Cover Your Tracks
If you’re worried that someone will see you’ve visited this website, or you’d like to give others advice on staying safe online, here’s some information to help you.
Remember, it’s very difficult to cover your tracks completely so the best way to stay safe online is to use a trusted friend’s computer or a computer at your local library for example.
If you think covering your tracks may raise suspicion in itself, it may be best to use a different computer. The information below is correct to the best of our knowledge.
When you surf the internet, the internet browser you’re using will store certain information including a ‘history’ of the web pages you’ve visited. If you’re not sure which internet browser you’re using, click Help on the toolbar at the top of the browser screen when you’re online. A menu will appear which should mention the name of the browser, for instance, Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.
Internet Explorer 6
Find out which version you’re using by clicking Help and selecting About Internet Explorer.
Click the Tools menu and go to Internet Options
On the General page, under Temporary Internet Files, click Delete Cookies followed by OK.
Click Delete Files, put a tick in the box called Delete all offline content and click OK.
To delete your history, click History, then Clear History, followed by OK. Next click on Content, choose AutoComplete, followed by ClearForms.
Internet Explorer 7
Click Tools and choose Internet Options.
On the General page under Browser History, click the Delete button. You can either choose and delete each section including Temporary Internet Files, Cookies, History, Forms and Passwords or you can click Delete All to clear everything in one go.
Firefox 1
Click Tools and then Options, followed by Privacy.
Click the Clear button next to History, Saved Form Information, Cookies and Cache.
Firefox 2
Click Tools and then Options, followed by Privacy. On Private Data, choose Settings then check that you’ve selected all the boxes. Next click Clear Now.
Netscape 7
Click Edit then choose Preferences. In the left panel, expand History, then click Clear History (to the right).
Next, expand Privacy and Security in the same way, choose Cookies, then Manage Stored Cookies. A new box should appear, click Remove All Cookies. You can do the same with Forms and Passwords if necessary. Alternatively, you can manage forms, cookies and passwords from the Tools menu.
Opera
Click Tools, then Preferences. Choose Advanced, then the History section on the left. Click Clear to the right of Addresses, followed by the Empty Now button. Opera doesn’t have an easy way to clear all cookies so we’d advise you to use a different internet browser if possible.
Safari
Go to the Safari menu at the top of your computer, then choose Reset Safari, followed by Reset. Resetting Safari will clear your history, remove cookies, clear downloads and empty your cache.
To delete your browsing history (the record of web pages you’ve visited)
If you’re using Internet Explorer, Netscape or Firefox hold down the Ctrl key, then press the H key. (Ctrl, Alt and H if you’re using Opera)
Right click any entries you want to delete then click Delete
If you’re using Safari, choose History followed by Clear History
Emails
If you want to keep your email private then it may be best to set up a new email account. If you use an email provider such as Hotmail, Fastmail or Yahoo, it’s free and you can access your email online, from any computer.
Search Engines
If you use search engines such as Google, the Google toolbar will save the search words you’ve used. To delete them, click the Google logo then choose Clear Search History.
