Here are tricks to keep online stalkers at bay

Most of us use Chrome as our browser and Google as the search engine of choice. That' means one thing; these information-hungry platforms are gleaning small but critical information about your online habits.

As you search for information on health issues, financial matters, purchases, and other personal issues, you leave behind subtle but essential clues that say volumes about who you are. Such clues tell what you are looking for online, your location, and the devices you use for your Internet activity.

One can feel uncomfortable browsing the internet knowing too well that Internet applications are scraping information anonymously and then selling it or endearing you to online products or services. Staying anonymous online is next to impossible, but there are some few tricks you can use to cover your online footprints.

Google, Bing, and Yahoo are the three most popular search engines, but the trio also harvests the most information about you. Browsing the web while at the same time logged in to your Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo account only makes it easier for these search engines can collect your name, email address, birthday, gender, and phone number — a whole trove of personal information.

Your searches are tracked, information mined and packaged up into a data profile for advertisers to follow you around and bombard you with intrusive and annoying ever-present banner ads.

If you would like to roam the Internet without an information harvester stalking every click you make, use a web service like DuckDuckGo.com. The lesser-known search engine does not collect user information or track what you search.

Protection from viruses

DuckDuckGo is an independent search engine. Anything you search for will not be collected and curated for future use. If you want to try out DuckDuckGo, type DuckDuckGo.com into your browser address bar and enter your search query. Use it the same way you use other search engines.

The search engine also claims it has nothing to sell to advertisers, which means you won't ever be subject to targeted ads. DuckDuckGo still relies on advertising to generate revenue, so you will still see visible ads in your searches. The difference, however, is that the ads are not personalised to the user.

The drawback of using DuckDuckGo is that it doesn't include protection from viruses, malware, ransomware, or other internet dangers. You would need to have these safeguards on your computer instead of relying on DuckDuckGo to provide them.

Of course, DuckDuckGo doesn't have the sophistication and the might of Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other web heavyweights, but it will most likely get you much of the information you need.

Keep in mind, using special browsers won't make you completely anonymous but prevent sites from secretly writing information to your computer, which other sites can later read to figure out your browsing habits.

Wambugu is an Informatician. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Samwambugu2