Category Archives: Facebook Secrets

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Controlled sharing, Facebook, Facebook Ad Privacy Settings, Facebook Games, Facebook Secrets, Facebook Tricks

Facebook Games and Apps – something to think about

November 29, 2012 Computers Made Simple Leave a comment

As we all know, Facebook plays pretty fast and loose with your personal information. How fast and loose? Take a look that this notice that popped up when we were removing Farmville from one of our Facebook accounts:

Photo of Facebook Games 1 — **What? Farmville may still have our data???**

Once Facebook has shared your data with Farmville why do you have to go to Farmville to get them to delete it? Wouldn’t deleting Farmville from your Facebook account be sufficient? Looks like it’s not. You have to scramble around to ask a game to delete your own data. All the more reason to use a dummy profile to play games.

If you’re tired of worrying about Facebook sharing your data as you travel around the Internet, try this. Go to your privacy page, top right of any page and click on the down arrow and choose Privacy Settings. Once you’re there, look for Apps and Websites. Click on Edit Settings. Here’s the page that comes up:

Photo of Facebook Games 2 — **This is where you can change your game privacy settings.**

Right now, this user has allowed 28 games or applications, including websites, access to their personal information. In the last few days, 5 apps/games have accessed that information. (We’ll show you how to limit some of this access in a later post.)

What if all of this third party sharing is not for you? From the looks of this page, Facebook is sharing everything about you with everyone. Lets change that. In the middle of this page, look for this:

Photo of Facebook Games 3 — ***The highlighted words ‘Turn off” will stop the sharing.***

If you click on the words ‘Turn off’, none of your personal information will be shared with apps or games or websites outside of Facebook. The upside is that your data is substantially more private, the downside is that you won’t be able to play games or interact with websites the way you did before. Depending on who you are, this could be a good thing. Here’s what you see when you click on those words:

Photo of Facebook Games 4 — **The warning is self-explanatory.**

One click and you’re done. None of your games will show up on your Facebook page, your notices won’t include game updates or requests and you won’t be hounded to ‘Sign in with Facebook’ when you travel around the Internet. If you don’t like this, head back to the same page and ‘Turn on’ what you just turned off. Or, you could just play a game. Read the next tip.

TIP: Even though you have turned off Apps, Plugins and Websites and received the dire warning posted above, Facebook does not warn you that your privacy is being invaded the next time you play a game. Read that again, we’ll wait.

Facebook is eager to warn you when you turn off Apps, Plugins and Websites, right? It’s curious that there is no warning when you turn this on, isn’t it? All you have to do is play a game, even a game that you had been playing before you turned this off, and everything is back to normal. Your personal data is being shared outside of Facebook all over again.

Facebook is full of tricks and missteps, isn’t it? It’s like walking in a minefield blindfolded sometimes. We strongly suggest a secondary, anonymous account when playing games and ‘liking’ web pages. You never know when something you’ve done on Facebook will come back to haunt you later on. Use one account for friends and another for everything else. Using two browsers on a modern fast computer is simple and saves time logging in. Keep your main account on Chrome and your play account in Explorer, example.

Next time, we’ll tell you how to adjust your app and game settings to protect at least some of your privacy. Stay tuned!

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Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Facebook, Facebook Ad Privacy Settings, Facebook Secrets

Facebook Privacy Fix

November 26, 2012 Computers Made Simple Leave a comment

We’ve written many posts that help you hide different parts of your Facebook persona. This post will help you hide things outside of Facebook, those things that you don’t even know you are sharing.

Facebook makes its money by selling information about you to other websites. Basically, they sell your likes and dislikes in order for companies to better target their approach to get you to spend money. These pieces of information include the websites you visit, your email address, what ads you click on, etc. Facebook also tracks your activity as you travel around the Internet. How much money does Facebook make off of all of this? Well, one of our Facebook accounts generated just under $1,000 a year for Facebook. Multiply that by a few million Facebook users and you can see why Facebook is so interested in everything you do online.

A new app is available that helps you hide yourself from Facebook’s prying eyes. PrivacyFix, available here: https://privacyfix.com/start works inside either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Go to the site, allow PrivacyFix to access your Facebook data and you’ll soon be invisible, at least as far as Facebook’s web customers are concerned.

Photo of Privacy Fix — ***Click on the “Run PrivacyFix Setup” button. Follow the prompts.***

Once you run the setup, PrivacyFix helps you close the gaps in your Facebook privacy settings. Quite honestly, we thought our settings were fairly secure but found out that we were wrong. Read the prompts carefully and let PrivacyFix repair everything for you.

The only part that we found didn’t work well was when we were trying to email companies who had our information, asking them to delete any details that they have. PrivacyFix uses the old-fashioned ‘mailto’ link for this. That only works if you have an email client, let’s say Windows Live Mail (new) or Outlook Express (old), set up and ready to send out emails. Most of use webmail such as Gmail or Yahoo or Hotmail. This particular step did not work at all and we’re curious why they used this old-style script. We’ll investigate and update this when we find the answer.

Using PrivacyFix, our value to Facebook has gone down from just under $1000 to just under $10. For a few minutes work, we think that’s pretty good. Let us know how you’re worth, both before and after.

Thanks for reading!

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Facebook, Facebook 101, Facebook page likes, Facebook Secrets, Facebook Tricks

Facebook Changes Its Like Privacy – get the details here.

November 8, 2012 Computers Made Simple Leave a comment

As of November 7, 2012, Facebook has completely changed its privacy settings for pages that you like. Pages include artists pages, tech pages, etc. Here is what we’ve found so far:

1. Your activity log is one place to start. Get to this page by clicking on Activity Log from your Facebook timeline. The first page that comes up is your own posts and posts from whatever apps (games) you have used recently. What’s new here is the Start Tour button. That should clue you in to the fact that something has changed.

Photo of Facebook Likes 1 — **Click on your Activity Log under your cover photo on your timeline.**

2. Click on the Start Tour button and this pops up. The settings described here affect only the things that you have posted.

Photo of Facebook Likes 2 — **This is the ‘friends only’ icon.**

3. Once you click Okay, another message pops up. This one is key to the new Facebook privacy…or lack of it. It’s worth emphasizing, we think: Hidden posts may appear in other places on Facebook. It seems now that there is no privacy on Facebook at all, right?

Photo of Facebook Likes 3 — **Read these words carefully. ‘Hidden posts may appear in other places on Facebook.’**

4. Click Okay once this has settled in. The next box says that you can sort out your activities by clicking on the box up at the top.

Photo of Facebook Likes 4 — **Sort through your activities by clicking on the box near the top.**

5. Here is the list of your possible activities. Finally, your Likes appear.

Photo of Facebook Likes 5 — **Click on Likes.**

6. The page that comes up when you click Likes isn’t your page likes. These are your photo likes and comment likes. Nothing has changed with these likes. The photo below shows that this user, Emily Cheng, has set her photos to ‘Public’. Anyone who gets to her profile can see her photos, not a setting we would recommend.

Photo of Facebook Likes 6 — **Don’t set your photos to Public, that’s our advice.**

Remember that the settings shown here are completely out of your control. We think that this is shown in order to warn you about who can see that you liked the photo. In this case, it’s possible that everyone on Facebook could potentially see that you liked it, not just this person’s friends.

7. Next, we want to show you what your options are when you like someone’s photo. There is only one. The first, shown below, seems to suggest that you can keep this like from your timeline.

Photo of Facebook Likes 7 — ***If it’s ‘Allowed on Timeline’, you’d think there was a ‘Not allowed on Timeline’ choice. There isn’t.***

8. The only thing you can do to hide your like from your timeline is to, you guessed it, ‘unlike’ the photo. That is the only choice you have. When you click the circle to the right, this is what you see:

Photo of Facebook Likes 8 — ***Unlike is the only choice you have to keep this like off of your Timeline.***

9. When it comes to liking a page, you have one more option.

Photo of Facebook Likes 14 — **You can hide this like from your Timeline.**

Hiding this like from your timeline may or may not keep it hidden from your friends. Let’s head over to another area of Facebook to see if we can keep this ‘like’ away from your news feed.

10. On the same page that you are on now, your Activity Log, look up on the top left. You’ll see this:

Photo of Facebook Likes 15 — **Click on the words Activity log, then on Likes.**

11. Once you click the word Likes, this page will pop up. It looks like you can’t do anything here but hover your mouse up on the top right. You’ll see the word Edit appear.

Photo of Facebook Likes 12 — ***Hover your cursor on the top right and Edit will appear. Click it.***

12. This next page is quite empty and it looks as if there is no way to edit anything. Hover your cursor over the name of any like here and this is the menu that pops up:

Photo of Facebook Likes 13 — ***Here are your choices for these Likes.***

13. Three choices are available. Show in News Feed, unchecked Show in News Feed meaning ‘not Show in News Feed’, and Unlike. You can also create a new list. More on that next time.

That’s it. Once you have unchecked the ‘Show in News Feed’ box, make sure that you click Done Editing to save your changes.

OK, so far so good right? Well, not really. We suspect that this whole thing is in a state of flux. As you saw before, Facebook is telling you that things you hide may be visible elsewhere on Facebook. That kind of sums up our feelings about all of this hiding from your news feed or timeline. These items may or may not be hidden at all. Yesterday, for example, we played around with hiding the fact that we liked the Mashable site. Even though it was a hidden activity, hidden from our timeline and hidden from our news feed, there it was in plain sight when we checked from another profile on two different browsers, even after we refreshed the page again and again. Nothing was hidden. Today, it isn’t there but yesterday it was. Go figure!

We love to hear from you. Keep your comments and suggestions coming. If you have problems, let us know. We’re here to help.

Thanks for reading!

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Data Download, Facebook, Facebook Secrets, Facebook Tricks

Facebook Account Settings -make sure you use the right ones.

November 1, 2012 Computers Made Simple Leave a comment

Let’s take a look at your Facebook account settings. For you own protection, it’s worth getting to know them. Without the right settings, your Facebook account could easily be compromised. If you use your smart phone or tablet to access Facebook, make sure your account settings match the level of security that you feel comfortable using. The more secure your settings are, the safer your account is.

1. Start by opening your account settings on the top right of any Facebook page:

Photo of Facebook Account Settings 1 — **Top right, click on Account Settings.**

2. The first Account Settings page is pretty easy to set up. Here’s what you should be looking at now:

Photo of Facebook Account Settings 2 — **Facebook gives you an email address plus you have your original email address here.**

Tip: You can download a copy of your Facebook data from this page. The process is explained here: Download Facebook Data

3. If you click on the word ‘Edit’ on the far right of the email settings, you’ll see this page:

Photo of Facebook Account Settings 3 — ***Near the bottom, decide if you want your friends to have your email address. We would advise against that.***

Your Facebook friends can contact you on Facebook. There is no reason for them to have your email address, at least not the one that you use to log into Facebook. If they don’t know what address you use, your account is substantially safer. You have to use your password to change any of these settings.

4. Next stop is the Security Settings. Click on Security up on the top left, right under General. This is what you’re looking for:

Photo of Facebook Account Settings 4 — **This is the most important section. Make sure you have each of these areas secured.**

The Security settings are set up to secure your account from being hacked. No, it’s not foolproof but if you have these set correctly, your account will be better protected.

5. Make sure that you have Secure browsing set. Click Edit on the right and check the box beside ‘Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) when possible’. Like this:

Photo of Facebook Account Settings 5 — **Secure browsing is important.**

6. Next, Facebook will notify you if someone accesses your account from a new device. They will email your or send you a text message. It’s up to you if you want to set this up. Here’s the menu:

Photo of Facebook Account Settings 6 — **Your recognized devices are listed below this area. Text or email notifications, it’s up to you.**

7. Login Approvals are next. If you click the box, you get to set up a security code that Facebook sends to your phone. Once you do this, no one, not even you, will be able to access your account without the security code. Cool huh?

Photo of Facebook Account Settings 7 — ***This makes sense but it also ties your phone to your Facebook account.***

8. Here is the menu that pops up, should you decide to choose login approvals:

Photo of Facebook Account Settings 8 — **Receive a text message with a code that you use to login from an a new device.**

9. App Passwords are explained if you hover over the words ‘Learn more’. Here’s what you see:

Photo of Facebook Account Settings 9 — **A Facebook app here means an app on a device, as opposed to an app that is inside Facebook. Android phones, Xboxes, things like that have an app that allows you to access your Facebook account.**

10. Peruse your recognized devices next. We have 19 devices for one of our accounts. If there are any you don’t use, click remove.

Photo of Facebook Account Settings 10 — ***Your list will probably be shorter than these 19 devices.***

11. The last screen shows your most recent Facebook sessions. Make sure they match up with your recent activity. From this one menu, you can see if anyone has accessed your account…other than you, that is. Click ‘End activity’ to cut off any unfamiliar devices or locations.

Photo of Facebook Account Settings 11 — **A single, very important menu.**

You’re all set now. Get familiar with these settings and do your best to secure your account. Comments and questions are always welcome.

Thanks for reading!

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Facebook, Facebook Secrets, Facebook Tricks, Privacy

Facebook Stalking – how to stop it

October 11, 2012 Computers Made Simple Leave a comment

Even though you may have your Facebook contact info privacy settings for your phone number set to ‘friends only’ or ‘only me’, did you know that anyone can find you on Facebook using that phone number? Read that again. You’re right. It doesn’t make sense. But, that’s Facebook, right? Read on and we’ll tell you how to stop complete strangers from stalking you and finding you on Facebook.

1. Go to your privacy settings page. Here is how you get there:

Photo of Privacy Settings link — **Down arrow, then click on Privacy Settings.**

2. On the page that pops up, look for the words ‘How you connect’. This is where you edit the settings for how people search for you. If you don’t change the settings here, anyone can find you using your phone number, the one that you might have given Facebook, or your email address. This is how it looks:

Photo of Facebook Privacy settings page — **How you connect, that’s what you’re looking for.**

3. This ‘How you connect’ setting is not overridden by your basic info settings. If you have your phone number listed in your basic info and if you have that set to ‘friends only’ or only me’, anyone can still search for you using that phone number. Sad but very true. Here are the settings that we suggest:

Photo of Facebook search settings. — **We suggest that you set this to ‘Friends’.**

4. If your friends happen to know your phone number, they can find you on Facebook. If they know your email address, they can find you. Then again, if anyone knows your phone number or email, they can find you on Facebook…unless you change this setting. Sure, anyone can search for your real name and they may or may not find you, depending on how many other people share your name and whether you used your real name or your nickname when you signed up. In other words, people can still find you, old school friends, ex-lovers, whoever, but they won’t be able to link up your phone number to your Facebook account. Change it now!

Working backwards here, your friends won’t be able to see your phone number on Facebook if you have this particular privacy setting:

Photo of Phone Number privacy settings — **You decide…Only me or Friends or whatever you want.**

OK, if your friends already know your phone number, that’s fine. With your phone number privacy set to ‘only me’ , at least they won’t be able to find the number on Facebook. If you set this to ‘friends’, then they can find your number here. Either way, using the privacy settings outlined above, no one will be able to search for you using your phone number.

Are we chock full of paranoia? Not really. Consider this scenario: You apply for a job. Obviously, you have to provide a telephone contact number. If that number is linked to your Facebook account, the person who is hiring you can search for you on Facebook using that number. Like it or not, they can find out quite a bit about you, depending on your privacy settings. If you remove your email and your phone number from your search settings (unfortunately you can’t separate them), then no one can find you that way.

Lastly, should Facebook even have your phone number? Think about that for a while. Sure, they say that they need it in case your account is compromised. Hmmmm, really? Your phone number is a direct link to you and/or your home. Mull that over for a while.

Thanks for reading!

a little bit of hi-tech, a little bit of common sense and a lot of fun