How to Make a Recent Search Go Away on a Mac
There are times when one member of a family will not want other members to know about a recent search he has performed on their shared Mac. For example, if a husband is looking for Valentine's gifts for his wife, he would not want her to stumble upon the search before she receives the gift. Similarly, if a mother is planning a vacation for her children, she won't want for them to see what she is looking for in the search history. Most searches on a Mac are done in either Safari or Firefox Web browsers, and each can be cleared of recent activity.
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Instructions
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How to Remove a Recent Search in Safari
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Open up the Safari Web browser by clicking on the Safari icon in the Mac's dock. The dock is usually situated at the bottom of the screen, but it could be placed on the left or right.
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After Safari has opened, click on the word "Safari" in the menu in the top left-hand corner of the page. A drop-down menu will appear. Choose the selection "Reset Safari."
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When the "Reset Safari" window opens, check the boxes on the page that will clear your Web search history. The boxes that should be checked include: "Clear history," "Empty the cache," "Remove all cookies," "Remove AutoFill form text" and "Clear Google searches."
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Hit the "Reset" button on the screen. You have now removed any recent searches on your Mac.
How to Remove a Recent Search in Firefox
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Open up Firefox by clicking on the Firefox icon in the dock. Wait for Firefox to load and then find the word "History" in the menu bar at the top of the page. Click it.
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When the "History" menu appears, scroll down to the bottom of the menu and select "Show in Sidebar." A panel will appear on the left side of the page that shows the Web and search history for the computer.
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Right-click on the folder for the day on which the search was performed. The folder will open. When it opens, right-click on the search you want to make go away, right-click and select "Delete."
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Reset Firefox by closing it and opening it back up. Your search has now gone away and is not visible.
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Tips & Warnings
If you want to delete Google searches and you have a Google account, you can clear your Web search history by logging into Google.com.
Be cautious when deleting search histories, especially if you think you may need to find something again later. It will be much harder to find if it is deleted from the history.
