How to Clear Your Browsing History

Why Should You Clear Your Browsing History?

When you surf the internet, your browser holds on to all that information. This can be useful if you’re trying to get back to a page you visited earlier in the day, remember log in credentials, or shop online with a saved credit card. However, all the information generated by your browsing history can slow down your browser over time. Periodically clearing your browser history can improve the speed of your browser.

Another reason to erase your browser’s history is if you’ve recently changed some login credentials. Many people choose to have their browsers save their passwords for them, refreshing your history will save you the hassle of not being able to log in to things with your new passwords.

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Should your computer ever become targeted by a hacker or infected with malware, your browser’s history can act as a map to your personal and financial information. By regularly clearing your browser, you can protect yourself and your sensitive information.

Learn how simple it can be to wipe your browser’s slate clean, whether you want to erase all existing information or just a few days’ worth.

How to Delete your Browser History on Microsoft Edge

If Microsoft Edge is your internet browser of choice, you’ll be pleased to learn that the steps for erasing your browser history are incredibly simple:

1. Click the three dots in the browser’s upper right-hand corner.
2. This will bring up a drop-down menu. Scroll to the bottom and select “Settings.”
3. Within the Settings menu, choose “Privacy, search, and services.”
4. Scroll down until you reach “Clear Browsing Data.” From here you can choose whether to clear any chosen data immediately or set your browser to clear information every time you close the browser.
5. Click “Choose what to clear” if you’d like to clear all existing data, or your history from within a specific time frame. You can choose a time range that suits your needs and decide what kind of information you’d like to delete.
6. You can choose to have the Microsoft Edge delete some information like your search history and cookies but keep other information like saved passwords and data used to autofill forms. It’s entirely up to you.
7. Once you’ve made your decision, click the blue “Clear now” button.

If you’d prefer to set up your browser to never save any sensitive information, like passwords, browsing or search history, you might want to tell Edge to clear browsing information upon close. You’ll still be able to choose what kind of information, if any, is saved, but this allows you to save yourself the trouble of constantly clearing your search history.

Once you have your settings in Microsoft Edge dialed in, there’s a simpler method for deleting individual websites from your browser’s history. Click the three dots in the upper right and then select “History” from the dropdown menu. This same information can be accessed by pressing Ctrl+H. A separate dropdown will appear of all saved browser history. You can view tabs and pages that were recently closed, as well as tabs that are open on other devices that use your Microsoft login. You can delete whole days of browser history as well as individual pages. Once you choose to delete a page or a date’s pages, a pop-up will ask you to confirm this action. When you click the blue button to confirm, the website will be removed from your browser history.

The Basics of Clearing your Search History on Other Browsers

Each browser is different, but they all offer the option for you to delete your search history. Additionally, you can typically customize what kind of information you want to delete, and how far back in history you’d like to go.

Locating your search history is typically nested within a main menu, usually within “Settings” or “Privacy.” Once you’ve located these options, telling a browser to erase your search history is usually straightforward.

While it may be easier to let your browser save information like logins, passwords, credit card numbers and addresses, this can be hugely detrimental if your computer is ever infected with malware. Get into the practice of securing your personal information by adjusting the settings on your browser, using a VPN , and erasing your browsing history.