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Updated September 6th, 2021 at 11:06 IST

How to protect your data through Google Chrome settings? Read for a step-by-step guide

Tweaking some Google Chrome settings can protect user data, safeguard crucial information, and provide better security when surfing the internet on the browser

Reported by: Shikhar Mehrotra
Google Chrome browser settings to protect your data, check out step by step guide
Image: Unsplash | Image:self
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Google Chrome is one of the most popular and widely used web browsers. While reports suggest that Google Chrome has more than three billion users in the world, the active users at any given point in a day keep varying. Since there are a huge number of users on the web browser, it leads to the presence of a large data pool. Users sign in to the browser along with their personal details such as name, age, address, social media accounts and more.

Additionally, there are hardware resources connected to the internet as well, such as a user's front camera, hard drive and location details. It is important to take control of the browser settings and protect one's data by tweaking some simple yet effective settings. 

How to protect your data by changing Google Chrome Settings?

  • Open the Google Chrome web browser on a PC or a laptop
  • At the home screen, go to the hamburger menu (also known as the More settings menu) at the top right corner of the screen
  • Click on the menu and from the drop-down list that appears, locate Settings at the bottom and open the Settings Menu
  • Therein, look for the menu that contains options about Privacy and Settings
  • It is in this menu that a user has to make some changes to in order to protect their privacy while surfing online

Clear Browsing Data

While a user browses the internet, both the browser and certain websites collect information about the system on which the browser is installed and the user profile as well. By going into the 'Settings' menu and locating the 'Clear Browsing Data' option, a user can erase browsing history, cookies and other site data and cached images and files.

It is these files that contain data about the user and can be manipulated by websites or bad actors to extract information about the person using the browser. The above details can be removed on the basis of a time range as well, including 'All time', 'last hour', 'last 24 hours', 'last week' and 'last 4 weeks.' Users can also head to the advanced tab, which will allow them to delete other information such as download history, passwords and other sign-in data and auto-fill form data. 

Cookies and other site data

Cookies are small packets of data that are used by websites to improve a user's browsing experience. While in an incognito mode, websites cannot access the existing cookies on a system, users can select whether they wish to allow all cookies or block third-party cookies or block all cookies at once. Cookies help websites to load faster, keep you signed in, allow auto-fill forms and handle other small but crucial details about a user. Customised behaviours for different sites can also be set from the 'Cookies and other site data' menu. 

Security

This menu contains Google Chrome settings for standard and enhanced protection. As the name suggests, both modes offer different levels of protection. The Enhanced Protection mode predicts and warns users about dangerous events before they happen, warns if passwords are exposed in a breach and send URLs to safe browsing to check them. In the 'Advanced settings' given in the menu, users can select to use secure DNS, manage certificates such as HTTPS and SSL as well. 

Site Settings 

This menu allows users to take control of the resources on the device that is being used by the browser, such as camera, microphone, location, notifications, motion sensors, automatic downloads, USB devices, series ports, file editing, file handler and many more.

These are perhaps some of the most crucial privacy settings for browsers, which can be manipulated by bad actors and used to access private information. Visiting the menu will allow users to disable permission and deny websites to ask for the above-mentioned resources. While turning off all the permissions will be the most secure option, some websites might ask for permission as and when a user visits those. 

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Published September 6th, 2021 at 10:44 IST

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