Keep reading to find out more about how to cover your tracks online.
How do you protect yourself online?
Are you concerned about someone checking your online activity? Navigating the online space safely can be daunting as technology continues to evolve but here are a few things to consider for your safety:
EXIT button - closing the website quickly
Most websites that offer Domestic Abuse support will have an EXIT button. It allows you to quickly close the website. Know where it is while you browse, just in case you need to use it. Our exit button is located on the right side of this page in purple. If you are browsing from a mobile devise then it is at the bottom of the page.
When you use our exit button, our website tab will be replaced with Google and a series of other tabs will open to push our website down your browsing history so it is not immediately visible. This is not possible if you have a pop-up blocker on your device so instead, a Google page will open. Please note that these are temporary measures and you will still need to manually delete our site from your browsing history if you are trying to be discreet and browse privately.
Private browsing
Most leading browsers have a private browsing option that won’t leave any traces of your online activity on your computer.
For Internet Explorer: Go to Safety – Tools – “InPrivate Browsing”.
For Firefox: Click the Menu button with three horizontal lines – “New Private Window”.
For Chrome: Click the Menu button with three horizontal lines and select “New Incognito Window”.
Similar options can be found in Opera and Safari.
Delete browsing history
Internet browsers keep a record of all the web pages you visit. If you are not using private browsing, you might need to delete your history. You can do this through your browser’s settings. See below for more:
Google Chrome
On desktop:
- Open Google Chrome.
- Click on the Chrome menu icon in the top right-hand corner (it looks like three dots).
- Choose ‘More tools’.
- Click on ‘Clear browsing data’.
- A pop up window will appear. Choose a time range to clear from the drop-down list. For example, ‘the past hour’.
- Tick each box: Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, Cached images and files
- Click ‘Clear browsing data’.
On mobile:
These steps might be different depending on your phone model:
- Open Google Chrome
- Press the three dots in the right-hand corner
- Press ‘History’
- Tick each box: Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, Cached images and files
- Press ‘Clear data’.
Microsoft Edge
To pick certain websites and delete them from your history:
- Click on the ‘hub’ icon in the top right-hand corner. It looks like 3 lines.
- Click on the history icon. This looks like a clock.
- Hover over the pages you want to delete and click the ‘x’ on the right-hand side.
To delete all your history and saved passwords:
Firefox
On desktop:
- At the top of the window click on the menu button which looks like three lines.
- Click on ‘History’ icon. It looks like a clock.
- Click on ‘Clear Recent History.’
- A pop up window will appear. Choose a time range to clear from the drop-down list. For example, you can just choose to clear the ‘Last Four Hours’.
- Click on ‘Clear Now’.
On mobile:
These instructions might be different depending on your phone model:
- Open Firefox
- Press the 3 dots in the right-hand corner
- Tap ‘Settings’
- Tap ‘Clear private data’
- Select the data you want to clear and tap ‘Clear data’
Use strong passwords
Strong passwords are crucial to protecting your online accounts. Do not use passwords that anyone who knows you can easily guess.
Location settings
Be aware that someone can track you using your locating settings if they are on. when on, this information can be misused by someone with access to your accounts/devices.
Print and delete emails that have content that you don’t want anyone to see. After deleting, make sure you empty the Deleted Items folder. You can also print and save threatening and harassing emails from an abuser to use as evidence of this abuse.
Log out
Do not forget to log out of any websites that require you to sign in to protect yourself and your information.