How To

There are many apps that can tie into your Facebook account. These are not just mobile apps, but also those directly offered on the desktop Web site. This option is for those who are serious about removing apps or Web sites from performing actions associated with their Facebook account.

You may want to take special consideration before you disable all apps, and not just some of them. For instance, if you use Foursquare to post the places you check in to on your Timeline, you won't be able to anymore. And if you use Facebook to log in to … Read more

Skype lets you pick between text, voice or even video to communicate. When using the text option, your message history is saved to the client forever, by default. This means that every single message you've sent to someone is being stored on your computer -- until you take action to delete it.

If your computer is only accessed by you, then the message history may not be an issue. However, if you are sharing a computer, or you're just worried that private data could fall into the wrong hands, then check out these quick steps to delete all … Read more

People use Facebook in very different ways. Most Facebook users update their status only a couple times a month or not at all, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project. In fact, one in six Facebook users has never posted a status update.

On the other hand, women on Facebook average 21 updates per month, and men six updates each month, according to the survey, which was published last May.

As many Facebook users quickly learn, the social network is not without its risks. This is especially true for people whose Facebook … Read more

It's Cyber Monday, and while you're busy shopping online, chances are you'll see lots of user reviews on various products. While the majority of those reviews do come from real users like yourself, who are passionate enough to share their opinions on a product, many of them could be fake, left by the vendors themselves to either promote their product or, in some cases, smear competitors.

While it's exceedingly difficult to absolutely prove that a review is faked, here are a few tips on spotting those that aren't from real users. These will come in … Read more

Facebook offers a gateway for sharing your thoughts, memories, and pictures with friends and family. Unfortunately, spammers are hard at work trying to take advantage of all that information, sending messages and friend requests to people they want to market to or scam. Even worse, creepy people might befriend you based on looks alone.

To avoid receiving messages or friend requests from people you don't know, you just need to tweak a few of the privacy settings on Facebook. Doing so will save people who get a lot of these requests some hassle, and will ensure that you don'… Read more

If you stick with your software's default settings, you're letting the programs' vendors determine how much security is right for your system. Those vendors have their best interests in mind, not yours.

As I pointed out in last week's post titled "Ten simple, common-sense security tips," PC security doesn't have to be complicated. However, not all important PC security measures are easy to implement. Follow these less-than-intuitive steps to block Flash cookies, lock down your browser, and test your Facebook profile's privacy.

Note that not everyone needs the level of protection offered by … Read more

A friend took me to task last week for a post I wrote back in January on preventing Google from tracking you when you search. His alternative solution: "Just use Bing."

That got me thinking about other no-brainer approaches to security that thumb their noses at the conventional (and often convoluted and time-consuming) advice of the experts.

Search without footprints via the 'other' search engines Truly anonymous Web surfing requires the use of a VPN service that blocks your IP address as well as other personal information. (For more on VPN, see the tip below.) If you simply … Read more

Find My Friends, an iOS app aimed at helping friends and family members keep tabs on one another, was updated with the release of iOS 6. Other than some simple user interface changes, there wasn't a whole lot added to the app, with one exception -- notifications.

You can now set notifications to get alerted when a contact in your Find My Friends app arrives at or leaves a location you set.

To set up a notification for a friend, view their current location. In the upper-left corner of your screen, you'll see a button titled "Notify … Read more

With iOS 6, app developers will have to get permission to access your personal information. Apps will need permission to access your Location, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Photos, and even your Twitter or Facebook account.

The first time an app attempts to access any of your private information, you'll be prompted to grant it access to that information. Should you deny (or approve) the access but later change your mind, you can change it in the Settings app.

Instead of cluttering up the Settings app with option after option, Apple condensed all of the privacy settings and put them in … Read more