Summary: Sometimes you just want to clear what you've searched for from the browser's history. These steps clear that information in Internet Explorer 7.
OK, you've show how to do it for Internet Explorer 6 and for FireFox - how about those of us on IE 7? How do we clear the search history?
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The good news is that it's apparently very similar to IE 6.
But naturally the names and locations of some items have changed.
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In Internet Explorer 7, hit the Tools menu, Internet Options menu item, and you should see something like this:
Underneath Browsing History, click on Delete and you'll get this:
Obviously there are many things you can delete here. If you're looking specifically to clear the searches that you've entered into the Google home page, then click on Delete Forms...:
Hit Yes and you're done.
Note that this will clear auto-complete entries from all web forms, not just the Google homepage.
And there are still several other places in Windows that remember things for you - I'll refer you to that previous article: How do I delete history items from my Google tool bar? for more of those.
Related:
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Ask Leo! - How do I delete history items from my Google tool bar?
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Ask Leo! - How do I clear my search history in FireFox?
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Ask Leo! - How do I delete items from Internet Explorer's auto-complete list?
Article C2834 - November 9, 2006
how can i delete history in windows vista
Posted by: bader at January 31, 2008 8:42 PMLeo - I was excited to find this page. I've not been able to find anything esle this helpful on the issue of the "deleting browser history" function hanging. The problem I have is that I don't see "Internet Options" in my Controll Panel. I thought this was just a function of the IE7 upgrade, but from what you have said, it appears I should have that setting despite having IE7. Any idea why it's not showing up in my control panel and how to fix the situation?
(I haven't found any other way to fix the deleting-browser-history problem so I'm really hoping for a fix with your approach.)
Thanks!
Posted by: Gill at February 4, 2008 12:51 PM-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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I don't know why it's not in control panel, but the
instructions above get to it it from within IE7 itself. In
IE7's Tools menu you should find Internet Options.
Leo
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Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at February 4, 2008 8:30 PMuQud6v3eKEF9fYrxsM9cNl4=
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I had the same issue with IE7. When I would try to delete the browsing history it would hang indefinitely and I would be forced to close through task manager. I tried everything in the book to fix it, short of throwing my computer out the window...
My problem stemmed from Nero Scout. It's some sort of indexing software that was installed with Nero 7 ultimate. Strangely, when I installed Nero, I remember that I selected to NOT install Scout. Anyway, here's what fixed it for me:
1. Search for NeroScoutOptions.exe and run
2. Uncheck box labeled "Enable Nero Scout" in upper left corner of window
3. Click Ok
4. Reboot
5. Try to delete history
This worked for me after two weeks of pulling out my hair. I unistalled and reinstalled IE, I ran numerous malware removal tools, I did a HJT eval... Funny how one little checkbox can ruin everything.
Posted by: Jason at July 5, 2008 4:17 AMIn addition to the above, you may also want to run msconfig to see if you have NmBgMonitor.exe or NMFirstStart.exe in the startup list. If so you may want to disable them to prevent Scout from running automatically.
If this fix works for you, but you find the problem arising again, bring up task manager via Ctrl-Alt-Del and look for a process titled NMIndexsvr.exe or similar. That's Scout running in the background. End Process to kill it.
Happy Hunting
Posted by: Jason at July 5, 2008 4:52 AMYou can also just have IE nuke History on exit. found it here - http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/ie/automatically-clear-ie7-browser-temporary-files-at-exit/ or use a batch file but I cant figure out how to do that yet.
Posted by: SFree at October 6, 2008 9:31 AMIf you want to delete the browser address bar history do the following:
Posted by: andysacks at October 23, 2008 5:12 PM1. Open the command line.
2. Run regedit.
3. Delete the values that you want to get rid of at this path:
HEKY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedURLS
OR
Run a program like SecureWindows from PC-Kitchen:
http://www.pc-kitchen.com
Why is my history for previous days not there when i start my computer? I have internet explorer 7 and running windows XP. I also have norton antivirus running. Thanks
Posted by: SERGIO at January 4, 2009 5:53 AMYES the hanging issue is solved: Nero was the problem Thanks for the shared information.
Posted by: joost at January 20, 2009 1:24 PMIs there a way to recover Internet Explorer History files? Mine seem to have gotten corrupted a a certain point & those weeks prior to that date will not open... Using IE7, Vista Ultimate.
Posted by: Fio at March 19, 2009 4:55 AM