Close Site Button
The red Close Site button on the top right (top centre on mobile) of the Hull Women’s Aid website will quickly hide the page but you will still need to delete your history to fully cover your tracks.
Internet Explorer
Click on the Tools menu and select Internet Options. On the General page, under Temporary Internet Files, click on Delete Cookies and then OK.
Click on Delete Files, put a tick in the box labelled Delete all offline content and click OK. Under History, click on Clear History and then OK.
Now look at the top of the window and click on the Content tab, select AutoComplete and finally, Clear Forms.
Firefox
Click on Tools and then Options, then click on Privacy. Click on the Clear button next to Cache and Saved Form Information.
Deleting your browsing history
Internet browsers also keep a record of all the web pages you visit. This is known as ‘history’. To delete history for Internet Explorer and Firefox hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard, then press the H key (Ctrl, Alt and H for Opera).
E-mail
If an abuser sends you threatening or harassing email messages, they may be printed and saved as evidence of this abuse. Any email you have previously sent will be stored in Sent Items. If you started an email but didn’t finish it, it might be in your Drafts folder. If you reply to any email, the original message will probably be in the body of the message – print and delete the email if you don’t want anyone to see your original message.
When you delete an item in any email program (Outlook Express, Outlook, etc.) it does not really delete the item – it moves the item to a folder called Deleted Items. You have to delete the items in deleted items separately. Right click on items within the Deleted Items folder to delete individual items.
Toolbar
Toolbars such as Google, AOL and Yahoo keep a record of the search words you have typed into the toolbar search box. In order to erase all the search words you have typed in, you will need to check the individual instructions for each type of toolbar. For example, for the Google toolbar all you need to do is click on the Google icon, and choose “Clear Search History”.
Don’t forget to log out. If you use any forum, don’t forget to log out of your account when you have finished your browsing session so no one else can log in as you.
General Security
If you do not use a password to log on to your computer, someone else will be able to access your email and track your internet usage. The safest way to find information on the internet, would be at a local library, a friend’s house, or at work.
All of the above information may not completely hide your tracks. Many browser types have features that display recently visited sites.
The above information is reproduced with kind permission of Women’s Aid, May 2018. It is available in its latest format here and remains the copyright of Women’s Aid.