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Advice from any Citizens Advice Bureau is confidential. Unfortunately, using the internet can mean that you - unknowingly - allow other people to know information about yourself

For many reasons, including confidentiality, you may not want someone else - perhaps a partner, friend or other family member - to know that you have been looking at the information in and links from this site. (For example, it may be that you feel you are experiencing difficulties in your family or your relationship, and need some information about your rights and which other organisations can help you)

If that person has access to the same computer as you, then it is possible for them to see how you've been using the internet and what information you have been looking for. This may cause you further problems

You can, of course, make use of another computer to access the internet - perhaps one belonging to friend or at a local library - but sometimes that may not be possible

The following gives some information about proootecting yourself when using any shared or public computer

As there are so many different systems, web browsers and computers, we cannot offer a comprehensive guide to removing any evidence that you have looked at information on this website.

However, we have provided an introductory guide to safety and security when using our website which may help to reduce the possibility of other people tracing your visit here

 

If you are worried about confidentiality and/or about someone knowing that you have visited this website then please read this article. It tells you how to take steps to increase your safety when visiting this site.

This information may not, however, completely hide your visit to this site

Many internet programs or "browsers", such as Internet Explorer or Netscape, have features that display recently visited sites and there are programs freely available which can restore old or deleted files from any computer you may use.

 

1. How to clear an internet cache

It is possible for someone to see which websites you have visited by looking at your computer's cache file. This stores parts of web pages on your local hard drive for easier accessibility and shorter download times. You can empty your cache file in your browser settings to prevent someone looking at the websites you have accessed.

Follow these directions to clear your internet cache:

Browser Win9x/NT/2000/Me

Internet Explorer:

  1. From the menu bar, select Tools
  2. Select Internet Options
  3. Under General Tab, look for Temporary Internet Files
  4. Click on Delete Files
  5. Select the Delete All Offline Content checkbox and click OK
  6. Click OK once more to return to your browser

Netscape

  1. From the menu bar, select Edit
  2. Select Preferences
  3. From Advanced menu, select Cache
  4. Click on the Clear Memory Cache button
  5. Click on the Clear Disk Cache button
  6. Click OK to return to browser

On older versions of Netscape: Pull down Options menu. On General page, under Temporary Internet Files click on Delete Files. Under History, click on Clear History.

AOL

  1. Go to Start - Programs - AOL - AOL System Information
  2. Click Utilities at the top of the window
  3. Click Clear Browser Cache. The Current Cache Size will change to 0KB
  4. Close the AOL System Information window by clicking the X in the top right hand corner of the window

Connect to AOL to see if this has solved the problem. If not, try this method:

If AOL System Information is not listed in the Programs menu:

  1. Sign on to AOL as normal
  2. Go to AOL keyword: Preferences
  3. Click Internet Properties (www) - This will open the Internet Options window
  4. Click Delete Files and then click OK to delete your temporary Internet files
  5. Now click OK to close the Internet Options window

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2. How to remove sites from the browser history

The browser history is different from the internet cache as it is located through the browser history function and keeps a temporary bookmark on all of the pages you've previously visited in a period of time.

To prevent anyone seeing your visits to a particular site, it is necessary to follow the directions below. This information will need to be cleared after every time you have looked at a site you do not wish someone to see that you have accessed.

Browser Win9x/NT/2000/Me

Internet Explorer

  1. Select View from menu bar
  2. Highlight Explorer bar
  3. Select History
  4. A bar shows up on the left hand side. Select the item you wish to delete
  5. Right click on the selected folder and select Delete

Netscape 6

  1. From menu bar select Tasks
  2. Highlight Tools
  3. Open the folder in which you wish to delete an item
  4. Open the Sites folder
  5. Select an item in the folder you wish to delete
  6. From the menu bar select Edit
  7. Select Delete entire domain

 

3. How to remove cookies from the hard drive

Cookies are small pieces of code left behind by web pages to store frequently requested information. For example, when you click on a checkbox to say 'Save my login information' it then writes a cookie to the hard drive that can be called upon next time you visit the site, preventing you from having to login again.

It is not a good idea to delete all your cookies files because if you do all stored passwords, user information, and preferences from various sites will be forgotten and you will have to re-enter all this information. This will be an obvious change. Therefore, you only need to delete cookies from sites that are high risk. This information will need to be cleared after every time you have looked at a site you do not wish someone to see that you have accessed. Also, note that all browsers will allow you to delete a single item.

Browser Win9x/NT/2000/Me

Internet explorer

  1. Select Tools from the menu bar
  2. Select Internet options
  3. Under the General tab look for Temporary Internet Files
  4. Click on Settings
  5. Click on View Files
  6. A list of cookies will appear Most of the filenames will be in this format [username@domain [eg username@domain.com]
  7. Select the cookie you wish to delete
  8. Right mouse click and select Delete

Netscape 6x

  1. From the menu bar select Edit
  2. Select Preferences
  3. Under Privacy & Security select Cookies
  4. Click View Stored Cookies
  5. Select the cookie you wish to delete
  6. Click Remove Cookie Do not tick the checkbox title Don't allow removed cookies to be reaccepted later This will add them to a list easily accessible through the Cookies Sites tab.

4. Keeping email safe

It is very easy for someone to access your private email - it can be (and usually is) read by unwanted visitors.

Here are some tips for you to follow to make sure your email is secure:

Test

Important note - This article does not deal with use of fraud on the internet. There are many ways other people can access any personal and financial details on your computer (these include putting small programs onto your computer) and potentially insecure use of functions, such as cookies (see below) and "autocomplete" functions on some computer systems (this can, for example, mean that your personal and financial details are automatically filled into any form on a website, using information stored on that particular computer).

Click here for more information and guidance about the extent of this type of fraud on the internet - the icons at the top of the page also provide some help in checking and improving the online security of your computer