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How to clean cookies and history
Cookies
Cookies are used by websites in many ways to both enhance the web-surfing
experience and to track your activity. Some cookies are set to expire after your
web session, while others have decades-long expiration dates. If you're worried
about your privacy, you have good reason because these cookies store information
and update your profile when you return to the website.
You can adjust Microsoft Internet Explorer to block cookies. To do this, open
Internet Explorer and choose Tools. Next, choose Internet Options. Click on the
Privacy tab. A sliding bar allows you to adjust the setting.
The lowest setting enables the acceptance of all cookies, as you go up the
scale, the cookies settings become more restrictive. The highest setting blocks
all cookies and even disables existing cookies on your PC from being read by
websites.
Since cookies can enhance some websites or may even be required, you can
manually override your settings and type in certain websites that you will allow
accepting cookies from.
When you click on the button labeled "sites", you'll see the following screen:
You can enter websites and set them to be allowed or blocked.
To override automatic cookie handling, click the "advanced" button.
Because cookies can be invasive, removing them is a good idea. For example,
cookies store information about you ranging from your order numbers, account
numbers, browser window state, passwords, banking information and more. Someone
with access to your PC can easily extract this data. In addition, some cookies
are placed maliciously or with marketing purposes in mind to track your
activity.
One way to delete cookies is to use the Internet Options dialogue box in
Internet Explorer as long as you have Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. Open
Internet Explorer and choose Tools, Internet Options. Under the General tab
you'll see a section addressing temporary files or browser history depending on
the version you have installed.
If you see a section called Temporary Internet Files, click on the button
labeled Delete Cookies.
If you see a section called Browser History, click the Delete Button.
Once you click the Delete button, a new screen appears that will let you choose
what type of temporary internet file to delete.
Choose Delete Cookies. If you wish, you can delete other temporary files at this
time or click on the Delete All button to delete temporary internet files,
cookies, history, form data and passwords at once.
After deleting the cookies, you may find that some of your favorite websites no
longer have your preferred settings such as automatic login. This is the price
you pay for deleting all cookies; you delete the good ones with the bad ones.
Depending on the security settings your PC has, you may find your PC continues
collecting cookies as you browse the internet. You'll need to manually delete
cookies as a part of your regular PC maintenance.
In addition to the Internet Options method of deleting cookies, you can choose a
third party software program to automate the cleaning of cookies for you.
Programs such as ParetoLogic's Privacy Controls, WinClear, and Evidence
Eliminator can thoroughly clear your entire PC of cookies and other computerized
threats to your privacy. You can also schedule regular scans using programs such
as these so that you no longer need to manually delete your cookies.
History
Everything you do on the Internet is tracked and stored onto your computer's
hard drive. This information is often referred to as Web tracks. Web tracks
trace an individual's journey along the Internet and stores bits and pieces of
it here and there. The information is clearly visible to anyone who uses the
computer from several vantage points.
For instance, have you ever started to enter an address into the address bar of
your Web browser, only to see several similar URLs appear as options below the
one that you are typing? Similarly, have you ever clicked on the arrow to the
drop down menu of the address bar and seen all of the choices that are stored in
it?
Let's also consider e-mails. How many times have you begun to type in someone's
e-mail address and seen choices appear below it? Let's think about search
engines and the keyword searches that you implement on them. How many times do
other keyword searches pop back up to tease you when you begin a new search?
Now, let's talk about the Web pages that you visit when you are surfing the Web.
Did you know that information from each of these pages, including text,
pictures, videos, and images, are captured and stored onto your hard drive?
These stored pieces of information enable the Web pages to load more quickly,
thereby cutting back on the amount of time that you need to wait.
What about the Web pages that you visit where you fill out certain pieces of
information in order to continue using the Web site? What, you don't think that
you have done this? Well then, I guess that you have never gotten driving
directions online, shopped online, completed a survey, filed a request for a
free sample, played an online game, joined a blogging site, gambled online, or
signed up to join a new Web site?
Your Web tracks are known as cookies, address bar history, browser cache,
browser history, and auto-complete files. This information is clearly up for
grabs to anyone who circumvents the security of your computer with spyware.
Moreover, it is up for grabs to anyone who borrows your computer, even if it is
just to check his or her e-mail account.
Fortunately, products, or software applications, are available that will
completely remove the traces of your Internet activity, including Internet
cookies, visited URLs, Internet cache files, Internet history, temporary files,
form records, and auto-complete password records. Additionally, computer users
can manually remove their Web tracks by using one of the following sets of
removal steps, depending upon their Internet browser.
To remove Web history in Firefox:
1.
Open Firefox.
2.
Go to tools at the top.
3.
Select the "privacy" tab.
4.
Click the clear button next to history.
5.
Click OK.
To remove Web tracks and history in Internet Explorer:
1.
Open Internet Explorer.
2.
Go to tools at the top.
3.
Select the general tab in the Internet Options dialog box.
4.
Select "clear history."
5.
Click OK.
To remove Web history in Mozilla
1.
Open Mozilla.
2.
Go to Edit and open menu.
3.
Select preferences.
4.
Select navigator listed under the category title.
5.
Select "clear history" in the history listing.
6.
Click OK.
To remove Web history in Netscape:
1.
Open Netscape.
2.
Go to Edit and open menu.
3.
Select preferences.
4.
Select navigator listed under the category title.
5.
Select "clear history" in the history listing.
6.
Click OK.
To remove Web history in Opera:
1.
Open Opera.
2.
Go to Edit and open menu.
3.
Select preferences.
4.
Select navigator listed under the category title.
5.
Select "clear history" in the history listing.
6.
Click OK.
There are many applications that can be used to automatically clear your
browser's history. One useful application that cleans this and almost every
other major application's history is Privacy Controls. It has an update feature
which allows new applications that are released to be cleaned as well.
Support > How to clean
cookies and history
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