies is the main thing though. Clearing the cache or URL history isn't really needed unless you are on a shared computer.

* You can check out the "BetterPrivacy" add-on. It basically lets you clear flash based cookies which are sometimes called "super cookies" since they typically store a lot of information about you and can linger forever. Clearing flash cookies however can interfere with certain website settings like YouTube.

* This is not related to privacy but it is a great add-on I recently found and love it. It's called "My Youtube". I use it to alert me whenever some Youtuber I like (like Troy) uploads a video. It alerts me within ten minutes of the upload. The REASON I love it so much is Youtube has been known to alert me DAYS after a subscribed channel uploads a video and only if I'm paying close attention. I've missed many great videos from many Youtubers due to Googles crap. This addon fixes that. Once installed, you can remove the default "Youtubers you're following:" (in the add-ons options). Then go to the channel you want to be alerted for and a new button will show up near the Subscribe button. Click it and that channel will be watched and you will be alerted at the interval you choose whether you are on Youtube or not.

* Another add-on not related to privacy but also useful is called "videoresumer". The description is "Automatically resumes YouTube videos from where you played them last, even videos, published on other sites. Without this extension, for example, when you click through YouTube videos, back and forth, they always start from the beginning. No more. With this extension, previously seen videos will resume from where you left them at. Even if you restart your browser." I've found it useful because sometimes I click to another video through annotations and when I go back I forgot where I was in the video. This let's you pick up where you left off.

* And lastly, again not related to privacy but also useful is an add-on called "YouTube quality manager". Basically let's you set the video quality you want and keep it there. Youtube has a bad habit of automatically selecting video qualities that are not what I want.

techman
Site Admin
Posts: 1329
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:49 am

Re: Online privacy suggestions

Post by techman » Fri Oct 02, 2015 10:16 pm

Wow, you have some cool ad ons. Thanks for sharing.

I actually leave the privacy settings so that Google knows what type of ads to show me. Keeps it interesting :)
Just my own preference.

Thanks,

Troy

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