Many users of social networks don’t realize their identity data can be compromised when the privacy settings in their account are too lax. On Facebook, for example, you can determine who can see your stuff (for future posts, things you’re tagged in, and so on); who can contact you (friends, friends of friends, or everyone); and who can look you up (using the email address or phone number you’ve provided, or using search engines outside of Facebook that are linked to your profile, and so forth). Similar settings are available in Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.
Privacy settings are also available in the leading browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. They govern such things as whether a website associated with online fraud will be blocked, whether you want to send a ‘Do No Track’ request with your browsing traffic, or whether you’re storing your online passwords in your browser (which is not recommended by Trend Micro).
Wouldn’t it be nice to have an easy way to check such settings, get recommendations for their optimal configuration, and change them easily, without having to dig around in the innards of the social network or browser?
Trend Micro Security lets you do just that. Trend Micro Security’s Privacy Scanner, available through the Trend Micro Toolbar, works with Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn; and Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox, to make it quite easy to change your privacy settings. The function is enabled by default in Trend Micro Internet, Maximum, and Premium Security. You just need to ensure the Trend Micro Toolbar is turned on in your browser to use it.
In Part 1 of this series, I show you how to scan your social networks to check their privacy settings.
In Part 2 of this series (this part), I show you how to scan your browsers to check their privacy settings.
To Enable the Trend Micro Toolbar:
1. Once you’ve installed Trend Micro Security, open your preferred browser and in the upper right-hand corner select Settings > Manage Add Ons > Toolbars & Extensions (Internet Explorer), Settings > Extensions (Chrome), or Settings > Add Ons > Extensions (Firefox), and select the Setting(s) for Trend Micro.
Figure 1. Settings > Manage Add Ons > Toolbars & Extensions – Internet Explorer
Figure 2. Settings > Extensions – Chrome
Figure 3. Settings > Add Ons > Extensions – Firefox
2. Click Enable (All) to enable the Trend Micro (Security) Toolbar, then close the relevant settings screen.
3. Open your browser and select the Trend Micro Toolbar > Check your online privacy menu item.
Figure 4. Check your online privacy
4. The Trend Micro Privacy Scanner webpage loads, with the Facebook sign-in panel shown by default.
To Check Your Browser Privacy Settings:
Figure 5. Trend Micro Privacy Scanner Portal
5. In the list of Browsers, click the browser you wish to check; for example, Internet Explorer. The Privacy Scanner shows when you have privacy concerns.
Figure 6. Privacy Scanner > Internet Explorer
6. Click Fix All to fix all the privacy concerns, or manually edit them. When you click Fix All, the Fix All dialog appears.
Figure 7. Fix All
7. Click Fix to fix the privacy concerns. Privacy Scanner resets the privacy settings in your browser and provides a Restart dialog to complete the process.
Figure 8. Restart Now
8. Click Restart Now to apply the changes. The browser restarts with the changed privacy settings, saying “Nice Work! You don’t have any privacy concerns, but your friends might need some help…”
Figure 9. Nice Work!
9 Repeat this process for each of your installed browsers, if you wish.
10. Note that you can reset your privacy settings for any supported browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, or Firefox) from within that browser for any of the other supported browsers installed on your computer.
That’s it! You now know how to use Trend Micro Security’s Privacy Scanner to check the privacy settings in Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox.
To check your privacy settings in Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn, see Using Trend Micro Security’s Privacy Scanner – Part 1: Social Network Privacy.
For more information, watch the video: How to Use Privacy Scanner.
