Assume, for instance, that one had made a Google (or other engine) search for something that was not intended for another to find out about…say, a diamond ring. Now that the words “diamond ring” had been entered into the search box and used in a search, whenever someone typed anything that began with a “d” in the search box, the phrase “diamond ring” would pop up under said search box.
One would not want one’s significant other to realize that another person using that particular computer had been searching for diamond rings, so one would expect that there would be an easy way to erase the search history. BUT NOOOOOO!!! One can easily erase the site history, the cookies, the temporary internet files…but not the search history!
Quick and easy instructions would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. Well…it could be a diamond ring, couldn’t it?
Well, now, that would depend on what browser you are using. Safari, for instance, stores that sort of information in a Keychain entry called Safari forms autofill'', so you could delete that in Keychan.app, or you could use the Reset Safari’’ option in the Safari menu.
If, on the other hand, you’re among the vast majority using dreck outta Redmond, you’ll have to wait for a fellow microserf to tell you how it’s done in that browser
p.s. Diamond ring, eh? Is that what they’re calling it these days?
Using Explorer: Click on the text box where you put in the search terms. See that drop-down textbox? Use your arrow keys to scroll to the entry and press delete on the keyboard.
You could turn off “Autocomplete” from the Tools/Options menu, but that’s a bit heavy handed and could tip off your SO.
And if it really is a diamond ring, and not coughpornographicmaterialcough, then congrats!
Sorry, the browser name would help, wouldn’t it? Just plain ol’ MS Internet Explorer 6.0. OS is Windows XP. Please dumb down the 'splanation as I’m just a simple user. Thanks.
You type “d” (or whatever the first letter is) so the list of all searches you’ve ever done starting with that letter pops up.
If one of those is what you want, you’ll probably click on it. But don’t click on it, just move the mouse over it so it’s highlighted. (Or, press the down arrow until it’s highlighted.) But don’t click on it!
Now just press the delete key and it disappears. Voila!
I’ve actually wondered about this too, so thanks to the posters above, and I hope this is “dumbed down” enough.
