I have a quick and hopefully easy question. I run windows XP. When I enter text into a text box (such as when I’m searching my computer for a cretin file), a drop down window appears which has some of the previous tries that begin with the same letter. This is a really good feature, but I’ve misspelled some words and every time I start to type what I want, I’m reminded of my misspellings. Is there anyway to erase some or all of the previous attempts in the dropdown window?
What application are you talking about? The search function in Windows Explorer? I’ve never seen what you’re describing, but now I’m looking for it.
If you go to the start button and click on search. An application pops up with a little dog that helps you search your computer. I misspelled a word and now whenever I use the search for something that begins with the same letter, my misspelling pops up in the dropdown box underneath the text box. I’ve seen this also when I’m using things on the web like Google. It helps make things go faster. All you have to do is type in the first one or two letters of the word you’re looking for and there’s a list that appears right underneath.
When you have the cursor in the box, you can either:
Double click the blank box;
Hit the down arrow;
Type the first letter of the offending entry;
Doing the second will only bring up entries beginning with that character, but doing the first first will show all entries.
Once you have the list visible, hit the down arrow to highlight the offending entry, and then press the Delete key on your keyboard. Voila, it should be gone. (You can also use the mouse to hover over the entry, thereby selecting it.)
Oh, and if you’re using IE for web browsing, you can go to Tools - Internet Options, select the Privacy Options tab, then click on the “AutoComplete” tab, and clear out all the entries from things like the search field on a Google page.