Your web browser is the single most-used piece of software on your PC and the main gateway through which trackers, scammers and malicious sites try to reach you. Fortunately, every major browser has strong privacy and security controls built in — they're just rarely switched on by default. This guide walks through locking down Chrome, Firefox and Edge, plus the extensions and habits that make the biggest practical difference.

Start With an Update

Before changing any settings, make sure your browser is fully up to date, since security patches are released constantly and an outdated browser is one of the most common infection routes.

  • Chrome/Edge: Click the three-dot menu > Help > About Google Chrome/Microsoft Edge — this checks for and installs updates automatically.
  • Firefox: Click the menu button > Help > About Firefox.

Set your browser to update automatically if it isn't already, rather than relying on remembering to check.

Core Privacy Settings to Change Immediately

1. Switch to a Stricter Tracking Protection Level

  • Firefox: Go to Settings > Privacy & Security and set Enhanced Tracking Protection to Strict. This blocks known trackers, cryptominers and fingerprinting scripts across all sites.
  • Chrome: Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Third-party cookies and choose Block third-party cookies.
  • Edge: Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services and set Tracking prevention to Strict.

2. Clear Cookies and Site Data Regularly

Cookies aren't all bad — they keep you logged in — but old, accumulated tracking cookies build up a detailed profile of your browsing over time.

  1. Open your browser's privacy settings.
  2. Find Clear browsing data (Chrome/Edge) or Cookies and Site Data > Clear Data (Firefox).
  3. Select Cookies and other site data plus Cached images and files, choose a time range, and clear.
  4. Consider setting cookies to clear automatically when you close the browser for sites you don't need to stay logged into.

3. Disable Unnecessary Permissions

Websites can request access to your location, camera, microphone and notifications. Review what you've already granted:

  1. Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings (Chrome/Edge) or Settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions (Firefox).
  2. Go through Location, Camera, Microphone and Notifications in turn.
  3. Remove access for any site you don't recognise or no longer use, and set the default for new sites to "Ask" rather than "Allow".

Pro tip: Notification permissions are one of the most abused categories — plenty of low-quality sites bombard users with spammy notification popups purely to drive ad clicks. Be sparing about which sites you allow to send notifications at all.

Search Engine and Default Settings

Consider switching your default search engine to one that doesn't build an advertising profile from your searches, such as DuckDuckGo or Startpage, either as your sole default or alongside your usual choice. This is a personal preference rather than a strict requirement, but it meaningfully reduces the data trail you leave behind.

Extensions can meaningfully improve both your security and your browsing experience, but installing too many increases your attack surface, so stick to a small, well-reviewed set:

  • uBlock Origin: An efficient, open-source ad and tracker blocker that also blocks a good number of known malicious domains.
  • Bitwarden (or your password manager of choice): Lets you generate and autofill strong, unique passwords directly in the browser rather than reusing weak ones. See our full password manager guide for setup details.
  • HTTPS everywhere behaviour: Modern browsers now handle this automatically by defaulting to secure connections, but it's worth confirming Settings > Privacy and security > Always use secure connections is enabled in Chrome/Edge.

Avoid installing extensions from unknown developers with vague permissions requests like "read and change all your data on all websites" unless you genuinely trust the source, since a malicious or compromised extension has enormous access to everything you do online.

Managing Saved Passwords and Autofill

Built-in browser password saving is convenient but weaker than a dedicated password manager, particularly because anyone with access to your unlocked PC can often view saved passwords in plain text through browser settings.

  1. Go to Settings > Autofill and passwords (Chrome/Edge) or Settings > Privacy & Security > Logins and Passwords (Firefox).
  2. Review the list of saved passwords and remove any for accounts you no longer use.
  3. Consider migrating to a dedicated password manager and disabling the browser's own password saving to avoid two competing systems — covered fully in our password manager and two-factor authentication guide.

Private Browsing and When to Use It

Private/Incognito mode prevents your browsing history, cookies and form data from being saved locally on that device, which is useful on a shared or public computer, but it does not hide your activity from your internet provider, your employer's network, or the websites themselves. Don't rely on it as a general-purpose privacy tool — it's a narrow feature for a specific situation, not a substitute for the settings above.

Spotting and Avoiding Malicious Sites

  • Modern browsers include built-in phishing and malware protection (Google Safe Browsing in Chrome, Microsoft Defender SmartScreen in Edge, and similar in Firefox) — make sure this is switched on under Privacy and security settings, as it's on by default but worth confirming.
  • Check for the padlock icon and https:// before entering any sensitive information, though be aware scam sites can have valid padlocks too — it confirms an encrypted connection, not that the site is trustworthy.
  • Be especially cautious of urgent pop-ups claiming your PC is infected and demanding you call a phone number or download software — this is almost always a scam, not a genuine browser or Windows warning.

Warning: Never enter your Windows, email or banking password into a page you reached by clicking a link in an unsolicited email or text message. Type the website address in directly, or use a bookmark you saved yourself.

Browser Profiles for Separation

Both Chrome and Firefox support multiple profiles, which is a genuinely underused privacy feature. Setting up a separate profile for work, one for personal browsing, and optionally one for online shopping keeps cookies, logins and history cleanly separated, reducing cross-site tracking and the risk of mixing up accounts.

  1. Click your profile icon in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Choose Add profile or Manage profiles.
  3. Set each profile up with its own bookmarks, extensions and saved logins as needed.

Closing Thoughts

None of these changes require advanced technical knowledge, and together they meaningfully reduce how much of your online activity is tracked, stored and exposed. Spend twenty minutes working through this guide's settings today, and revisit them every few months as browsers regularly add new privacy controls worth switching on.

Was this guide helpful? Explore more Privacy Settings guides, or browse all Security & Performance articles.