Web history safety
Emergency close window button/link
If youโre worried about someone discovering youโve been visiting websites about domestic abuse, you may need to take steps to increase your safety when visiting a web page.
If you donโt use a password to log on to your computer, someone else will be able to access your emails and see your internet usage. However it may be safer to use a computer at a friendโs house, at work or at a local library.
Private browsing
All leading web browsers (for example Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge) have a โprivate browsingโ mode. Once enabled, it wonโt store your computer activity in that browsing window. It wonโt stop online services from seeing what youโre doing, but it wonโt show on your history. This is always a useful first step to take.
Google Chrome
Click the three dot icon top right and select โNew Incognito Windowโ
Microsoft Edge
Click the three dot icon top right and select โNew InPrivate windowโ
Firefox
Click the menu button top right and select โNew Private Windowโ
Similar options can be found in Opera and Safari.
Deleting your internet history
Web browsers also keep a record of all the web pages you visit. This is known as a โhistoryโ.
This is how you delete your internet history for the leading web browsers.
Google Chrome
- At the top right, click More.
- Click History.
- On the left, click Clear browsing data.
- Select how much history you want to delete. To clear everything, select All time.
- Tick the boxes for the information that you want to clear, including Browsing history.
- Click Clear data.
Microsoft Edge
- Select Settings and more > Settings > Privacy, search, and services.
- Under Clear browsing data, select Choose what to clear.
- Select a time range from the Time range list.
- Select the Browsing history check box and select Clear now.
Firefox
- Click the menu button. to open the menu panel.
- Click History and select Clear Recent History
- Select how much history you want to clear:
- Click the Clear Now button.
Toolbars
Toolbars such as Google, AOL and Yahoo keep a record of the search words youโve typed into the toolbar search box. To erase all the search words youโve used, youโll need to check the instructions for each type of toolbar. For example, for Google, you click on the Google icon and choose โClear Search Historyโ.
Phone history
Each phoneโs operating system, or the app youโre using, will be accessed in different ways. To find the right settings for your phone, youโll need to search for your phone online and ways to clear the history or how to carry out private browsing.