Clear your caches

You might want to clear your browser caches.

You also might want to kill off those annoying notifications and the prompts they rode in on.

And, finally, you might want to do good deeds.

Cover your browser tracks

If you use a public computer or if you share a computer with someone else in your household, you should know how to clear your browser history.

Why? Well, when it comes to that public computer, it’s pretty obvious that you don’t want the next person (or the person after that, or…) to be able to get to your email.

In a household sharing a computer, maybe you don’t want your partner to see that you’ve been shopping for their birthday present or planning that surprise Hawaiian vacation.

Here’s how to clear out your browser cache in Firefox:

• Click on the hamburger menu (the three lines on the top right corner)
• Click on Options | Privacy and Security
• In the History section, click on clear recent history
• Select a timeframe and the items you want to clear
• Click on Clear now

If you want Firefox to forget everything every time you close it, click on the box next to Firefox will and choose Never remember or Custom to pick and choose what Firefox remembers.

In Chrome:

• Click on the hamburger menu (the three lines or dots on the top right corner)
• Click on More tools | Clear browsing data
• Select a timeframe and the items you want to clear (Click on Advanced for more choices)
• Click on Clear data

If you want Chrome to do that automagically when you close it,

• Click on the hamburger menu (the three lines or dots on the top right corner)
• Click on More tools | Clear browsing data
• Select a timeframe and the items you want to clear (Click on Advanced for more choices)
• Click on Content settings | Cookies
• Move the slider next to Keep local data only until you quit your browser to ON

If you must use Edge, here’s how to clear the caches:

• Click on the hub (Star with three horizontal lines on the top right corner)
• Click on the clock icon
• Click on Clear history
• Choose what to clear
• Click on the CLEAR button

Move the Always clear this when I close the browser switch to ON if you want this to be automatic.

Stop those annoying website notifications

There are days when it seems every website I visit wants to notify me about new content.

I don’t want that most of the time, nor do I want to keep swatting that request down every time I visit the page.

It’s easy to turn that off if you know how.

In Chrome:

• Click on the hamburger menu (the three lines or dots on the top right corner)
• Click on Settings
• Scroll down and click on Advanced
• Scroll again to Privacy and Security
• Scroll AGAIN to Notifications
• Slide the “Ask before sending” switch to OFF (Now you should see BLOCKED)

If you’ve already authorized some pages to send you notifications, you’ll see them in the Allow section.

Those are still allowed, so if you’re fine with that just leave them alone. If you don’t want notifications from something you’ve already allowed, click on the menu button to the right of the website and then on Remove.

In Firefox:

• Type about:config in the address bar
• Accept the risk
• Type notifications in the Search bar at the top of the page
• Scroll to dom.webnotifications.enabled
• Double-click on the entry to change the value to “false”

Help raise awareness and money for mental health

Many of you have sponsored me on charity bike rides in past years. This year I’m going to do the 50K Ride Don’t Hide to raise money for the Canadian Mental Health Association.

The Kelowna ride, on June 24, 2018, is one of many rides that day all over Canada. The goal is to raise $1,700,000 for essential programs and services in communities, workplaces and schools, and to end the stigma of mental illness.

I’m excited to be part of Ride Don’t Hide 2018, and I hope that you’ll join me as a rider, fundraise as a virtual rider, volunteer at the event, or sponsor my ride.

If you’d like to sponsor me, please use this link to make your secure online donation: https://goo.gl/WnnSd3. To learn more about the event, visit: http://ridedonthide.com/.

Thank you so much for your support. Every dollar helps.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.