I Don’t Appreciate Advertisers Tracking Me Online. Can I Stop Them?

Pay attention to these privacy settings in your web browser

Edward C. Baig,

AARP

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Published October 14, 2025

AARP members and readers are invited to submit pressing technology questions they’d like me to tackle in my Tech Guru column, including issues around devices, security, social media and how all the puzzle pieces fit together. This week, I’m addressing a question surrounding web privacy.   

I value my privacy and don’t like the idea of being tracked when I’m online. And yet I hear there’s no privacy on the internet. Is there anything I can do?

You hit it on the head. The web is a nosy place. Sites you visit want to know where you came from, the route you took to get there and where you are headed next.

Never mind that you consider it none of their business. These places want to build your online profile and tailor web ads they think you’ll want to see.

Most people who shop, surf and conduct business online don’t necessarily want to live in a bubble, thus making it more difficult to remain completely anonymous. That said, you can cover at least some of your cyber tracks and, to varying degrees, put a kibosh on the Big Brother-ish tendencies that are indeed prevalent on the internet.

Two things to consider off the bat

Employ a VPN. A virtual private network, or VPN, addressed previously in this column, establishes a scrambled or encrypted tunnel where data passes between your phone or computer and a private network or server. Among other security measures, it can help mask your location. While there are free options, many VPNs cost around $10 per month, give or take.

Install a privacy-first web browser. Specialized private browsers such as Brave, DuckDuckGo and Tor are designed to block third-party trackers and not-so-yummy web cookies, the tiny text files that are often tied to advertising and marketing networks that watch you around the web. Such cookies can store data on what you bought or may have considered buying at a site, and they can log the web destinations you landed on.

Keep in mind that not all cookies are harmful, and they often help a site you routinely visit recall your preferences when you return. For instance, because of cookies, you don’t have to re-add things you left in a shopping cart during your last visit.

Anti-tracking settings in Safari and Chrome

The reality is that many people will continue to use mainstream web browsers, notably Google Chrome and Apple Safari, which are the two most popular by market share globally and in the U.S. The latter is reserved for Apple’s own devices and is not supported on Microsoft Windows PCs or Android. Google Chrome works on Macs, Windows, Android and iOS.

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With internet privacy top of mind, pay attention to these settings:

Apple Safari. Over the years, Apple has built a strong reputation around privacy. In the Safari browser on a Mac, a privacy feature called Prevent Cross-Site Tracking is turned on by default, and unless you indicate otherwise, cookies and website data will be removed.

According to Apple, social media sites such as Facebook enable third-party websites to embed Share, Like and Comment buttons or widgets that can be used to track your browsing activity, even if you don’t click on them. Safari blocks such tracking by default. If you want to use these buttons on these other sites anyway, Apple says you must grant permission to allow the social media site to view your online activities elsewhere.     

Ask the Tech Guru

To make sure Prevent Cross-Site Tracking is turned on, or for that matter, off, launch Safari, and under the Safari menu click the Settings | Privacy tab. Click to add or remove the check mark next to Prevent Cross-Site Tracking.

A few more items to note under the privacy settings in Safari. Click Manage Website Data to see a list of websites that have stored data that can be used to track your browsing. You can delete the stored data at any or all of these websites. Apple warns that while deleting the data may enhance your privacy, you may be logged out of certain websites or experience changes in the way you interact with the site.

Meanwhile, if you pay for Apple’s premium iCloud+ service, you can also take advantage of something called Apple Private Replay, which lets you hide your IP (internet protocol) address to prevent websites from piecing together your online profile.

Click Settings | Privacy tab | Hide IP address, and choose whether to hide the address from Trackers and Websites or from Trackers Only.

You can also access a Privacy Report in Safari to see how many websites and trackers, and which ones, were prevented from profiling you through the browser. Select the Safari menu | Privacy Report...

Google Chrome. While Apple’s anti-tracking feature is on by default, Google Chrome users must actively ask websites not to collect or track browsing data, and this is the case whether you’re accessing Chrome on a PC or an Android. You’re relying on the site’s good graces. Even if you make the request, Google acknowledges that what happens next depends on the site’s discretion; it also admits that most websites and web services, including its own, do not in fact change their behavior.

To make such a request anyway, open Chrome. At the top right, select More (three horizontal dots) | Settings | Privacy and security | Third-party cookies. Scroll down to Advanced and select the Send a “Do Not Track” request with your browsing traffic button.

When I first visited this privacy settings area in Chrome on a Windows PC, I noted that an Allow third party cookies button was preselected. I clicked the Block third party cookies button to change the permissions. Once blocked, says Google, sites can’t use such cookies to personalize content and ads or learn about the actions you take on other sites unless you specifically allow related sites to access them.

Sites can still use cookies to see browsing activity on their own site. You can also manually add sites that you allow to use third-party cookies.

Bonus tip: Go incognito, but understand the limits

Mainstream web browsers, including Chrome and Safari, have Private Browsing or Incognito modes you can enable to hide your online activity for that session on the computer or device you’re using to prowl around cyberspace.

For example, the Private Browsing mode in Safari won’t remember the web pages you visit, your search history or any information autofilled during the session, and third-party trackers will also be blocked.

Similarly, Incognito mode in Chrome won’t save activity data on the physical device for a given browsing session.

But you are not completely invisible. Your internet provider, employer or even a hacker may be able to watch what you’re doing in real time. Sites know who you are and can serve up ads while you’re hanging around.

Last year, Google settled a privacy lawsuit after plaintiffs alleged that Incognito mode gave the false impression that anyone employing it would not be tracked while online.

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Edward C. Baig covers technology and other consumer topics. He previously worked for USA Today, BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report and Fortune, and is author of Macs for Dummies and coauthor of iPhone for Dummies and iPad for Dummies. Follow him on LinkedIn; Threads; and X, formerly known as Twitter.