How to clear your Google search history
Posted on March 21, 2007 at 8:40 am
Make sure to read other posts from the Search History & Privacy series!
- How to view recent search history for IE and Firefox browsers
- 13 ways to protect personal data from online fraud and identity theft
- How to clear your Google search history
Need to clear your Google search history to keep your searches away from prying eyes? Or searching for something that you know would get you in trouble if someone found out? Well this will help you avoid being caught!
Clearing your Google search history is a fairly straight-forward procedure that anyone can perform. There are basically two ways that your searches are remembered in Windows: by the Google toolbar or by Internet Explorer.
When you browse to http://www.google.com/ and perform a search, you may notice that the text box remembers your last search or displays a list of previous searches when you click on it. This is not Google remembering your searches, but instead Internet Explorer. In order to clear out what IE has in it’s cache, follow this procedure:
1. Go to Tools, then Internet Options.
2. Under Browser History, click on Delete.
In the Delete Browsing History dialog, click Delete Forms. This will delete everything that you typed into any form on any web page, including the Google search box. If you want to delete other data, such as browsing history, etc. you can click those buttons individually or click Delete All to get rid of all cached data.
Now that you’ve gotten rid of the Internet Explorer cache, you need to make sure you delete the Google search history from the Google toolbar, if you have that installed.
Here’s how to clear the Google toolbar search history:
Click on the down down box in the Google toolbar where you type in your search query and at the bottom you’ll see a link called “Clear Search History“. Click on that and your searches are erased.
Remember though, if you have anything like Google Desktop or a similar program installed, it will record your searches. So be careful not to shoot yourself in the foot with desktop searching software!
[tags]clear search history, delete search history, delete ie history, delete browsing history, remove browsing history[/tags]
» Filed Under Internet Explorer Tips
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Comments
41 Responses to “How to clear your Google search history”
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How to view recent search history for IE and Firefox browsers Says:
[...] browser caches that search history onto the local computer in temp files. If you do not manually delete the search history, someone can easily come along and view all of your previous [...]
December 20th, 2007 at 6:33 am
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Vanishd - Browse the Internet privately Says:
[...] on the web browser you’re accessing, you can also use some of the built-in settings to briefly delete your web browsing tracks. [...]
October 29th, 2008 at 5:23 am
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Permanently delete Google search history Says:
[...] I wrote a post on how to clear your Google search history in Internet Explorer. This was useful, but it didn’t quite tell the whole story. Depending on [...]
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:55 am
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How to use IE 8’s InPrivate Browsing? Says:
[...] How to clear your Google search history [...]
May 26th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Can you please help me? I did your first step and hit delete all on that thing, however I have google, but don’t that google toolbar installed. So how do I delete my google history? And how do I see my google history? please help me.
thanks it worked:)
I cant find the tool bar you are referring to. I have Mozzila open but cant find the browser history.
did all steps. but search history in Youtube are still there??
Very very thank you for the tips.
it worked!
nice teaching huh..
Hi! How do i clear my google search history on my ipod touch. Help will be greatly apreciated:)
FOR MOZILLA:
-Open Mozilla
-Go to the “Tools” tab
-Click on “Clear Private Data”
-”Clear Forms and Search History” is what you want to do, so single that out and click “Clear Private Data Now”
-Done! (Great for you know what!)
How do I delete the history from my google toolbar, on my iPod touch?
how to clear the history in linux operating system
?
The following does not work because there is no “Clear Browing History” to click at the bottom right of the Google Toolbar Search Bar. What else can I do because the words still come back? Could it mattter if I am using IE 7 or 8?
It also will not work when you delete everything including forms following your instrution.
‘Need to clear your Google search history to keep your searches away from prying eyes? Or searching for something that you know would get you in trouble if someone found out? Well this will help you avoid being caught!
Clearing your Google search history is a fairly straight-forward procedure that anyone can perform. There are basically two ways that your searches are remembered in Windows: by the Google toolbar or by Internet Explorer.
When you browse to http://www.google.com/ and perform a search, you may notice that the text box remembers your last search or displays a list of previous searches when you click on it. This is not Google remembering your searches, but instead Internet Explorer. In order to clear out what IE has in it’s cache, follow this procedure:
1. Go to Tools, then Internet Options.
2. Under Browser History, click on Delete.
In the Delete Browsing History dialog, click Delete Forms. This will delete everything that you typed into any form on any web page, including the Google search box. If you want to delete other data, such as browsing history, etc. you can click those buttons individually or click Delete All to get rid of all cached data.
Now that you’ve gotten rid of the Internet Explorer cache, you need to make sure you delete the Google search history from the Google toolbar, if you have that installed.
Here’s how to clear the Google toolbar search history:
Click on the down down box in the Google toolbar where you type in your search query and at the bottom you’ll see a link called “Clear Search History“. Click on that and your searches are erased.’
I followed your instructions, but it’s not deleting my Google search history. When I type in the address bar, the sites I visited keep coming back up! Any help?
I have so many searches on the Google toolbar that the clear history option has completely disappeared – so now how do I clear the history on goolge toolbar? Thanks
Note that this may not get rid of all your search history. If you are logged into Google while performing a search, your searches are also recorded on Google servers.
You have to click on Settings, then Google Account settings and then click on Web History. You can then clear the search history here also.
There is no Clear History option in my web browser! What to do?
My browsing history seems to be too long, or my monitor too short, to reach the “clear history” option at the bottom of the Googel tool bar search history page. I reached the bottom of the search list, but the clickable option on the right hand side was not there. What to do? Thanks.
My browsing history seems to be too long, or my monitor too short, to reach the “clear history” option at the bottom of the Googel tool bar search history page. I reached the bottom of the search list, but the clickable option on the right hand side was not there. What to do? Thanks.
I am very thankful for your instructions. I easily learned how to clear Google search history.
On the google toolbar, go the the wrench and click options, then you can change the “store search history” option on and off, if you turn it off the only thing that the search will show, what you’ve last searched, and then you can delete that and no one will know what you’ve searched before.
I have windows 7 and at the bottom there is this big line where your stuff is its hard to explain, but its in the way of the clear history on google? help?!
How do I delete the history if the “clear history” option at the bottom of the Googel tool bar search history page. I reached the bottom of the search list, but the clickable option on the right hand side was not there. What to do? Thanks.
How to clear your google history…i had a long list of sites visitd and so i could not see the Clear History nor the Down Arrow key..i came across an answer in the forum and i tried it…so far this is the ONE THAT WORKED. You key in ONE LETTER ON THE GOOGLE BAR (any letter) and after doing that a short list of your list will appear and at the end of the short list you will see now the Clear History.
Click the clear history and your long list will be gone.. to check if the list is really gone, click the down arrow key of the google bar to see if it is true.. IT IS INDEED TRUE..another of checking that your long list is gone is by typing in any word you like and click the down arrow key, you will see what you’ve typed and so with the Clear History….for the person who did this, that from that person i found the clue, thank you so much for passing on to us the much needed way to solve the problem.
germie – Massive thank you!! Your way of deleting Google history is sooo simple
Germie…Another million thank you’s! That was so quick and easy! THANKS!!!
it is simple. Click on the “wrench” symbol towards the right end of the google toolbar. Click “options”. Then, disable the “store history” option. Click save, exit, close browser. Restart browser. Freshhhhhh !!!
Very useful information given. I really had to clear my Google search history in a jiffy!
To Germie. Thanks a million. After trying every suggestion under the sun, I couldn’t believe how simple it was to delete history, as mine too had dissapeared. Thanks
To be on the really safe side, you should always use the “porn” mode in IE and Chrome…InPrivate Browsing or Incognito Mode. It does not record your search history anyway!
Note that if you are logged into Google, via Gmail, etc, it will also track your searches and web history. This is outside of the history in your browser, so be careful.
To clear history on an iTouch, just go to Settings (the little gears icon on the main black screen after unlocking), then the Safari option, then at the bottom hit clear history.
I actually can’t delete my goodle search tool bar because I have a longlst and I can’t see the the “erase history” on the bottom. Can you help me how to clear the history when I ca’nt see the erase history icon because I have a whole long list of searching history…
thanks
There is still data in the search history bar in Google Chrome. How can I get rid of it from the address bar?
I have follow step google search history will not clear. At the bottom of my search history There is no line that says clear history either
Hi.
This actually is not what I was looking for, but maybe someone can help me out. I love all things Google. But, for the life of me, I can never remember how/where/what this one thing is called. It’s on Firefox and Chrome. You open a new tab and instead of a blank page, its your most recently closed tabs, your most popular pages you go to and your most recent bookmarks. What is this! Where can I download it?!?
I ticked the notify me of future comments box, so if someone could answer me, it would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi.
How to clear the ”suggested searches” from the Google Main Page? I want to get rid of some searches but can’t seem to find out how.
Thanks.
For the Ipod Touch
Just go to “Settings”
Then Click On “Safari”
And Then, “Clear History” .
Its probably the only way.
i couldnt clear all my web history before but i found a way to do et. go to tools, internet options, content, auto complete, if browsing history is marked just unmark it and clear the web history and that is all. hope it helps