If you are like me, then you are a major user of Chrome, which is already the most popular browser in the world. One of its greatest strengths is that it allows users to fully integrate all their Google activity with the browser. The browser becomes a part of your Google profile and syncs all your data including apps, bookmarks, extensions, settings, themes, passwords and many other features.

All this is fantastic if you are the only one using the computer or if you are absolutely sure it won’t be compromised. However, those who take their laptops to work or who use office computers, there are some important details to note.

Don’t Sync All: If you are working on an office computer and you miss all your apps and other data, all you have to do is sign into the browser and sync all your data. However, make sure that you do not sync “passwords”, omnibox history and your bookmarks, because these may compromise your privacy.

Note: Google Chrome allows different users to use the browser [Settings > Users > Add users]. This way, no one else can mess with your apps or settings. However, DO NOT sync your passwords or other data that may be embarrassing or damaging. You can remove all your synced data from the Dashboard (see below)

Dashboard: This is what allows you to monitor all the data associated with your account. After signing-in, users can modify their passwords, look at the apps/websites that have access to your Google Account (important!), check out the browsing data, Gmail, Google Docs, sync data, chat, search history, etc. Once you are inside, you can remove sensitive history and make modifications.

Note: The Dashboard is one more reason for you to take good care of your passwords. Anyone with access to your password can get a virtual snapshot of your entire browsing history. For more information on passwords, check out last week’s tech page!

Use multiple sign-in : Managing multiple Gmail addresses is difficult but thanks to the multiple sign-in feature, users can easily switch from one account to another. Avoid the temptation of forwarding all your emails to your main Gmail account. This way, your work/personal emails can remain separate and losing one account to a hacker will not compromise the emails from the other account.

Sign-out of via Gmail: Your email is the most important part of your online life. Fortunately, Google allows you to sign out of “all other secessions”. So if you think that you left your Gmail open on some other PC, just log into your account scroll all the way down and click on ‘Last Account Activity’ (details), which will allow users to monitor the recent sign-in history and sign-out of all other secessions. Afterwards, change your password for good measure.

By Navam Niles