There are different kinds of history tracks stored on your PC:
– Internet history
– Windows history
– History stored by different programs which you use
1. Internet history :
While Internet surfing your browser records all your actions: each website url you typed in Address Bar, every search string you entered in search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN), information you entered on websites, and more. Of course Internet history stored on your PC is useful as it speeds up loading of webpages and makes web surfing more convenient. But Internet history contains details about every website you visited (pictures, videos, text, and more) and it may seriously compromise your privacy if someone else could see your Internet files – he/she would be able to see everything you had done while Internet surfing.
What Internet history tracks stored on your PC :
# Browser history stores a list of websites you visited. It’s easily accessible from your browser window
# Search history browser Autocomplete stores a drop-down list with all search strings you typed.
# Cache stores the content of web pages you visited (pictures, videos, etc) . By simply opening Temporary Internet Files folder, anyone can see what web sites you visited, what picturesand movies you watched and more…
# Cookies websites leave cookies on your PC after you visit them. Although cookies are helpful for things like remembering your automatic log-ins, they may seriously compromise your privacy.
# Index.dat files used by Internet Explorer to store Internet history, cache and cookies. Although some of their functions are useful, they are dangerous privacy threat as it is really hard to delete them manually.
2. History stored by Windows :
Windows keeps tracks of your computer activity in order to provide a more pleasant computer experience. But those history tracks can compromise your privacy and provide a way for others to view what you have been doing, searching, downloading, running, saving, what documents and files you have just opened etc.
I. Windows Temporary Folders (Temporary files directory)
Windows temporary directory (Temp folders) stores Windows and other programs temporary files. This directory can become cluttered and contain files from programs you no longer have installed or files which may violate your privacy.
II. Recent documents list
Windows stores a list of documents and files you have recently opened and worked with. Anyone who has access to your computer can see this list and directly link to any of the items that you’ve opened.
III. Recently run programs list
Windows stores a list of programs you have run using the Run option in the Start Menu. And anyone who has access to your computer can see the list of programs that you’ve run.
IV. Windows Search “Files & Folders” History
When you use “Search” option in the Start Menu, Windows keeps a list of the last files you searched for and the items you searched for in those files. And this search history will be visible to anyone who begins a new search. Windows “Files & Folders” search history can be easily seen if you open the “Search results” window (Start -> Search -> Files & Folders). “Computers” search history can be seen if you open the Search results window (Start menu -> Search -> Computers). Windows search history is kept in a Windows registry and can be easily viewed.
V. Open programs history (Windows Explorer UserAssist Data)
Every time you open a program from the Start Menu, the date and number of times you used it is stored in an encrypted database. Windows keeps full run history under the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist. If you don’t clear UserAssist data, it can compromise your privacy and security and increase the number of entries in the registry slowing Windows down.
VI. Pagefile
Pagefile is a space on the hard disk used as the virtual memory extension of computer RAM. While working on PC, you use different programs – so page file (swap file) may contain sensitive or confidential information, some applications may store “clear” passwords. To protect your privacy you may want to clear swap file (page file) so nobody could see your data in the swap file.
3. History stored by different programs you use :
Most applications use the Windows-provided dialogs for open/save operations. Every time you open/save a file Windows keeps a record of this activity – Windows records the names of files that you open or save (Recently open/save files list – ComDlg32\OpenSaveMRU and ComDlg32\LastVisitedMRU). So, very often when you choose “open” or “save” item from application’s file menu, Windows displays a drop-down list of your most recently used files or opens the certain directory. This information is kept in a Windows registry and can be easily viewed.
Furthermore, different applications you use keep history tracks in order to provide more pleasant computer experience. E.g. Word and Excel keep information about documents you recently opened and worked with, Google Toolbar remembers the words that you have searched for, and so on.
This information can seriously compromise your privacy as everyone can access your personal data, see where you have been on Internet, etc – everything you did on your computer.
Solution :
To Erase above mentioned History U Can Use Tools such as CCleaner, MilShield and other.
What history tracks you may erase using free erase history software:
> erase history in Internet Explorer
> erase history in Mozilla
> erase history in Firefox
> erase history in Netscape
> erase history in Opera
> erase history of URL AutoComplete
> clear history index.dat file content in Internet Explorer
> erase Windows Temporary files
> clear clipboard
> erase history of Recent Documents list
> Empty Recycle Bin
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