Erase Google Search History

Privacy is a matter of concern in the increasingly 'open' Internet world, where it is most vulnerable to hacking and snooping eavesdroppers. Especially if you are using a public computer, you should erase your search history along with active log in information entered in site interfaces. This will ensure that nobody can take advantage of your personal information.

To understand how to delete search history, one must get a hang of how information that you enter in your web browser is stored. Search history is stored on your computer itself and it can erased through your web browser.

Clearing Google Search History On Different Browsers

To make browsing simpler, most web browsers have included a facility to store the Google search engine history and other information entered in form interfaces on any websites you visit for your convenience. However, there are inbuilt settings in every browser that can clear the stored information.

Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla is the most popular and versatile web browser and it has an inbuilt facility to erase search history along with any other kind of information that you enter. Here is how you can erase your browsing history, including Google search history on Mozilla:

• Click on the Tools tab in Mozilla Firefox and select the 'Clear Recent History' or you could just hit the key combination of 'Ctrl+Shift+Del'.
• A window will open up which will ask you the time range for which you want to delete search history, along with the types of data you want deleted. Make sure you tick the check boxes next to 'Browsing History & Downloads', along with 'Form and Search History'.
• Select the time range for which you want to delete the history and click on the 'clear now' button. To delete search history for all time, select the 'Everything' option. That does it!

Alternatively, you can select the 'Start Private Browsing' option (Ctrl+Shift+P) which deactivates the recording of search history and you do not have to worry about clearing data for that session.

Internet Explorer
The web browser with the second largest market share on the Internet is Internet Explorer. Here is how you can delete Google search history on this browser:

• Click on the 'Safety' tab and select the 'Delete Browsing History' option or hit 'Ctrl+Shift+Del'.
• A window will open in which you should tick all the check boxes and hit delete button. That will delete all your private browsing history including Google search history.

Alternatively, you could hit the 'Ctrl+Shift+P' keys to start private browsing session, which will stop recording of any browsing related data.

Google Chrome
A relatively new product, but fast catching popularity is the Google Chrome browser. This fast and light weight browser has extensive facilities for clearing out search history of all kinds including login information, cookies and download history. Here is what you need to do.

• Click on the 'Settings' tab (marked by the Wrench symbol) and select 'Options'.
• Go to 'Under the Bonnet' tab in the window.
• Then click the 'Clear Browsing Data', which will open another window. Select all the check boxes and ensure that the time period is set to 'Everything' before hitting the 'Clear Browsing Data' button.

Even if you use any other browser than these, it is bound to have a facility to delete browsing history which you can easily find out and use. Thus, you can protect your privacy on the Internet and erase your activity traces easily!