Clear Browsing and Search History in Internet Explorer

To clear browsing and search history in Internet Explorer, open the browser, press Ctrl+Shift+Delete, and click “Delete” after selecting “History” and any other data you want to remove. This works in Internet Explorer 9 through 11, the final versions of the browser. Below is the full step-by-step process, plus what each option actually does, how to automate it, and how it differs from modern browsers.

Why Internet Explorer Still Matters

Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer on June 15, 2022, and most modern sites no longer work properly in it. However, millions of older Windows machines, corporate intranets, and legacy web apps still rely on IE. If you are using it—either out of necessity or because you haven’t migrated—you still need to manage your privacy. Unlike Edge or Chrome, IE stores history in a unique way, and the clearing process has several quirks that confuse users.

What Exactly Gets Stored

Internet Explorer separates your activity into several categories. Understanding each one helps you avoid deleting something you need or leaving something you don’t want behind.

• History: The list of websites you’ve visited, stored in the History folder. This is what shows up when you press Ctrl+H.
• Cookies: Small text files that remember logins, preferences, and tracking IDs. Deleting them signs you out of most sites.
• Temporary Internet Files: Cached copies of images, scripts, and pages. They speed up loading but can reveal what you’ve viewed.
• Form Data: Text you’ve typed into forms, like names or addresses. IE calls this “Form data” in the delete dialog.
• Passwords: Saved login credentials. IE stores them in the Windows Credential Manager, not in the browser itself.
• Search History: There is no separate search history in IE. Searches you perform on Bing, Google, or any other site are stored as regular history entries. The “Search history” you might see in the address bar dropdown comes from the typedurls registry key, which is covered below.

Step-by-Step: Clear Everything at Once

This is the method most people want. It wipes all the categories listed above in one go.

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+Delete on your keyboard. This opens the “Delete Browsing History” dialog instantly, without needing to navigate menus.
3. In the dialog, check every box you want to clear. To be thorough, check all of them.
4. Click the Delete button at the bottom.
5. A progress bar appears. When it finishes, the dialog closes and your history is gone.

If you prefer using menus: click the gear icon (⚙) in the top-right, select Safety → Delete browsing history. That opens the same dialog.

Clearing Only the Address Bar Dropdown

A common complaint is that after clearing history, the address bar still shows old URLs when you type. This is not stored in the regular history—it’s in the Windows registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedURLs. To clear it:

1. Close Internet Explorer completely.
2. Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
3. Navigate to the key above.
4. Select all the url1, url2, etc. values on the right, right-click, and choose Delete.
5. Close the Registry Editor and reopen IE. The dropdown will be empty.

Be careful in the registry—deleting the wrong key can cause issues. Only remove the values inside TypedURLs, not the key itself.

How to Clear History Automatically on Exit

If you want IE to wipe your history every time you close it, there’s a built-in setting:

1. Click the gear icon → Internet Options.
2. Switch to the General tab.
3. Under “Browsing history,” check the box that says “Delete browsing history on exit”.
4. Click OK.

This clears the same categories as the manual method, but only when you close the browser. It does not clear the TypedURLs registry key, so the address bar dropdown may still persist.

Common Problems and Misconceptions

“I cleared history but my search suggestions still appear.” Search suggestions in IE come from your default search provider (like Bing or Google). They are not stored locally—they’re fetched live from the provider. To disable them, go to the address bar, click the gear → Manage add-ons → Search Providers, and turn off suggestions (if the provider supports it).

“Clear history doesn’t work.” If the delete button does nothing, you might have a group policy forcing history retention. This is common on corporate PCs. Check with your IT department. Another cause: antivirus software that locks IE’s history files. Temporarily disabling it (not recommended) can confirm this.

“I only want to delete one site.” Press Ctrl+H to open the History panel, right-click the site or page you want to remove, and select Delete. This removes just that entry.

“Does clearing history affect my saved passwords?” Only if you check the “Passwords” box. Otherwise, they remain intact.

Comparing IE to Modern Browsers

Internet Explorer’s clearing method is clunkier than what you’re used to in Edge or Chrome. In modern browsers, you can choose a time range (last hour, last 24 hours, all time). IE does not offer this—it deletes everything at once. Also, IE separates “Temporary Internet Files” from “History,” while Chrome merges them under “Cached images and files.” The biggest difference: IE stores history in a proprietary format that third-party cleaning tools often miss, so using the built-in dialog is the most reliable way.

If you are on Windows 10 or 11, you should be using Microsoft Edge instead. It is faster, more secure, and receives regular updates. IE is a legacy tool, and every year more websites break on it. If you only use IE for one old site, consider running Edge in “IE mode”—it’s built into Edge and handles legacy pages better than IE itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the clear history button in Internet Explorer 11? Press Ctrl+Shift+Delete, or click the gear icon → Safety → Delete browsing history. There’s no one-click button on the toolbar.

Does clearing history in IE also clear my search engine history? No. Search history is stored by the search engine (e.g., Bing, Google) on their servers. Clearing IE’s local history only removes the URLs you visited, not your search queries stored on the engine’s site.

How do I clear history on Internet Explorer for Windows 7? The same steps work. Windows 7 supports IE 9, 10, and 11. Press Ctrl+Shift+Delete, check the boxes, and click Delete.

Why does my history come back after I clear it? If you have “Delete browsing history on exit” enabled, it clears on close. But if you’re using a roaming profile (common in corporate networks), the history may sync back from the server. Check with your system administrator.

Can I recover deleted IE history? Possibly, using forensic tools that scan the raw disk. But once overwritten, it’s gone. For privacy, this is good; for accidental deletion, it’s bad. There is no built-in undo.

Is it safe to delete all temporary internet files? Yes. You’ll lose cached images and scripts, so pages may load slightly slower the first time you visit them again. You won’t break anything.

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