How to Erase URL History In Internet Explorer

What is URL history?

Internet explorer stores all the information about the websites you visit while you surf the internet. Otherwise known as Location bar, Address bar is the space used to enter the URL of websites. Internet explorer always tracks the websites you visit and keep a list of websites you visit during the surfing session. When others use the same computer and start browsing by entering web address in the address bar, a dropdown list appears including the websites that you visited in your previous session. Each and every user can view the URL history by clicking the down arrow which is located on the top right side of the address bar. If you want to keep the information regarding the websites you visit during the surfing private, you have to erase websites visited. You can erase URL history either manually or using some special software available in the market.

How to erase URL history manually:

How to remove URL history manually in Internet Explorer 7.0 Manually:

* Choose the “Tools” menu from the top of the explorer window.
* When you click the “Tools” menu a dropdown list appears. From the dropdown list choose “Internet Options”
* A new window appears with several tabs. Click on “general” tab.
* You can see a “delete” button on the browsing history area, click that button.
* Click “Delete history” on the new window to erase the list of websites which you have visited and click “yes”
* Click “close” and then “ok” to proceed.

How to erase URL history in Internet Explorer 5.x/6.x:

* Select the “Tools” menu from the top of the explorer window.
* When you click the “Tools” menu a dropdown list become visible. From the dropdown list opt “Internet Options”
* A fresh window appears with quite a few tabs. Click on “general” tab.
* Click “clear history” button on the history area.
* Click “ok” and proceed.

In the case of Internet Explorer, deleting URL history manually is not effective. One can easily retrieve the URLs you visited from the index.dat file. This file stores all the details about the web pages you visited.

Different kinds of index.dat files:

Internet explorer uses three index.dat files including history index.dat file, cookies index.dat file and cache index.dat file. The location of these files depends on the operating system used.

How to erase index.dat file in Internet Explorer?

It can’t be deleted manually because this is a system file which is used by the operating system all the time. When you erase the browser history, cache and cookies, the contents in the index.dat file remains the unchanged. Certain special software products are available nowadays to remove index.dat file.

In which index.dat file the URL history is available?

You can find URL History and AutoComplete data in the history index.dat. Every time you visit a website, Internet explorer adds the details of the website you visited in to the history index.dat file.

Where you can see Internet Explorer history index.dat file?

If you are using Windows 95/98/Me, you can see history index.dat file in either of the below locations:

C:\Windows\Profiles\[username]\History\index.dat

C:\Windows\Profiles\[username]\History\MSHist[digits]\index.dat

C:\Windows\Profiles\[username]\History\History.IE5\index.dat

C:\Windows\Profiles\[username]\History\History.IE5\MSHist[digits]\index.dat

If you are using Windows 2000/XP, you can see history index.dat file in either of the below locations:

C\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\index.dat

C\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\History\History.IE5\MSHist[digits]\index.dat