TMI

So, I'm poking around Google, trying to figure out why there are still photos up on our Apple TV screen saver when I've deleted everything from the Photos app (it usually crashes the MacBook Pro at least 5 times before I can download anything from the camera, so fuck it). I figured it out once, long ago, well enough to get the family photos into some kind of stream that creates a virtual wall o' photos whenever the TV has been paused for more than 2 minutes, but I'll be damned if I can figure it out again in order to get them off!

Anyway, I thought I'd try the Google account. I'd never looked at "Activity" before, so imagine my surprise to find a record of all the searches I've made going back to 2011! 'Only I can see this data' I'm being assured, but since my laptop is available to whomever flips the lid, I find that less than reassuring.

If you're as private a person as I (that sounds a bit weird, coming from someone who actually blogs occasionally, quite the opposite of keeping oneself private), here are the steps that got me from "poking around" to actively deleting:




Go to Google Apps |  My Account








then "Manage your Google activity"

followed by "Go to Activity Controls" 

Select "Manage Activity" and be prepared to be amazed:

My data starts around February 2017 and goes back as far as 2011.

I'm thinking that I must've found some of this and turned off the "Web and App Activity" option earlier this year, but hadn't followed this path to discover everything else that had gone on before. I've yet to figure out how to mass-delete this history (none of which is damning, thank goodness, but still!) So far it's been a process of deleting each date. Looks as though I'll need to top up this glass of wine and get down to business!

Updated (after 10 minutes):

Well, that was easy! I finally noticed the 3-dot drop-down menu with its options:

"Delete activity by" ...

Delete by date: "All time"








Permanently deleted? Hell to the yes!

Now I'll top up this wine in celebration, and watch another episode of "Father Brown" on Netflix. Maybe someday I'll remember how I got those pictures up there and figure out why I can't get them unstreamed.