Personalised ads have ruined Christmas present surprises!

[RamsayStreet]

Me and my OH share a computer in the kitchen. We use the same account but have separate Internet log ins for Amazon and most shopping websites, and I always sign out after shopping. However the 'personalised' adverts that appear at the side of websites such as Facebook from Amazon and John Lewis still seem to remember what I've been browsing. As such, my OH has just seen everything that I've been thinking of buying/have bought him for Christmas! I suppose it serves me right for not thinking about it in advance and deleting the internet history, but it's not something I'd ever thought of! Very annoyed at myself (and the Internet!) Has this ever happened to anyone else?

You need to do Christmas shopping in an private browser window.

I've realised that now and feeling very foolish

I was wondering how to stop this too! Thanks PersianCatLady

Drives me mad too. And how on earth is it helpful to advertise to you what you've already bought? Baffling.

This annoys me every year! No DH but DS knows that from around late November onwards he is not allowed to look over my shoulder when I'm on my laptop in case those stupid ads pop up.

How do you open a private browser window?

On my chrome browser there are three vertical dots to the right of the address bar
Click there and choose open incognito window. I don't know how to do it on other browsers.

It's called re-marketing. Basically cookies that follow you if you've viewed something but not followed through with a purchase. Tiny pixels embedded in webpages.

Either clear all your cookies or browse incognito as others have said.

My son was looking at new bike lights last night on my PC and low and behold I have seen nothing but adverts for them all morning.

I was looking at shoes (for a wedding) the other day and I ended up ordering them but when I checked the Daily Fail a minute ago, their personalised ads were displaying these exact shoes.

Deleting all of your browsing history and cookies should in theory stop the ads from showing but from experience I have found that it doesn't always work.

My best advice is therefore to only browse for gifts on another PC or in a private browser window.

How do you open a private browser window?

Internet Explorer
Settings > Safety > InPrivate Browsing

Mozilla Firefox
Settings > New Private Window

Opera
Settings > New private window

Chrome
Chrome menu > New incognito window

Thank you PersianCatLady, that's incredibly helpful! It's just something I never would have predicted as a problem!

I also can't see the point of advertising something once I've already bought it and wish I could stop them tracking my browsing without having to be 'private' about my computer use!