how can I delete all my history from Google Chrome?
All the information gathered by Google about your life is supposed to help advertisers display relevant ads and also help them understand where you go on the internet. Google says that it uses that data only to help you get more of what you want from the internet, and this information is not shared with third parties. If this sounds like it should be true, take a look at how many personal details Google makes available: Email addresses that websites you visit (and even sites you have visited but don’t remember)Modes of transport (and sometimes car makes and models)Celebrity picturesObscure hobbies and interests In addition to all this information, Google collects location data, voice searches, SMS messages and more. Thankfully, you can manage this information from Google Chrome.
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How to change your Google Chrome privacy settings:
In the General Settings menu, click on Privacy. Under “Personal Information,” check off “Web & App Activity,” then tick the boxes that correspond with what data you’d like to see. For instance, if you want Google to stop sending anonymous data to its ad networks, tick off everything under “Ads personalization.” Then, click on Save Changes. You can also manage your data in your Google Account. How to access your Google Account:
To access your Google Account, visit http://myaccount.google.com and log in with your user name and password. You can also click on your profile picture in the upper right-hand corner of your Google Account page to reach the login page.
What is this “Ads personalization” and “Ads in apps and websites” feature? Why am I seeing them on my Google Account page?
The ads in your Google Account are based on what’s known as an interest graph, and it works in a way similar to Facebook. It uses data such as which websites you visit, where you are located and your mobile device’s unique identifiers to target ads at you. This can be useful for advertisers but can be a little scary if you don’t want Google tracking your every move. The personalization feature is called “Ads personalization and target ads.” It’s like the interest graph on steroids. If you tap on the “Ads personalization” button in the upper-right corner of your Google Account page, you will see a list of your recent web activity. (You can also access this via “history” under Settings in the same menu.) From there, you can see what types of content were associated with the interest graph data in your Google Account and which ads have been targeted at you, whether that was text ads or a Google Display Network ad. Note that you can’t unlink yourself from these interest graph profiles. They’re stored in your Google Account for as long as you have an active Google account.
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How do I delete my interests and personalized ads?
To delete these interests and ads, visit https://myaccount.google.com/answers/phone/items/remove_ads_from_my_account?utm_medium=website&utm_source=answer&utm_content=ad_clean_1 from a desktop computer and then follow the on-screen prompts. You can remove interests or ads from a mobile device by following the same process, but the removal should be permanent, as the interests and ads won’t be there when you log back into your Account.
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How do I turn off my location history?
Location History is a collection of the websites you have visited and the information that Google collected when you were in one of those locations. It keeps track of the times you were using the internet, which app you were using, your current location, and what browser and operating system you were using. This is a setting you can set in Google’s mobile apps (for Android phones) or on your mobile browser. To turn this setting off, visit https://myaccount.google.com/answers/answers/phone/items/turn_location_history_off?utm_medium=website&utm_source=answer&utm_content=ad_clean_1 from a desktop computer and then follow the on-screen prompts. You can remove your location history from a mobile device by following the same process, but the removal will be permanent.
How do I stop Google from tracking me?
Google tracks you just the same as it always has, but this time it’s by keeping a copy of everything it collects and your settings all in one place. If you don’t want your every move recorded, you can simply uncheck the box marked “Web & App Activity” in the “Personalization” section of your Google Account settings. In the future, Google will also automatically log you out of apps and websites that use Google services for log-in, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
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How can I stop Google from collecting “crown jewels” data?
Google’s Android mobile operating system has been collecting data that that is generally associated with searches. That includes app usage, location data, phone calls, and your contacts. While some of this information is useful for finding you the best price on an item on Google Search, it can also be useful for targeted advertising. For that reason, Google recently started deleting those “crown jewels” data for devices that are not running its latest Android operating system. As an alternative to using Android, you can use an app called Pixel [not an affiliate link]. While it doesn’t offer everything that Google Search does, it will help ensure that your data is safe. Pixel runs a Chrome OS-powered operating system, meaning it has fewer software restrictions than Android.
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How did I know if Google is tracking me?
Google makes it easy to see exactly what information it knows about you and what it does with it. All you have to do is visit the Google privacy page at https://privacy.google.com/ and click on the “Chrome” button at the bottom of the page. This is the same page that appears when you’re logged in, so you can see exactly what information is available to the public and how Google shares it with third-party websites and apps. If you’re interested in seeing exactly how Google collects data on you, head to https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. Also, note that you can visit this page on a mobile device