On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 09:13:24 -0800, SMS
wrote:
Yes, it's important to know how to set your privacy settings. Especially
important is to turn off data sharing with third party applications.
Many people don't know how to properly configure LinkedIn and just
accept the default settings then run into trouble. Several years ago I
was giving classes in LinkedIn but they change things so often that you
have to keep up.
I never get any spam related to my LinkedIn account since third party
sharing is turned off. Occasional requests to connect from people I
don't know but these are easy to filter and put into a separate folder
or simply delete automatically.
A lot of spam on both computers and mobile devices also relates to how
savvy the user is in terms of browser add-ons. For example, when I go to
linkedin.com I see five trackers are automatically blocked by Ghostery:
Google Analytics, LinkedIn Ads, NetRatings SiteCensus, QuantCast, and
Scorecard Research Beacon. Disconnect is blocking Nielsen and comscore.
Yet most people don't do anything to block trackers.
On phones it can be more difficult because the most vital apps needed to
prevent ads and tracking have been kicked out of the Google Play store
for obvious reasons. So you have to install the apks for these apps
manually.
Here is a list of some useful apps and browser add-ons:
Prevent Trackers
----------------
Disconnect Mobile: https://disconnect.me/mobile/disconnect-mobile (Apple
and Android). Banned from Google Play store because Google hates it, but
available directly from publisher.
Ghostery: https://www.ghostery.com/en/ (Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari,
Opera (not Internet Explorer))
Ghostery Mobile: iOS, Android (Firefox only, search for Ghostery in
Firefox in Android for add-on)
Block ads, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web
bugs, and hijackers
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hosts File: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm (Windows, OS-X, Linux)
Ad Blocker
----------
Adblock Plus: https://adblockplus.org/ (Chrome, Firefox, Internet
Explorer, Safari, Android, not iOS)). Banned from Google Play store
because Google hates it, but available directly from publisher.
Anti_Malware, Anti-Virus
------------------------
Malwarebytes: https://www.malwarebytes.org/
Microsoft Security Essentials:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...tials-download
Avast: http://www.avast.com/en-us/index
Clean Up Facebook, add back Deleted Functions
---------------------------------------------
F.B. Purity: http://www.fbpurity.com/install.htm (Firefox, Google
Chrome, Safari, Opera (not Internet Explorer)). Can't install from
Facebook because Facebook hates it, so it is installed as a browser add-on.
If I have to go thru all of this trouble, just to avoid LinkedIn (or any
other site), from spying on me, and spamming me, and then have to
continually have to keep tweaking this stuff because they change their
software, I WANT NO PART OF THAT COMPANY RIGTH FROM THE START. This is
exactly why I dont use any social networking sites. Not to mention that
Facebook (which is the only social netw site I have ever tried), and I
found it to be nothing but a pile of rubbish burying what I might have
interest in, as well as a big time waster. I played with it for around
a month, then closed the account. I have no intent to ever use FB or
any other similar site. If I want to chat with friends, I use private
email, or phone them, and that way I dont have a bunch of stangers
making rude comments about something which is none of their business
anyhow.