It is pretty easy to leave a search history on the internet these days. With most websites requesting that you accept diverse types of cookies for various reasons, you will likely leave some bits of information based on the websites you have visited. There are ways you can clean your browser history once you complete browsing the internet, and unless your parents install specific third-party software, they may not be able to access your browser history.
So Can My Parents See My Search History?
No, they can only see your browser history by accessing your computer only. Also, if you deleted your website search history, your parents wouldn’t see your search history even if they have the password to your computer.
Significant Ways To Hide Your Browsing History
You can hide your browser history in several ways, and you can use the browser privacy code, delete cookies after browsing, restrict your browser from sending location emails, Search anonymously, and avoid the Google tracking feature.
Using the browser privacy mode perhaps is the best way to prevent your parent from accessing your search history. Once you complete the last step, you can automatically store your browser history using your computer or public computer and the internet. You must activate your browser privacy mode before performing any action on your computer, and this will block any third party that may track your activities.
Deleting cookies is another popular way of preventing your parents from seeing your search history. When you remove cookies after browsing, your browsing history cannot be tracked by anyone. Super cookies are mainly known to monitor your browsing pattern, and you may use a third-party app like CCleaner to delete such cookies. You will have to download such a cookie removal app online.
You can prevent access to browser history on your computer by restricting your browser from sending your location details. Often a browser will locate your presence and transfer that information to websites you visit. This step allows such websites to send you more personalized and targeted search results.
To prevent this, you must reject the location request sent by your browser, but to remove such requests permanently, there are procedures you can follow. On Google Chrome browser, go to Preferences, then click on Settings, then click on Advanced, select Content Settings, and click on the “Disallow” option.
If you use the Safari web browser, click on Preferences, click on Privacy, and then click on “Disable location services.”
If you use the Firefox browser, you can prevent location-based access to your browser history by typing “about: config” in the URL bar and then type “geo. Enabled”. Double-click the “geo. Enabled” prompt to disallow location access permanently.
If you use Microsoft Edge, you can turn off your location request using the main computer settings. From settings, go to your Privacy Setting, and choose “Location option.” You can turn off Microsoft Edge from here.
You can prevent your parents from accessing your browser history by searching the internet anonymously. Since search engines like Google have heavy traffic directed towards them and have to respond, they will undoubtedly want to personalize search results.
To search anonymously, go to the “Access search tools,” click on Results, and then Verbatim. Another efficient way to prevent tracking your searches on Google is to move to a private search engine such as DuckDuckGo.
You can avoid Google tracking to prevent your parents from accessing your browsing history. Since Google provides you with services like Google Calendar, Chrome, and Gmail, they can access information on your desired content very fast.
It is essential to stop Google from accessing your information because they can send interruptive ads, and your parents can easily track your search history. You can do this by opting out of the “Shared endorsement” included in Ads. You can do this by turning off the “Ads Personalization.” Though this will not prevent the ads from showing up, it will prevent your information from being retained on the internet for others to see.
Other Ways Of Preventing Your Parents From Accessing Your Browser History
One sure way of protecting your personal browsing history is to stop social media sites from tracking you. To avoid personalized ads on social media sites, you need to follow specific procedures.
For Facebook, go to “Settings,” then click on “Adverts,” and you can choose to end ads being sent based on your clicks.
For Twitter, go to Settings, then click on “Security and Privacy,” then uncheck the box for “Tailor ads.” For LinkedIn, go to “Privacy and Settings,” then click on “Accounts” before selecting “Managing Advertising Preferences.” Taking these steps will end personalized ads from appearing, but only the social network can track your activity for security reasons, while other people wouldn’t do such.
You can also use Adblocker Plugins to stop anyone from accessing your browser history. Since you can’t, confirm whether your browser history will be accessible or not, especially after logging out. Still, you can download the Adblocker plugin to block all websites and individuals from accessing your browser history.
You can use Adblocker plugins such as Privacy Badger, Disconnect, or Ghostery to stop ads showing up by blocking all cookies and prevent advertisers by using your profile to display ads.
You need to check your computer system before installing an Adblocker of any kind. Not all ad blockers work for all operating systems, some are designed for Windows OS, and some are for Mac systems only. You may have to free substantial memory from your hard drive or RAM to install some ad blockers. You need to read the system requirements for any ad blocker that catches your fancy before downloading and installing it.
If you don’t want to download Adblockers, you may use VPN to stay anonymous and protect your browser history from access. Your parents can track your IP address through your IP address, but the VPN will mask your IP address to make you anonymous online. The VPN will assign you a new IP and change your location. In addition to using this tool to protect your browsing history, you can also use it to bypass restricted websites in your region.
Use a private browser to conceal your browser history. A personal browser will use plugins, proxies, and specific settings to provide an anonymous browsing effect. Since private browsers will protect you from being tracked, there will be no browser history for your parents to check even after you leave the computer.
You can turn on the proxy on a private browser so that even you receive ads, and nobody can track your information on any website.
You can use the TOR browser to protect your web browsing history online. This browser will distribute your internet traffic through many servers or nodes, and this means your presence on numerous websites will online show one IP of an existing node. Using a TOR web browser can make it very hard for prying eyes to access your web browser history. The only problem with the TOR web browser is that it can reduce your internet speed slightly.
For some reason, you may not be able to implement all the solutions recommended above. In this situation, you will have to choose one option until you get the right one that offers the best protection. If you can’t get any of these options implemented, you need to check your computer firewall and other features preventing their activities.
Before you download any browser for internet use, you need to be aware of its features that make you vulnerable to tracking and easy access to web browsing history. Different web browsers have various settings to control this, but you should be able to change any of them by now. Web browsers like opera have similar backgrounds to Chrome for changing web browser settings.
Though some targeted ads may help you make decisions, especially when purchasing certain items, you don’t need to block them unless you don’t want your parents to see your browser history. The stress of deleting your browser history from day to day can be too much for you to handle; in some cases, you may even forget to delete such.
Conclusion
Many internet users are unfamiliar with the pros and cons of targeted ads via online tracking. Your parents accessing your browser history is not the only issue you should be concerned with; many companies share your personal information online based on which website you visit regularly. If you don’t want to block everything out, perhaps you should always select the preferred cookies you want on your web pages. Taking this step will ensure that not all ads are directed towards you, but only the ones you allow. You may want to read reviews about these third-party plugins and apps mentioned here to learn more about their reliability when it comes to online protection.
