BASICS FOR NETSCAPE
Let's use Netscape 4.0 (Communicator) as an example of where records of your online visits may be hiding. Do a single click on your back button -- see the dropdown list that shows pages you have visited. Now go to the right-hand side of the location window and click -- again, you see a list of the places you've been. These are the kinds of records you must erase, so remember to check these again after you clear your computer, to make sure you succeeded.
To erase the records of your visits, you must (1) clear (empty) the cache and (2) empty the history folder. (And, again, Windows 95 owners must remove records from their registry files, which keep track of the last 10 online visits.)
- To clear cache -- Go to those Help files and look for information on how your version requires you to clear the cache. In Netscape Navigator 3.0 (the single most common browser on the Internet), you can clear cache by clicking on Options->Network Preferences->Cache->:
- Clear Memory Cache Now -> OK
- Clear Disk Cache Now->OK
If that sounds like gobbledygook, ask a computer nerd for help.
- To erase the history folder -- The good news for those on the Macintosh operating system is that the history folder closes each time you shut down. If you are Windows, the surest way to clear that folder is to use Windows Explorer to go into the system folder, then click on preferences, then Netscape, then cache, and then drag ALL the items in the folder to the trash -- and then empty the trash. (Again, if you don't know what that means, you should probably ask for help from someone who does.)
For Windows 95 owners, clearing the registry files is probably best done by visiting 10 different benign sites, to supplant the record you want to hide with something else.
... back to Be Safe Online
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