Concerned about someone knowing you've visited here?

Here's how to reduce the chances that your net travels will be traced.

Browsers like Netscape are designed to leave traces behind indicating where you've been and what you've been looking at on the net. It's hard to absolutely guarantee that your travels on the net can't be traced at all, but here are some simple things you can do to reduce the chances that someone can look through your computer and find out what you've been reading.

In general, you want to erase two different things after you've left this web site and/or any other site that you don't want traced.

One is the "cache" where the computer stores copies of files you've looked at recently with your browser. This will be a directory that will have various files in it. You will want to erase all of those files. To do this in Navigator, open the EDIT menu, choose PREFERENCES, choose ADVANCED, then choose CACHE. A screen will appear where you can click on the buttons, "Clear Memory Cache" and "Clear Disk Cache." Click on each of these and then hit "OK." Your cache will now be cleared.

The second thing you need to erase is your History List. This will be a single file containing the addresses of the places you've recently visited. In Navigator, click on the EDIT menu, choose PREFERENCES, then choose NAVIGATOR. A "Clear History" button will appear on the screen. Select it, then choose "OK." Your history list will now be erased.

If you are using Internet Explorer. open the TOOLS menu and click on INTERNET OPTIONS. Under the GENERAL tab you will see a section called TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES. Click on the button marked DELETE COOKIES and the button called DELETE FILES. This will delete any temporary files from your computer. Just below this section, there is another section called HISTORY. Click on the button that says CLEAR HISTORY. Your history list is now erased.

Other browsers will be slightly different in the detail of what's required to do these two things. But in any case, what you'll need to do is clear your cache and erase your history list.

Again, this doesn't guarantee that your browsing can't be traced. Someone with greater computer sophistication will still be able to reconstruct your net travels. But it's a good thing to do to make it more difficult for someone to know where you've been.

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