[thadeus_d3]

Hi All,

I am looking for a way to completely DISABLE the history button and history in IE 6. I have a nosey wife who doesn't approve of my daily surfing habits (no, not porn). Is there a way to completely disable the history by editing the registry? If not, does anyone know a way to automatically clear the history when IE 6 is closed out?

Thanks,
Thad

Edited by thadeus_d3, 09 February 2007 - 10:09 AM.

[Advertisements]

Hi Thad.

Why not use something like portable Opera?

It is nice if you don't want your tracks traced. I run some checks on it and it is the best of the portables I've tested. It leaves only two registry entries and no files or an index.dat as trace.

Or you could just go to tools /internet option. There on the General tab click on clear history. Then set the time to keep history to "0".

[silverbeard]

Hi Thad.

Why not use something like portable Opera?

It is nice if you don't want your tracks traced. I run some checks on it and it is the best of the portables I've tested. It leaves only two registry entries and no files or an index.dat as trace.

Or you could just go to tools /internet option. There on the General tab click on clear history. Then set the time to keep history to "0".

[thadeus_d3]

That would work, but I have a couple registry edits that are tied to IE for the application that I'm use (MIRC). Mirc uses IE as the default browser and I doubt that the registry changes would be reflected in Opera. Personally, I hate every browser except Firefox and Avant, but need IE for mirc.

[silverbeard]

There is a Portable Firefox but the very nature of Firefox leaves files(including history) and registry entries when you use it. I was involved in a discussion about not leaving a surfing trace on a pc and Portable Opera was the best of the portables at leaving the least behind. What it does leave only tells that someone used it and only if you know how to look for the evidence.

The problem with the IE based ones is even the best leave the index.dat in place and I didn't find one that would overwrite the files they delete.

note: the index.dat in IE6 is used much like a DNS cache and can be read with notepad thought it looks a lot like gibberish except for the urls and there is an index.dat viewer that make the cached URLs quite plain. the cached URLs are are a history of the pages you've visited. It's hard to get rid of except at start up.

[thadeus_d3]

Ok, thanks for that explanation. I have been searching for a way to do this for months now. I'm hoping to stumble upon an application that will just clear the history upon the exiting of IE....since I cannot alter the index file, that would be ideal.

[Major Payne]

Go to Tools/Internet Options/Advanced tab and scroll down to "Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder when browser is closed". Check the box. That may work. Nope. Tried several things and none worked except through the Internet Options Delete History Button.

This was only thing I found at Microsoft:

Tip: You can delete any Web site or page from the History list. Right-click a Web site folder or Web page, and click Delete.

A cautionary note: If you delete a Web site folder, Internet Explorer 6 deletes the folders and all the links to all the pages stored in that folder.

Possibly Windows "Power Toy" may have a way to tweak this.

Ron

Edited by Major Payne, 09 February 2007 - 11:00 PM.

[silverbeard]

The problem with IE6 and before is that they were designed at a time when the thought of personal privacy hadn't occurred to the general public. It took Microsoft almost four years after Mozilla included a pop up blocker to do the same. Mozilla and Opera have had the ability to clear private data for years. This has only come into being with Microsoft's browser without jumping through hoops and digging through setting with IE7. Pre-IE7 Microsoft didn't seem to care about the user's ability to clear the traces that their browser left behind.

I'll admit that I've spent a lot of time hanging around what my wife calls the paranoid side of the Internet but I have learned to turn on a slashdot filter and gathered tools to test the things that may or may not be true in the world of the internet. The reason I recommend a portable "one use" type browser is that it is the easiest way to leave the least trace and they don't even have to be installed. I keep Firefox and Opera portables on a flash drive to use on machines I don't trust.

Edited by silverbeard, 10 February 2007 - 12:43 AM.

[pip22]

Nobody has yet mentioned the excellent and free "Ccleaner". A couple of mouse clicks and both IE and FF are cleared of all browsing history. Fits on even the smallest capacity flash-drive too, so you've always got it with you.