96 OCTOBER 2019|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE 380
I
t’shardtocompletely avoid using
Google’s services. The chances arethat
youuse at least one of Gmail, Google
Search or Google Maps on adaily basis.
While there’s no doubting the quality of
the services provided, it means Google
stores alot of information about you. It’s
possible to find out what Google has stored
but the companyhas afew additional tools
to help protect your privacy, too. We’ll look at
the main services to see what youcan do.
Note that Google provides these options
only if youare signed into aGoogle account.
Maps
Google Maps has been stopping us from
getting lost foryears, but it also tracks
everything youdo, storing your entire
location history.According to Google, this
datahelps youexplorewhereyou’vebeen,
and canalso be used to serveyou more
relevant search results. That’sgreat in
theory,but who wantsaglobal corporation
storing everywherethey’vebeen?
Thereare twoplaces to manage your
settings. We’ll start with aweb browser.Go
towww.google.com/maps/timelineand
you’ll see amap, dotted with places you’ve
been. If youuse the Timeline option at the
topofthe screen, youcan pick aspecific
dateand Google will showyou whereyou
went and the routeyou took. On the left, you
getalist of places that youstopped at. You
canedit anyentry on the list, updating it if
Google gotthe wrong place, such as saying
youwereinadifferentshop, or remove it.
Go back to the main view(click the
Timeline link at the topleft) and select
Manage Location History at the bottom of
the screen. From here, youcan use the slider
to turn offlocation history,although Google
technically calls this ‘pausing’.With the
setting off, Google will nottrack your location
forthe Google accountthat you’reusing.
However,your old datastill exists.
To delete your history,goback to the
Timeline viewand click the dustbin icon (it’s
at the bottom rightofthe screen). You’ll see
awarning, so select the ‘I understand and
want to delete all Location History’ tick box
and then click Delete Location History.
Newfor smartphones is an option to
delete your Location History automatically.
Youcan only gettothis option from your
phone. Open up the Google Maps app and
select Settings, Personal Content, then
select the Automatically delete Location
History option. Youthen getachoiceto
keep all datauntil youdelete it, keep it for
18 months or keep it forthree months.
Choose the option that suits youbest.
Shoppinghistory
If you’veeverboughtanything, either
through Google or youhad an order
confirmation senttoyour Gmail address,
Google has stored and recorded the
information. Go tomyaccount.google.com/
purchasesand you’ll see alist of everything
that you’veeverbought. Youcan select any
item and remove it from the list, but you
can’tdelete everything at once, and you
can’tturn offthis behaviour at the moment.
DeletewhatGoogleknows
To remove what Google knows about you,
youneed to go tomyactivity.google.com,
which displaysall Google activity sorted by
dateand organised by service. In this list,
youcan hit the three vertical dots next to
anyentry and select Delete to remove that
entry.Ifyou want to clean out morethings,
click Delete activity by.You canchoose a
period by using the drop-down menu (All
time selects everything) or pick acustom
start and end date. Hit Delete when you’re
done to wipe everything.
To delete datafor just one product,
go back tomyactivity.google.comand
click Filter by date&product. Usethe tick
boxestoselect services you’reinterested
in and click Search (you canadd custom
dates, too, if youonly care about acertain
GOOGLE&SEARCH
Google is poweredbydata, with the information it collects designed to
improve its services. Here’s howtoclearoutyouraccountand staysafe
ABOVE:Google tracksand stores everywhereyou’vebeen
ABOVE:Google nowletsyou delete your location
history automatically
