How to I keep things from showing up in "news feed"?

[victorioussummer310]

I'm new to facebook, kinda got forced into it. I like it so far but I don't like how every single thing I do ends up in news feed. Every picture I "Like", anything I post, every new friend I get, everything!
I don't want everything to be completely private but when I, for example, change my profile picture why does the whole world need to know? They can find that out by looking at my page.
If i post something on my friends page it's because i intended mostly for him to see it, I don't mind if others do, but why is it put on like the freaking home page of facebook for all hundreds of my friends to see?

Is there a way i can change this?

[MrHurree]

For every post, there is an option on your timeline at the top-right where you can choose to hide it from your timeline. There is also privacy settings where you can limit the audience for posts.