Domestic abuse

Covering your tracks when you are using this website

The perpetrator of domestic abuse may try to see what you have been doing on the internet. You might be better looking at these pages in the library (it's free), or some other safe place.

If you are viewing them at home, it is possible to make it harder for someone else to see what you have been doing and so increase your safety.

But the information on this page is a guide only - it may not completely hide your tracks in every case.

E-mail

If an abuser has access to your email account, they may be able to read your incoming and outgoing mail. If you believe your account is secure, make sure you choose a password that an abuser will not be able to guess.

If an abuser sends you threatening or harassing e-mails, you can print them and save them as evidence.

A record of the pages you've looked at

If an abuser knows how to read your computer's 'history' or 'cache' file (automatically saved web pages and graphics), they may be able to see which pages you have viewed recently. You can clear this file to cover your tracks. What you do depends on which internet browser you're using - that's the software you open to get onto the web.

Here are some common browsers. If your computer uses another type of browser not listed here, look at the browser's 'Help' facility to find out what to do.

Internet Explorer 5 and Internet Explorer 6
Go to the 'Tools' menu, and pick 'Internet Options'. Go to the 'General' tab; under 'Temporary Internet Files', pick 'Delete Files' and press 'OK'. Also on the 'General' page, under 'History' pick 'Clear History'.

Internet Explorer 7
Go to the 'Tools' menu and pick 'Delete browsing history'. Then pick 'Delete all'.

Netscape
On newer versions of netscape, go to the 'Edit' menu, and pick 'Preferences'. Pick 'Navigator' and choose 'Clear History'. Pick 'Advanced' then select 'Cache'. Pick 'Clear Disk Cache'.

On older versions of Netscape; go to the 'Options' menu. Pick Network Options, Select Cache. Pick 'Clear Disk Cache'.

AOL
Go to the 'Members' menu. Pick 'Preferences'. Click on WWW icon. Then select 'Advanced. Purge Cache'.

Searches and forms

Many computers are set up to remember form entries - including things you have searched for on a search engine. For example, if you search for 'domestic abuse', the computer may 'remember' this. The next time somebody searches for a word beginning with the letter 'd', the phrase 'domestic abuse' will pop up automatically as a suggested entry - showing that person that you have searched for that subject.

To clear these remembered searches and forms:

Internet Explorer 5 and Internet Explorer 6
Go to the 'Tools' menu and and pick 'Internet Options'. Go to the 'Content' tab; under 'Personal Information', pick 'Auto Complete' and then pick 'Clear forms'.

Internet Explorer 7
Go to the 'Tools' menu and pick 'Delete browsing history'. Then pick 'Delete all'. This clears the history of the pages you have looked at (see above) and removes the remembered forms and searches at the same time.

If you only want to remove the remembered forms and searches (and keep the pages history); go to the 'Tools' menu and pick 'Delete browsing history'. Then pick 'Delete forms'.

Other internet browser?
If your computer uses another type of browser not listed here, look at the browser's 'Help' facility to find out what to do.


If you are disturbed use the Exit button above to quickly get out of this web page. It takes you to the Google website.

Stay safe: see how to hide what you have been doing on the internet. See cover your tracks.


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