Click Manage your data to visit a page on your Microsoft account (Opens in a new window) where you can delete that synced browser activity history. Like Google, Microsoft is keeping some of your history online. Toggle the switch for Browser History to delete it every time.
#Clear cookies and cache mac how to#
Here's how to remove the history.īack up a step into Settings and you'll see a link that says Choose what to clear every time you close the browser. It may make your web travels a little less convenient, but that's the price of security. Or perhaps the smartest move of all: make sure it is never even stored. What can you do to keep your past visits hidden? Delete them. Let's assume you're not a criminal and just want a little digital privacy. The caveat: the individual in question (Opens in a new window) also did a lot of other stupid things. (In the end, he prevailed.) In the US, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Opens in a new window) is intended to prevent evidence deletion by corporations, yet it's been applied to at least one individual. But consider that in 2016 an employee was accused in a Canadian court of destroying evidence (Opens in a new window) after he cleared the browser history of his own personal laptop. Think that's fear-mongering? Hopefully it is, for 99% of us. These days, simply visiting can be impetus enough for outrage, blackmail, or whatever you fear most in reprisal. It doesn't even matter if you never stopped to look at the site's contents. The reality is, it can be used against you by significant others, friends, coworkers, teachers, even the authorities. It doesn't matter if you're encrypting your emails, using Tor and VPNs while browsing to stay anonymous, or if you wear a false moustache at your desk: if someone has access to your devices, they can see where you've been.Ī browser will hold your history indefinitely in the event you need to find your way back to a perhaps-forgotten corner of the internet you visited once upon a time.
#Clear cookies and cache mac Pc#
Think of the romantic "comedies" where a guy (it's always a guy) finds himself in hot water after his girlfriend looks at his browser history.įor most of us, sharing a PC is normal (sadly, setting up multiple user accounts is not) and handing off a smartphone to someone isn't unheard of. And it can lead to trouble it's practically a cliché. The browser history-a list of every page you've visited online and the time you were there-is a standard of modern computing.