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Facebook Tips

ByKevin Simon

Jan 30, 2011

Backup your facebook photos & wall onto your pc

Backup your information off facebook to your pc as a file, this includes your wall posts, photos, contact list etc. This is useful if you don’t have a copy of images that you may have uploaded to facebook from your old mobile phone, or that you just want a copy for reference of your online life on facebook.

To do this log into facebook and from your account menu, the top right hand side of facebook, click “Account Settings” on your account settings screen you will see at the bottom of the bottom of the list “Download your information” click to the right of this “learn more”, you will then see another screen telling you the procedure, once you have read this click the “download” button, you will then get a pop-up window asking you to confirm download click “download” again. You then have to wait while facebook collects all your info, you will be sent a email link when this is done.

On the email is a link, once clicked takes you to facebook and you have to enter your password, this is just a to safeguard your information. You then maybe asked another security question, once that is done, click the “download” and this will then download a ZIP file with your info in. This file contains two folders one with html files ie your wall, contacts etc and the other with your photos in.

To give you an idea of file size etc, I downloaded my facebook information. The time it took for facebook to collect my info and send a download link was around an hour, and the size of the zip file in my case was 10mb, that was around 160 images, my wall etc. though the html file with my wall post on only went back just over 2year, but I had been on facebook longer than that, but was still usefull to see what I had posted all that time ago 🙂

This is a new service that was introduced by facebook the tail end of last year, so there may be problems with some downloads and also depends on how much info and photos you have posted, but it is still a useful feature.

Delete unused applications

This is something all do, add these quiz’s, games etc to facebook, this is ok if you use the applications but over time there are some we don’t use, when you add a application to facebook, it asks you to authorize the application to access your personal data. Which if you have applications you don’t use, that company still has access to your personal data, wall and all your information. So it is a good idea to remove the application you haven’t used for a while and are probably not going to use again. To do this follow the following.

Login to facebook, click your account on the top right hand side and then goto “privacy settings” you will then see a screen that has all your privacy settings i.e. what information you share with other people, maybe a good time to have a look to make sure you arnt sharing too much, so set to how you want. One the bottom of that screen you will see “Apps & Websites” Click the link “edit your settings”. On this screen you see serval headings the one you are interested in is “apps you use” here its show you your recent apps used and how many to have.

Under your recent apps there is a remove button click this or to the right is a button saying “edit settings” and you will then see a screen with a list of are your apps that you have through facebook, go through this list and remove the ones that you don’t use or haven’t in awhile. To remove just click on the “x” to the right of the app you want to remove, or if you want to change the settings for the app click “edit settings”

Misc Facebook Tips.

On facebook there are a spate of applications saying you can see who views your profile, blocked you etc. These features are NOT available within facebook, Once you install these apps they can just collect your personal, so the app then can post to your wall or just send out spam messages to your friends. It is a worry with these kind of applications as that you don’t know what the maker of that app is doing with your info. So make sure you don’t install any of these application and if you have delete the application from you facebook apps list – See above

Again there are a lot of scams on facebook from saying that someone you shouldn’t add as a friend, or that a virus that can do damage to your computer is spreading on facebook, or even that facebook is shutting down or charging for the service.

Anything like the above are scams or just hoaxes, just like the ones that used to come to our email inboxes few years ago, it just now facebook is an easier way of spreading these.

Remove adverts off facebook.

First if your are using internet explorer as your web bowser, install either Firefox or Google Chrome, both of these web browsers are faster and better than Internet Explorer. Once you are using firefox or chrome add a extension (chrome) or add-on (firefox) called “ad-block plus”, this little application filters out adverts off web pages, this just doesn’t include facebook but every page you visit, so this makes the webpage load quicker also that you don’t see those annoying adverts. Though some adds cant be blocked using this but normally filers around 90% of web adverts.

By Kevin Simon

I run this blog & also self employed cleaning out fish ponds, but due to spinal problems not able to do as much, now started a youtube channel showing my converted Peugeot Partner micro camper also as interest in photography so now vlog about the trips and of course Lego figures out in the wild photos.

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