How do i get deep into my laptop and erase all my previous files (websites that i've visited etc.)?

Question

besides just clearing the history i want to get into my files to look at them and delete everything (basically what a computer guy would do) i've done it once before but i cant figure out how to do it again. HELP please

Answer 1

I know of a few tricks, but none of them would really be considered "deep".  Even fully reformatting leaves traces.  This will work in general--you'd need to really know where to look and how to resurrect files to get past this.

Basically, the first step is to go into your web browser, and delete all cookies, all of the history files, and clear the cache.  Where you do this depends on the browser you use, and if you use more than one, you should do it for each browser.

I use Firefox.  It's in "Tools", then "Options", then "Privacy".  You'll see an option to clear private data, delete cookies, etc.  check the list of what is considered private data and what is actually cleared through this method by clicking on "Settings" inside of that window.  Check everything that you want deleted.

The second step is to clear your operating system's history of recent documents.  I run an older Windows OS, and it's under "Start", "Settings", "Task Bar and Start Menu", "Advanced".  You may have to poke around to find the right spot on your OS.

The third step is to go into your temporary folders and manually delete things.  These are stored in various places, and again, it depends on what you're running.

Finally, make sure that the trash bin on your computer is empty.