Have You Googled Yourself Recently?
Performing a Google search on people has become a normal, even necessary, way of doing an amateurish background check. Employers use Google to verify information about job candidates or check if anything noteworthy comes up like encouraging (or discouraging) reviews, pictures of excessive and unflattering partying, or significant past achievements. Likewise, friends and potential dates are frequently turning to the simple Google search for information about others. Of course, no discussion of Google searches would be complete without mentioning the searches that we perform on ourselves!
Curious about the strength of their own Internet security and the public availability of their information, many people Google their names to see what they get. In fact, this is an easy and powerful practice that many people frequently ignore. For those who have not done this before, now is the time.
Even if you are too scared to find out what’s out there about you, Google your name as soon as possible because whatever you can see, other people like friends, employers, and worst of all, creepy stalkers, can see too. By performing a Google search on your name, you can empower yourself by working to clean up messy and undesirable links that find their way online.
Perhaps a Google search of your name brings up old or unflattering pictures, or perhaps your results contain a link to a blog you wrote in high school that you now regret. Regardless, there are several ways to approach deleting links to blogs, articles, pages, pictures, or videos that you don’t want to be available to the public.
The easiest way, naturally, is to try to delete the content yourself if you still have access to it. If it’s a blog comment that you don’t like, see if you can retrieve the user name and password for that particular blog and manually erase it. When this isn’t an option, try contacting the webmaster and polity ask that he or she take down the negative content.
When it comes to extensive online activity that you just can’t even begin to tackle and delete manually, consider using an app like “Exfoliate” which works on iPhones and Smartphones to delete old Facebook content like comments, likes, and posts.
Sadly, it is often the case that despite having a lot of tech support skills and being highly computer savvy, some links are too stubborn and will continue to linger in cyberspace, even when you might not want them there. The best solution to such problems is monitoring what you allow to get online in the first place. Being information paranoid isn’t necessarily a bad thing. So go ahead and freak-out about sharing anything online. After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
About RESCUECOM:
RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.
For More Information, Contact:
David Milman, CEO
315-882-1100
david@rescuecom.com
Filed under: Google, Internet Security, rescuecom