Staying in control of your digital footprint
Clear your browsing history
What you will be able to do In 5 minutes, you'll know how to clear your browser's history, and what still stays elsewhere anyway.
You've visited pages, run searches, filled in fields. The browser, the program that displays websites, keeps a record of all this: it's called the history. Most of the time this is handy, a page found again in two seconds. But sometimes you'd rather that list not be read by someone else who uses the same device. Clearing the history is possible, but it isn't a single skill: you choose a time range, you choose what should disappear, and above all, you understand what this skill really erases, and what it doesn't touch. We're going to practice together, on a browser screen we designed ourselves. Nothing here is real, so nothing can break.
Simulated screen
I practice
This screen was drawn by us. Nothing is sent, nothing is installed, and no real brand is shown.
The situationYou looked up a surprise gift on the family computer, and someone might open it before you.
The interactive exercise needs JavaScript. The written step by step, just below, says exactly the same thing.
The written step by step
The same steps, in words, to read or print. This sheet works even without the exercise.
Find the browser menu
Your turn Tap whatever opens the browser's own menu, not the menu of the site you're looking at.
The browser menu hides behind three lines or three stacked dots, at the top of the screen. You tap it first, before anything else.
Open the history
Your turn In this menu, tap whatever keeps track of pages already visited.
The word "History", in this menu, opens the list of pages visited recently, with their date and time.
Start the clearing
Your turn The search you want to hide is from 3 days ago. Tap whatever lets you clear browsing data.
The "Clear browsing data" button opens the window where you choose the time range and what should disappear.
Choose how far back to clear
Your turn The search you want to hide is 3 days old. Tap a time range that goes back far enough to cover it.
"Last 7 days" or "All time" go back far enough to cover a search that's 3 days old.
Spot the box not to check
Your turn One box, if you check it, will also erase all your saved passwords. Tap it.
"Saved passwords" is the box to leave alone: checking it signs you out of all your accounts at once.
Confirm the clearing
Your turn Your choices are made. Tap whatever applies them for real.
The "Clear data" button applies the time range and boxes you chose, then closes the window on its own.
The sheet to keep
- The browser menu (three lines or three dots) contains "History", the list of visited pages.
- Clearing history asks you to choose a time range: an hour, a day, a week, or all time.
- The "Saved passwords" box is different from the others: checking it signs you out of all your accounts at once.
- Clearing history cleans up THIS device. Your internet provider and the sites you visited keep their own records, even afterward.
- Private browsing avoids saving locally while it's active, but it doesn't make you invisible.
- A moment's doubt before checking a box costs two seconds; regretting it afterward costs much more.
The reflexes in this skill
I stop before I click
Urgency is the sign of a trap. A message that counts down the hours is trying to stop you from thinking. Putting your phone down for two minutes costs nothing, and it is almost always enough.
One account, one door: every door has its own key
A password reused everywhere turns one leak into a break in everywhere. A long passphrase for each important account, written down somewhere safe, holds up better than a complicated password used again and again.
Two questions to check
Nothing is graded, and nothing is saved anywhere except in your own browser.
You clear your browser's history on your phone. What can your internet provider still see?
See the answer
The sites you've visited, the clearing doesn't change anything on its side
Clearing the history only affects your device. Your internet provider can still know which sites you've visited, both before and after the clearing.
In the clearing window, a box is called "Saved passwords". What happens if you check it?
See the answer
You're signed out at once of every account where the browser was recognizing you automatically
This box erases the sign-in details the browser kept in memory to recognize you automatically. Checking it signs you out of all these accounts at once.
I've done it
Check this box once you can do this skill on your own.
Your progress stays in your own browser.