Note: This guide is now out of date. For the latest guide (September 2011), head on over here.
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New Year’s resolutions are among us, though voluntary and often roll over from year to year. This time around, though, take one New Year’s resolution as a wild card, and lock down your Facebook profile like your own personal Fort Knox, and get it out of the way for the year ahead.
The bad news is that damage could well have already been done, as some features are hidden away and are difficult to find. But, don’t panic. You will be surprised how much you can recover in the space of five or ten minutes of clicking on a few buttons.
For my 700th post for ZDNet, here are four guides, each focusing on an intrinsic part of Facebook’s privacy and security features, allowing you to work your way through with step by step help in each area.
Gallery guide 1: Secure your profile page
This guide will walk you through the settings and features of your profile page - the main page where your friends can post on your wall, and allow you to learn how to limit certain features while protecting your privacy from outside your friends list.
Gallery guide 2: Secure your account settings
This guide will document how to secure your account - including your password, your networks, your Facebook credits (the site’s cashless currency), and explain how you can prevent unauthorised access.
Gallery guide 3: Secure your privacy settings
This guide will walk you through each and every setting of your content, allowing you to confidently change and modify each setting accordingly to allow exactly who you want to access certain content, while preventing others. Also, it will enable you to prevent certain privacy infringing ‘features’ on your account like Places.
Gallery guide 4: Secure the miscellaneous bits
This guide will explain certain features which can indirectly disclose your location (Places), hide certain friends from particular activities (lists) and prevent you from compromising your account with worm-spreading application links (links).
If you want a particular area looked into which isn’t covered, send a message using the Contact form on the left, or leave a comment below.
