Online Safety

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Your safety is our primary concern

Please be aware of the following issues and steps you can take to help protect yourself:

  • Always use a safe computer at the library, a friend’s house, work or internet cafe and an email account and password the abuser doesn’t know/can’t guess.
  • It is not possible to delete all ‘footprints’ of your computer or online activities!* A history of all emails, instant messages (IMs), mobile device and IP-TTY calls, online purchases, banking, etc., is stored on your computer and can be monitored by your abuser.
  • Suddenly changing your computer habits (no longer using it, clearing histories or deleting Spyware) can be dangerous if the abuser is monitoring you. Do NOT delete Spyware, it may be useful evidence.
  • Use your home computer for basic activities and use a safe computer to get help.
  • Print and save any threatening emails/IMs as evidence of abuse. These messages may constitute a federal offense. For more information, call the United States Attorney’s Office: Office of Florida Attorney General at 1.866.966.7226.mouse

*You can clear your history or empty your cache file in your browser’s settings.
(Tips compiled from various sources, including the National Network to End Domestic Violence: www.nnedv.org).

History/cache files on your computer:

Your abuser may know how to read your computer’s history or cache file (automatically saved web pages and graphics), seeing information you having recently viewed on the internet. To clear these files, please follow the directions below:

  • Chrome: Go to the three-dot menu at the upper-right of Chrome to select Settings > Advanced > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data or History > History > Clear browsing data or More tools > Clear browsing data. Or type “chrome://settings/clearBrowserData” in the omnibar without the quotation marks.
  • Microsoft Edge & Internet Explorer: Go to the three-dot menu () in Microsoft Edge and select Settings > Privacy & security; in the fly-out menu, click the button under Clear browsing data that reads “Choose what to clear.” Here you can get rid of browsing history, cookies, cached data, stored form data, saved tabs, media licenses, website permissions, and stored passwords; click Manage Permissions and you can delete things like sites you’ve given permission to show pop-ups.
  • Safari: Clearing your website visit history is simple: click Clear History in the History menu. Then in the pop-up, pick a timeframe for how far back you want to erase. This is doing a lot more than deleting the browser history, however—it also takes out your cookies and data cache. You can instead click History > Show History to get a pop-up displaying every site you’ve visited, then take out sites individually, without losing the cookies and cache.
  • Mozilla Fire Fox: go to the hamburger menu and section Options > Privacy & Security. You’re instantly in the Content Blocking section; scroll down to get to History. Set Firefox to remember, to never remember, or get some custom settings like remember history, but not cookies, or whatever. This section also has a Clear History button. Click it to pick a time range to clear (1, 2, 4, or 24 hours—or everything), and what data to dump (history, logins, forms/search, cookies, and cache).

History/cache files on mobile devices:

  • Safari: On the iPhone and iPad, Safari is the standard browser. To not record a browser history, you can just stay in Private mode while surfing. When you do have a history to delete, go to Settings > Safari > Clear History & Website Data. Doing this not only takes out the history, but also cookies and other stuff. Plus, if the phone is signed into iCloud, it clears the history on iCloud as well as on other devices hooked into that iCloud account. If you want to only delete data for select sites, go back to Settings > Safari and scroll down to Advanced > Website Data. After it loads (it can take a while) you’ll see a listing of every website you’ve visited—and probably a lot you didn’t, because it also records the sites serving third-party cookies. Tap Edit > (minus symbol) next to each to delete, or just swipe left for the same function.
  • Chrome: Google’s Chrome browser is the standard with all Android phones, and is downloadable on iOS. In either, go to the three-dot () menu, select History, and you’re looking at the list of all sites you’ve visited while cognito (as opposed to Incognito)—and that includes history across all Chrome browsers signed into the same Google account. With iOS, you have the option to either click Edit or Clear Browsing Data at the bottom. If you click the latter (which is the only option on Android phones and tablets), you’re sent to a dialog box (pictured) that allows the eradication of all browsing history, cookies, cached data, saved passwords, and autofill data—you pick which you want to delete.
  • Firefox: on iOS – tap the hamburger menu at the bottom right and select Settings. Scroll down to the Privacy section, and select Data Management. On the next screen you can turn off collection of browser history (or data caching, cookies, and offline website data) entirely. Click the Clear Private Data link at the bottom to clear all of the above. Note in Settings there is also a toggle to Close Private Tabs, which shuts them all down when you leave the browser, should you be using such tabs o’ stealth.On Android, use the three-dot menu at upper right. Select History to see the list, and click CLEAR BROWSER HISTORY at bottom to nix them all from existence. If you click the menu and go to Settings > Privacy and check the box on Clear Private Data on Exit to get the option to clear the private data of your choice whenever you quit the browser.