Q I recently signed up with Facebook to look up one person and intended to opt out of the service after that. But I couldn't find any place to cancel the service or delete personal information such as my e-mail address. Within two weeks I started getting e-mails from people I know who wanted to list me as a friend on their Facebook pages. How would six people who don't know one another know to contact me on Facebook?
JON MARES, DELANO, MINN.
A You might be a part of the same Facebook "group" as the people who are contacting you, depending on the type of personal information you provided to Facebook when you signed up.
When I joined Facebook, I discovered that by listing my employer I had automatically became part of a group, or network, called the Star Tribune. Facebook then began suggesting other members of that group I might want to become online friends with, and some members of the group contacted me to become online friends.
But Facebook will let you control your online identity. For example, you can leave any groups of which you are a member, which should cut down on friend requests. To do that, log in to your Facebook account and click "settings" at the top of the page. That takes you to the My Account page, where you should click the "networks" tab. You can leave any of the groups listed there by clicking "Leave Network" next to the name of the group.
You have other choices, too. Click settings, and in the pull-down menu choose "privacy settings." On the privacy page you can block people from being able to search for you on Facebook. Or you can simply cancel your Facebook service by returning to the My Account page, finding "Deactivate Account" at the bottom of the page and clicking the "deactivate" link. That should remove all traces of your identity from Facebook.
Q How do I remove Bing, the new Microsoft search engine, from my Internet Explorer 7 browser? It seems to have downloaded automatically.
DOUG MCClure, Harris, Minn.
