# Why the heck won't my address history delete? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-wont-my-address-history-delete/374028 "2006-09-25T04:36:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-wont-my-address-history-delete/374028/1 "2006-09-25T04:36:47Z")
I make it a habit of often going into my IE and doing the “Tools”, “Internet Options”, “Clear History”, “Delete Temporary Internet Files” etc thing. In the last week, my computer has decided to not delete my internet history anymore. Why? How do I fix it? I’ve run AdAware, Spybot and Norton Antivirus to no effect. I’ve also eyeballed my HijackThis log and can’t see anything overtly nasty. What the beans? ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-wont-my-address-history-delete/374028/2 "2006-09-25T18:20:31Z")
[QUOTE=Carlyjay] I make it a habit of often going into my IE and doing the “Tools”, “Internet Options”, “Clear History”, “Delete Temporary Internet Files” etc thing. In the last week, my computer has decided to not delete my internet history anymore. Why? How do I fix it? I’ve run AdAware, Spybot and Norton Antivirus to no effect. I’ve also eyeballed my HijackThis log and can’t see anything overtly nasty. What the beans? [/QUOTE] Rather than doing it from Internet Options, what happens if you look at your history (Ctrl-H) and try to “manually” delete something (right-click, Delete). Do you get any kind of error message? ---
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-wont-my-address-history-delete/374028/3 "2006-09-25T19:34:35Z")
Nope… I’ve tried several routes. Here’s the thing. \* Sometimes\* my address history will delete. Regardless of the path I take to delete it. I’ve gone into Tools-Internet Options-Clear History and 9 times out of 10 it will not delete. Same thing happens when I actually go to the “Temporary Internet Files” folder and manually delete IE history. It looks like it has deleted, but then I look again and… it hasn’t! What the beans? ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-wont-my-address-history-delete/374028/4 "2006-09-25T20:38:39Z")
I don’t have an answer for you, but something I’ve noticed since upgrading to WInXP about two years ago is that some of the buttons in some programs are merely suggestions, not commands. The program may or may not perform the operation the button tells it to and if it does, it may revert back to its previous state first chance it gets. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-wont-my-address-history-delete/374028/5 "2006-09-25T20:53:39Z")
I recommend [CCleaner](http://www.ccleaner.com/) for clearing out all sorts of histories. Also, [Get Firefox!!](http://www.getfirefox.com) ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-wont-my-address-history-delete/374028/6 "2006-09-25T22:30:26Z")
[QUOTE=Jayrot] I recommend [CCleaner](http://www.ccleaner.com/) for clearing out all sorts of histories. Also, [Get Firefox!!](http://www.getfirefox.com) [/QUOTE] But be careful of you settings. It can and will delete all your cookies and passwords! ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-wont-my-address-history-delete/374028/7 "2006-09-25T23:05:08Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL] But be careful of you settings. It can and will delete all your cookies and passwords! [/QUOTE] But if you look at the list of cookies that accumulate over a short period of time it seems that there might be some merit in deleting them periodically. The important ones are for User ID’s and they can be re-enterd. It’s a hassle but I personally feel more comfortable with that than an ever growing list of cookies. If I’m being silly and paranoid let me know. ---
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-heck-wont-my-address-history-delete/374028/8 "2006-09-26T01:34:34Z")
Thanks, all. Well, I can’t imagine why “Clear Address History” would randomly stop working, but CCleaner will be a good thing to have anyway. I don’t like cookies hiding about on my computer, it makes me feel icky. Thanks again!