Check your privacy settings

Step by step

1. Click the Start button! Look at the bottom of this practice computer: the dark strip there is its taskbar. In the middle of it, click the Start button (four blue squares). The main menu opens just above it. If you see two taskbars, use the one inside this page.
2. Click "Browser". In the menu that opened, click the "Browser" tile (a square with a small picture and its name under it): the app opens in its own window.
3. Go to . Click in the address bar at the top, type and press Enter. It is a practice social network: made-up people, nothing is really shared.
4. Open "Privacy settings". At the top of the page, click "Privacy settings". Privacy settings decide who can see what you share.
5. Choose who sees your future posts. Open the "Who can see your future posts?" list and choose "Friends". Right now anyone on the internet can read them.
6. Hide your email address. Open the "Who can find you by your email address?" list and choose "Only me". A stranger who knows your email can no longer look you up.
7. Hide your phone number. Open the "Who can find you by your phone number?" list and choose "Only me".
8. Click "Save changes". Click the "Save changes" button at the bottom of the form. The page confirms that your choices are saved.
9. Close this window. You are done with this window, so close it: click the ✕ button at the top right corner of the "Browser" window (on its title bar, the strip at the top). The window disappears.

These steps are written for SafePC, a pretend Windows-style computer in your web browser. On your own computer, the buttons and menus may look a little different, but the idea is the same.

More lessons in Social media, safely

• Sign in and look around
• Post a photo to "Family only"
• Hide your birthday and phone number
• Turn down a friend request from a stranger
• Report a fake profile and block it