10 Tips to Protect your Privacy Online

10 of the best ways to keep your personal information secure
May 2008
by Robin Wark

You never know who might be watching you. As an Internet user, you are susceptible to spyware trying to learn about your web activities and criminals seeking to gain your private information to commit identity theft. You need to take action to keep your private information secure.

Below are 10 ways to protect your privacy online.


  1. Have more than one email address. Obviously it is best not to use your work address for personal emails or as the contact method for when you do such things as order items online. It might also be best to have one “clean” address. This would be kept for people who are trusted. For example, it would be the one your college roommate uses but your online auction order info would go to a separate address.
  2. Clean your web caches. Every time you browse online, copies of all accessed pages and images are saved in your computer’s memory. Delete the caches regularly through your browser options or even better, install privacy controls software1. This will prevent people from seeing which sites you have been viewing.
  3. Make sure your browser is secure. You can help do this by checking your settings to make sure the options for security are set high. As well, when using banking sites or inputting private information, such as credit card info, make sure the browser shows https. In this case, the “S” stands for “secure,” which means the page is encrypted and safe from unfriendly use.
  4. Avoid cookies. While grandma’s cookies might be good to eat, computer cookies are intrusive. Cookies download themselves from sites you visit. At times they might seem to be helpful as they can remember what you looked at last, but they can also track you online and allow someone to create a profile of you without you knowing it. You can set your browser to reject cookies or at least delete them often using the advanced preferences. Privacy controls software can also handle this task1.
  5. Make sure no one is spying. Keep such potential dangerous threats as keyloggers, trojans and hijackers at bay by installing spyware protection software2.
  6. Don’t agree to third party information sharing. Most companies allow you to opt out of having your information shared with others. If a company is asking you to consider this kind of info sharing, you might want to reconsider becoming one of their customers.
  7. Be wary of sites offering a prize for your contact information. There is a good chance this company is gathering your information for a direct marketing campaign.
  8. Avoid spam. Innocent looking junk emails could contact dangerous attachments, links or tempting offers that are actually fraud. Never reply to “spam” emails. Also, considering installing a spam blocker3 to thwart these sneaky attacks.
  9. Remember that your private information is your’s. You have the choice of when, where and why you want to share it with someone.
  10. Perhaps the best tip of all is to use common sense! Situational awareness is very important. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

1 ParetoLogic Privacy Controls powerfully cleans caches, allows you to permanently delete a variety of other files and permanently deletes cookies.

2 ParetoLogic’s array of respected anti-spyware software includes ParetoLogic XoftSpySE Anti-Spyware, ParetoLogic Anti-Spyware, or, if you are often on the go, ParetoLogic XOFTspy Portable Anti-Spyware.

3 ParetoLogic Spam Controls blocks spam as well as phishing attacks.