How to Delete Browsing History in Internet Explorer 7

Clear your browsing history, cookies, temporary files, and more

What to Know

This article explains how to clear your browsing history in Internet Explorer 7 to protect your privacy. Microsoft discontinued support for Internet Explorer 7 in 2016

Microsoft no longer supports Internet Explorer and recommends that you update to the newer Edge browser. Head to their site to download the newest version.

How to Delete Internet Explorer 7 Browsing History

These instructions apply specifically to IE7, but you can also delete your browsing history in Internet Explorer 11 and Microsoft Edge.

  1. Select Tools > Delete Browsing History in the upper-right corner of Internet Explorer 7.

    Delete Browsing History under the "Tools" menu
  2. Select Delete history.

    The "Delete History" button

    Select Delete all at the bottom to remove all browser data stored by IE7.

  3. Select Yes to confirm.

    Select Yes to confirm.

What Types of Browsing Information Does IE7 Store?

In addition to a list of the websites you visited, IE7 stores other files to improve your browsing experience. The following options are listed in the Delete Browsing History window:

Temporary Internet Files

Internet Explorer stores images, multimedia files, and full copies of the websites you visit to reduce load times on your next visit to that same page.

Cookies

Some websites place a text file, or cookie, to store user-specific settings and other information. This cookie is referenced each time you return to provide a customized experience or retrieve your login credentials. To remove all Internet Explorer cookies from your hard drive, select Delete cookies.

Browsing History

Your browsing history is the list of URLs the browser has accessed. To remove this list of sites, select Delete history.

Form Data

IE stores information that you entered into forms. This way, when you enter the first few letters of your name or email address in a text field, the entire form auto-fills. Although very convenient, this feature can lead to privacy concerns. Select Delete forms to remove this information.

Passwords

When you enter a password, such as your email login, Internet Explorer usually asks if you want it to remember the password for the next time you log in. To remove these saved passwords from IE7, select Delete passwords.

You may see an option for Also delete files and settings stored by add-ons. Some browser add-ons and plug-ins might store information, such as form data and passwords, so check this option to remove that data from your computer.

Was this page helpful?