Boost security in Safari on the Mac

The Apple Mac is very secure and there are far fewer threats than for some other operating systems that could be mentioned, but that does not mean it is perfect. For example, as you browse the web using Safari, websites and advertisers can track your activities and Safari does little to protect you. However, AVG Do Not Track can boost security.

AVG Do Not Track is a Safari extension that identifies sites that attempt to collect data about you as you browse the web. An icon in the toolbar shows the number of tracking technologies the current website is using and clicking the button reveals which technologies and gives you the option to block them.

To get this useful security security tool for Safari, go to the Safari menu and select Safari Extensions. This goes to the extensions.apple.com website which is a great source of add-ons for the Mac’s built in web browser.

Select the Security section below the main highlighted extension and a little way down the page is AVG Do Not Track. Click the Install Now link and a second or two later you will see a new button in the toolbar near the address box in Safari.

AVG Do Not Track

Try visiting a few websites and you will see the number on the button change. This is the number of tracking technologies used by each site. Don’t panic because some of them are benign and even useful. They aren’t all evil.

Click the AVG Do Not Track button on a site with several tracking technologies and you might see something like this:

Social buttons like Twitter and Google +1 are fine and they enable people to share great websites and content with their friends on these social networks. Google Analytics does collect information about you, but it cannot identify you. It simply provides website owners with information like the number of people that viewed a web page, which browser they used, and so on.

It is best not to block this because it is useful to website owners to know which pages are popular and which aren’t, so it can produce more of the stuff you like and less of what you don’t like. Millions of websites use Google Analytics.

The important part of this drop down panel is the ad networks blocked. In this case there was only one, but some sites might have more.

AVG Do Not Track settings

You can choose who to block and who to allow in AVG Do Not Track. Click the button in the Safari toolbar and then click the settings button. A new browser tab opens and a long list of websites is displayed. Each item has a tick box and you can see the default settings. Tick or clear the boxes against items you want to block or allow.