Friday, June 22, 2007

How to clear Google Search history

One of the main reason why some people would like to clear their Google search history from web browser and Google Toolbar is to maintain their privacy. If you own your own desktop or laptop which is used only by you, then it's fine. But if your computer is shared with a few people, sometimes it's just not nice to let them "accidentally" find out what you were looking for. An example below would be embarrassing.
Clear Google Search History

Here's how you can clear Google's search history from Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Toolbar for Firefox and Internet Explorer.

The below instruction A and B is for deleting search history from the Google home page search box. This is if you use either Firefox or Internet Explorer and manually type in Google.com address to perform the search.

A. Internet Explorer 7
1. Go to Tools menu
2. Select Options
3. On General tab, click on the "Delete..." button from the Browsing History area.
4. Click "Delete forms..." button from the Form data area.
Remove search history
5. Click Yes to confirm.

B. In Mozilla Firefox
1. Go to Tools menu
2. Select Options
3. Select the "Privacy" tab
4. On the Private Data area, click on the "Clear Now..." button.
5. Make sure the "Saved Form and Search History" is checked and click on the Clear Private Data Now.
Clear Visited Link

The below instruction C and D is if you have Google Toolbar installed on your Firefox or Internet Explorer browser.

C. Internet Explorer with Google Toolbar
1. Click on the Google logo on the Toolbar to access the drop-down menu.
2. Select the "Clear History" option.
Clear Internet Explorer Google Toolbar Search History

C. Firefox with Google Toolbar
1. Click on the Google logo on the Toolbar.
2. Select "Clear Search History" option.
Clear Firefox Google Toolbar Search History

As you can see, clearing search history from Google Toolbar on Internet Explorer and Firefox is slightly a bit different. Not sure why they made it that way... Although it seems easy to clear Google search history, I did not immediately knew where to clear Google search history in Firefox Google Toolbar. I was searching through the options and the drop-down but I missed clicking the Google logo where the "Clear Search History" option is.

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