Internet History

If you are getting ready to get rid of your computer, and you want to make sure everything is off of it, then the best thing to do is to fdisk and format. You can rest pretty easy that would do the trick. As far as the programs that "clean" windows, I have seen some that do a pretty good job, and others that don't. I think some of them just get rid of TSR programs, temp files, etc. If you are going to use one of those programs...it's like anything eles, ask around and see which ones work for other people. Or check out any tech mag and see which ones are rated. Hope this answered your question a little bit.

Do this to delete your internet history.

Internet Explorer
Go to Tools---Internet Options--Click Clear History

To delete all of the cookies and temporary internet files Go to Tools--Internet Options--Then go to the Advanced Tab and scroll down to The Security area and Put a check mark in the box next to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed. Now everytime that you close Internet Explorer your temporary internet files will be deleted. However, your history will remain intact so, you will need to repeat step one.

Also, you can install a program called TweakUI from microsoft that will clear you documents history, run history and find files history all at the click of a button. Also, you can select to have this done automatically when you or someone else logs on to the computer.
TweakUI can be downloaded from
http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/PowerToys/Networking/NTTweakUI.asp
It is free and should download in less than one minute using a 56k modem.

A word to the wise: although you have erased you Internet history and all of the files that were downloaded if you are concerned about someone knowing which web sites you have visited and you are accessing the internet from work, your internet activity is being recorded by software that you Information Systems Dept uses and you can not erase that.

The second suggestion is quite good. One thing to add but with much caution. I have never done this but my dad has on WinNT 4.0 workstation (He didn't delete any files that Win wouldn't let him delete). Delete the entire contents of the Temporary Internet Files, but not the folder itself. There may be (as mentioned above) some files you can't delete. If you need to know where the folder is, in IE go to Tools|InternetOptions and it will tell you there. Another warning, this will remove any cookies on your computer I think you know what that entails. About 3rd party programs I don't know how well they work I've never tried them.

Apart from the "Clear History" and "Delete All off-line Content" options mentioned by others, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) offered a link to www.cookiesweeper.com which I have found very useful.

CookieSweeper identifies those cookies that contain items such as your IP address, passwords etc, plus the name of the web site that left the cokie on your machine. I regularly sweep my machine to get rid of these annoying little files from web sites I have visited just once, while leaving those from web sites that I use frequently. I'm sure I'm also getting less junk mail as a result of regular cookie sweeping.

I use a program called system mechanic. It has an internet feature where it clears all internet details. It erases all your program history. ie "start>run" "start>find" etc.. it also deletes all cookies and internet history files, recently typed URL's, right through to windows media player history... it does this all in the one go.. and you can select what you want erased! look at www.iolo.com (although mine was acquired by other means!! ;) ) good luck

you can do all the above answers & they work good including FDISK,but none totally remove programs e'mail & so on.Norton & Mcafee both have programs.
Evidence Eliminator however is the one I use & it works great.
EE once setup will eliminate deleted e'mail IE history & cache,cookies the windows swap file the items you thought you deleted when you emptied the recycle bin the list goes on.
EE writes 0s & 1s repeating up to 9 times on the items you set it up to remove making the items impossible to read.Once it's done that it will do the same to your entire hard drive surface including unused & previously used space such as uninstalled programs deleted pics & so on.
It can even remove the parts of files left behind underneath directory structures that can be viewed using electron microscope.
There is no manual method to do this,unless you use a program such as Evidence Eliminator everything can be seen with the right tools.

you can do all the above answers & they work good including FDISK,but none totally remove programs e'mail & so on.Norton & Mcafee both have programs.
Evidence Eliminator however is the one I use & it works great.
EE once setup will eliminate deleted e'mail IE history & cache,cookies the windows swap file the items you thought you deleted when you emptied the recycle bin the list goes on.
EE writes 0s & 1s repeating up to 9 times on the items you set it up to remove making the items impossible to read.Once it's done that it will do the same to your entire hard drive surface including unused & previously used space such as uninstalled programs deleted pics & so on.
It can even remove the parts of files left behind underneath directory structures that can be viewed using electron microscope.
There is no manual method to do this,unless you use a program such as Evidence Eliminator everything can be seen with the right tools.

access the following folders and delete all files and folders within them.

C:\windows\temporary internet files
c:\windows\cookies
c:\windows\history

this deletes all the cookies (information others put on your system), your internet history,and the temporary internet files. and about security, make sure high security is enabled in the internet options.

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