Ghostery puts the controls in your hands.
Ghostery is a privacy solution for individuals and businesses that empowers users to manage the trackers that follow them on-line.
The company was founded in 2009, and its browser add-on allows you to decide who can access your data.
So much of what we do on-line is tracked these days – and in some cases we may not mind that.
Certainly, if you’re an on-line entrepreneur, you know how helpful a tracker like Google Analytics can be when it comes to targeting your marketing efforts.
But trackers can also be less benign, invading your privacy, and crating vulnerabilities that can be exposed and exploited by hackers. So knowing who’s accessing information about you is important and worth an investment of your time and energy.
Here’s a quick video that illustrates how trackers work – and how Ghostery helps:
The Ghostery FAQ Page answers most of the questions that spring to mind about this free add-on. It works in the most commonly-used browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera and appears to be quite easy to set up (we tested it in Chrome).
See a list of trackers in Ghostery’s purple box.
Here’s how Ghostery works (in a nutshell):
Ghostery is a browser add-on, which is a piece of software that extends the functionality of a web browser on a computer, a mobile smartphone, or a tablet. Ghostery can monitor all of the different web servers that are being called from a particular web page and match those with a library of data-collection tools. If a match is found, Ghostery adds that company to a list that shows up in a purple pop-up box and in a drop-down menu. If you’ve configured Ghostery to block communication with one or more of these companies, it interrupts the call from leaving the browser.
The purple pop-up box lists trackers for the site you’re visiting and when you click the Ghostery icon in your browser, you’ll see options for managing these trackers.
Additional information about trackers in Ghostery.
Another nice feature that Ghostery offers is the opportunity to learn more about a tracker.
When you click the link, up pops a box with specific and comprehensive information about the selected tracker.
Disabling trackers helps you protect yourself from unwanted intrusions.
It also, in many cases, will help webpages load more quickly.
For businesses, Ghostery offers a raft of additional services, but for our purposes, we’re just focusing on the free browser add-on, which is a handy tool for anyone wanting more transparency and security when surfing the web.
And while Ghostery helps you create boundaries around your on-line world, here’s something further to consider: How often do distractions and interruptions pull you off track and play havoc with your focus?
Well, if you feel thwarted by some of your own choices, learn to support yourself by setting and maintaining meaningful inner boundaries. My Inner Boundary Checklist is designed to help you do just that.
Find focus and find time for what truly matters to you!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have no material connection with Ghostery, and have not received any compensation for writing this content.
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