Install Ghostery
1 UPDATE WINDOWS 10
Ghostery needs the most recent version of Windows to work. Save and close any open files and back up your data if possible. Next, click the search button at the bottom left of your desktop, then enter Windows 10 Upgrade Assistant. Click the desktop app to open. Click Yes to confirm that you wish to open the app, then ‘Update Now’ to begin upgrading your system.
2 VISIT THE GHOSTERY WEBSITE
Once the update is complete, open Microsoft Edge and visit www.ghostery.org. Hover your mouse over ‘Our Solutions’ and click on ‘Ghostery Browser Extension’. A new screen will appear listing various web browsers. Scroll down until you see Microsoft Edge. Click ‘Add to Edge’ and the Microsoft Store will open. Quit Microsoft Edge, then click the button marked ‘Free’ to install.
3 BEGIN GHOSTERY DOWNLOAD
At this stage Ghostery may ask you to confirm your date of birth and region. Enter this and click Next. The Microsoft Store will say ‘Acquiring Licence’, then Downloading. The Ghostery extension is small (0.1MB) so this won’t take long. Finally the Store will tell you that the product has been installed. The button below the Ghostery logo will now read ‘Launch’. Click this to open Edge.
4 WELCOME TO GHOSTERY
A notification will appear at the top right explaining that Ghostery has been installed. You still need to activate it, so click ‘Turn it on’. You’ll now see a ‘Welcome to Ghostery’ splash screen when Ghostery will ask you if you wish to share data about trackers you encounter while browsing. This is optional but helpful to detect new threats. Choose Yes or No as you see fit.
5 CREATE AN ACCOUNT
Ghostery now displays the ‘Create an Account’ window. You don’t have to do this but it allows access to extra features, such as syncing settings across your devices. You’re also allowed one free trackermap scan per month to help you locate companies that are tracking you across the Internet. If you don’t want to create an account right now then click ‘Maybe later, let’s get started’.
6 CHOOSE YOUR TRACKER OPTIONS
Ghostery will next launch the main Tracker Options window. Scroll down to see various types of trackers which Ghostery can detect such as Advertising and Social Media. The easiest option for now is just to click ‘Block All’ to ban all trackers. If this causes issues later, you can return to this screen by clicking on the More option in the Ghostery Box and then ‘Advanced Blocking’.
7 CHOOSE WHAT TO BLOCK
Click on the word General next to Blocking Options. Most of these options can be left ticked. However you may wish to scroll down to the Purple Box section. By default Ghostery displays a small box for a short time when you visit a new site listing all the trackers that have been blocked. You can switch this off or change the duration (default is 15 seconds) and position of the box here.
8 CONFIGURE TRUSTED SITES
Although you can visit sites individually and click Ghostery’s Trust Site button, it’s easier to set this up here. Click the ‘ Trusted Sites’ option at the top of the page. Once it loads, enter the name of the website in the white bar at the top, then click on the green + button. Repeat for any websites you fully trust. Hover over a website and click the X to remove it from this list at any time.
9 TEST PILOT GHOSTERY
Once Ghostery has been set up. Click the address bar at the top and visit a social media or news site to check that everything is in order. If the purple box doesn’t appear click the ellipsis (…) button at the top right of the Edge window then Ghostery App to view any blocked trackers. You can enable individual trackers here or choose to trust the entire site, allowing all cookies.
10 INSTALL AN AD BLOCKER
Although Ghostery can prevent websites from tracking you, it can’t stop all pop-up ads or those annoying ads that load when you’re trying to watch YouTube. Fortunately Adblock Plus is also available for Microsoft Edge. Open the Microsoft Store and search for its name, then install. This reduces the chance that you’ll inadvertently click a link and download malware.