Web User - UK (2019-12-11)

Quitti ng Google foreverisabig step

andnot forthe fain t-hear ted. Once

you’ve deletedyouraccount,there’s

no goingback(althoughyoucan of

coursecreat eanew accountand

startafresh).This isdefinitelynot

somethingyoushould jump into

light ly –there’ snoreasonwhy you

can’ tkeep your existing Google

accountbut ju st notuse it.You can

alsouse Google services suchas

Searchand YouTube withoutlogging

in,althoughcertain featuresare

restrictedify ou don’t allow

‘personalisation’.

If you’re absolutely sure you’re

readytoditch Google, andhave

backed up allyourdataand chosen

DELETEYOUR GOOGLEACCOUNT

your al ternativeservices, then deleting

your ac countisa ctuallyveryeasy.

Simplygotoyour accountpage

(myaccount.google.com )and click

‘Data&personalisation’int he left-hand

panel, then scrolldownto‘ Download,

delete or makeaplan

foryour data’and click

‘Delete aservice or

your account’.Finally,

click‘Delete your

account’ andsay

goodbyetoGoogle.

If youchange your

mindwithin twodays

of deletion,thereisa

chance youcan get

back your Google

accountbygoing to the‘Acco unt

recovery’page(bit.ly/recovery490 ).

Enterthe email address or phone

numberassoc iatedwiththe account

that wasdeleted, then click ‘Attempt

to restor ethis account’.

Google’sTakeoutservice lets you

download all your data from thecompany

Most browsers letyou importyour

bookmarks andotherdata from Chrome

Youcan delete allthe Google data stores

on youbeforemovingelsewhere

Give up for 2020

COVER

FEATU

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11 -26December 2019 41

singlepieceofarchiveddata,especially

becausethatwillincludeservicesyou

don’trecallusing–suchasCrisisUser

Reports,GoogleHelpCommunitiesand

GoogleInputTools.So,withthisin

mind,clickthe‘Deselectall’link.

Next,scrolldownthelistandselectall

theimportantservicesthatyou’veused

atsomepoint–suchasBookmarks,

Calendar,Chrome,Contacts,Drive,

GooglePhotos,MailandMaps.Clickthe

Formatbuttonunderanitemtochange

thetypeofformatthatthedatashould

besavedin(ifitoffersachoice).For

itemssuchasMail,youcanalsospecify

whichdatacategoriesshouldbe

includedifyoudon’twanttobother

with,say,yourArchivefolder.

Scrolltothebottomandclickthe

‘Nextstep’button.Fromhere,youcan

chooseadata-deliverymethod(alink

viaemailoraddingittoDrive,Dropbox,

OneDriveorBox)andthearchive

RECLAIMYOURDATAFROMGOOGLE

formattosavethedatain.ThisisZIPby

default.Click‘Createarchive’toexport

yourcontent.Datadownloadedinthis

waycanbebrowsed,butnotrestored

orimportedintoanewGoogleaccount.

AlternativebrowserstoChrome

usuallyoffertoimportpasswordsand

bookmarkswhenyoufirstrunthem,and

thereshouldalsobeanoptiontodothis

somewhereinthebrowser.InVivaldi,

forexample,clicktheVbutton,thengo

toFile,ImportBookmarksandSettings.

SelectChromeinthedrop-downmenu

andyou’llbeabletoimportBookmarks,

PasswordsandHistory.InFirefox,click

theLibrarybuttononthetoolbar,then

clickBookmarks,‘ShowallBookmarks’,

‘ImportandBackup’andchoose‘Import

DatafromAnotherBrowser’.

Finally,ifyouwanttodeleteallthe

dataGooglehasstoredonyou,goto

yourMyActivitypageatbit.ly/

activity 490 andchoosewhattoscrub.

Clickthethreedotstotherightofthe

searchboxandselect‘Deleteactivity

by’toremoveeverything.

B

eforeyoumaketheswitchfrom

Googletolessnosyalternatives,

youshouldmakesureyouhave

acopyofallyourdatathatiscurrently

storedbyGoogle,bothforreference

andalsotoimportintootherservices,

wherepossible.

Fortunately,Googlemakesiteasyto

exportallthedataithasgatheredabout

youovertheyears,byusingitsTakeout

service.Makesureyou’reloggedinto

yourGoogleaccount,thengotothe

Takeoutpage(takeout.google.com).

Bydefault,alltheservicesofferedby

Googlewillbeselected,butyou

probablywon’twanttodownloadevery