In today’s fast-moving and busy world, we often do not worry about our browsing history or bother deleting it. But over time, it has a huge effect on our virtual life.
Now, personally, I keep my browsing history clear at all times, but that is definitely not the case for everyone. So, how often should you clear browsing history?
To be precise, it depends on how many people have access to the same device. If you’re the only device user, then it’s not necessarily important to clear your browsing history as it could help you a lot of time when you want to re-check your browsing data.
On the contrary, if you’re using a device that is shared with many people, you must clear your data after every session.
And lastly, if you’re not conscious of online threats and security, you should clear your browsing history at least once a month.
However, the best practice is to delete the browsing history once a week. It keeps you secure from data breaches. If any hacker gets to you or anyone tries to sneak into your browsing history, they will not be able to do any harm.
Key Takeaways:
- Cleaning browser history is an effective way of securing your data and maintaining a proper browsing experience.
- If you clear your browsing history regularly, third party apps will not be able to sneak into your privacy.
- Clearing browsing history is simple and only takes a few seconds.
Is It A Good Idea To Clear Browsing History?
While a lot of people may say otherwise, cleaning your browsing history is a great idea. Why? Let me tell you.
When you enter a website or search for something on Chrome, Safari, or any browser, it keeps track of the addresses or URLs you have visited. Not only that, but it also keeps proper track of the cookies you have accepted on several websites and so on.
Even though browsing history allows you to go back to a website easily and save time, this history piles up over time as new and new searches are being made every day depending on your research or needs. The accumulation of these data over time causes the browser to slow down and often results in providing poor loading speed or performance.
The best way of preventing the browser from slowing down is to keep the browsing history clear. In addition to that, it also protects the privacy of the user by removing all information about the site they have visited.
What Are The Pros & Cons Of Clearing Browser History?
Now cleaning the history of your browser surely has its pros and cons. Let us take a look at the pros and cons of clearing browser history.
Pros:
Prevents Browsers From Slowing Down
One of the top advantages of deleting the browser history is that it helps the browser to operate at a fast speed. As we discussed earlier, the information on the browsing history, i.e., website history and cookies, pile up which ends up slowing the browser down, and it takes a longer time to load websites or pages.
Reduces Third Party Tracking
When you visit a website or page, you will often notice a pop-up accepting cookie on the website for a better experience. The browser saves information when you accept the cookies and third-party applications or websites typically purchase this information or use it to direct ads depending on the browser history or preference of the user.
When you clear the browsing history, all the cookies are deleted along with it. This means that third-party websites or applications cannot track you or use your preferences for ads in any way.
Keeps Your Privacy Intact
If you use a device that is usually used by other people as well or have a browser or account that is shared on quite a few devices, then clearing the browsing history has a major benefit. This will help you to make sure that your browsing history cannot be accessed by other people using the account or device, keeping your privacy safe.
Cons:
Removes All Data
One of the major disadvantages of removing the browsing history is that you will lose access to all data. This means that you will no longer have the ability to search for a website, page, or file from the history and have to manually look for the information or data you are looking for.
Autofill Will Not Work
When we use a browser to search for a piece of information, we will notice that the browser will autofill the sentence or keyword for us the next time we go to the search bar. Clearing the browser history will remove all of these saved data, and you will have to type the entire sentence manually.
How Often Should You Clear Browsing History?
There is no definite answer on how often should you clear your browsing history. There are different scenarios regarding browsing histories, and it also depends on individual preference.
If you use or browse the internet on a device that is shared between a number of people and if you do not want people to know about your search history, then you should delete it before exiting the browser.
However, if you have no problem with people seeing your browsing history and so on, then you can simply close the browser without clearing it as well depending on your preference.
On the other hand, I would personally recommend you clear your browsing history at least once a week. The reason behind this is that the browser might provide a poor and slow performance once a lot of data and cookies get piled up.
How To Clear Browsing History?
It is quite easy to delete the browsing history and does not take any longer than a minute. As of today’s date, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Chrome are the most used browsers all over the world. Therefore, I will discuss the step-by-step process for deleting browser history from these leading browsers.
Mozilla Firefox
The steps on how to clear browsing history from Mozilla Firefox are as follows:
Step 1: Open the browser and click on the menu option from the top right of the tab.
Step 2: Click on history to open it.
Step 3: You will see multiple boxes on the history page and mark the boxes you’re willing to remove.
Step 4: Select the time frame depending on the amount of data you’re looking to delete
Step 5: Then click OK.
Step 6: Voilà! You now have a clean browser history.
You May Also Read: How to Recover Deleted History Firefox Mac?
Microsoft Edge
Clearing your Microsoft Edge browser history is very easy. Just follow the following steps:
- Open Microsoft Edge on your device and type edge://settings/clearBrowserData or click on the three Dots\Settings\Privacy, Search and Services\Clear Browsing Data on the tab.
- Select the time frame to “All Time” and check the boxes you want to delete.
- Click the clear button and your browsing history will be gone forever.
Google Chrome
Clearing Google Chrome browsing history is similar to Microsoft Edge. Just follow the below mentioned three steps:
Step 1: Similar to the previous browsers, type on chrome search bar://settings/clearBrowserData in the address bar, or you can go through it manually by Three Dots\History\Clear Browsing Data.
Step 2: Mark the browsing history and click on delete browsing history.
Step 3: Choose the time to all time and click “clear data”.
Final Verdict
Even though clearing browsing history is more of a personal preference of users, it is a good idea in order to protect your privacy. Now while there are cons to it, the pros surely outweigh it in terms of privacy and user experience.
We have now reached the end of this guide, and I hope that my discussion on how often should you clear browsing history has helped you to clear the confusion regarding search history. However, before you clear the browsing history, make sure that you bookmark all the important websites and pages so that you do not have to face trouble finding them again.