Internet Browsing/sharing Tips to Prevent Embarrassment or Worse

quietlylooking

Literotica Guru
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Posts
1,301
What tips and tricks do you use to ensure that others (friends, children, visiting in-laws, etc.) who may use your laptop, your phone, etc. don't accidentally discover your perv tendencies?

(Maybe there is already a thread like this? If so, Mods, please feel free to merge).

Here's a few that immediately spring to my mind:

1. Be careful of allowing browser information to be shared automatically across machines or different people. Use Incognito or Private browsing modes. (Recently someone borrowed my iPad. I'm not sure what happened, but somehow he accidentally "merged" his Chrome account information with mine, and now he is able to access all of my bookmarks, browsing history, stored passwords, etc.).

2. Make sure you remember to empty your trash/recycle bin after deleting files that you might not want others to see.

3. Be careful of what you leave in your cut/paste buffer.

4. When sharing photos, make sure you strip out any identifying information linked to the file (like GPS coordinates).

5. Remember that image searches are easy to do...
 
Use search engines like Duck Duck Go. They leave no trace of where you have been on the Internet and most retain no Browser history. Also, set your Browser to "Clear History On Exit". Automatically clear your history when you exit your Browser.

Search engines like Duck Duck Go, (and similar/compatible type Browsers), are used on the Dark Net. And yes, the Dark Net really exists. It is a method of searching the Internet that leaves no trace of you ever having been there. Search Google for search engines/browsers that leave no trace. Then read and learn. Search engines like Google, Chrome and Internet Explorer were created specifically track users, but not all search engines/browsers do.

The Dark Net was created by DARPA to enable dissidents in countries like China to find western political web sites without being traced by their government. Then it got away from DARPA, and now they can't control it. The Dark Net is similar to what the Internet was originally intended to be.

Also I will add a little about photo security. You can go to "Properties", then "Details" on the photo and strip most of the personal information there, but not all of it. To strip all of it, or even rewrite it, you need a program like Photoshop. In Photoshop, go to "File Info" and strip or rewrite the rest of the personal information.

If you really need security, if you swirl or blur your face to hide your identity, someone who is really good with Photoshop, (like the FBI), can un-swirl or un-blur it and bring your face back. If you really want to hide your identity, you can cut out your face, (with programs like Photoshop), then paste in something else from an entirely different file. Then "Merge It", "Save It, and "Close It". Then reopen it, then "Copy and Paste" into yet another blank file you have created for this purpose. Copy and Paste carries very little hidden information from one file to another.

It's convoluted, but if you really, really need security, you have to put out the effort.

Google, Chrome, Internet Explorer/Microsoft, and Mozilla control most of the Internet, but not all of it. If you love freedom, it takes effort and knowledge.
 
Last edited:
I notice that Google Chrome has an option called "Incognito" that supposedly hides your browser history. Does that work? What doesn't it do that it should do? Does it really provide any security at all?
 
I notice that Google Chrome has an option called "Incognito" that supposedly hides your browser history. Does that work? What doesn't it do that it should do? Does it really provide any security at all?

Google Chrome, Mozilla/Firefox, Internet Explorer all have a private browsing mode. When you are using a private browsing mode such as Chrome Incognito, your computer writes your browsing information, (cookies, browsing history, passwords, etc), to the RAM on your computer temporarily and, erases it when you leave the web site. Since your browsing information was never written to your hard drive, there is no browsing record (history), on your computer for anyone to find.

However, (and this is a big however), some apps/programs you have installed on your computer do record your browsing history. Flash player used to record browsing history, but supposedly no longer does that.

Also, your Internet Service Provider, routers, and most web sites record your browsing history. Using the popular browsers, (such as Google Chrome, Mozilla/Firefox, Internet Explorer), your visit to a particular web site can be traced back to your computer. However, this is normally done only in criminal investigations.

The purpose of tracking browsing history is target advertising. If you want to know if someone is recording your browsing history, do a Google search of a common product advertised on the internet like a particular pair of shoes, then when you go to your normal web sites like news outlets, (CNN, Fox News, NBC, etc), if most of the advertising is about shoes, you know someone is recording your browsing history, and you are being targeted to buy shoes.

To answer your question about Chrome Incognito, if all you want to do is hide your browsing history from your husband and kids, it's safe enough.

On a side note: Any information that has ever been written to your hard drive, can be found by the authorities, (FBI, police, etc), even after it has be deleted unless it has been overwritten by another file, Even then, they can sometimes bring it back. This is not always a bad thing. This is how they sometimes find missing children. They analyze the hard drive and find a chat or IM conversation where they ran off with the love of their life they met on the internet, even though the child tried to delete their chat history.

Their is no anonymity on the internet anymore. Big Brother is always watching. :D
 
Don't really care if they do or don't. If they are offended, what the hell were they poking around for? And that's exactly what I would ask them. Don't want to be embarrassed, don't go poking around. Do what you need to do and get the hell off. :mad:
 
Last edited:
6. Untick the "remember me" option every time you enter your mail and other pages requiring a password. Even in private/incognito browsing mode, the nickname and/or the password may be stored when that option is ticked.

7. Use one of many freeware programs to remove the metadata from your pictures.
 
6. Untick the "remember me" option every time you enter your mail and other pages requiring a password. Even in private/incognito browsing mode, the nickname and/or the password may be stored when that option is ticked.

Speaking of that: some login screens will give you a choice between "remember this password", "don't remember this time", and "never remember and don't ask me again" (or words to that effect).

"Never remember" might seem like the most private option but it's not. If you choose this, it won't store the password but it WILL store the site and username - this is the only way it can know that you don't want to be asked again about saving the password for anonymoustroy on fishfetishists.com.

To avoid leaving that trace, you need to choose the "not this time" option every time.
 
8. Always follow the whole procedure of logging out, when you want to exit one of those sites you keep secret. Clicking the "close window" button is sometimes not enough to protect your privacy.
 
9. Remember that "shared computers" are shared. If someone else is left alone with it, make a separate profile for them with limited possibilities for mischief.

10. If it is private, encrypt it.
 
Browser history is just a small part...
Clear your cookies!
Clear your temporary Internet files!

Mozilla (Firefox) provides options to do this upon exit. When it comes to privacy, I never use Chrome.
 
Nope.

I typed the urls, but no matter how many times I hit carriage return, nothing happened.
Antiquated rubbish!
 
Old German Olympia SM2

The name led me to it, but it was just a pain to use.

Therein lies your problem, my good friend. It was only the earliest English-language Elite models that allowed for unfettered browsing. Here is a picture of one of the first Internet Cafes, in Boston.

 
The best tip is to never share a device, period.

I was once talking to a girl in a club. I cannot imagine how the subject came up, but she used the phrase "Eiffel Tower" to describe a MFM three-way where with a guy at each end they high five over her.

She asked to use my phone to show me. I liked where the conversation was going so I said sure. She goes to Urban Dictionary and when she starts typing that in, up pops in the pull-downs the last time I heard a sexual term I had not heard of when I looked it up, my reaction was "No thank you." Embarrassing. Fortunately, I doubt she knew what that term was.
 
1. Don't share devices.
2. The Opera browser, which I use on Windoze laptops and Android devices, has built-in VPN and a host of privacy features.
3. If you *must* share, then password-protect Opera and use it exclusively for your 'sensitive' net excursions, and shut down Opera before passing the device to someone else.
4. Buy a used device from someone too clueless to wipe their data, and pretend to be them.
 
My method is really simple although it does take a bit of setting up.

I have built a VMWare virtual machine that I have stored on a flash drive. I am using it right now. When I am done I will disconnect the flash and absolutely no muddy footprints on the host machine..

You could use any VM installation. Try HyperV for Windows 8 and later Microsoft OS's
 
Tip of the day: if you share audio files, be careful when using bluetooth to listen to them in your car, for example. Especially if you you leave for work at the same time and sometimes connect via bluetooth to the car your husband uses.
 
Back
Top