Taking control of our own security

A great feature of the Browser is that we have been given the ability to tweak the browser’s security settings as we see fit. The more minimalistic a browser, the more secure it probably is; allowing you the freedom to add trusted extensions/add-ons at will. This can be done after carefully reviewing or following recommendations from security experts. We can also remove add-ons if we see fit.

To go to Security settings in the following list Browsers below: - Paste the corresponding text in theaddress bar of your (relevant) Browser.

• chrome://settings/privacy
  
• about:preferences#privacy
  
• opera://settings
  

For other Browsers, you will have to navigate to the Settings/Options, Advance settings

For more about this, see here.

Browser maintenance - Clearing browsing data

Let’s speed up and secure our Browser:

Things we can do to speed up our browser’s experience and add a bit of security for all Browsers are as follows:

1. Clearing the Cache can mitigate or remedy many problems.

- To do this press "ctrl + shift + del keys all together

- Go to "Advanced" Tab and "Clear Data" accordingly.

2. When logged into public or a friend’s computer, remember to delete your browsing session and possibly clearing all data from "the past day" or "last hour" accordingly.

• Better still, run the Browser in incognito mode for private browsing
  1. Ctrl + shift +N for Chrome, Opera, Torch
  2. Ctrl + shift + P for Firefox
  3. More + New InPrivate window – Edge

3. If a Browser is not allowing you to upload files nor make the usual changes to your site and is behaving usual in any way

• In order to see an updated version of your site’s changes, you will definitely need to clear your browsing data
• *I recommend using a second Browser that is configured not to store browsing data if not using Firefox with the container add-on.

4. Clearing Browsing data also;

• Frees up hard drive space
  
• Fixes log in issues
  
• Speeds up loading time

Browser maintenance - Adding Adblocker

One of the most important "first things" you should do after loading a new Browser, is to install an Adblocker. Sure, you have to allow certain friendly sites if you must, but this is critical for:

• Fewer distractions during browsing experience
  
• Clean, less cluttered pages
• Faster browser loading times
• Saving bandwidth
• Privacy
• Protect children from inappropriate ads
• Prevent "click bait" attractions that may lead to the installation of Malware

Another important thing to do is to always update your Browser to the latest version. This goes for most software as well; hence OS updates. Since a Browser is "self-contained" it is safe just to let it update as updates come to hand. Updates will not affect your browsing experience negatively as it will probably only make it better by making it more secure, faster and cutting-edge with the latest web technologies and general coding fixes and improvements.

Please Click "Next Page!" This will be the last, I promise!