You leave behind traces of your browsing whenever you surf the internet on your Windows computer. This could entail search phrases you've entered into your browser at sites like Google and MSN, cookies, pictures from websites, and web addresses. Many people don't realize this, and it can become a liability if an unsuspecting family member stumbles across private information.

It doesn't mean you're surfing bad sites if you want to keep your internet browsing history to yourself. Perhaps you are looking up medical information about something you would rather keep to yourself. Another thing you might be doing is simple Christmas shopping.

Your privacy could be at stake if your computer becomes infected with spyware or malware since Windows tends to retain all this data in the caches and history folders. Even if it's just an anonymous web advertising tracker, many people simply do not want data about them collected by anyone.

There are so many stories about people who find that their significant others are doing sketchy things on the internet, and most of the time it's because they have stumbled across cache files or internet addresses that are saved in the url box or search fields.

In order to thoroughly clean out your computer we recommend using a privacy software tool such as ParetoLogic Privacy Controls.

Look under the "tools" menu for a clear private data option or similarly phrased button. Firefox and Internet Explorer both have this feature. This is not complete, however. Your search history might not be cleared out and images are often still left behind.

In the event that you want to make sure you do a completely thorough job of clearing your computer of all trails then you should definitely consider one of the several good privacy software programs available. These software programs will scan your computer and allow you to clean out a lot, including info that's kept in third party programs like Flash and Acrobat reader.

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