Clear Internet Search History

Do embarrassing things pop up every time you go to type something in a search engine? Google and Bing store your searches to speed up their results for you, and browsers will store what you type in fields as well as your browsing history. All of this put together can lead to some nasty surprises when family and friends are around. Avoid any red-faced moments by deleting your search history before it's too late.

Steps

Clearing Google Search History

  1. Open the Google History page. This search history is linked with your Google account. You can see your search history by visiting history.google.com.
    • You will be asked to enter your Google account password again, even if you are already logged in.
  2. Delete individual entries. When you first visit your History page, you will see a list of your searches for the last few days. Click the check box next to each entry you want to remove, and then click the "Remove items" button. The searches will be disassociated from your Google account.
  3. Delete your entire search history. If you want to remove your entire search history, click the Gear icon in the upper-right corner of the History page. Select Settings from the menu. Click the "delete all" link in the paragraph of text. You will be asked if you are sure you want to delete everything.
    • Google recommends against deleting your entire history as it uses past searches to tailor what is shown to you.
  4. Turn off Web History. You can disable search storage by clicking the "Turn off" button in your Settings. This will prevent Google from associating searches with your Google account. This will impact the effectiveness of Google Now and other Google products.[1]

Clearing Bing Search History

  1. Open the Bing home page. Make sure that you are logged in with your Microsoft account. You can log in by clicking the "Sign in" link in the upper-right corner.
  2. Click the "Search History" button. This is located in the top menu bar of the Bing home page.
  3. Delete individual items. Your recent searches will appear in the main section of your History page. Hover over the entries you want to remove and click the "X" to delete them.
  4. Delete you entire search history. To clear your entire search history, click the "Clear all" button to the right of your recent searches. You will be asked to confirm that you want to remove the entire history.
  5. Turn off search history. If you don't want any of your searches being associated with your Microsoft account, click the "Turn off" button to the right of your recent searches. Your future searches will not be associated with your account until you turn it back on.[2]

Clearing Your Browsers

  1. Clear your AutoComplete. Internet Explorer saves your previous searches and form entries to provide suggestion when you start typing new ones. This is saved separately from your search history, so make sure to clear this too. See Disable-Autocomplete-in-Internet-Explorer for instructions.
  2. Delete your browsing history. Your browsing history and your search history are two different things. Your browsing history is a record of all the websites that you have visited. This record is stored locally on your computer and can be easily deleted. See this guide for instruction.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/465?hl=en
  2. ↑ http://en.kioskea.net/faq/29658-bing-com-clear-your-search-history
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