Covering Your Tracks

If you are worried about someone knowing you have visited this website, please take a few minutes to read the information below and to take steps to increase your safety when using the internet.

How an abuser can discover your internet activities

Email:

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 email messages, they may be copied or saved and printed as evidence of this abuse.

History or cache files:

If an abuser knows how to read your computer's history or cache file (automatically saved web paged and graphics), they may be able to see information you have viewed recently on the internet.  You can clear your history or empty your cashe file in your browser's settings as follows:

Internet Explorer:

• Pull down Tools menu
• Select Delete Browsing History
• Select Delete Files
• Select Delete History
• Select Delete Forms
  

Firefox:

• Pull down Tools menu
• Select Clear Private Data
• Tick Browsing History, Saved Form and Search History and Cache
• Select Clear Private Data Now
  

AOL:

• Pull down Members menu
• select Preferences
• Select WWW icon
• Then select Advanced, Purge Cache

Toolbars:

Toolbars such as Google, AOL and Yahoo keep a record of the words you have typed into the search box. To erase all the search words you have typed in, you will need to check the individual instructions for each type of toolbar. For example, for the Google toolbar all you need to do is click on the Google icon, and choose "Clear Search History".