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General discussion

Storing Websites visited!

Nov 26, 2004 1:21AM PST

I have seen an ad offering software to remove all websites one has visited.These the ad says are stored forever on the computer.
Then an engineer told me that the computer Purges these websites every 20 days.
Is this fact? If so where are these Websites stored & how can I delete them.
Thanks,
Peter

Discussion is locked

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Re: Storing Websites visited!
Nov 26, 2004 5:57AM PST

Well for IE6 if you go to tools/int opts here you will see an item call days to keep pages in history.

I think the default setting is 20 days I have mine set to zero which I think gives me one day of history.

Now if your talking history index.dat that's a different animal.

I have yet to find an easy way with windows to get at that file ( I'm sure the DOS types can give some cryptic way to do that) so I use a product called EASYCLEANER, it's free, run it through GOOGLE.

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Re: Storing Websites visited!
Nov 26, 2004 10:53PM PST

Thanks for the reply Bob.
I cannot find any FREE EasyCleaner download.
Yes the download is free, however then there is a charge.
As a pensioner I cannot afford this.
Please assist.
Thanks......Peter.

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Re: Storing Websites visited!
Nov 26, 2004 11:18PM PST
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Re: Storing Websites visited!
Nov 27, 2004 5:36AM PST

Well, thank god for such an easy problem! Your temporary internet files are located at (assuming your USERNAME is DaveDodger, for example:

C:\Documents and settings\davedodger\local settings\temporary internet files\


However, to clean them out, it is very, very simple.

1. Open up an instance of internet explorer (I'm assuming that is the browser you use.)

On the menu bar at the top of the page, click on TOOLS, then click on INTERNET OPTIONS... from the drop-down menu. A dialogue box will open up, displaying the first tab, the General tab. It is divided into 3 sections with blue titles:

-Home Page
-Temporary Internet Files
-History


To clean out all your temporary internet files, in the second section, in the middle of the window, click "Delete Files...", then in the popup window, ckeck Delete Offline Files, and press ok. Once that is donw, if you want to erase your cookies, click Delete Cookies, and press ok. To change how long pages are stored in your history (they are stored for quick access in the future if you go back to them), in the 3rd section on the bottom, "History", you can change the number of days in the "Days to Keep Pages in History" option.


After everything is done, press ok.


To perform a full Windows cleaning, either:


1. Click Start, My Computer. When the My Computer window opens, right-click on the C drive and click properties, all the way at the bottom of the context menu. A window will pop up with a graphical display of your hard drive, and in the middle of the dialogue box, towards the right side, click "Disk Cleanup", and it will scan your drive. Then, make sure that every box is checked on the list of things to clean up, and press ok. It asks if you are sure, press ok.

You can also get to the cleanup utility through the control panel, or you can click: start, all programs, accessories, system tools, disk cleanup.


Hope this helped. I know it seemed like a lot of explaining for such a simple task, but I never know what skill level my audience is, so I try to explain in the most thorough and detailed way possible.

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As well as the other advice
Nov 27, 2004 12:01PM PST

If you're using IE 6 w/XP, you can have the cache emptied when you exit the browser. This does'nt remove everything but there will be no off line content available if you do this. It also doesn't get rid of cookies. If you need these gone, it's still done through Internet Options. There are utils that will do this but it's simple enought to do your own cleanup.