HERE ARE SOME CUNNING TRICKS THAT’LL HELP YOU FIGHT BACK

INCOGNITO browsing, or private browsing, is a way of visiting websites without those sites knowing who you are and without them tracking your browsing behaviour.

Normally, when you visit any site — particularly online retailers — they’ll leave something called a ‘cookie’ on your browser. A cookie contains two pieces of information: a website name and a unique user ID.

Cookies are used by the retailer to track you as you move around the internet. This explains why, after browsing food processors available on the John Lewis website, for example, and then visting other websites to see what the alternatives are, you may be plagued with adverts for John Lewis food processors!

However, you can stop this tracking by going into your web browser settings, and clicking on ‘clear cookies’ and/or ‘clear cache’. But it is usually quite a cumbersome process, involving a number of steps.

It also means you wipe all your web history, so that when you want to return to a particular website and type in the address, your PC will no longer autocomplete. Many consumers find autocomplete useful.

Clearing cookies also fails to stop a second problem.

If you have a Gmail account, and you are using the Chrome browser (both owned by Google), or you are using Internet Explorer and you have an Outlook Live account (both of which are owned by Microsoft), then in theory the retailer — if you have shopped with them before — can work out that you are a returning customer, and may start sending emails about food processors asking why you have not yet made a purchase, despite looking at them.

This is because while browsing you are ‘logged in’ and your log-in is affiliated to your email address.

The way around this problem is to open an incognito or private window to browse.

It’s as if you are browsing for the very first time with no browsing history to identify you or your interests.

HOW TO ACCESS INCOGNITO BROWSERS ON...

GOOGLE CHROME: go to the address bar where you would type in a website’s address. Just to the right of that bar are three little horizontal dots. Click on the dots and choose ‘New incognito window’.

INTERNET EXPLORER: as for Google, click on the three horizontal dots to the right of the address bar and choose ‘New InPrivate Tab’.

FIREFOX: click on the menu button (three horizontal lines) in the top right hand corner and then click ‘New Private Window’.

BE WARNED: This is not a foolproof method to ensure total privacy. It stops your web browser spying on you. But if, for instance, your computer is infected with spyware, your movements and data can still be hacked.