Deleting History Files in IE

Windows Security Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟Deleting History Files in IE

This section provides a tutorial example on how to review and delete history files in IE (Internet Explorer).

While reviewing the IE history settings, you should also review history files and download files stored by IE on your hard disk.

1. Run IE and click "Tools > Internet Options" menu. Then click the "General" tab.

2. Click the "Settings" button in the "Browsing history" section. You will see a dialog box showing history details.

3. Click the "View files" button of the "Temporary Internet Files" tab. You will see a folder with all history files.

For example, I have the following history files on my Windows 7 system:

\Users\herong\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

Name               Internet Address
----               ----------------
%7Bcontrols%7D.js  http://maps.gstatic.com/cat_js/intl...
%7Bstats%7D.js     http://maps.gstatic.com/cat_js/intl...
1028438229         Cookie:herong@www.googleadservice.com/...
5YB-ifwqHP20Yn...  http://themes.googleusercontent.com/static/...
ads.minified-1...  http://apps.skype.com/home/ads-minified...
cfusion            Cookie:herong@adobe.com/cfusion
...

Looks like Google is doing some tracking on my. Both gstatic.com and googleadservice.com are owned by Google.

Cookies are also stored in this folder.

4. After review them, select and delete all history files.

5. Click the "View objects" button of the "Temporary Internet Files" tab. You will see a folder with ActiveX objects. Don't delete any objects for now.