Internet Safety Resources

Internet Explorer (IE) History

This brief tutorial will demonstrate how to see what web sites have been visited in your Internet Explorer web browser. This tutorial was built with screen shots from IE version 6. You can download the latest Internet Explorer web browser at the following location:

www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/

The screen shots displayed in this tutorial were taken from a computer running Windows XP Professional. Other versions of Windows or Macintosh computers will look different, but the steps outlined are similar.

Note: the information contained in this tutorial is not a fool-proof method to determine what has been viewed on your computer. With a little knowledge, anybody can alter or delete the record of visited web sites.

View The History

1. Click the "History" button on the toolbar (or, click the "View" menu, select "Explorer Bar" and choose "History")

2. IE will display a listing of sites by date.

View Stored Cookies

Another way to determine what sites have been visited on your computer is to examine the “cookie” files left by many web sites. This method is not a foolproof test either, as cookies can be deleted, but it is another method that may help you discover what has been viewed by your computer.

Cookies are just a small piece of data left on your computer by some web sites. Not every web site will store a “cookie” but many do. The cookie is typically used to identify you when you return to a web site.

1. Click the "Tools" menu and select "Internet Options..."

2. Click the "Settings..." button

3. Click the "View Files..." button

4. IE will display a list of temporary files along with cookies that have been placed by web sites. These are sites which have been visited at some time.