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How to back up, then delete your Google account
Not a fan of the new unified privacy policy Google implemented today? With just a few clicks of the mouse you can back up your Google account data and then delete your account.
It's official, Google's new unified privacy policy is now in place, allowing all of your data to be shared across the various Google services. This is definitely going to make some users uneasy. If you're one of those users, and have been thinking about ditching Google, you will want to make sure you back up your data first, then delete your account. Here's how to carry out both of these tasks.
To begin, you will need to visit Google.com/settings.
You will want to back up your account data before you delete the account. To do that, click on "Data liberation." On the next screen click on "Download your data."
By clicking on the create archive button, Google will prepare a ZIP file containing all of your data for you to download. Once the archive is built, you'll be able to download the ZIP file.
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(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET)
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(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET)Now that you have your data stored somewhere safe you can delete your Google account. Go back to the Google.com/settings page we started on earlier and scroll to the bottom of the page. There you will find a link to close your entire account.
If you are a Google Apps user you will notice the link isn't to close your account, it's to delete your Google profile and Google+ features. Closing your account can only be done by your Google Apps admin. You can go ahead and delete your profile information, but will need to contact your admin to actually delete your account.
Once you have clicked on the link to close your account, you will have to acknowledge each Google service you no longer want to use, enter your password, and check a few more boxes confirming you truly want to delete your Google account.
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(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET)Once you confirm everything and click on the delete button, there is no going back. Your account will no longer exist. With your data backed up and stored on your computer you can sort through what information you would like to import into another service, as well as what information you would like to discard.
