# WINDOWS automatic text completion Question - Please Help!!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-automatic-text-completion-question-please-help/112332>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 4, 2002, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-automatic-text-completion-question-please-help/112332 "2002-06-04T16:58:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-automatic-text-completion-question-please-help/112332/1 "2002-06-04T16:58:32Z")

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I’m looking for a birthday present for my girlfriend online, and need to prevent the search box on say, Google, from automatically completing a word as I’m typing. I don’t want her to get a clue from this what I’m considering getting her. How do I do this?

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**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-automatic-text-completion-question-please-help/112332/2 "2002-06-04T17:18:49Z")

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If you click in the search box, does a little pop-down window appear with a scrollable list of previous searches? If so, just use the down-arrow key to scroll down to the item you want gone and hit the Delete key.

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**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-automatic-text-completion-question-please-help/112332/3 "2002-06-04T17:23:17Z")

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Depending on what version of IE you have (I’ve v5.5), go to Tools --\> Internet Options --\> Content --\> Auto Complete and disable Internet forms.

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**Author:** ![stankow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@stankow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stankow)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-automatic-text-completion-question-please-help/112332/4 "2002-06-04T17:27:53Z")

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I’m not going to try this out myself, because I like the previous stuff I have in my search boxes, but perhaps Start --\> Settings --\> Taskbar --\> Clear Documents Menu would work? I know that it used to wipe out a lot more than just the Start button’s Documents Menu.