CLEANER, FASTER, & SAFER BROWSING
Surf under the radar
WINDOWS 10 You need the latest version of the OS, with Microsoft Edge.
GHOSTERY Grab this browser extension from www.ghostery.com.
MANY OF THE WEBSITES you visit are tracking you by placing small files, called “cookies,” on your computer. This helps them gather information about your browsing habits, and target you with advertisements. Data collection tools (known as “trackers”) can be very intrusive. If you wanted a quote for life assurance, for instance, would you want an insurance website to know that you’d been browsing books on Amazon about quitting smoking?
Luckily, a Microsoft Edge browser extension called Ghostery can help stop you being tracked online, blocking communications with such companies, while still enabling you to surf the web. Better yet, it displays a handy purple list of companies that have tried to track you, as well as what information they’re after. Install it today to make sure your web history stays private, and keep monitoring it regularly.
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, and enter “Windows 10 Upgrade Assistant.” Click on the desktop app to open it. Click “Yes” to confirm that you wish to open the app, then “Update Now” to begin upgrading your system [ Image A]. 2 VISIT THE GHOSTERY WEBSITE Once the update is complete, open Microsoft Edge, and visit www.ghostery.com. Hover your mouse over “Our Solutions,” and click “Ghostery Browser Extension.” A new screen appears, listing various web browsers. Scroll down until you see “Edge.” Click “Add to Edge” [ Image B], and the Windows Store opens. Quit 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 Windows Store now says “Acquiring License,” then “Downloading” [ Image C]. The Ghostery extension is small (0.1MB), so this doesn’t take long. Finally, the Store tells you that the product has been installed. The button below the Ghostery logo now reads “Launch.” Click this to open Edge. 4 WELCOME TO GHOSTERY A notification appears at the top-right, explaining that Ghostery has been installed. You still need to activate it, so click “Turn it on.” You now see a “Welcome to Ghostery” splash screen. At this stage, Ghostery asks you if you wish to share data about trackers you encounter while browsing. This is entirely 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 synching 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, click “Maybe later, let’s get started.” 6 CHOOSE YOUR TRACKER OPTIONS Ghostery now launches the main Tracker Options window [ Image D]. Scroll down to see various types
of trackers that Ghostery can detect, such as Advertising and Social Media. The easiest option for now is just to click on “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, then “Advanced Blocking.”
7 CHOOSE WHAT TO BLOCK Click on the word “General” next to “Blocking Options.” Most options can be left checked. 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 the process 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 [ Image E]. You can enable individual trackers, 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 Windows Store, search for its name, then install [ Image F]. This reduces the chance of accidentally clicking a link, and downloading malware.