Dear LPG,

I recently read a couple of articles on your pages which got me thinking.  Have you ever been in a situation where you think that something so embarrassing, frightening or really stupid has happened to you; something that you have questions about but really don’t want to ask your family or friends for advice on because you are worried that if you ever broach the subject with anyone, this knowledge will alter their perception of you?

I am talking about something, that at the time, seems majorly bad, that you think you might have done or an embarrassing illness that you think that you may have contracted; something that you feel would definitely change the way that you perceived someone else if they admitted that they had been involved with it to you.

I think that this happens, at least once, to nearly everyone during the course of our lives but what do you do at a time like that.   One thing that we humans seem to need is to share news, be it good or bad, and we are good at it (especially if it is someone else’s bad news), but what can we do when the object of that bad news is us. 

Back in the day the answer was to talk to a professional because they had a code of confidentiality, but even they reserve the right to pass on any details in certain situations. 

I remember reading on your pages that the answer might be to swap the sharing aspect of such information for a google search, but even that could jeopardise the confidentiality aspect of sharing, and halving your problem.

I just want to remind my fellow readers that if there is anything that you want to know or learn how to do, Google is the way forward but again, on your pages RG recently reminded us that even taking a look on your computer can leave a tell-tail trail of which web pages you have visited and your mobile phone is no better at keeping your secrets.

There is one really important thing to note when you find yourself with such a predicament, and once you have reached the other side of whatever it is, I think you will agree.  The fact that there is bound to be some information on the internet about any situation you can imagine, has to be proof that there is very little that anyone may have done, that has not been done before.

If you really want to check what the internet has to say, a visit to use a computer other than yours is a good idea.  Although you should not use a friend’s because you will leave that history that RG mentioned for them to access, and not your local library where you usually have to use your library card to log in to one of their computers resulting in a record of the time you were accessing. 

If, after considering all the pros and cons you still need to see what google can contribute, the answer has to be, an internet café where you can browse a little more anonymously for an hour or so.  In spite of the fact that most people now have the internet with them all the time, there are still quite a few cyber cafes around.

But I say again that, there is little that anyone could have done which has not been done before, but if you think that Google can help and you really don’t want anyone to know you are asking the questions, an internet café is the best way forward. …

SK, New Cross.

LPG found some information about eliminating internet browsing history…

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