- Based on your Google activity
- Hardware-enforced: WORM drives like those from Flexxon use a hardware-level controller that physically prevents data from being deleted or overwritten once it is written.
- Tamper-proof: This is the most secure method, as it cannot be bypassed by software or malware.
- Easy to use: You can manually set the drive to read-only before plugging it into a computer, protecting it from viruses or accidental deletion.
- Manufacturer-dependent: This feature is not standard and is only available on specific models from companies like Kanguru.
- Using Windows DiskPart: With administrator privileges, you can use the command-line utility DiskPart to change the disk's attributes to read-only.
- Changing security permissions (NTFS): For drives formatted with the NTFS file system, you can deny write permissions to all users through the drive's security properties.
- Editing the Windows Registry: You can create or modify a specific registry key (
StorageDevicePolicies) to enable system-wide write protection for removable storage.
Turn on your Visual Search History?
Google uses its visual recognition technologies to process the images you use to search, like when you search with Google Lens. If you turn on your Visual Search History, Google will save these images from eligible Google services to your Web & App Activity when you’re signed in to your Google Account. You can learn more about this setting and which Google services save images to it at g.co/Search/VisualSearchHistory.
How visual search history is used
Your Visual Search History may be used to improve your experience on Google services, like letting you revisit your past visual searches. It may be used to develop and improve Google’s visual recognition and search technologies, as well as the Google services that use them.
When visual search history is off
If you turn this setting off, any previous Visual Search History may still be kept and used to improve Google’s visual recognition and search technologies, unless you delete it from your Web & App Activity.
Visual Search History doesn’t affect images saved by other settings, like Gemini Apps Activity.
How to manage your Visual Search History
You can view, delete, or manage your Visual Search History at activity.google.com. To download your Visual Search History, visit takeout.google.com. Images will be deleted in accordance with your Web & App Activity auto-delete settings, although some types of images may be deleted sooner.
Google uses and saves data in accordance with Google Privacy Policy.
