If there is one question that is asked a lot, it is… How do I delete my internet browser history? Everyone wants to remove or clear their search history as they go around the internet. I understand this and will show you how to remove it from your computer.
Why do you have an internet browsing history?
As you navigate around the internet a record of your browsing activity is stored on your computers’ hard drive. This happens to speed up your browsing experience and maintain an archive of the places you have visited.
How does it speed up my experience?
Each time you visit a webpage via a web browser such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, a cached copy of the website is stored.
For example, on this website, you will notice the logo, sidebar, top menu, and footer all remain the same on each page. If you had to download each of these items every time you visited or moved between pages. It would take longer than retrieving them from the cached copy stored on your computer. Instead only the content that changes are downloaded which makes loading times much faster.
Why are we all obsessed with deleting our browser history?
Deleting your browser history or clearing the cache will free up some space on your computer and remove the auto-suggestion list of places you have previously visited. But this is secondary to the main reason we are obsessed with deleting our search history and that is privacy.
Deleting my activity on different web browsers
Most of us just use one web browser but below I have provided instructions on how to remove your search history from Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge web browsers. If you use more than one browser you will need to delete on each. Also, note that some browsers allow you to delete browsing history at set intervals or even remove your search results each time you close the browser.
Google Chrome
- Open Chrome.
- In the top right corner, there are three vertical dots as shown below.
- Click the three dots
- A drop-down menu will appear as shown below. Click History and then click History again.
- A new window will open as shown below.
- Option one: Click the three dots near each item to individually remove pages
- Option two: Click Clear browsing data to remove everything.
- A new window will open, Tick the box next to Browsing history and Press the blue button at the bottom marked Clear Data.
- Close.
Microsoft Edge
- Open Microsoft Edge
- In the top right corner, there are three horizontal dots as shown below.
- Click the three dots
- A drop-down menu will appear as shown below.
- Click Settings as shown above.
- A new menu will open. Locate the Clear browsing data section. You might need to scroll down.
- Click Choose what to clear. As shown below.
- A new menu will open. Tick the box marked Browsing history and then press the button marked Clear. As shown below.
- Close.
Special Tip
If you press CTRL and H together, the history settings will open in Microsoft Edge.
Wait.. before you go, please leave us a comment.
I hope this guide on how to delete your browser history is helpful. If you would like me to include instructions on how to remove your browser history in other web browsers, please let us know. You may also like to read our guide to internet cookies by clicking here.
I spend lots of time putting these guides together and really appreciate any feedback in the comments below
