How to Delete Temporary downloaded files and Browsing History

Due to privacy and security concerns, most people wish to delete their surfing history and files from their computer. It also prevents probl...

Due to privacy and security concerns, most people wish to delete their surfing history and files from their computer. It also prevents problems due to virus , spyware and increases the computer speed. Usually this is simple, but at times you can face problems.  

How to delete websites visited from Internet Explorer/ browser history

To clear your history from Internet Explorer :

1. Click Tools and Internet Options on the drop down menu,

2. Click on the General Settings tab.  

3. In the temporary internet files section , Click "delete cookies" (to delete cookies in cache)

4. Then click on  "delete files" . This deletes the html pages and images you download that Internet Explorer saves on your hard disk. Deleting files may take time, if  you have visited many websites. Wait till all the files are deleted, interrupting will cause partial deletion of files.

5. Then go to the history section, first "clear history" . Then set the "days to keep pages in history" at "0" . Click on apply to save this setting

6. Then click on "settings" , select "view files" click on top of page "edit" then click on "select all" then click on selected files, then click on "delete".  There should be no files if step 4 has been done properly

7. Click on the General Content tab in the Internet Options menu.

8. Under Personal information, click on the AutoComplete box. 

9. Uncheck "Web Addresses", "Forms" and "User Names and Passwords on Forms".

10. Click on "Clear Forms" & "Clear Passwords"

11. Click in the "Advanced" tab.

12. Go to the Security section and check "Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder When Browser is Closed" (This essentially does steps 3 and 4 every time you close your browser)

To clear your history from Mozilla Firefox:

1. Go to the "Tools" menu.

2. Select "Options" > "Privacy" > "History."

3. Click on "Clear." To completely disable the history function, set "Remember visited pages for the last X days" to zero ("0"). 4. Click "OK" to exit.
or Firebox * Either press Ctrl+Shift+Del or Click Tools=>Clear Private Data.
* To permanently stop saving data that you entered in search and form fields :
Goto to Tools=>options=>Privacy=>Saved... uncheck the "Save Information As I enter in Form and Search Fields"
your search or form entries will not appear anymore.

Google Toolbar :

 To clear your search history from the drop-down text box on the Google Toolbar:1. Click on the 'Google' logo to access the drop-down menu.
2. Select the 'Clear Search History' option. This will clear all the previous searches from the drop-down box.
All you recent searches on the toolbar will be cleared

This should be used only by experienced users, since making a mistake could damage your computer and you will lose all data
To delete the search tool in the start menu, Go to Start >> Run >> Type in REGEDIT
Navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft\Search Assitant\ACMru
Your actual search list is kept there. Delete the actual text used for your searches, nothing else.

Other options for cleaning traces of online activity are CCleaner  (Free)