Click on the Internet Explorer panel of the Privacy Items Browsers
tab to show the options for your Internet Explorer items (as per screenshot at right)
and then choose the items you'd like to clean and wash by checking the relevant
checkboxes.
History of typed URLs in Address Bar:
When you manually type an internet address into the address bar, Internet Explorer
saves this history and will use it in the future to try to auto-complete or
'guess' the web site or page when you next type the first few matching characters
into the address bar. This can often be quite helpful, but also allows others
with access to your PC to see the sites and pages that you have previously visited.
Check this item
to clear this typed history.
You can also manually
Edit Typed URL History, choosing which
items to keep or clear. See the full information on how to achieve this in
this topic.
Cookies: Cookies are small files
that contain data about your interaction with the web sites that you have visited.
Check this item to delete all cookies.
Some cookies, however,
may be useful and you may want to keep these. For example, some cookies hold your
password and/or other profile information that automatically registers you when
you visit a site (without you having to manually enter your password every time)
or hold other profile information that tailors the site to your previously saved
preferences.
Total Privacy allows
you to
Select Cookies to Keep with the Cookie Keeper Wizard. Find out all about
keeping cookies with the Cookie Keeper Wizard in this topic.
Cache (Temporary Internet Files):
The cache is a copy (on your local hard drive) of web images, documents and
sounds from the web sites that you have visited. It can be useful to speed loading
of large, content rich web pages, especially when your internet bandwidth connection
is slow. However, this history can be uncovered and space is used (often unnecessarily)
on your hard drive.
Check this item
to clear your cache and remove these temporary internet files.
URL History: Internet Explorer
saves the full history of all web sites you have visited. You can see this displayed
when you click on the History button in Internet Explorer. Ocassionally this
is useful to quickly navigate again to a site you visited in the past few days,
however the record of your visit to these sites is clearly visible to anyone
with access to your PC. Check this item to clear and remove this URL History.
AutoComplete Forms Data: The
most recent versions of Internet Explorer contain built-in functionality to
'remember' entries that you have manually typed into web page form fields. Again,
this can be useful on some occasions to save manually re-keying every time,
however, this may also include passwords or other private information that you
do not want others to know or uncover. Check this item to clear and remove this
saved memory of your web form field entries.
AutoComplete Passwords: As above,
the most recent versions of Internet Explorer contain built-in functionality
to 'remember' your password entries submitted in web page forms. If you are
concerned that others may be able to access your private sites using your authentication
credentials, you can check this item to clear Internet Explorers saved memory
of your submitted passwords.
index.dat: Index.dat is a very
well hidden, locked and encrypted database containing a list of all web pages,
URLs and cookies. Check this item to completely clear all index.dat files on
your computer. When this option is checked, you can also opt to delete index.dat
files for your internet cache, cookies and history.
Note: By default, Windows index.dat files are locked and can not
be completely cleared until you next restart your computer. The files themselves
will still remain, however they will be completely blank/empty.
Favorites order history: Check
this item to clear your Favorites history and reset your Favorites menu items
to be displayed in alphabetical order.
Downloaded Components: This
folder contains controls (for example, ActiveX or OCX) that have been downloaded
from web sites and installed on your computer. Generally these are installed
as plugins to provide additional web and/or browser functionality, however these
type of components have been used to deliver viruses or other malicious acts.
Check this item to delete all downloaded components from your system.
As many downloaded
components are useful and provide additional, wanted functionality, Total Privacy
allows you to Select Components to Keep with the
Downloaded Components Wizard. Find out all about choosing the components to
keep with the Downloaded Components Wizard in this topic.
Clear Java .class files from Internet Explorer and AOL:
Java .class files are small files containing code that run scripts on your computer.
Sometimes this can be to add additional functionality to particular web sites
that you visit, however, there is always the danger that 'undesirables' may
use script files for malicious purposes. Check this option to remove these Java
.class script files from your computer.
Tip: Move (or hover) the mouse cursor over any privacy washing item
on the screen to get further information and a brief description of that item.
Note: By default, Windows index.dat files are locked and can not
be completely cleared until you next restart your computer. The files themselves
will still remain, however they will be completely blank/empty.
Tip: Move (or hover) the mouse cursor over any privacy washing item
on the screen to get further information and a brief description of that item..gif){kind=small}