

To use this feature, sign in to your device with a Microsoft account and make sure you're an administrator on it.

From buying advice to digital life issues, click here for my free podcasts.Find My Device is a feature that can help you locate your Windows 10 device if it's lost or stolen. You can listen to the Kim Komando Show on your phone, tablet or computer. What digital lifestyle questions do you have? Call my national radio show and click here to find it on your local radio station. Not only will it give you more privacy control and stop apps from potentially from spying and abusing your trust, but it can also weed out apps that are continually running in the background, which can, in turn, improve your gadget's battery life. This is why checking your app permissions regularly is good practice. That information can then be sent to companies who might use it for advertising. Sometimes apps ask for more information than they need.

iOS apps will typically show you a permission access pop-up upon using a feature that requires specific access to your gadget. Android phones will also give you a rundown of the permission requests upon installation of an app. Their algorithms will track your every click, and data will be used for targeted ads or “relevant” posts.īefore you install apps, always check the permissions they will require on their Google Play or Apple App Store app page. Google, Microsoft or Facebook) you begin feeding them data about your location, personality and preferences. The moment you create an account with a major company (e.g. If you don't like the idea of Google recording all your search terms, alternative engines such as Yippy, DuckDuckGo and Ixquick don't track you as aggressively. This browser has a built-in ad tracking blocker that will keep other sites from tracking your online activity. If you're on a Samsung smartphone, you can also use the company's Samsung Internet app. If you don't want a mobile browser that's associated with the big data brokers, you can try the third-party app Dolphin browser. The mobile versions of Google's Chrome and Microsoft's Edge also have incognito and InPrivate modes you can use. It also erases passwords and browsing history after each session. This anonymous mobile web browser blocks advertising, analytics and social trackers by default. One such app is Mozilla's free Firefox Focus app.
