Search Memory

I notice that whenever I click Start -- Search, upon entering any letter, I get a history of all searches I have ever done for anything beginning with that letter. Is there a way to erase this memory or disable it?

 

Turn autocomplete off:

When you first open search there will be a topic near the bottom labeled "Change Preferences ", click it and click the "Turn autocomplete off" option. That should do it!

 

Thank you. It is no longer showing the old info, but is it still recording it? I wish all histories required us to opt in rather than opt out. There are privacy issues along with wasting hard drive space. Is there any way to find out all the histories being recorded, giving control back to the user?

 

Hello Barry,

*It is no longer showing the old info, but is it still recording it?*

Yes, still being recorded.

There was an option in 9X under Taskbar & Start menu to erase the MRU - "most recently used" log, haven't run into that on XP.

There is a registry hack for this, but that is only this log - there are a lot of them - so wouldn't go down that route.

If you look here http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads.php there are a number of both free and paid software that will erase usage tracks. SpyBot - free has an option to do this, besides it's other functions as a malware cleaner.

Regards - Charles

 

Thank you Charles. I think I removed them using SpyBot.

 

No, I must have done something wrong, as when I turned autocomplet back on, the files were still there. Care to walk me through the process?

 

Barry - my absolute favorite app for doing the sort of cleanup you want (including allowing deletion of the little index files that hold lots of this info after you think you've deleted it) is a freeware utility named Spider.

 

The list is in the registry and can be cleared if you do such:

See section entitled "clear history lists" and a paragraph lower is "search assistant's" acmru list:

http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/expertzone/columns/honeycutt/03june09.asp

 

Hi Barry,

From the main page:

settings > file sets, there the last category is usage Tracking - tick that and the subsidiary box underneath that: tracks.uti

There are a lot! These will also include application usage as well.

Regards - Chalres

 

Thanks for all the help. Spider didn't work, probably because it isn't rated for XP, but I did find a privacy setting on my Allera System Cleaner 2001 v.4.9.1.142. It took care of the search memory. I'll try SpyBot again in the future. I did as you suggested, but may not have checked all the files to delete.