How to Delete Your Browsing History

Delete your history on today's most popular Web browsers.

The four most popular Internet browsers today, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari, all provide an option to delete your browsing history. This function allows you to maintain your privacy on the computer, and is especially useful when sharing a computer with others. Most browsers give you the option of deleting other information at the same time you delete your browsing history.

Things You'll Need

• The Internet

Instructions

Internet Explorer

1. Open Internet Explorer on your computer and click the gear wheel icon at the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Hover the mouse pointer over "Safety" in the pop-up menu and select Delete Browsing History. The Delete Browsing History window appears on the screen.

3. Click the check box next to "History" to select the browser history option. A check mark appears in the box when you select an option.

4. Review the remaining Delete Browsing History options and place a check mark in the boxes next to the options you want to enable. Each of the options provides a summary of what happens when the option is selected.

5. Click the "Delete" button at the bottom of the window to delete your browsing history.

Firefox

1. Open Firefox on your computer and click Tools on the top menu bar.

2. Select Clear Recent History from the pop-up menu. The Clear Recent History window appears on your screen.

3. Click the drop-down menu next to "Time range to clear" and select the browsing time period you want to delete. Your options are Last Hour, Last Two Hours, Last Four Hours, Today and Everything.

4. Click the arrow next to "Details" and then the check box next to "Browsing & Download History," if this box isn't already checked.

5. Review the remaining Clear Recent History options and select any that you want to include when deleting your browsing history. The options are Form & Search History, which deletes information you used on Web forms or search terms used in the Firefox search bar; Cookies, which deletes small files stored on your computer that include information about individual websites, such as saved user name and password information; Cache, which deletes the store of website information on your computer for faster loading when you later return to a website; Active Logins, which deletes stored information about websites that you need to log in with a user name and password; and Site Preferences, which deletes settings you changed for specific sites.

6. Click "Clear Now" at the bottom of the window to clear the browser history and any other options you wanted to clear.

Chrome

1. Open Chrome on your computer and click the wrench icon at the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Click Tools and then Clear Browsing Data. The Clear Browsing Data window appears on the screen.

3. Click the check box next to "Clear Browsing History," if the box does not have a check mark in it.

4. Select any of the other Clear Browsing Data options that you want to delete. Your options are Clear Download History, which deletes the list of your downloaded files; Empty the Cache, which removes from your computer stored website information used to speed up loading times when you return to a website; Delete Cookies, which removes website cookies that a websites uses to obtain information about your interaction with the website, such as user preferences; and Clear Saved Passwords, which deletes login passwords saved in the browser.

5. Click the drop-down menu next to "Obliterate All of the Items From" and select the time period for which you want to delete your browser history. Your options are The Past Hour, The Past Day, The Past Week, The Last 4 Weeks, and The Beginning of Time.

6. Select "Clear Browsing Data" to delete your browser history and the other selections.

Safari

1. Open Safari on your computer and click History on the top menu bar.

2. Select Clear History in the pop-up window. A box with the message "Are You Sure You Want to Clear History?" appears on the screen.

3. Click the check box next to "Also Reset Top Sites" if you want to clear your Top Sites screen.

4. Select "Clear" to clear your browser history.

References

• Microsoft: How to Delete Your Browsing History in Internet Explorer 9
• Mozilla: Clear Recent History
• Google: Delete Your Browsing History
• Apple: Safari 5.0 for Mac Help: Deleting Your Browsing History