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[Arab Nights (imported)]

Sorry about this being an attempt in plain English to describe computer stuff.

Across the top of my screen I have the various horizontal bands of icons, etc. The bottom one is clearly marked AVG and all the things relate to AVG.

Above that are two "bands" that appear related to Yahoo.

At the very top is one "band" that I think is Google. It has the "back" and "forward" arrows, then the space where URL's show, the refresh button with opposing arrows, the red escape X and then a box with the red, green and gold Google symbol. This is my concern. On the box with the URLs, there is a drop-down arrow. When you click on it, you get a drop-down screen with two groups: history and favorites. When you click on the arrow to the right of history, there is a list of 20 places. When you move your cursor over each place, a red X appears to the right. You can click on that to erase it. My problem is that if I X-out the EA places, I think I have cleared the history so the young ones won't accidentally stumble across this. However, after clearing those, if I move the cursor elsewhere on the screen, then back to the dropdown, additional EA places show. Sometimes you have to move back and forth a couple of times before no more show. Logging in and then logging out and clearing cookies does not help.

So my question is: how can I either remove this (which I think is Google) or incapacitate the history part? I share things from here with wifey, so that is not the issue. But I do not want the young ones to stumble on it.

Any suggestions. Thanks.

[bobover3 (imported)]

What to do depends on the browser you use. Do you use Internet Explorer? Mozilla Firefox? Some other? All browsers I know allow you to delete your browsing history.

If you use Internet Explorer, click on Tools at the top of your browser screen. Then click on Internet Options. In the General tab of the Internet Options window, click the box that says "Delete browsing history on exit." Click on Apply at the bottom of the window, then OK. If you do this, every time you shut down Internet Explorer, your history will be automatically deleted.

If you use Mozilla Firefox, click on Tools, then Options. Click on the Privacy tab. You'll see a page about your (browsing) history. By making choices on the drop-down windows, you can choose to always or never remember your history. You can also choose whether you want the Location Bar (where you type in addresses of sites you want to visit) to suggest both your history and bookmarks, history only, bookmarks only, or nothing as you begin to type. You might want to suggest bookmarks only. (I'm assuming you don't have EA bookmarked.) That way, Firefox won't "suggest" your kids go to an EA page.

If you use another browser, there's probably something similar under Options.

Hope this helps.

[Arab Nights (imported)]

A tentative thumbs up on your advice. One key is to follow your instructions thru to Internet Options>General>Delete history on exit because there is a button before you get there to delete the history. I think the latter is just a one off thing. I followed your prompts and went to far as to shut down. Upon firing up again, that history was completely blank.

Thank you also for writing in plain English.

[bobover3 (imported)]

That button to delete history applies only to the current history. If you hadn't checked the "delete browsing history on exit" box, you'd need to click the delete button every time you used EA.

By checking the box to "delete browsing history on exit," you automatically delete the history each time you exit the browser. So long as that box stays checked, you don't need to use the delete button.

[Arab Nights (imported)]

Since making the changes Bobover3 recommended, I have noticed that the AVG scans go quicker and there is less stuff it picks up. I don't know if the difference is harmless fluff, but the difference is noticable.

[bobover3 (imported)]

A lot of your browser history is fluff.

CCleaner is a good piece of free software. It scans your memory and registers for useless debris left by computer operations, and can delete them. Getting rid of the fluff can avoid potential malfunctions. CCleaner is the last thing I use every day before turning off my computer.