Surfing the internet means that you are leaving files all over your computer that will gradually grow and take up valuable hard drive space. So let's take a look at the steps you can take to regain that valuable hard drive space, improve internet speed and still surf the internet as often as you want!
About
Every time you visit a web site, your computer stores a copy of the page in your cache for faster loading the next time you visit it. Every time you click "Remember Me" or something similar, your computer stores a cookie on your hard drive so that the next time you visit the web site, your login information is automated. Every time you visit a web site, your computer stores the web address in the history of visited web sites. All of this builds up and ends up robbing you of computer speed, and hard drive space. Many people never realize this, and end up getting very frustrated when the computer slows down.
For the purposes of this article, we are going to assume that you are using Internet Explorer 7. If you are using Mozilla FireFox, you can do the same things with ease. We'll cover that at the end of this article.
Step One
Access your internet options one of two ways. Either way brings you to the same conclusion, so it all comes down to a matter of preference. If you think about doing it right after you finish this article, method two is slightly quicker. If you are not already using the internet, then method one would probably be easier.
Method One: Go to: Start > Control Panel > Internet Options.
Method Two: Open a browser window. Go to: Tools > Internet Options.
Step Two
You should be looking at the General tab. If not, navigate to this tab with your mouse.
Now, look for the section that says, Browsing History. Click Delete.
This opens up a window that lists several options. You can either go through the list and delete them all one at a time, or go to the bottom and select Delete All. Delete All is the least time consuming manner to make sure you delete all the unnecessary junk, but it may not be appropriate if you want to keep all your stored passwords and form data.
Step Three
Now, to make this an easier task the next time you want to do it, go back to the Browsing History option, and click Settings.
This opens up a window that lists several more options. The first one controls how often Internet Explorer will store a copy of the page and all of the objects. Choose one that suits your personal needs and preferences. The second one controls how much storage space, (up to a maximum of 1 GB) that you will allow these files to occupy on your hard drive. The third, controls where these objects are stored.
The internet history options are also located in this window. Unless you are watching the internet activity of someone in your household, you really do not need to keep the history very long. Keep it a day or two in case you want to go back to a site that you forgot to bookmark, or cannot remember, and otherwise delete it. It's unnecessary internet junk!
Tips, Warnings, and Other Information
- For Firefox: Open a browser window. Go to: Tools > Options > Privacy. This covers your history, cookies, and clearing data. Based on the information your read, choose your options and click OK.
- When you delete cookies, you'll likely lose the "Remember Me" data on all of your web sites, so you will have to re-enter this data when you visit the web site again.
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