History, cache files and cookies files store lots of information about your computer activity such as information about visited websites, images you seen, files you download. Any person who has access to your computer can use these files to get full information of your PC activities.
Biggest threats are usually browser cache, search and browser history, and cookies. They are unlocked and opened door to your privacy.
While some of these history tracks cannot be deleted manually or without using special software, but most of them can. This article will show you how.
Cleaning Web Browser Cache
In Internet Explorer 8
- From the Safety menu, click "Delete Browsing History..."
- Check "Temporary Internet files and History", and then click "Delete".
In Internet Explorer 7
- From the They are unlocked and opened door to your privacy. menu, select "Internet Options..."
- Choose the "General" tab.
- Under "Browsing history", click "Delete"
- Next to "Temporary Internet Files", click "Delete files..."
- Click "Close", and then click "OK" to exit.
In Mozilla Firefox
- From the "Tools" menu, select "Clear Private Data", and then check "Cache"
- Click "Clear Private Data Now"
In Safari
- Open Safari and go to "Safari" > "Empty Cache"
- Click "Empty" in the window that opens to clear the cache.
In Opera
- Open Opera and go to "Tools" > "Delete private data"
- Choose which items you wish to delete and click "Delete"
History
It’s important to clean both Browser and Search History. Browser stores a list of every web site you've ever visited, and this history is easily accessible. Basically anyone can see where you have been while surfing the Internet. Also, AutoComplete feature in Search option stores a list of everything you type in a web page, including sensitive info like your name, email, credit card information, passwords, etc. Anyone who starts typing something in search box will get drop-down list of information you’ve previously searched for.
Cleaning History
How to clear history in Internet Explorer
- Select "Tools"
- Select "Delete Browsing History"
- Click "Delete all" and then click "Yes"
Note: Index.dat files are system files that cannot be deleted manually as they are used by Windows all the time (index.dat files are locked by Windows as a system files). Their content stays even if you clear browser history, cache and cookies.
Using third party programs such as Clear All History can easily clear index.dat files.
To clear search history (AutoComplete forms history) in Internet Explorer
- Select "Tools" then "Internet Options".
- Open the "Content" tab.
- Click the "AutoComplete" button.
- Click the "Clear forms" button to clear all AutoComplete form data and/or click the "Clear Passwords" to delete restored passwords.
How to clear history in Mozilla Firefox
- To clear history in Firefox:
- Select "Tools'" > "Clear Private Data"
- In "Clear Private Data" window put the check mark for web history items you want to clear (for search history check 'Saved Form and Search History' box).
- Click "Clear Private Data Now"
How to clear history in Opera
- Open the "Tools" menu.
- Select "Delete" private data
- Click the "Details" button
- Select history items you want to clear (tick all of them if you want to get rid of every trace including your search).
- Click "Delete".
Cleaning Cookies
Cookies are files that web sites write and store on your computer. Every time you visit a certain website, it will look for its cookie on your hard drive. It uses the information stored within the cookie to gather all user info related to the website, i.e. your name, shopping preferences, etc. Cookies can be a problem for your privacy as anyone who looks at this folder can see where you've been.
In Internet Explorer
- Open IE and click on the "Tools" menu
- Select "Internet Options"
- Click on the "General" tab if it isn't selected already
- Under the heading "Temporary Internet files," click on "Delete Cookies..."
- Click "OK" for the "Delete all cookies in the Temporary Internet Files folder?" prompt
- Click "OK" to exit
In Mozilla Firefox
- Open Firefox and click on the "Tools" menu
- Select "Options"
- Click on the "Privacy" icon on the left
- Select "Cookies" and click on "View Cookies"
- Select google.com from the list and press "remove cookie"
- Click "OK" to exit
Also, when clearing history and cache, you can check Cookies box to clear them too.
In Opera you clear Cookies by checking the Cookies tab when clearing the cache.
In Safari
- From the Safari menu, click Preferences.
- From the Security dialog box, click Bookmarks.
- Click Show Cookies.
- From the Cookie dialog box, click to choose a cookie, and click Remove.
- Alternatively, if you want to delete all cookies, click "Remove All".
- Click "Done"
Cleaning Registry
Small traces of your Internet and PC activity end up in Registry. For example, every time you open a file, picture or folder using Windows Explorer, Windows records your activity in the registry using Windows Explorer UserAssist Data. Whoever finds it will be able to see every document, file, etc that you've opened.
Windows keeps full run history under the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerUserAssist
If you don't delete UserAssist Data, it can compromise your privacy and security. However, you should be very careful when dealing with registry, because you could delete some vital entries that could damage your system. It’s recommended that you use third party programs, such as CCleaner when you clean your registry, or Clear All History program when deleting UserAssist Data.
Other places you should look at
Windows Temporary files - Windows temporary directory stores Windows and other programs temporary files. This directory can become not only cluttered but also it could contain files that may compromise your privacy.
To delete them you can use or you could perform that manually:
- Click Start / Find and click Find Files or folders
- In the named box type *.tmp to search for any files ending with tmp.
- Verify that Look in section of the search box is pointing to the C: drive and not Document Folders.
- Click Find Now
- Delete all files that are found
Recent documents list - Windows also stores a list of documents and files you have recently opened and worked with that can be accessed by anyone who shares PC with you.
- Right click the "Start Menu" icon and select "Properties"
- Click the "Start Menu" tab and click on "Customize"
- In the "Customize Start Menu" window click on the "Advanced" tab.
Now you have two options:
1) Click the "Clear List" button to just clear the recent documents.
2) Uncheck the "List my most recently opened documents" box to make the entire feature go away permanently.
Recently run programs list - List of programs you have run using the Run option in the Start Menu is also a window to your privacy.
To clean Run history:
- Click "Start" button.
- Select "Run".
- Start the registry editor (regedit.exe) - in the text field type regedit and press "Enter"
- Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerRunMRU
- On the right panel you will see the list of programs that you have run using "Run'"command.
- Right-click on the program you want to delete and click "Delete" or select "Edit" > "Delete"
- Click "Yes" for confirmation.
- Close the registry editor.
Pagefile – Pagefile is a space on the HDD used as the virtual memory extension of computer RAM. Page file (or swap file) may contain sensitive or confidential information (for example some applications may store passwords here).
To clean it:
- Click "Start" then type ‘regedit’
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory Management
- Change the value of 'ClearPageFileAtShutdown' to 1, and then close registry editor.
