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Google Chrome

Clear Browsing Data such as the Cache, History, and Saved Passwords

SUMMARY: For privacy, clear data Google Chrome stores regarding your browsing history.

Even though Google Chrome supports "Incognito" browsing where history information is not kept and cookies are removed after browsing, there may be times when you do not use this mode and realize that a lot of potentially private information is being stored.

Thus, Google Chrome supports a feature where you can quickly clear browsing and download histories, the cache, cookies, saved passwords, and/or saved form data.

Note that at the time this tip was written (August 26, 2009), this feature is not available for those using Google Chrome Stable releases on Windows, but it may appear in the future. See the below warning box for more information.

1. Click on the "Tools" button.

2. Select "Options".

3. When the "Google Chrome Options" dialog box appears, click the "Personal Stuff" tab.

4. Next to "Browsing Data", click the "Clear Browsing Data" button.

4. A "Clear Browsing Data" dialog box appears. Check entries you want cleared and remove the checkboxes from items you wish to keep.

5. Next to "Clear data from this period", click the pull-down to choose whether you would like data cleared from just the last day, last week, last four weeks, or all data.

Clearing browsing data stored by Google Chrome

6. Once you are sure of your selections, click the "Clear Browsing Data" button to clear your data.

7. Click the "Close" button on the "Google Chrome Options" dialog box.

This tip was written regarding Google Chrome 3.0.195.6 (delivered by the Beta channel) on a Windows Vista machine. Google features, instructions, and screenshots will differ depending on if you are downloading Beta, Development, or Stable releases and also depending on your operating system.