5 Easy Steps to Wipe Your Online Data and Protect Your Accounts From Hackers

As our lives become more connected, every online search, location visit, and video watched leaves behind a digital trail. These digital footprints can put your privacy at risk and expose your data to hackers. If you want to safeguard your personal information, you can take a few simple steps to reduce or erase your presence from the internet. Here are five effective methods to clean up your data and improve your online security.

1. Clear Your Google Activity History

Your Google account stores years’ worth of activity—from Maps searches to YouTube history.
To remove it:

• Visit myactivity.google.com and log in.
• Tap “Delete activity” and choose Last Hour, Last Day, All Time, or Custom Range.
• Select the Google services you want to clear and delete the data permanently.

This reduces the amount of personal information stored on your account.

2. Turn Off Tracking for Future Activity

To stop Google from collecting new data:

• Go to the Activity Controls section of your Google account.
• Switch off Web & App Activity, Location History, and YouTube History.

Once disabled, Google won’t track your searches, location movements, or video history going forward.

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3. Disable Data Storage in Google Privacy Settings

After clearing old activity, block Google from saving new information.
In the Data & Privacy tab:

• Turn off all activity tracking toggles.
• Ensure web usage, app activity, and location data are not being recorded.

This step significantly strengthens your digital privacy.

4. Set Up Auto-Delete for Google Data

Google allows automatic deletion of data at regular intervals.
To enable it:

• Visit myactivity.google.com/auto-delete.
• Choose Web & App Activity, Location History, or YouTube History.
• Set auto-delete to 3 months, 18 months, or 36 months.

This helps keep your account clean without manual effort.

5. Protect Your Internet Connection With a VPN

Even after deleting your data, your online activities can be exposed if your connection isn’t secure.
To stay safe:

• Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network).
• Prefer privacy-focused search engines like DuckDuckGo, Brave Search, or Startpage.
• Switch to browsers such as Tor Browser or Firefox.
• Update your passwords every 3–6 months.

These steps reduce tracking and protect your account from hacking attempts.

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