How To Clear Personal Information From Your Computer

Removing personal information from your computer can be tricky. There are so many factors to consider and so many places your information is stored. Maybe you want to save valuable information on the computer that you also want to protect. How do you do that?

What to Back Up and What to Delete

With all of the important things you should be backing up there is a host of things you should not back up.

Operating System Files: The operating system should not be a part of your backup. The reason is that your computer should have come with either a system restore disk or a full version of Windows. You would need to reinstall the operating system to make it work again anyway so backing it up won't help.

Application or Program Files: Again, if an application in installed on your computer chances are that you have the disks to reinstall it if necessary so this will not have to be backed up.

Temporary Internet Files: Here is something you can delete that will help to protect your personal information. Internet files can be pictures, webpages, JavaScript files, and cookies. Cookies can have a trace of where you have been and what you have been doing online. They can also store password. So, it is a good idea to delete these files from time to time.

How to Delete Temporary Internet Files and Cookies

Since you probably want to delete temporary Internet files and cookies you will also want to know how. Here is how to do it in Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Deleting Temporary Internet Files in Internet Explorer

1. From Internet Explorer click the Tools menu.
2. Click Internet Options (or Options depending on the version).
3. On the General tab, click Delete Files next to Browsing History.
4. Click Delete Files next to Temporary Internet Files.
5. Click Yes.
6. Click OK.

Deleting Temporary Internet Files in Firefox

1. From Internet Explorer click the Tools menu.
2. Click Options.
3. On the Privacy tab, click Clear Now next to Private Data.
4. Click Clear Private Data Now.
5. Click OK.

Deleting Cookies in Internet Explorer

1. From Internet Explorer click the Tools menu.
2. Click Internet Options (or Options depending on the version).
3. On the General tab, click Delete Files next to Browsing History.
4. Click Delete Cookies next to Cookies.
5. Click Yes.
6. Click OK.

Deleting Cookies in Firefox

1. From Internet Explorer click the Tools menu.
2. Click Options.
3. On the Privacy tab, click Show Cookies next to Cookies.
4. Click Remove All Cookies.
5. Click OK.

You can also remove certain cookies and temporary Internet files by searching for them in the same area that you would delete all of them.