Removing Your All-Too-Visible Internet Search History

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August 5, 2011
By Holly Deyo

After listening to Katherine Albrecht again Tuesday night on Coast To Coat AM, I was reminded to clear my Google search history. Clearing browser history is something everyone who uses a search engine should do regularly.

This was underscored yesterday after hearing Judge Napolitano reveal how government wants to access your Google search history WITHOUT A WARRANT. Congress is about to vote on legislation that would require all Internet providers to keep everyone's search history for 1 year – at their expense – not the government's. Beyond searches, this history includes every visit, every click, every hit, every email, etc. you perform. Everyone using GMail for email really needs to jump ship as your privacy is exposed more than most.

We're assuming this massive government overgrasp applies to Yahoo, Bing and other engines. In Bing's favor, they make finding how to clear your search history very obvious. At the bottom of the left-hand menu, it says Search History and you just follow the trail from there.

For Yahoo, like Google, it took more nosing around to locate the Clear Your Internet Search History. When clearing browser history from Yahoo's instructions, it's evident they don't keep up with browsers' Tools Menu as mine looked nothing like what Yahoo said it should. (We primarily use Firefox, once in a great while, Safari.) Maybe they are more current with other browsers like Internet Explorer or Chrome, etc.

Google was much more current, but finding the instructions was another story.

How to clear your search history on Google used to be easily located on their site. To do so, you need to find "Support", which is now conspicuously invisible. However, I'd screen previously snapped the URL and retyped it. Voila! The Delete Search History page popped up.

If you still wish to use Google after clearing your personal history DAILY, would suggest you copy down and keep this web address: www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=465#browser

Below is the full page snap of how to get rid of the nosy info they keep on you.

http://standeyo.com/NEWS/11_Sci_Tech/110805.remove.search.history.html