How to Delete All Browsing and Download History on Internet Explorer 8

Deleting browsing history on Internet Explorer 8 can be done in several ways. Some of the procedures outlined below will allow you to delete all data and others will allow you delete only particular histories. All these procedures have their advantages.

To Delete Entire Browsing History

This procedure will allow you to delete all your browsing data including websites visited, download history, saved passwords, cookies and more.

- Open the browser window and click on Safety in the top right hand area. Select Delete Browsing History from the dialog box that appears. This action opens a smaller window where you can choose which records to delete. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + Shift + Del to display this window.

- In the new window, check the boxes beside the data you would like to delete. There is an exception to this; checking the box beside the first option allows Internet Explorer 8 to keep cookies and temporary internet files for your bookmarked sites. Uncheck this box if you intend to delete your entire browsing history.

- The records you can delete here include the list of websites visited, cookies, temporary internet files, saved form data, saved passwords and InPrivate Filtering data (InPrivate Filtering is explained at the end of this article).

To Automatically Delete All History

- Look for Tools in the top right hand region of your browser and click on it. Select Internet Options from the dialog box that appears. This will open smaller window.

- In this new window, look under the "General" tab for Browsing history and check the box beside "Delete browsing history on exit". Click OK to save.

- This will allow you to clear any browsing records from your computer as soon as you close your browser.

To Delete Only Websites Visited

This procedure will allow you to select the particular website or websites you would like to delete.

- In the browser window, press Ctrl + H to display a list of the websites you have visited. You can sort this list according to date, site or most visited. You may also search through the history to find the particular record you want to delete.

- Right-click on any particular website or website grouping and select Delete to clear that record.

To Prevent Browsing History from Being Stored

- Internet Explorer 8 has a feature called InPrivate Browsing. When you surf the internet using this feature, every record of your browsing is deleted as soon as you close the window.

- To open an InPrivate Browsing window, click on Safety in your browser and select InPrivate Browsing from the dialog box. This opens a new Internet Explorer window. You can also simply press Ctrl + Shift + P to do this.

- You can tell that you are using the InPrivate mode from the "InPrivate" indicators at the top of the browser window and in the address bar.

- Bookmarks and feeds you create, downloaded files or any settings you change are not deleted when you close the window.

Note:

On Internet Explorer 8, there is no way to delete a particular download history like on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

InPrivate Filtering is a feature on IE8 that allows you to see the content providers (such as advertisers) that may track your internet usage across different websites. Thus, deleting InPrivate Filtering data when you clear your history clears this information. To see this data, click on Safety and choose InPrivate Filtering Settings. In the small window that opens, you can select the providers you want to allow or block. To turn InPrivate Filtering on or off, click on Safety and select InPrivate Filtering; a check mark beside this option shows that it is turned on. You can also do this by pressing Ctrl + Shift + F.

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