Online privacy
The best advice is to use a library, a community centre or a friends computer.
No warranty
This advice comes without a warranty of any kind. The best way to hide browsing history is to use a computer which is inaccessible to who you're trying to hide from. Details here are correct as of July 2009
Hiding your surfing history
It is nearly impossible to hide your web surfing history from someone who really wants to find out where you've been surfing to. That said, most users will be able to take basic action to prevent others from casually observing their browsing history.
The most recent web browsers have private browsing modes that once engaged will hide all browsing until they are switched off - these include IE8's InPrivate, Safari 3's Private Browsing, Google Chrome's Incognito browsing and Firefox 3.5's Privacy Mode.
Even the new private browsing modes leak information about your browsing history in at least two ways known to us - the technical details go beyond the boundaries of this document.
Your ISP (the people you pay for internet access) or local network manager (at work) has additional access and can record your browsing history whether you use a private browsing mode or not - deleting your local history will have no effect on their records.
What is a browser
It's a computer program that you use to see the internet, the most widely used browser is Internet Explorer. You can find which browser you're using by clicking the "Help" option on the menubar. It will then list an option such as "About Internet Explorer" or "About Mozilla Firefox"; click this option and it will bring up a pop-up box with the version of your browser and some other information listed. You could also try this browser information page.
Which browsers?
You appear to be using .
ua:ccbot/1.0 (+http://www.commoncrawl.org/bot.html)
- Microsoft Internet Explorer, IE8
- Earlier Microsoft browsers, IE7, IE6
- Mozilla Firefox, 3.5
- Earlier Mozilla browsers, Firefox 3.X, Firefox 2
- Opera's browser Opera 9
- Apple Safari 4
- Earlier Apple browsers Safari 2, 3
- General notes on other browsers, mobile phones, etc..
How to hide or delete surf history
Current browsers
Delete or hide your surfing history. Remember that clearing your history completely can also show that you are trying to hide something.
Opera 9
Note that Opera 10 is due out at the time of writing and does not have a private browsing mode so these instructions are the best for that browser too.
Click "Tools" in the menu bar at the top and select "Delete private data".
Ensure all the checkboxes are checked, then click the "Delete" button at the bottom of the dialog box.
Firefox 3.5
Click "Tools" in the menu bar at the top and select "Start Private Browsing" (Ctrl+Shift+P).
This will open a new window for you to surf in. Only surfing in this new window is hidden; closing the window ends the private browsing session as does "Tools > Stop Private Broswing (Ctrl+Shift+P)". More information about private browsing from Mozilla.
Internet Explorer 8
Click "Safety" in the menu bar at the top and select "InPrivate Browsing" (Ctrl+Shift+P).
This will open a new window for you to surf in. Only surfing in this new window is hidden; closing the window ends the InPrivate browsing session.
Older browsers - What you can do
You can tell your browser to remove all the files that it has created with information about your surfing. The problem with this is that it will delete everything. This will be apparent to a regular internet surfer. In particular this process will delete passwords for sites you use and will also remove the auto-completion information from the address bar.
How to do it?
This advice only covers the most recent browsers (as of May 2007). Older browsers, particularly on a Windows based computer, can hide browsing history away in all sorts of places. We recommend the use of Opera 9+, Safari 3+ (on OS X), Konqueror 3.5, Firefox 3.5+ or Internet Explorer 8+.
Internet Explorer 7 (IE7)
Click "Tools" and select "Delete browsing history".
Click "Delete All" (at bottom of dialog box).
IE6
Previous versions of Internet Explorer require expert attention is browsing history is to be removed properly. Their is a dialog for removing some information, but it is not very good:
Firefox 3.1, 2 and earlier
Click "Tools" and select "Clear private data".
Ensure all the checkboxes are checked, then click the "Clear Private Data Now" button at the bottom of the dialog box.
Toolbars and addons
Toolbars and addons may save "history" information too
Their are many additional widgets that can be used as part of your browser: such as the Google toolbar and Yahoo toolbar. These will often keep information about your browsing history and/or searches you have made. Follow the links in this paragraph to find out more information about these toolbars.
Other sources of information about online privacy
- From the UK Womens Aid website: The Survivor's Handbook > Keeping yourself safe
- From the Welsh Womens Aid website: Cover your tracks
Information on this page corresponds closely to the advice given at these sites.
