Covering Your Tracks Online

If you think your abuser might be tracking you on social media, computer or phone.

Always remember that computers record everything you do on the computer and on the Internet.

Computers store information about what you look at on the Internet, the e-mails you send, and other activities. It is impossible to delete or clear all computer “footprints”. If you think you may be monitored on your home computer, it might be safer to use a computer in a public library, an Internet Café or at the home of a trusted friend.

Internet:

All modern internet browsers have an ‘incognito’ or ‘private’ setting which should be utilised when looking for material online that is considered sensitive. Incognito or private browsing means that there will be no record of the user’s online activity while using the incognito or private mode.

Here is how to turn on these settings in the most common browsers in use today:

Internet Explorer - Click on ‘Tools’ at the upper left hand side on the browser. Select ‘InPrivate Browsing’. To leave InPrivate Mode, close the private window or re-open your Internet Explorer browser.

Google Chrome - Click on the Menu  or Wrench  icon in the top right corner. Select ‘New Incognito Window’. To leave Incognito Mode, close the incognito window or re-open your Google Chrome browser.

Firefox - Click Menu in the upper right-hand corner of the browser window. Select ‘New Private Window’. To leave Private Mode, close the private window or re-open your Firefox browser.

Safari  -Click on the File menu at the top of the browser window. Select ‘New Private Window’. To leave Private Mode select ‘New Window’ in the File menu or close the Private browser window and open a new Safari browser window.

Deleting past online activity

The simplest way to delete history on modern browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer 11 is by hitting “Ctrl + Shift + Delete”. This will automatically bring you into the clear browsing data option, where you just choose what to delete and click “clear”.