How to delete or disable (almost) all of your accounts from the cloud

Over the years I have amassed a vast collection of unused accounts on websites. I am sure you have too. I have signed up for various online services -- email, cloud storage, content streaming, social networking and more -- with the prospect of trying new things or replacing old ones. The antiquated accounts got left behind, abandoned or forgotten.

The downsides, at least for me, are the constant email reminders which I receive, trying to pull me back in, or, worse, the likelihood of exposing personal information to hackers (if I don't use something then I surely will not change my password frequently or enable new security features). The solution? The unused accounts have to go. And Just Delete Me is one of the best services to help do that.

Just Delete Me is, at heart, a collection of direct links to official account deletion or deactivation webpages. A significant number of services are listed, from the aging AOL and ICQ to newer ones like Instagram and Path. The list also includes Amazon, Ask.fm, Craigslist, Dropbox, eBay, Facebook, Foursquare, Google, Grindr, Last.fm, LinkedIn, MySpace, New York Times, Outlook.com, PayPal, Pocket, Spotify, Tumblr, Twitter, Vine, WhatsApp and Yahoo, among others. But whether you can actually remove your account (or, deactivate it) depends solely on the provider.

Just Delete Me shows you how difficult it is to delete the account (rated as easy, medium, hard or impossible), and provides indications on how to perform the action, and the direct link for the respective page. The only requirements for removal are your login credentials and, depending on the service, security answers, which you must type in when the service asks you to.

The upside in the way Just Delete Me works (versus doing these actions on your behalf) is that there are no safety concerns regarding handing your data over to a third-party, in the hope of getting rid of the accounts you no longer use.

Photo Credit: Duc Dao/Shutterstock

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