Delete Browsing History

We’ve all viewed a website or two that we’d prefer to keep hidden from prying eyes. Whether you’ve been browsing sports highlights at work, shopping for holiday gifts, or viewing websites that might raise some eyebrows, it’s good to know how to clear your history and cover your tracks. Follow this guide to erase your history using any major browser, as well as your mobile device.

Steps

Chrome

  1. Click the Chrome menu. This is located in the top-right corner of the window, and looks like three horizontal bars.
  2. Click History. This will open a new tab in your Chrome window displaying your browsing history. You can also press Ctrl+H to open the History tab without using the menu.
  3. Click “Clear browsing data”. This will open a new window in the History tab with several options. If you just want to clear your browsing history, make sure that it is the only box checked.[1]
    • You can use the dropdown menu at the top to set the time range for the history you want to delete. If you want to delete all of your browser history, select “the beginning of time”.
    • You can go directly to the "Clear browsing data" window by pressing Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Del.
  4. Click the “Clear browsing data” button once you have selected what you want deleted. Your selection will be removed.
  5. Run an Incognito window the next time you want to browse privately. If you know you are going to be doing something online that you don’t want to leave a record of, browse with an Incognito window to prevent Chrome from logging your browsing history for that session. To start an Incognito window, press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+N, or select “New incognito window” from the Chrome menu.
  6. Delete Chrome history on your mobile device. To delete your mobile browsing history, open Chrome on your mobile device. On Android Devices, press your menu button. On iOS devices, tap the Chrome menu button at the top of the browser.
    • Select History from the menu that appears.
    • At the bottom of the History screen, tap the “Clear Browsing Data” button.
    • Choose which data you would like to erase.

Firefox

  1. Click the Firefox menu. This is located in the upper-left corner of the Firefox window.
  2. Hover your cursor over History. In the menu that appears, select “Clear Recent History…”.[2]
    • Pressing Ctrl+H will open your browsing history in a sidebar.
    • Pressing Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Del will open the "Clear Recent History" window.
  3. Select what you want to delete. Use the dropdown menu to select the time range for what you want deleted. Click the Details button to check that “Browsing & Download History” is checked.
  4. Click the “Clear Now” button to delete your selection. You will be returned to the Firefox window once the deletion is complete.
  5. Run a Private Window the next time you want to browse privately. If you know you are going to be doing something online that you don’t want to leave a record of, browse with a Private Window to prevent Firefox from logging your browsing history for that session. To start a Private Window, select “New Private Window” from the Firefox menu.
    • You can also open a Private Window by pressing Ctrl+⇧ Shift+P

Internet Explorer

  1. Click the Tools button. This is located in the upper-right corner of your Internet Explorer window and looks like a gear.
  2. Hover your cursor over Safety, and then click “Delete browsing history”. This will open the Clear Browsing Data window.
    • If your version of Internet Explorer does not have a Tools button, press Alt and click the Tools menu. Then select “Delete browsing history”.
  3. Check the History box. Ensure that the History box is checked before clicking the Delete button. You can also choose to erase other browsing data, such as cookies and autofill information.
  4. Click the Delete button. Once you have made your selections, click the Delete button to remove your browser history.[3]
    • You can open your browsing history in a sidebar by pressing Ctrl+H
  5. Run an InPrivate window the next time you want to browse privately. If you know you are going to be doing something online that you don’t want to leave a record of, browse with an InPrivate window to prevent Internet Explorer from logging your browsing history for that session. To start an InPrivate window, press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+P or select “InPrivate Browsing” from the Safety section of the Tools menu.

Safari

  1. Click the History menu. Click “Clear History” at the bottom of the menu. A box will open asking you to confirm if you want to clear your history, and what dates you want to delete.
  2. Open the History menu to delete specific entries. If you’d rather delete specific history entries, click the History menu and select Show All History. From here, you can select individual entries and delete them as you see fit.
  3. Start a Private Browsing session the next time you want to browse privately. If you know you are going to be doing something online that you don’t want to leave a record of, browse with a Private Browsing window to prevent Safari from logging your browsing history for that session. To start a Private Browsing session, click the Safari menu or the gear icon and select “Private Browsing”.[4]
  4. Delete Safari history on an iPad. To delete your iPad browsing history, open the Settings from the Home screen. Select Safari from the left navigation menu and then tap Clear History. You will be asked for confirmation before the entries are deleted.

Opera

  1. Click the Opera menu. This is located in the upper-right corner of the window. Select “Delete Private Data”.
  2. Choose what you want to delete. If you want to delete your history, make sure that “Clear history of visited pages” is checked.
  3. Open a Private Tab the next time you want to browse privately. If you know you are going to be doing something online that you don’t want to leave a record of, browse with a Private tab to prevent Opera from logging your browsing history for that session. To start a Private Tab, right-click on the tab bar and select “New Private Tab”.[5]

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95537?hl=en
  2. ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/remove-recent-browsing-search-and-download-history
  3. ↑ http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/how-to-delete-your-browsing-history-in-internet-explorer-9
  4. ↑ http://www.macworld.com/article/1159539/deletewebhistory.html
  5. ↑ http://help.opera.com/Windows/12.10/en/private.html
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