Category Archives: Adjust Default Privacy Settings

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Facebook

Facebook – Change privacy settings for ads

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Trying to maneuver your way around Facebook’s privacy settings has always been a problem. Now, with Facebook shooting out more and more ads, it’s time to adjust your privacy settings. Here we go:

1. On any Facebook page, click the down arrow icon up on the top right and choose Settings on the drop-down menu:

photo of menu 1
Settings from the drop-down menu under the arrow icon.

2. The first thing you see if your General settings but we’re after Privacy settings. For now,  just review them, then we’ll move on to Adverts.

Photo of Facebook general settings
Take a quick look here to make sure your info is as you want it.

3. While you’re here, take a look at your basic privacy settings. Our photo shows our settings. We like to keep things set to ‘Friends Only’ and suggest that you do the same.

Photo of Facebook Basic Privacy
We have everything set to Friends Only.

4. Move on to Adverts. Your wording may vary, of course. Adverts is a British term, certainly not one you’d hear in Canada or the U.S.

Photo of Road to Advert Settings
Adverts? Really? Seems so.

5. The page is divided into three sections. You can edit your preferences in the first two but the last is only for your own education. Read the third one carefully after you’ve edited the first two sections.

Photo of Facebook Advert Adjustments
Two of the sections have an Edit button. Read the preamble then click Edit to set your own parameters.

6. The first section describes something that isn’t available yet in Canada. The wording for you may be different. Regardless, we’ve set this up so ‘No one’ will be able to see our information, even if this feature is enabled at a later date. You should do the same.

Photo of 3rd party ad menu
Opt out, even if this feature isn’t available to you yet. (Feature? Not really.)

7. Facebook blithely tells you that “Everyone wants to know what their friends like”. Really? Read the rest of this section carefully. Again, we’ve got this set to ‘No one’. Is there any reason why you would allow Facebook to allow advertisers to use your profile photo? We can’t.

Photo of Adverts and Friends Menu
Do you want your social actions paired to ads? No? We didn’t either.

8. Read the last section very carefully. Facebook follows you while you are on their site but they also follow you when you are ‘off Facebook’. If you don’t agree with this, and we can’t see why you would agree to it, opt out through one of the links shown, depending on where you are in the world. There aren’t links to any Asian countries here so you might have a hard time opting out if you’re not in Canada, the U.S. or Europe. We can’t help with that, unfortunately.

Photo of Facebook Opt Out Form

All of this should be straightforward but if it isn’t, let us know. Comments and questions are welcome but  Likes on our Facebook page get immediate attention.  Here’s the link:

Computers Made Simple on Facebook 

Thanks for reading!

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Facebook

Facebook’s New Terms of Service – Doublespeak Explained

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Like the government, Facebook loves to pretend that they’re doing everything for you, always trying to make your Facebook experience extra special. As the old saying goes, if you believe that then we’ve got some land in Florida for you. Here’s a link to Facebook’s Updated Terms of Reference:

Facebook’s New TOS

Photo of Facebook's TOS
In case you missed it, here’s the details on your acceptance of the new TOS.

As you probably already know, simply using Facebook after January 1st, 2015 means that you agree with these updates. You can’t pick and choose from a list, it’s all or nothing. We’re quite sure that a very high percentage of Facebook users don’t ever read these Terms of Service. What we’re going to do over the next little while is show you how to get around most of them in order to protect your privacy. Here’s the main point to remember:

Facebook charges advertisers for the information they give them. Everything you reveal to Facebook increases the chances that advertisers will be targeting you directly with ads that you will, supposedly, find more interesting. Ask yourself this: Do I want to see these ads at all, directed or not? 

There are at least two kinds of advertising techniques that you’ll see on and off of Facebook. First are the actual ads that you see on the pages. Second are the Facebook icons and ‘facepiles’ on almost every website you visit. According to Facebook, you can control who sees your face on other sites. (We’re going to check that to make sure you can.) We’ve written about facepiles before, here’s a link to one of our posts: Facebook 101 – Part 8 – The Hidden Dangers of Facepiles. 

Here are three tips that will make it difficult for Facebook to direct their ads to you:

1. As we said before, the more information you give Facebook, the more they will use it to tune their ads and, essentially, make more money off you. In that case, why tell Facebook anything about yourself? You know how old you are, why tell Facebook. Your friends know where you went to school, where you live, who you work for, etc. Why does that have to be part of your Facebook experience? They will cheerfully tell you that your profile is only partially complete, making it seem that you’re being difficult by not telling them more.

The less you reveal on Facebook, the harder it is for them to direct targeted ads at you. Step one is to reveal less.

Photo of Facebook Profile warning
Oh darn. Only 86% complete. We’re failures!

2. Lie. Two wrongs don’t make a right, we all know that but Facebook goes far beyond simply lying to you. They tell you that everything they do is to make your experience more fun, more worthwhile. Meanwhile they are telling advertisers that you live in Cheboygan, you didn’t finish college and you’re recently divorced and have two children. In that case, why not mix things up a bit? Move to Timbuktu, marry a farmer and enroll in university, one of the online kind. Well, you won’t really more to Timbuktu but you get the point. Unless you’re using your Facebook profile to promote your business, what difference does it make to your friends if you change your information? Heck, you can even change your name. That’s a bit more complicated but it can be done.

3. Use an Ad Blocker. We told you about the Iron Browser in our last post. It’s much like Chrome but far more private. We thought it came with a built-in ad blocker but it doesn’t so you’ll have to add your own. Go to the three horizontal lines up on the top right, click there and choose Tools then Extensions. After that it’s easy to find Adblock and install it.

Put these three tips to good use and you won’t get those annoying ads while you’re actually on the Facebook site. In our next post, we’ll show you how to keep your Facebook profile photo from being seen all over the Internet. We have to test some things first but we’re fairly sure we can figure it out. Wish us luck!

Thanks for reading!

Comments and questions are welcome but  Likes on our Facebook page get immediate attention.  Here’s the link:

Computers Made Simple on Facebook 

 

 

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Facebook, Facebook 101

Facebook From Scratch – A video about signing up for Facebook

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Our posts about Facebook are the most popular ones that we create. In view of that, we’re going to do a series of videos about the whole Facebook process, from signing up to securing your privacy. It’s a big task but we’re pretty sure it will interest you. We’ll try to keep the videos short and entertaining. If you have comments or suggestions, please let us know.

We missed a couple of things in the video that we’ll correct next time but, for now, note two things. First, you can’t hide your current profile photo. Second, you can’t hide any  of your background photos, the big ones at the top of your own timeline. If you’re concerned about privacy, make sure that these two things don’t reveal too much about you. We’ll get into these and other fine points of privacy next time.

Thanks for reading and watching! Why not like us on our Facebook page? Here is the link:Computers Made Simple on Facebook.

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Here’s a link that might help us if you are interested in hosting your own blog with Fatcow Hosting. We’ve signed up to become an affiliate and we make a bit of money if you sign up for hosting via this link: FatCow Hosting Thanks!

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Controlled sharing, Facebook, Layered Privacy

Facebook Privacy Settings – Video

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How many times have we shown you how to adjust your privacy settings on Facebook? Lots of times. You can never know too much, right? Here’s a video that explains the current, March 2014, settings.

If you have questions or comments, let us know. Use the form below or, better yet, like us on our Facebook page. Here is the link:Computers Made Simple on Facebook.

Thanks for reading and watching!

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Facebook, Security, Security Settings

Facebook Security Settings – Part 2

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In our last post we showed you how to use the Code Generator feature in the Facebook mobile app. Here is the link: Facebook Security Settings – A series  Using the code generator, you can prove your identity to Facebook when you try to login from a new browser or location. Today we’ll run down the complete list of Facebook Security Settings. They are quite straightforward but very important. Let’s get going:

1. From any page on Facebook, look up on the top right for a tiny icon, a downward arrow just to the right of the globe icon. Click it and choose Settings. Like this:

Photo of Facebook Security Settings 1
We want Settings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. On the left side, click on Security:

Photo of Facebook Security Settings 2
Click on Security to bring out this menu.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Make sure your settings are the same as in the photo above. You want as much protection as possible. On the right side there is the word Edit. That allows you to change the settings in each section of the menu.

4. The theory behind all of this is to ensure that you are the person using your own Facebook account. If Facebook doesn’t recognize something that it should, it will prevent anyone from logging in to the account. This is a good thing, don’t you think? All of your personal information is useful to crooks, even if you have no financial details inside your Facebook profile.

TIP: If you don’t think that your security is important, here’s a story. On one of our accounts, we noticed that there were active sessions in another city, somewhere that we haven’t been in years. We closed them, of course, but that made us wonder how this could have happened. There were two active sessions which we immediately closed. Even if you don’t take our advice and change your settings, for whatever reason you have, it’s a good idea to check your ‘Active Sessions’ just to make sure someone isn’t logging in to your account from another location.

5. You can also enlist a friend or relative as a trusted contact, provided that they have locked down their account just as you have. This contact will be able to vouch for you should your account be hacked. With their help, you’d be able to recover it more quickly.

Read each section of this menu carefully. There are little help menus inside each part so you can’t get confused over any of this. If you do, ask us. OK? Do it now, don’t wait.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s the link to our Facebook page: Computers Made Simple on Facebook  Keep up to date on our posts and occasional tips and tricks.

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Here’s a link that might help us if you are interested in hosting your own blog with Fatcow Hosting. We’ve signed up to become an affiliate and we make a bit of money if you sign up for hosting via this link: FatCow Hosting Thanks!