History won't clear

[Nickie]

When I go to tools and clear history, my history doesn't
clear. When I type something in my address bar, it auto-
completes with an address that I visited months ago.
Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[jj]

hello nikkie,
i have found a solution for your problem .please visit
this link and you will find your answer.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=157729

hope this resolves your problem.

 

[DVarnau]

Nickie,
These are coming from the index.dat file in the History folder.
Free History Eraser from
http://smartprotector.com/eraser/free-history-eraser.htm will delete the
History folder (and the index.dat file) and a new one will be created when
you restart.
Or the History folder can be deleted manually:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm

Additional advice:
You might (or might not) want to turn off Autocomplete (inline) from Tools>
Options> Advanced and/or Options. Content> Autocomplete.

Hope this helps,
Don

 

[Ken]

There are two separate issues involved.

First, I had the same problem erasing History in IE for a
long time and none of the usual suggestions helped,
incluing deleting the folder in DOS, accessing Internet
Options through Control Panel, purging all spyware, and
crippling any protective programs that were running.

However, I discovered that I had a separate "Internet
Options" screen available within my AOL browser that did
indeed let me clear the History cache. Apparently the
software from AOL (and maybe other ISP software as well)
can keep a "handle" on the History folder preventing other
processes from deleting its contents. This appears to be
true regardless of which browser (IE or AOL's) originally
went to the sites in the cache. If you have AOL running i
the background when browsing with IE, this may apply to
you.

The path for deleting the history cache and other web
matters from within AOL (6.0 for example) is as follows:
Settings > Preferences > Internet Properties
From there, the screens should look somewhat familiar and
the procedure will be obvious.

Regarding AutoComplete:
You can disable it if you do each of the following:
In Tools > Internet Options, select Content tab and
then "Autocomplete" button. Uncheck all options shown.
Then, go back to Internet Options' main screen and choose
Advanced tab. Scroll down to where you see options
related to "Search from the Address bar" and check the one
that says "Do not search from the Address bar".

Elsewhere in the Advanced list, under the browsing
portion, you will see options for "Inline AutoComplete".
As long as you have made the other settings explained
above, these options affect only the address bar's
automatic fill-in of http...etc in front of URLs that you
type in -if they don't already have them. For example,
Google will become http://www.google.com
So that option is unrelated to your problem of
autocomplete offering previously typed URLs in a drop down
display and you can leave it enabled if you want.
(The fill-in won't actually happen unless and until you
press the Control key at the same time as you press Enter.)