You just received your InvizBox 2 and need to enter your VPN credentials but you are not sure where to enter them or where you can get them from. Or you have a new set of VPN credentials from your VPN provider and wish to use them with your InvizBox 2.

Entering your VPN credentials:

You will first need to reach your InvizBox 2’s Administration Interface. There are two ways to provide the IB2 with your VPN credentials, either during the onboarding or on the ‘VPN Account’ page in the Administration Interface.

Where to find your VPN credential

You can retrieve your VPN credentials here

Onboarding:

The first time you access the Admin Interface (either on your computer or using the Android or iOS app) you will be prompted to enter your VPN credentials during the onboarding.

The above image shows the onboarding page from the Android app.

In the Administration Interface:

If you have completed the onboarding and wish to change your VPN credentials you can do so after logging in to the Administration Interface in the ‘System – VPN Account’ page.

You are trying to reach the Administration Interface on your InvizBox 2 but don’t seem to be able to get there.

Connecting using the InvizBox 2 Administration app:

Follow these steps to connect using your mobile device:

1. You can download the InvizBox 2 Administration app from the Play Store or the App Store.

2. Connect your mobile device to the InvizBox 2’s WiFi hotspot.

3. Open the app.

If you are having issues ensure that your device is connected to one of your InvizBox 2’s networks.

Connecting using the browser:

Follow these steps to connect using your browser:

1. Make sure your device is connected to one of the InvizBox 2 networks (see How do I connect to my InvizBox 2). You will not be able to reach the Administration Interface unless you are connected to the InvizBox 2.
2. Open the following link in the browser of your choice: http://inviz.box
3. If the above link didn’t work (eg. using a phone which is also connected to 4G), try to connect to the InvizBox 2 using its IP address. For example, for the network present during the first setup named “InvizBox 2 VPN”, that would be http://10.154.0.1.
4. If none of the above worked, you may want to try accessing the Administration Interface from another browser (from other customers reports, it seems that sometimes using Firefox was the only one that worked).

Note: All of the networks on your InvizBox 2 use different IP addresses. If you are trying to access the Administration Interface using an IP address as in step 3 above but are not connected to the first InvizBox 2 VPN network you will need to use one of the following addresses:

1. http://10.154.1.1 – for the 2nd VPN network
2. http://10.154.2.1 – for the 3rd VPN network
3. http://10.154.3.1 – for the 4th VPN network
4. http://10.154.4.1 – for the Tor network
5. http://10.154.5.1 – for the 1st Clear network
6. http://10.154.6.1 – for the 2nd Clear network
7. http://10.154.7.1 – for the Local network

Note: If none of the above works for you¸ don’t hesitate to contact us by opening a support ticket with Invizbox. In order for them to have some context, please let us know what your operating system is and what browsers you tried and recent changes you made to your InvizBox 2 configuration.

Sling Free is a new service from USA cord cutters Sling.tv which gives free access to over 9000 movies and episodes. No Credit card required, just watch.

This service is normally blocked if you are outside of the USA, but by connecting to our USA VPN, you can get past those pesky geoblocks, and binge watch to your hearts content on all the content.

How to watch

1. Get a Vanished VPN subscription if you don’t already have one.
2. Setup the VPN on your device following our setup guides
3. Connect to our USA VPN
4. Go to the Sling Free page, and enjoy the shows.

• Note, it looks like this service isn’t currently supported on IOS devices. Check the list of supported devices here.

What’s available

There seems to be a good mix of content including Hell’s Kitchen, Unsolved Mysteries, Live news, and some classic movies.

This guide will show you how to watch the remains fixtures and finals of the UEFA Champions league 20/21 for free with Vanished VPN.

The #UEFAChampionsleague will resume on Friday 7th August with all remaining fixtures being played out in quick succession before the final on the 23rd August.

Normally, Champions league fixtures are on premium pay TV, but we’ll show you how you can access all of the official stream live, free & legally with Vanished VPN.

CBS all access will show all the games, highlights & replays, and also have a free month trial offer until 16th August, which will cover you for all the remains games.

How to watch

1. Get a Vanished VPN subscription if you don’t already have one.
2. Setup the VPN on your device following our setup guides
3. Connect to our USA VPN
4. Go to CBS All Access and sign up for the free trial. Note you will be asked for a USA address, click here to create one if you get stuck.
5. Head over to the Champions League section, and enjoy the games

CBS All access is also showing the remains Europa league games too, so you can also catch those.

Whos playing when

Here’s the schedule of the remaining matches.

Friday 7 August
Juventus vs Lyon
Manchester City vs Real Madrid

Saturday 8 August
Bayern vs Chelsea
Barcelona vs Napoli

Quarter-finals 

Wednesday 12 August
Atalanta (ITA) vs Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica

Thursday 13 August
Leipzig (GER) vs Atlético (ESP), Estádio José Alvalade

Friday 14 August
Napoli (ITA) / Barcelona (ESP) vs Chelsea (ENG) / Bayern München (GER), Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica

Saturday 15 August
Real Madrid (ESP) / Manchester City (ENG) vs Lyon (FRA) / Juventus (ITA), Estádio José Alvalade

Semi-finals

Tuesday 18 August
2. Leipzig (GER) / Atlético (ESP) vs Atalanta (ITA) / Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica

Wednesday 19 August
1. Real Madrid (ESP) / Manchester City (ENG) / Lyon (FRA) / Juventus (ITA) vs Napoli (ITA) / Barcelona (ESP) / Chelsea (ENG) / Bayern München (GER), Estádio José Alvalade

Final

23 August, Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Lisbon

Winner semi-final 2 vs winner semi-final 1

The English Premier League is the most widely watched league in the World . Fans all over the world are eagerly awaiting the restart following the COVID-19 lockdown. All the action starts again on Wednesday the 17th June.

In this guide, we’ll show you several options for using your Vanished VPN subscription to watch every game of a packed schedule. With Liverpool almost certain to lift the trophy in the early rounds, the battles for Champions league places, and safety from relegation in a busy foot of the table will take centre stage

NBC Sports Gold

Our 1st recommendation is bar far the easiest, and will give you access to live streams, Full match replays (available for 30 days) highlights and analysis. NBC Sports is offering its Gold Premier League pass for just $9.99 to cover all the remaining games (normally $64.99 per year, which is also great value). To access this offer:

1. Sign up for a Vanished VPN subscription if you don’t have one.
2. Connect to our USA VPN
3. Go to https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/premier-league and sign up for the gold pass at $9.99
4. Go to the Premier League section of their site and enjoy the streams

You can also access the streams on your mobile device or tablet by downloading the NBC Sports Gold app. For this , you will need to be signed onto a USA play or iTunes account.

You will see which games are available live in the schedule. All games will be available as a full match replay after 9pm ET on the day of the match for 30 days.

BBC iPlayer

For the 1st time in Premier League history, some games will be broadcast on free to air BBC. These streams will also be available on BBC iPlayer. Just connect to our UK VPN to access BBC iPlayer . Check out our full guide here if you get stuck.

Hotstar

Hotstar is one of our favourite streaming sites. It carries all of the premier league live streams & highlights. To access the Live streams you will need a Premium account. If you have one, you’re lucky, as they have made it increasingly difficult to sign up from outside India. New Hotstar premium accounts now require an Indian credit card and mobile number. If you have a friend in India, maybe they can help. Alternatively, you can find Premium accounts for sale by searching Instagram (try something like #hotstarpremiumaccounts). We have tried some of these, and they do work, but we cannot guarantee or recommend specific sellers.Once you have a Hotstar premium account, just connect to our India VPN, and the streams will be unblocked.

Other options

Fubo.tv & Sling.tv (blue package) both give access to NBC Sports and show most of the matches. They both have free trial periods , and can be unblocked by connecting to our USA VPN. After the trial , Sling.tv is the best value at $30 per month compared to $59.99 for Fubo.tv. Both have recording included.

The Mola TV app is also another option. This provides free access to the streams on your mobile device, and can be unblocked by connecting to our Indonesia VPN. We have found availability of streams to be a bit unreliable, so if you’re looking for a solid solution, NBC Sports is still our #1.

Schedule

Here’s the initial TV schedule with links to some of the USA streaming sites (which you can access by connecting to our USA VPN). Currently , the season is expected to run until the end of July 2020, with FA cup matches to follow into August. All times are USA Eastern.

Wednesday, June 17

Aston Villa vs. Sheffield United, 1pm, NBCSN, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Manchester City vs. Arsenal, 3:15pm, NBCSN, Universo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Friday, June 19

Norwich vs. Southampton, 1pm, NBCSN, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Spurs vs. Manchester United, 3:15pm, NBCSN, Universo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Saturday, June 20

Watford vs. Leicester, 7:30am, NBCSN, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Brighton vs. Arsenal, 10am, NBCSN, Universo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

West Ham vs. Wolves, 12:30pm, NBC, Telemundo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Bournemouth vs. Crystal Palace, 2:45pm, Peacock and NBC Sports Gold

Sunday, June 21

Newcastle vs. Sheffield United, 9am, NBCSN, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Aston Villa vs. Chelsea, 11:15am, NBCSN, Telemundo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Everton vs. Liverpool, 2pm, NBC, Telemundo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Monday, June 22

Manchester City vs. Burnley, 3pm, NBCSN, Universo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Tuesday, June 23

Leicester vs. Brighton, 1pm, NBCSN, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Spurs vs. West Ham, 3:15pm, NBCSN, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Wednesday, June 24

Man United vs. Sheffield United, 1pm, NBCSN, Universo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Newcastle vs. Aston Villa, 1pm, Peacock and NBC Sports Gold

Norwich vs. Everton, 1pm, Peacock and NBC Sports Gold

Wolves vs. Bournemouth, 1pm, Peacock and NBC Sports Gold

Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace, 3:15pm, NBCSN, Universo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Thursday, June 25

Southampton vs. Arsenal, 1pm, NBCSN, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Burnley vs. Watford, 1pm, Peacock and NBC Sports Gold

Chelsea vs. Manchester City, 3:15pm, NBCSN, Universo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Saturday, June 27

Aston Villa vs. Wolves, 7:30am, NBCSN, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Sheffield United vs. Arsenal (FA Cup quarterfinal), Noon, ESPN+

Norwich vs. Manchester United (FA Cup quarterfinal), 3:15pm, ESPN+

Sunday, June 28

Leicester City vs. Chelsea (FA Cup quarterfinal), 9:30am, ESPN+

Watford vs. Southampton, 11:30am, NBCSN, Telemundo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Newcastle United vs. Manchester City (FA Cup quarterfinal), 1pm, ESPN+

Monday, June 29

Crystal Palace vs. Burnley, 3pm, NBCSN, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Tuesday, June 30

Brighton vs. Manchester United, 3:15pm, NBCSN, Universo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Wednesday, July 1

Everton vs. Leicester, 1pm, NBCSN, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Arsenal vs. Norwich, 1pm, Peacock and NBC Sports Gold

Bournemouth vs. Newcastle, 1pm, Peacock and NBC Sports Gold

West Ham vs. Chelsea, 3:15pm, NBCSN, Universo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Thursday, July 2

Sheffield United vs. Spurs, 1pm, NBCSN, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

Manchester City vs. Liverpool, 3:15pm, NBCSN, Universo, fuboTV, Hulu Live, Sling Blue and AT&T TV (free trial)

This guide gives tips and a work around solution to sign up for Hotstar.com premium.

Before starting, sign up for a VanishedVPN plan, and follow the guides to setup the sports VPN on your device, and connect.

Make sure you are connected to our  India VPN

Once connected to the VPN, visit hotstar.com , click on the movies tab, and pick a ‘premium’ title to watch.

Click on the ‘start your membership’, and choose which package you want (the monthly is 299RPS = approx $6 AUD, and the annual is 999RPS = approx $20 AUD)

Next, click on ‘Have a facebook or email account’ and then enter your email address on the next screen.
Click through, and enter your credit or debit card details
If you’re successful, congratulations, you can now access live HD streams for EPL, movies , HBO and much more – Enjoy.

If you’re unsuccessful, there are 2 options which have been proven to work:

1) Apply for a Qantas American Express Discovery Card. Wait for it to arrive (around 1 week), then use that . This card has no annual fee, and reasonable earning requirements, so should be accessible to most people. Customers have had a 100% success rate using this card. NOTE WE ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL ADVICE, and we are not recommending this card as a financial solution. We are simply sharing the fact that we know it works for hotstar premium sign ups.

2) There is also an option to sign up via itunes. This is a ‘work around’ . It will take around half an hour, and it will require you to get an Indian itunes voucher (as you’ll need an itunes account in the India store with credit).

This has been tested by some customers and it works. The following is advice. Attempt at your own risk. We do not offer support for this.

You will need :

1) To setup an account in the India itunes store (video below shows you how)
2) An itunes voucher which is valid in the India itunes store (we used this seller . You can search on ebay & Amazon) Make sure your voucher is in Ruppees (we bought the RPS 799 which = approx $15AUD)

Note – Hotstar won’t charge you for initial sign up. There is a 30 day free trial, so you can spend the credit on music etc if you want after you’ve signed up.

Once you have you voucher, follow the instructions in the video below, and you’ll be setup .

When you setup iTunes India account and Hotstar make them the same email so they link automatically.

Part 1 – Create Indian itunes account

Part 2 – Sign up for Hotstar

Note – When you get to the end, you may get the ‘OK’ message, and then an error afterwards. If this happens, contact hello@hotstar.com (or via twitter), and tell them you tried to sign up via itunes, but it failed at the end. Customers who have done this have reported that they will then fix it. Remember, you are meant to be in India to use this Service, so be creative if asked.

Link to apple id

This guide will show you how to watch Bundesliga football from anywhere in the world.

Its the moment that sports fans all over the world have been anxiously waiting for while in isolation. Competitive sport is set to return to our screens from the 16th May, with Germany’s Bundesliga taking the 1st step.

Because of the risk of COVID-19, these games will be played in empty stadiums, but clubs are filling the empty seats with cardboard cut outs of pictures of fans to try and create some kind of atmosphere.

There are several options for streaming Bundesliga, which we’ve detailed below. For each of these, you will need a Vanished VPN subscription , and set up on your device of choice.

How to watch

Here’s our recommendations:

Matchtv.ru

Matchtv.ru is a Russian site which carries premium sport streams for free. They will be screening several of the Bundesliga games on their free channel. Normally, the streams on this site are blocked if you’re not in Russia. Here’s how to access this :

1. Get Vanished VPN
2. Connect to our Russia VPN
3. Check the TV guide to find out what’s on , then access the live stream.We recommend using a chrome browser as it can translate this site, and also allows you to chrome cast to the big screen.

FuboTV and Sling TV

Price: 45 USD/month and up

Channels: beIN Sports, FS1, FS2, ESPN, ESPN 2

Looking for an easy way to get started? You can catch the action on beIN Sports, Fox, or ESPN. The the easiest way to watch these channels is via fuboTV and Sling TV. Both offer a free trial.

1. Get Vanished VPN
2. Connect to our USA VPN
3. Go to fuboTV (55 USD/month) or Sling TV (40 USD/month + the “Sports Extra” add-on for an extra 10 USD/month).
4. You’re all set!

Our final recommendation is Hotstar.com (connect via our India VPN). They have live streams available for all Bundesliga matches in HD (up to 720p). To view, you will need a premium membership (which is approx $3 per month, and has a 30 day free trial). This will allow you to view all premium content on the site including the latest films (in HD) and HBO (including GOT, Silicon Valley, Modern Family etc). Awesome value.

Note – This site is normally restricted to India residents, but we have unblocked it for you.

Once you are signed up, we recommend that you check out a few of the streams, and perhaps work out which device you will stream from , and how you will share to your TV if that’s what you intend to do.

Once the Bundesliga streams are available, you will find them under the Sports menu (normally 5 mins before kick off).

To access Hotstar:

1. Get Vanished VPN
2. Connect to our India VPN
3. Visit Hotstar.com and go to the Sport / Football section

Some sites will require you to have an address in the country where they are based when you sign up for them.

If you need to generate an address or postcode for signing up, just use the identity generator on this site.

Gangs of London is an awesome new drama featuring Peaker Blinders Joe Cole. Set in Modern day London, this 9 part series is being described as what a TV Series made by Guy Ritchie would look like. Quite simply, if you like modern day Gangster movies, this is for you.

Gangs of London aired on Sky in the UK on the 23rd April, and all 9 episodes of season one are available to binge watch on Sky’s online service, NowTV.com now. Nowtv is normally only available in the UK, but by using VanishedVPN, you can bypass the location block, and watch for free from anywhere in the world.

How to watch Gangs of London for free

Nowtv.com has a free 7 day trial, so you just need to sign up, and you’ve got 7 days to watch for free. After that , the subscription costs 8.99 per month. You can cancel at anytime, and just create a new account with a different email etc if you want to continue for free.

Here’s how:

1. Sign up for a VanishedVPN subscription of you don’t already have one (we have a 7 day money back guarantee ).
2. Setup your device, and connect to our UK VPN servers
3. Head to nowtv.com, and select the ‘entertainment’ bundle
4. Click through to the checkout to start the free trial. You will need a UK address. We suggest that you google a UK hotel and use this.
5. Head to the ‘Gangs of London’ page, and start binge watching this awesome drama.

Once you’re connected to the UK VPN, why not also check awesome amount of free content available on BBC iplayer, including Killing Eve, Top Gear, Fleabag, Gavin & Stacey & much more.

Remember when you clicked ‘accept’ on the terms & conditions when installing or signing up to a Google service without reading the 100+ pages ?You were actually giving Google permission to create a profile about you with everything that they know, and keep that data to use for their own advertising , or to sell on. Have I got your attention ? Then read on…

The smartphone that you carry with you everywhere stores a lot of data about us. Our phones know what we do, where we are, and what we want. Every hour of every day. 

And it doesn’t end there. Our ISPs, browsers, search engines, the apps we’ve installed, social media platforms, governments, Google, and other websites we visit all know what we’re doing online. 

So let me ask you a question: do you have something to hide?

Of course you do. Everyone does. 

This might be news to you, but your data (juicy or not) is worth big bucks and there are a lot of people who want it.  

Why do companies want my data?

Because big data is big money. 

Governments want to know what you are doing. Marketers want to know how you spend money. And there are bad folks out there who just want to take it. It’s a privacy nightmare.

Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft store so much user data that it is believed that it will be collectively worth $6 trillion by the end of 2020.

How do companies make money from my data?

Google, Facebook, Apple etc. make money by knowing you really well. They want to build a profile of you which can be used to target adverts. The more they know about you (your age, sex, family, what you like, what you don’t like, your finances), the more money they can sell you for. Kind of like pimps. Kind of like data pimps.

So why do people put their trust and their personal information into the hands of these companies, you ask?

They don’t. Well, not knowingly at least! 

Most people don’t realise how much data Google and other companies really gather. 

Do you? Let’s do a quick privacy check together.

What does Google know about you?

• Google stores search history across all your devices on a separate database, so even if you delete your search history and phone history, Google still stores everything until you manually delete everything, and you have to do this on all your devices.
  
  Check yours: https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity

• Google stores your location every time you turn on your phone, and you can see a timeline from the first day you started using Google on your phone. It records every place you visit, the time you get there and how long it takes to get to that location from your previous one.
  
  Check yours: https://google.com/maps/timeline

• Google creates an advertisement profile based on your information, including your location, gender, age, hobbies, career, interests, relationship status, possible weight, and income. 
  
  Check yours: http://google.com/settings/ads/

• Google stores information on every app and extension you use, how often you use them, where you use them, and who you use them to interact with (who you talk to, what nationalities your friends are, what time you go to sleep) 
  
  Check yours: https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions

• Google stores all of your YouTube histories. Based on your Youtube search and watched videos, they can determine if you’re a conservative, progressive, Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, travelling, or a stay at home mum. They know it all.
  
  Check yours: https://youtube.com/feed/history/

Download your Google data

You can download your own archive of everything you have stored in Google’s services. Here’s how:

• Go to http://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout
• Select the products that you want to back up. I decided to select everything.
• Click ‘Next’ at the bottom of the page.
• Choose the file format – you can pick a .ZIP file and choose a maximum size. I recommend going with the full 50GB file to avoid having your data split into multiple files. If you choose 2GB and have a lot of information on Google, for example, you’re going to have a lot of ZIP files. Choose 2GB if you’re on an older computer, since ZIP files larger than 2GB require newer operating systems.
• Choose your delivery method. You can get a link via email or have the archive sent to Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive.
• Tap “Create Archive.”
• Be patient. Google warns the archive may take hours or days to create.

Remember, downloading the data doesn’t delete it from Googles servers. Think of it as a backup.

Its quite frightening that Google knows every entry in my calendar. It shows all the events I have ever added, whether I attended them, what time I attended them and when I left the venue. 

Google activity file shows every Ad I ever viewed or clicked , every website I visited and what time I did it, and every app I’ve installed. Every image I’ve ever searched for is there, and every new article and google search I’ve ever made.

Google is not your friend. You can’t trust them with your data. They sell whatever data they can get their hands on — to the highest bidder, and then the lowest bidder, and every bidder in-between. 

Is it only Google I should be worried about?

Absolutely not…

Facebook, and Amazon are amongst the other big players who are up to no good too. And Siri & Alexa are also in on it. Ever wondered why just after you’ve been talking about something, an advert related to that discussion pops up in your ad feed ? We’ll be publishing another blog on all of this..

Why should you care about private browsing?

So far we’ve learnt that data dominates the digital world. Therefore, any time you visit a website, you leave a trail of data behind you. And everybody wants it, from cybercriminals to enterprise giants. Every day, millions of trackers are hunting, and your data is the big prize. 

We can’t stop it altogether but there are plenty of things that we can do to reduce our digital footprint.

Now, let’s talk solutions.  

Use a VPN

Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is the best way to protect your privacy when you’re browsing the web. A VPN sends your Internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel, making it extremely difficult to intercept, track, or read your data. 
As soon as you connect to the VPN, everything you do online is anonymous.
You’re invisible. 
Any websites you visit.
All files you download.
They all become out of sight from any and everyone. 

Now, a VPN won’t stop Google from targeting you with tailor-made ads. But it can hide your identity. 

Vanished VPN is one of the best value VPNs in the world, and has been recommended by Lifehacker.

When you use VanishedVPN Google will see one of our IP addresses – and your real IP address given to you by your ISP will be hidden from sight. Google, Facebook, or anyone tracking or monitoring your online activities, will not be able to identify you as the user.

What’s your online privacy worth?

Browse in Incognito

Browsing in private mode (or incognito) gives you a few privacy enhancements, and is the simplest thing you can do to make some of your general internet usage a bit more anonymous. Better than nothing. Technically.

When you launch incognito mode, your browser doesn’t store your history, searches, and cookies for later. Once you close your private browser window, anyone who uses your device after you won’t be able to see what you did. However, your internet provider, your employer, your school, your government, or the sites you visit can still see and record your browsing data.

Solution: We recommend you use a service like DuckDuckGo. This an independent search engine that strives to keep your search history private and block advertising trackers which in turn give you control of your data. 

Don’t use Chrome

Chrome is the most widely used web browser in the world, but remember, it is a google product, and designed to harvest data for Google. There are other browsers available which don’t have such close alligiences to Google

Clear your Flash cookies 

Flash cookies (also known as Local Shared Objects) aren’t like normal cookies, although they function similarly. They save your settings, preferences and browsing data when you go to websites that use Adobe Flash. And yes, they’re exactly as boring as this paragraph was.

Removing Flash cookies ensures you’re not leaving any crumbs of personal activity behind after you flush out all the other regular, easy-to-delete browser cookies. To get rid of them, go to the Adobe Settings Manager in your browser, and clear some or all of your Flash cookies through the storage panel. 

Important as it is, clearing your Flash cookies doesn’t encrypt and secure your browsing, searches, online banking, etc. It’s just a routine chore you should once in a while, like taking the bins out. You’ll technically make things cleaner but you shouldn’t go patting yourself on the back.

How to delete the data Google stores

After reviewing the data that big G has on you, you can delete all or some of it by following the instructions here.

Wrapping up

Signed into Google? Then you’re being tracked across searches, emails, locations, and more. That Microsoft Account you use to log in to Skype, Outlook, Xbox Live? Also being tracked. Your Apple ID? They’re not thinking differently about your data. I could go on and on and on…

You get the point. Whether you sign up for online services, or you don’t sign up for online services — you’re constantly getting tracked.

Everyone wants your data, and they will do anything they can to take it. 

If you are serious about your privacy, then always use a VPN, and take the additional measure described above.