SOMETIMES YOU WILL prefer sites not to be tracking your browsing activity or serving up personalised ads.

If so, you should be aware that all major browsers have a Do Not Track option available. This sends a request to any site you visit asking it not to track your activity.

The site in question has to decide whether to honour that request or not, but if it does, it could stop offering personalised ads or limit the amount of information it gathers on you while you’re visiting.

The five major browsers support this service and it can be activated in settings. If you want to quickly check whether you have it activated, you can visit its site, but if you don’t, here’s how.

Chrome

On the main settings screen, scroll down to the bottom and select advanced settings. Continue down to privacy and you will see the Do Not Track option. The app version also has it in Settings > Privacy.

Chrome Chrome

Firefox

Go into Settings > Privacy and it’s the first option you see. If you want, you can choose to tell sites you want to be tracked or leave it on default (not telling them anything about your tracking preference). Choosing the latter will likely mean you’re going to be tracked when you visit a site.

Firefox Firefox

Opera

When you go into Settings, look for ‘Privacy & Settings’ and you will see the option in the first section.

Opera Opera

Safari

In Preferences/Settings, go into privacy and you will find website tracking at the bottom of the list. Tick it to activate it.

Safari Safari

Internet Explorer

How you activate it will depend on the version of Internet Explorer you’re using. For the latest version, go into Settings > Privacy > Tracking Protection. You will need to download a tracking list from Internet Explorer Gallery to stop sites from tracking you.

Other versions require you to select Tools (the cog icon) before going into Safety and turning on Tracking Protection.

Read: These fake Apple employees try talking people into buying rival products instead >

Read: Android has added a handy way to keep your phone unlocked >

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