The paranoid's guide to the Internet: 13 easy ways to make sure you're not hacked or tracked

It might seem inevitable that companies will track your movements online and that hackers will someday steal your information.

Not true.

While it's hard to protect your personal information on the internet with 100% effectiveness, there are a few easy steps you can take that will make you a lot safer. And you don't have to be a tech expert at all.

Here are 13 easy ways you can stop companies like Facebook and Google from tracking you, and protect your data from opportunistic hackers.

Additional reporting by Steven Tweedie, Cale Guthrie Weissman, Max Slater-Robins, and Jim Edwards.