How To Remove Your Name From Search Engines and Social Networking Sites
Your Private Information Made Public
Folks, sometimes it is best to not reinvent the wheel; so today I am going to refer you to three excellent resources for the methods you need to know about if you are concerned about your personal information, and how websites (and the Gov’t) are collecting – and posting – it on the Internet.
If you are serious about protecting your identity and personal security, you should take actions now to block your personal information from public viewing.
Remove Your information from People Search Databases, Social Networks, and Search Engine Results— JessicaM
“Do you know what kind of personal information about you can be found from Internet? Do you know how to remove your name, address, phone number, pictures, bad comments and negative reviews from Google and other search engine results? Do you know how to delete your personal information from online people search database records?“
I am putting this one first as it is comprehensive and well researched. It is four pages long, and packed with good info.
How To Permanently Delete Your Account on Popular Websites — Cameron Chapman
“What we often don’t realize when signing up for all these accounts, though, is how difficult it can be to permanently delete our accounts when we’ve had enough. Some require complicated, multi-step processes that can stretch over the course of days (or weeks). Others take less time, but still require multiple steps by the user.“
This article outlines the steps for removing your account/profile on:
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Google, Ebay, Wikipedia, Flickr/Yahoo!, Windows Live, StumbleUpon, WordPress, Amazon, YouTube, and PayPal.
If you want to stay inconspicuous while online, here are some products, services, and best practices to put to use.
How to Stay Anonymous Online — Erik Griffith
“Some might say that the Internet was built on anonymity. Without it, the Internet might not have become what it is today—a place where free speech reigns supreme (maybe to a fault). However, as social networks prevail—and über-companies like Google do all they can to market to you more effectively—your privacy on the Web comes into question. The good news is that you can take back control of what others see and know of you online. Here’s how.“
Subtopics: Safe Surfing, Anonymous E-mail, Social (Network) Security
The article contains links to programs and tools you may be interested in.. if your privacy is a concern to you.
Update: Here is another resource, brought to my attention by Rick Robinette:
“I came across a really cool site that, if anything, is a real education about online accounts and profiling. The site is called AccountKiller.
AccountKiller – Do you care about your personal data? We provide instructions to remove your account or public profile on most popular websites, including Skype, Facebook, Windows Live, Hotmail / Live, Twitter, MSN / Messenger, Google and many more. Want to create an account somewhere? Check our Blacklist first to see if it’s even possible to remove your profile!
What AccountKiller specializes in is collecting direct links and deleting instructions to make account termination an easier process.” Read more..
* * *
Bonus: additional recommended reading: Does a Blogger’s Opinion Really Matter?
Copyright 2007-2010 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved. 
post to jaanix.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
| Share this post : |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
43 Comments »
Post your Comment/Question
• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
-
Say "thank you!" Buy Tech Paul a cup of coffee (and keep T4E ad free).
-
-
McAfee® Cybersafety Resource Portal, an online help center designed to assist victims of computer crime and provide information on how to avoid becoming a victim.
-
Subscribe to Tech--for Everyone by EmailRecent Comments
-
-
-
-
Also:
-
-
Tech - for Everyone 
You might want to look at this as well:
How To Permanently Delete Your Account on Popular Websites
LikeLike
Amber,
This article simply refers to the same one I do. (The second one.)
I appreciate your input though. Thanks.
LikeLike
Ah, sorry I didn’t catch that one. =0
LikeLike
Amber,
That’s okay.. and I left the link up as I like to “support” Gizmo. It’s a really nice tech site. Again, thanks for contributing!
LikeLike
Useful information. Thanks.
LikeLike
So much valuable information in this article, thanks Paul. Wow!… some surprises too, so much of “me” is out there in the world of strangers.
g.
LikeLike
Gaia,
I know you have visited my site before. Over the years I have written several articles inre: the erosion of our privacy. The truth is.. people either don’t care, or think there’s nothing to be done.. some heedlessly “tweet” their every thought and act.. in some bizarre form of seeking their “15 minutes of Fame” I guess (I have pointed out that posting online “the house at 123 Mockingbird lane will be vacant for the next 10 days. We’re at the airport now” is pretty dumb, but, people do it.
Many people think there is no such thing as privacy any more…
But, while it’s not “1 click simple”, you can (and should) take steps to protect your personally identifiable information”, and here are some How To’s. (Identity Theft is Big Business.)
I cannot say it often enough: use “paranoid common sense” when online.
LikeLike
This information is amazing. Thank you so much. I came to this because of your mylife.com article. I have several family members that don’t even use any form of social networking at all and don’t even post personal data on the internet. Yet somehow mylife.com has profiles on them. I’m not even sure if they can remove those profiles as THEY NEVER CREATED AN ACCOUNT! They have NEVER used reunion.com or wink.com either. The people who own these websites need to be put in jail and have their websites shut down. I’m not normally one to talk about getting the government involved. I usually hate it when they do. But this is dangerous information.
LikeLike
Peelster1 ,
Most of the information is gleaned from publicly available records, bought and sold by businesses we’ve done trade with, etc. and so on. Our web browsers give away information when we simply visit a website (such as our location), and “cookies” follow our clicks and record our Search terms to learn our sex, age, tastes, and habit patterns.
It is MHO that every citizen should watch the video I posted on this article: Big Brother Big Business
LikeLike
Nah. Too much bullshit. Forget about it. Seriously
LikeLike
stop taking monthly payments out of my card i juat wonted one month that is and you have took it out for several more so stop it take my name off the list.
thank you
jim smith
LikeLike
Jim Smith,
I am a tech blogger, not MyLife.com — you need to tell them.
LikeLike
Aw man, I feel for you. This kind of reminds me of The Oatmeal’s comic on tech support: Why It’s Better To Pretend You Don’t Know Anything About Computers.
LikeLike
Lynn,
I have seen that comic.. and others like it. It does make some excellent points.
However, I am a pro, and have been supporting “computer users” for years and years. I could tell some stories..
If folks would like to see the comic, and I think they might, they can use a search engine for the title. (I don’t put “linkbacks” up to advertisement-laden commerce sites, sorry.)
LikeLike
I have endeavoured to get rid of all connection with My Life, and seem to be unable to do so on line. I am nearly 80 years of age and would appreciate a step-by-step approach to “unsubscribe” to this website.
I would appreciate an email reply directly.
Thanks.
LikeLike
Good article – anyway – if everything fails – you have to call the experts in. There are tons of so called reputation companies. The only ones which work are ClydeStan and reputation.com. Both do different things.
LikeLike
i want to remove my name, from any kind of search engine.how can i do this?
LikeLike
vana,
You figure that out, you let me know.
Currently, the best “How To” I have for that is the first link provided in my article (Remove Your information from People Search Databases, Social Networks, and Search Engine Results).
Yes, that is lengthy, but it is what you have to do to try to remove your personal data from being visible on the Internet.
LikeLike
I really need to remove my name in search engine.Anybody can see my info. That flicking me out.
LikeLike
Please remove my name in search engine.
LikeLike
Vilma Collins,
If you are concerned about your privacy, I suggest you start by clicking the first link I provided in the article (above), and reading the advice contained there.
There are people you can hire who say they will do this for you (again, read that article) but I am not one of them.
LikeLike
My daughter got “doxed”; somehow some very personal pictures appeared on the internet under her name. What can we do to get them taken down and get her name off of this type of site
LikeLike
Sherry,
To the best of my knowledge, “dox”-ing is a name for a method. (See, What Is Doxing? – Doxing And It’s Uses)
And I don’t know which websites you are referring to specifically by “this type of site” (though my guess is you mean doxed[dot]me) but as far as I know, the only way you can “take down” something from the Internet is to contact the site’s owner/webmaster and ask them to — which they are under no obligation to do, as far as I know. If this is something (that seems to happen a lot) on Facebook – go through all those security settings and make your daughter’s FB accounts totally locked down… have her ‘unfriend’ a few. Read Facebook’s “report abuse” page.
So.. Life’s Lesson: don’t post, send (email), or transmit materials that may embarrass you later – as there is nothing inherently secure about the Internet at all, and what the machines suck in, stays around forever.
But that isn’t what you want to hear now that the horse is out of the barn..
I can only suggest reading the links I provided above, (one has a Facebook specific section) and also doing some research on http://wiredsafety.org/.
LikeLike
Please cancel my membership effective 3/2/2012 as i was advised by my attorney that your web site is a scam and a law-suit is pending against you.
LikeLike
DENISE,
* There is no “membership” here at Tech – for Everyone (a tech tips & tricks website) so there is nothing to ‘cancel’.
* Leaving a Comment at the bottom of a page is not how you would “unsubscribe”, or cancel a subscription.
LikeLike
would like to remove my name from search list
LikeLike
Yvette,
Okay…
That’s a good start.
Now try reading those articles, and then taking the action steps outlined there.
And I do wish you good luck.
LikeLike
Hi There,
I was wondering if there are companies that specialize in cleaning the personal data off the web- I’m really useless with computers and don’t know how to do it myself.
Thank you
LikeLike
Sir or Ms,
Of course there are! People have woken up to the fact that the amount of information about us available for viewing is scandalous, and are frustrated beyond gall at how difficult and time consuming those making money owning that info have made removing it. (There’s work involved.)
But these services are not cheap.
Click on the first link I provided in the article, and scroll down to the “Professional Personal Information Removal Services and Tools” section.
LikeLike
joined my life .com expecting to pay 4.98 peryear instead i was charged 83.40 pluss ther holding my credit card hostage and try to charge me when ever i try to use the service
LikeLike
vernon davis,
If you read my Just Say “No” To mylife.com, you ought find the information you need to call them and fix that.
If it were me, I would also call my credit card company (they will have heard of MyLife..).
LikeLike
Some hard searching but I managed to do this today (it is hidden in the bull of their pages but I have deleted my ‘my life’ account this way,
1. Log in to MyLife.com® with your registered email address or username and password.
2. Click your name toward the top right-hand corner of the page, in between “My Memberships” and “Mobile”.
3. Click the “My Account” button.
4. Click on the “Delete Account” button.
5. Read the deletion information and click ”Yes”.
– See more at: http://www.mylife.com/help/#gi14
My/your “My account” was hidden under the my/your profile page.
I hope it helps someone. And I will let you know if it does not work or if I still get notifications etc.
Happy Christmas everyone, Inquiziter.
LikeLike
And Happy Holidays to you as well, Inquiziter.
LikeLike
sir is there any way search and visiting any websites anonymously surfing.
LikeLike
suraj,
The answer is – unfortunately – yes and no.
Do a Google search for “anonymous surfing” and “online anonymity” and you will find an array of strategies, tips, and services.
A further bit of advice: be aware that ‘anonymizers’ and proxies slow your speeds rather noticeably.
And none of them truly hide you from governments/law enforcement.
LikeLike
techpaul,i want to watch the installed applications and games specification on my pc how can i watch plz help?
LikeLike
pankaj,
Task Manager and Resource Monitor allow you to ‘watch’ CPU and disk (and network) activity. I think that’s what you mean. But there’s not much you can do about the numbers you’ll see, except maybe uninstall programs that prove to be “resource hogs”.
LikeLike
sir i want make a one without name folder in my pc for some reason but i dont know a way about it so plz tell me about it?
LikeLike
h.ali,
If I understand you, you want to create a place on your hard drive for storing files, that has no name (“identifier”) … presumably so that no one but you can find it.
You cannot. It is an impossibility.
What you can do is create “hidden” and/or password-protected, and/or encrypted folders (and/or partitions) via various means. (Do a Google search for those terms).
But be aware — those will only be invisible/inaccessible to novices and the casual observer, not law enforcement.
Let me further state that the activities in some of these questions makes one ‘look guilty’.
LikeLike
sir who monitors the games and other apps on pc cpu or gpu which one?
LikeLike
h.ali,
You need to download a utility from the graphics card manufacturer to monitor GPU usage (if available)(and that’s presuming you have a graphics CARD).
But such monitoring is essentially useless. You cannot change much about how a program/game runs.
LikeLike
1st of all i say thankx for your support.
Sir why all social sites and search engines collect the user info,searching data what they get profit after collecting all these data.
LikeLike
pankaj,
They collect it, sort it, compare it, and SELL it. Mostly for the purposes of “targeted advertising”, but that’s only the quick-profit, relatively benign uses.
This is the Information Age. That means, whoever has the most info about you, wins. (That’s why Microsoft is intent on getting you to use Bing, for example. They need to harvest as much, and preferably more, info on us than Google has collected; they need to, if they want to compete with Google. [and they have to, or go out of business.])
(A term you might want to look up is “hoovering”.)
LikeLike