3 steps to delete your chrome history right now
Chrome history is different from your google search history and the steps to delete vary as well. Here are the steps that will delete all the browsing history and website data from your Chrome account.
Steps to delete the chrome history in a desktop or a laptop
Deleting the chrome history on a desktop or laptop is browser based. Illustrative detail is given below with pictures to guide:
1 . Open Google chrome and click on the three dots next to your profile image on the right top corner
2 . Select the history option>History
3. Select the clear browsing data option given in the bottom left corner, it will then show you options to clear your browsing data for a range of time and dates. You can also clear the browsing history for all times, the last 24hours or seven days or one month as per your wish
Deleting a specific item from the chrome browser history:
You can delete specific item from your chrome history by again clicking on the 3 dots next to your profile image and go to history>history, and put a check mark on the item boxes you want to delete. Then click delete and the items will be deleted from the chrome history.
Deleting full chrome history on an IOS:
In iPhone and iPad the process of deleting the chrome history is the same. Below is a detailed illustration of deleting the full chrome history in an IOS:
1 . Open chrome and select the 3 dots option in the bottom right corner of the screen and select the history option.
2. At the bottom then you will see clear browsing data option. Tap on that and check the boxes which you want to delete.
3 . Tap at the clear browsing data option > clear browsing data and then tap done.
Removing a specific item from the chrome browsing history in IOS:
Open chrome and go to the history option as before, tap on the edit option and select the items you want to delete and tap on delete.
Deleting chrome history on Android phone and tablets:
1 . Open chrome and click on the three dots on the right corner of the screen to open the menu
2. Choose More>History or find history in the menu
3 .Tap on the clear browsing data option at the top of the screen and tap on the check of the browsing history box. Select only the items you want to delete.
4 . Tap on the clear data option and delete the item you want.
Deleting a specific item from your chrome history on an android:
Follow the same steps as mentioned above to get to the history page and tap on the specific items you want to delete, and then tap on the dustbin sign on the right corner of the screen.
When you are unable to delete your chrome browsing history:
Some of the recent versions of the chrome have a bug that does not allow you to delete their chrome history. Try this if you are unable to delete your browsing history inside chrome:
For windows:
You can delete your chrome cache including the browsing data by going to:
C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataLocalGoogleChromeUser DataProfile
Then replace USERNAME and PROFILE with your computer username and chrome profile name
Android users can open application manager under the applications in the device’s settings menu, and then select chrome and tap clear cache
Can you retrieve your Chrome browsing history even after deleting it?
You might realize after deleting the chrome history that you forgot to bookmark an important tab. One way to see this tab again is if you have not deleted auto suggest while deleting the browsing history, you can see the suggestions again and retrieve your tab.
Another way to do this is, if you are signed into Chrome and Google, you can recover your Chrome browsing history as your Activity history in Google.
Sign in to your Google account.
Click on Data and personalization>Activity and timeline>My Activity. If you have previously opted to pause sync or to pause web and app activity, you may still be able to recover Maps and Youtube activity this way.
But if you are not synced with Google, you have bleak chances of recovering your deleted browser history.
On Windows, it can potentially be recovered through the computer’s log files or DNS cache; in Mac, you can try opening Go to folder and going to:
~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default
Find the Bookmarks.bak file, then CMD-click the file and select Get info, and delete .bak from Name & extensions.
When should the chrome browser history be cleared?
1 . When you log into a public computer:
When logged into a public computer you must clear your browsing history as it will be visible to the next person who will come along, especially when you log into any social media account which has your passwords for example, Facebook or Gmail etc, because browsers are often set to record website information and logins. You don’t want your passwords to be visible publicly. So take precautions when you log in a public computer; clear the browser cache completely, including the cookies and the site information as well before you log off.
2. When you want a clean slate for search:
Chrome makes search results for you based on your past 180 days of browsing history. This means that the search results are based on your interests and these will vary from user to user. So after a certain period of time, your Chrome becomes accustomed to your interests and if you want to see natural results, the ones that other people are going to see, then you need to delete your Chrome history from time to time.
There is also an autosuggest feature in Chrome that will turn on and show suggestions based on your previous search history. To see autosuggest that does not consider what have you searched previously, you need to delete your Chrome history. This is especially helpful for marketers to see what a generic autosuggests shows.
It might occur to you to use Incognito mode instead of deleting the history. But this doesnt work. Autosuggest does not show up at all in Incognito mode. It has been seen that you can get personalized results even in the incognito mode.
3. When security is your concern:
When you do not clear your browsing history while logging in a public computer, the risk of someone accessing your chrome history and profiles to use a harmful tracking cookie that will follow you around the internet increases. The lesser the browsing history they have to trawl through, the less data they have to access. So if you are concerned about the safety of your logins you need to improve your security and should also delete autofill, site data and cookies as well.
Clearing chrome history automatically:
1 . Automate deleting browser history on desktop:
To set the chrome to delete your browsing history every time you log out of your system, click on the 3 dots to open the menu in chrome and then select Settings>Advanced>Site settings>Cookies. Then you will find the option to keep local data only until you quit your browser.
This cannot be done on Android or even IOS and the Google activity history is also not affected.
2. Automatically deleting the chrome browsing history via third party extensions:
You can auto-delete the chrome browser history with the Auto History Wipe option, which automatically deletes browser history when chrome is opened, rather than when it is closed. It does not need any permission to run in the background and it uses very few resources. Keep in mind that it will not always work when your chrome and Google histories are synched, and it can result in a delay of a few seconds before chrome becomes responsive on opening.
Some chrome extensions like History AutoDelete gives more control and lest you delete only some specific domains. It also lets you auto-delete after a certain number of days.
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