How to Clear Your Internet History

If you don’t regularly clear your browsing history (and Google search history), you can end up inadvertently sharing your private information. Thankfully, clearing your internet history is very easy.

Here are the simple steps for clearing your internet history on most computers.

• On a Windows computer: Press Ctrl-Shift-Delete. This should bring up your browser settings for “Clear browsing data.” Select all of the options you want (cookies, site data, browser history, etc.) and then hit “Clear Data” or “Accept.”
• On a Mac computer: Hit Command-Shift-Delete to open the settings for clearing cache and browsing data. Select the time range and type of data you want to delete and then hit “Ok.”

If these simple steps don’t work to delete your internet history, follow the browser-specific instructions below. We’ll also talk about how to clear search history on Google and on your smartphone.

To erase your search history on your internet browser, you’ll need to access the settings. Here are the instructions for doing this on Mac and Windows computers.

To clear your cache and browsing history in Chrome, click on the three dots (options) in the upper right hand corner of your browser window.

1. Select History and then click on the option that says History again.
2. Select the option that says Clear Browsing Data on the left hand side of the screen.
3. Select the time range you want to clear (anywhere from 1 hour to all time).
4. Select the data you want to clear (browsing, cache, site data, cookies).
5. Hit the Clear Data button.

To delete your browsing history and cache in Firefox, just follow these steps.

1. Select the Tools bar (the three bars in the top right of your browser window).
2. Select the History option.
3. Click on Clear Recent History.
4. Select the time range of data that you want to delete.
5. Choose what kind of data you want to delete (Cookies, Cache, Active Logins, Site settings, or Offline website data).
6. Click OK to finish clearing the data.

Those with Apple computers who use Safari can clear their browsing history and cache by following these steps.

1. Click the Safari menu in your browser.
2. Choose History.
3. Select Clear History and then click on the pop-up menu.
4. Choose the time range of the data that you want to clear.
5. Select Clear History.

Clearing your cache and browsing history in Microsoft Edge takes just a few seconds if you follow these steps.

1. Select Settings (the three dots in the upper right hand of the browser window).
2. Choose the Privacy, search, and services option.
3. Select Clear browsing data and then click on Clear browsing data now.
4. Choose the time period of data that you want to clear.
5. Choose the type of data that you want to clear from your computer.
6. Click on Clear now.

To clear your internet browsing history and your cache on a phone, you’ll need to go into the settings and find the browser app that you use. In the settings for the browser, there should be an option to “Clear History and Website Data” or “Clear Cache.”

Select the option and follow the instructions to delete the data.

Your Google search history isn’t only saved on your browser. It can also be saved in your Google account if you have Google Web & App Activity turned on in your settings.

You can easily delete any particular activity or your entire search history from your Google account by following these steps:

• On a computer: Type https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity into your web browser and sign in, if you aren’t already. Select the search history that you want to erase and then click “Delete.”
• On an Android device: Open the Google app. Click on your profile picture at the top right and choose the search history you want to delete. Tap “Delete.”
• On an iPHone or iPad: Open the Google app. Click on your profile picture at the top right and choose the search history you want to delete. Tap “Delete.”

You can permanently change the type of data that Google saves in your account settings. From the “My Activity” page, just select your preferences using the three boxes at the top (labeled Web & App Activity, Location History, and YouTube History).