Safety guidelines

We’re doing everything we possibly can to make the Talksafe website as safe as possible for you. After all that’s the whole point of the website – it’s a safe place to talk.

Even so, there are some things you can do to help:

If someone is bullying you or another person on the Talksafe website, or they are being creepy, please let us know: talksafe@tht.org.uk

Remember to log out properly when you finish a counselling session - don’t just exit without logging out

If you think someone else knows your username and password, change your password immediately or let us know: talksafe@tht.org.uk

Be aware that the other people you’re talking to on Talksafe might not be who they say they are. So when you are in a Talksafe forum or you are making comments on the website, try not to give out this kind of information:

- Your phone number
- Your full name
- Your address

If people are asking for this type of information then please let us know: talksafe@tht.org.uk

Clearing your browsing history

When you visit websites, their addresses are stored in temporary folders on your computer's hard drive. This enables you to go back and review where you’ve been on the internet.

If you are worried about someone finding out that you’ve been on the Talksafe website then clear your browser history. This isn’t difficult but how you do this depends upon which browser you are using. The name of your browser can be found in the blue bar at the very top of the screen.

You can usually clear your browser history by clicking on the Tools button under the address bar and looking for “clear history”. Here’s how to do it on the most common browsers:

Internet Explorer 6
Click on the Tools menu and select Internet Options. On the General page, under Temporary Internet Files, click on Delete Cookies and then OK. Click on Delete Files, put a tick in the box labelled Delete All Offline Content and click OK. Under History, click on Clear History and then OK. Now look at the top of the window, click on the Content tab, select AutoComplete and then Clear Forms.

Internet Explorer 7
Click on the Tools menu and select Internet Options. In the General page under Browsing History, click the “Delete...” button. Either select and delete each section - Temporary Internet Files, Cookies, History, Forms Data and Passwords - or click the “Delete all...” button at the bottom to clear everything.

Firefox 1
Click on Tools and then Options, then click on Privacy. Click on the “Clear” button next to History, Saved Form Information, Cookies and Cache.

Firefox 2
Click on Tools and then Options, then click on Privacy. At Private Data Select settings, ensure that all boxes have been selected and then click on “Clear Now”.

Netscape 7
Click on the Edit menu and select Preferences. In the left pane, expand History then in the right area click “Clear History”. Expand Privacy and Security and select Cookies then Manage Stored Cookies, and in the new dialog box click “Remove All Cookies”. Then repeat the process for Forms and the Manage Stored Form Data buttons and do the same for Passwords and the Manage Stored Passwords buttons. Additionally, you may Manage Forms, Cookies and Passwords individually from the Tools menu - but not the temporary page Cache files.

Safari (often used on Apple Macs)
Resetting Safari clears the history, empties the cache, clears the Downloads
window and removes all cookies. It also removes any saved user names and
passwords or other AutoFill data and clears Google/Yahoo search entries. To do this, go to the Safari menu at the top left hand of the screen. Choose Reset Safari, and click “Reset”.

Google Chrome
Click on the spanner icon next to the search bar then click on Clear Browsing Data from the menu. Select the Clear Browsing History and Delete Cookies options. Click on Clear Browsing Data to finish.