The Internet or the net is considered as one of the most groundbreaking event in the history of man; most likely third to walking on the moon and Michael Jackson’s transformation from a handsome African American to some White Thing.
Browsers are used to navigate through the net. The most popular browser is the Internet Explorer or IE. The second most popular browser is the Mozilla Firefox. Both browsers have address bars or a blank area at the topmost portion where site addresses can be typed.
Every time a particular site is visited or accessed, a cookie is deposited in your computer. Cookies are like foot or finger prints; they store information. They keep track of how many times you access the site. Sometimes they can store sensitive information such as account usernames and passwords. Cookies are not necessarily bad; they can make surfing life easier. Pages load faster because of cookies, you can start where you left off and they can fill in the blanks for your frequently accessed sites and accounts. The downside is they are a potential threat to privacy. Rogue cookies track surfing habits, harvest and transmit sensitive information without the consent of the person. Cookies can also cause browsers to crash, that is why it is advisable to periodically delete them.
The URL history is the list of sites typed on the address bar of the browser. Whenever a browser window is accidentally closed, typing the first few letters of the site on the address bar will create a pop-up menu displaying sites visited with those letters.
Temporary files or cache (pronounced “cash”) store images and copies of pages viewed. Like cookies, pages load faster because of this folder. Temporary files can be a threat to privacy because they store personal information and reveal surfing habits.
The History folder is another folder that saves Internet History; it records pages visited, personal information, and other programs or documents accessed from the computer.
Internet history can be viewed by accessing the following folders of your Windows operating system: Cookies, Temporary Internet files, and History. Another way of viewing Internet history is through the URL history; you can randomly type letters on the address bar or click on the arrow by the side to view sites that have been accessed so far.
Most browsers have built-in Internet history cleaners in their options menu. Cleaning your Internet history from time to time not only protects your privacy, it also keeps your pc running smoothly. A bloated cookies and temporary internet file folder can cause computers to crash because they use a good portion of your computer’s memory. If ploughing through the menu of your browsers is not your cup of tea, there are free programs that can do the cleaning for you. Freeware packages such as CCleaner effectively clean your Internet history; all you have to do is download, install and clean.
--- Maddie Wesson, 2006
