6 Ways to Stay Anonymous Online

Staying safe online is more important now than it has ever been before. With the use of the internet becoming more and more popular, there is also an increase in hackers and data breaches. When your personal information gets into the wrong hands your life can get flipped upside down.

Someone could drain your entire bank account, ruin the credit you worked so hard to build, or even post photos of you or a loved one that you’d rather keep private. For this reason, we wanted to share with you six ways that you can stay anonymous online. All of these tips will not only help you to stay anonymous, but your personal information will stay much safer.

Use Alternative Search Engines

One of the simplest and most effective ways to stay anonymous online is to use an alternative search engine. While many people use popular search engines such as Google, they’re often the least secure. There are private search engines hat provide a safe and secure place to complete your searches.

Duckduckgo

DuckDuckGo is a search engine that is made to help you complete searches in a traditional way. It is very similar to Google, without you needing to worry about your sensitive information getting into the wrong hands. It provides a more minimalistic approach to looking up information online.

Hotbot

Hotbot is another privacy-oriented search engine that actually pulls results from four popular search engines. With each of these search engines you will see four separate sets of results. Think of Hotbot as a buffet for search results.

Hot.com

Hot will also provide you a search experience without having to worry about your location being tracked or your sensitive information being released.. If you’re looking for safe and secure search results, this is another great option.

These much more private options will not curate ads to make you try to buy something based on your search history, track your location, or keep a record of all of your personal information that you’ve entered anywhere online. There are also search engines that are private that also donate to charities and even plant trees for every 45 searches like Ecosia.

Avoid Using Plug-Ins

Another thing you can do to stay anonymous online is to avoid using plug-ins. The majority of plug-ins will leave clues that can easily reveal your identity and even your location. If you’re trying to stay anonymous while on the internet, it is crucial to avoid plug-ins. There are certain ways you can block plug-ins and keep your online experiences as private as possible.

Be Careful of Apps

Many people don’t know how dangerous applications can be. When you install apps, especially productivity software, your privacy is gone. A lot of these apps and software options will send new data out every time they are opened.

Chances are if the application or software is free, you likely won’t have much privacy using it. It can quite literally pay off by spending a few bucks on an application or software rather than using a free version.

Don’t Use Credit Cards

Online shopping is becoming more and more popular. We are not telling you to stop online shopping by any means. When you do decide to load up a cart on the Internet, avoid using a normal credit card. How do you do this?

Well, you can use online services such as PayPal or use a prepaid credit card. While you do need to create an account in order to use PayPal, prepaid credit cards do not use your information and you can simply load them using cash and use them the same way you would your regular credit card.

Turn Off Your Location

This one might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many people have their location on. Easily one of the best ways to stay anonymous online is to turn your location off. When you have your location on, it is much easier to target ads towards you, find your location, and identify you. With that being said, many sites can still easily look up your location by using your history. Which leads us to the next tip.

Delete Your History

Deleting your history is absolutely crucial. Not only do you want to erase your location history, but you will also want to delete your search history and clear your cache. This will make it incredibly difficult for anyone online to try to find your location or for search engines to try to curate ads based on your search results.