JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – News4JAX wants to help you declutter your devices to reduce your risk of being hacked.
Did you know the average American has 83 bookmarks, 13 phone apps they never use, and at least 7 open tabs in their browser? That’s according to a previous study about digital clutter. And you might not realize the impact that clutter can have on your devices’ speed, your cybersecurity risk, and even your stress level and productivity.
Start by decluttering your desktop. Create folders for all of your floating files. Delete all documents you don’t need anymore and back up all others on a USB drive.
And it’s always good to get in the habit of regularly closing all tabs on your computer or apps on your phone to ramp up speed and storage.
When it comes to those apps on your phone, you might not realize how much information they’re hoarding. Facebook, Google and more can keep tabs on your activity, even when you’re not using them.
To clear that information from Facebook you’ll want to find the “Off-Facebook Activity” option under settings. This will show you all of the apps that use your activity through Facebook. Click “Clear History” to delete it.
Next, manage which apps have access to your location and when. Go to Settings on your phone and hit privacy. You’ll find “Location Services” or “Permissions Manager” depending on the type of phone you have — and click through the apps to disable the ones you want to stop using your location.
It also never hurts to enable two-factor authentication to lock out hackers. That essentially means your apps will require two forms of identification.