Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

Folks, we've all(or most of us) gone to some website(s) that we don't particularly want others on our computer knowing we visit.

Can anyone give me some methods of completely deleting what you do on the internet?

I delete my Cookies in my Identity on XP, as well as History and Temporary Internet Files, but can't seem to delete the sites I've visited on the main address bar for Internet Explorer. Can anyone help?

Also, I've been told in the past my a .. let's just say "Techy" or "Geek" that all files deleted on the computer are not really deleted but "shove to the side".. I have no clue about this and wanted to know if anyone else knew about this ..

...

And yes, I sparingly visit adult websites ..

There I said it.

I've never been an expert on this, but what I believe happens with deleted files is this: the allocation table is simply changed to say there's empty space where your file was, that can be freely overwritten. What tends to happen is that it isn't overwritten immediately, and so the actual data that was there remains until it does get overwritten.

You can really only sort that out with a format, as far as I know, and possibly only a low level one. A quickformat certainly won't do it.

In terms of covering your tracks online, I'll beat a dead horse and offer up Mozilla Firebird again. In its options window, there's a Privacy button with big, bold "Clear" buttons for all the data it stores on where you've been, and options not to store most of them in the first place (though the formfill one doesn't work properly yet; you can still always clear it fine, though).

In terms of IE, the way its URL bar stores things has always seemed mysterious and erratic to me. You might like to try Microsoft's free TweakUI (I don't know where it is these days - just search) which, if I remember correctly, has options to clear URL bar history.

For me, in Internet Explorer, In Tools --> Internet Options --> clear history
that usually gets rid of the URL list. Sometimes you have to open up your history and manually rightclick delete all items. As for what Tiddles was saying, very few people are actually able to check that stuff. Unless your sharing your computer with a hacker...

--------------------

Shhhh! I'm trying to hear the voices!

Right-click the icon on your desktop, go to properties.
Towards the bottom of the "General" tab is how long history is to be recorded, and a Clear History button. Hit Clear History, and the URLs won't be saved anymore.
Deleting your history files won't get rid of the URLs.

--------------------

"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

Quote (Elapidae @ 18th November 2003 08:03)

For me, in Internet Explorer, In Tools --> Internet Options --> clear history
that usually gets rid of the URL list. Sometimes you have to open up your history and manually rightclick delete all items. As for what Tiddles was saying, very few people are actually able to check that stuff. Unless your sharing your computer with a hacker...

I think that anyone with admin rights on the PC can see your history, in XP or 2K. I'm sitting on a 2K box at work with admin rights, and I can view the history .dat files of anyone who has used this computer, including a couple people in the IT department.

--------------------

"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?