Username and Password

• You should be using a username which is not a version of your own name, or something easily guessed. Think of your username as being another password; instead of using "jdoe" for "Jane Doe" use "BLUErabb1t!" for your favorite color plus your favorite animal. Adding upper and lower case, a number for a letter, and a special character will make it even harder to figure out.
  
• For your password use at least 15 characters, but make it a common sentence you can easily remember. Once you make a password longer than 14 characters there are few password crackers that can break it. But anything under 15 can be broken in minutes if someone has access to your computer. Try "Stay out of my business!" or similar short sentences, spaces and all.
  
• If your software offers to remember your password for you DON'T DO IT! Anyone going to that site afterwards will be logged in as you, automatically.

WHY?
You should have your own account on your computer rather than sharing one so that you have some basic privacy. But also, think how many things you use a username and password for: online banking, memberships to airlines or other services, your cell phone carrier, your email account. Once someone has your username and password they can do anything from read your email, and check your bank statements, to stealing your 401k plan.

Cookies

Unfortunately these are both good and bad. Good because they allow you to use websites in an easier fashion, but bad because you pay a price for ease of use. That price is the way cookies track where you've been and even what your username and password are. They're stored on your computer so that anyone who knows how can find them.

You should probably clear your cookies each time you use your computer if you're concerned about someone knowing where you've been. There are free products and inexpensive solutions for this. Look at http://www.download.com for a selection. Here are a few specific ones:

• Macintosh
• PC

NOTE: By cleaning all your cookies if you share your account with someone else they WILL notice that all THEIR cookies are gone too. If you need to be a bit more discrete about covering your tracks try selectively altering the History.

Netscape allows you to manage your cookies directly from it, this is another less extreme way of removing select cookies.

History

Most browsers "help" you by keeping track of the sites you've visited in some sort of "history". Here are examples from the most frequently used browsers. These examples are of the newest versions, but there have been many. Hopefully you will notice there is a general theme in how to find these settings, and you can sanitize whichever version you have.

Microsoft Explorer:

• Macintosh: From the top navigation bar > Window > History > Select and delete the entries you want to remove.
• PC: From the top navigation bar > click the button for "History" > Select and delete the entries you want to remove.

Netscape:

• Macintosh: From the top navigation bar > Go > History > Select and delete the entries you want to remove.

Those are just some of the basics. This is a popular subject these days and there are many resources available online. Look at some of these sites for more information on protecting your privacy.

• Protecting your Privacy on the Internet
• EFF's Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy
  by Stanton McCandlish, EFF Technology Director
  *Includes a Japanese language version*
• The Federal Trade Commission
• CDT's Guide to Online Privacy
• The Guardian Angel.com
  The Resource for Internet Safety and Privacy Protection for Kids and Adults.