Erase all internet history etc?

November 24, 2005 7:47 AM

After using the internet i want to make sure there is no evidence of what ive been looking at afterwards remains on the computer. Including windows media etc. Is there some way of doing this?
posted by indio1919 to computers & internet (12 comments total)

I use crap cleaner ; it does what it says on the tin.

There's an option in windows media ("Privacy" tab) that stops it recording your viewing of lesbian-lavatory-lust.mp3
posted by Pericles at 7:53 AM on November 24, 2005

eh you know how it is, sometimes your finger slips on the mouse and before you now it your looking at gay animal porn........
posted by indio1919 at 7:54 AM on November 24, 2005

Check out Webroot's Window Washer.
posted by ericb at 7:57 AM on November 24, 2005

"you know how it is, sometimes your finger slips on up the mouse"
posted by NinjaPirate at 8:07 AM on November 24, 2005

The only way to make sure EVERYTHING is gone and there is no evidence is to erase your hard-drive using a program like Kill Disk and re-installing all your software.
posted by xoe26 at 9:18 AM on November 24, 2005

Use opera.

It will delete everything that you did stored on the computer. With one button push.

However just because you've deleted that you have to remember that if someone wants they can still get to what you were doing via key loggers, net sniffing, or just by looking at the router log.

If you want to look at things really securely I suggest you never type anything sequentially and use Tor.

To get rid of the left over magnetic leftovers after everything is deleted just restart your computer because you will be using this: Deep Freeze.

If you aren't on windows I don't know what you could do.
posted by bigmusic at 9:21 AM on November 24, 2005

Private browsing in Safari and PermaDelete in the trash can, plus clearing all recent files and programs. (For Mac Users)
posted by SeizeTheDay at 9:32 AM on November 24, 2005

Firefox 1.5 comes with the "Clear Private Data" feature like in Opera.
PornZilla might also be of interest.
posted by Sharcho at 9:56 AM on November 24, 2005

Carry around Portable Firefox on a memory stick or pocket hard drive (hard drive is better for regular use -- memory sticks only have so many rewrites in 'em) and your cache and history won't ever have been stored on the computer.

Or, clear your private data after use (you can do this with Firefox 1.07, too -- and for many versions before that, I think, but I'm not going to look it up) -- you can configure it to automatically delete all private data on shutdown; the 'x' extension lets you add a toolbar button to delete everything. Then use Eraser to ensure the deleted files can't be undeleted.

As you can see, the first option is better. Seagate's 5G pocket hard drive is about $86 and can be tucked away in a round mints tin. Or if you can find a cheap 2.5" drive (from a stripped laptop, say), you can get an enclosure for around $15.

But like it says in this thread, if it's someone else's box and network, and they have admin access and you don't, nothing you do is hidden, necessarily, if they're technically inclined and personally motivated.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 11:04 AM on November 24, 2005

Use a LiveCD, it writes stuff into memory, not onto the HD. Of course, you can't get around anyone snooping on the network, especially not your ISP..
posted by Firas at 12:27 PM on November 24, 2005

Except maybe if your pr0n sites are ssl (https://) encrypted. Now that'd be classy.
posted by Firas at 12:39 PM on November 24, 2005

Maxthon also has a one-click history cleaner built in. I've never used it, but I assume it works as advertised.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:35 PM on November 24, 2005