Clear the Address Bar

Category: Quickies

Q:

How can I clear the entries stored in the Address Bar? Tools/Internet Options/Clear History won't do it. There are still entries there that pop up whenever I begin typing in an address. I would like to remove those.




A:

Are you sure it's the Address Bar entries that are coming back? When you click on the little arrow on the right hand side of the address bar, is everything still there? The Clear History operation is supposed to clear those out.

In addition to clearing the browser history, you may also need to go to Tools / Internet Options / Content / AutoComplete / and then press the Clear Forms button to clear out all the typed URLs.

This article was posted by on 29 Aug 2005


For Fun: Buy Bob a Snickers.

Prev Article:
Firefox and Plugins

The Top Twenty
Next Article:
Thunderbird Setup

Most recent comments on "Clear the Address Bar"

(See all 27 comments for this article.)

Posted by:

steve
27 May 2007

I want to keep the addresses in my address bar but they are disapearing. do you know why?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Perhaps you have a setting to clear all private info when exiting the browser...


Posted by:

Sam
21 Jun 2007

My internet explorer doesn't have a tools button or any kind of button on the top. What do I do to clear the history since those buttons aren't on there?

EDITOR'S NOTE: It's not a button, per se. Don't you have the standard "File / Edit / View / History / Bookmarks / Tools / Help" toolbar on your IE window?


Posted by:

Antony
03 Sep 2007

Thank you Kelv, that solved the problem. Nothing worked before, because I used CC cleaner and didn't work, When I wrote the "a" all addresses with "a" appeared. No More auto-complete.


Posted by:

TJ Bruce
03 Jan 2008

I tried to clear address bar URL's with your suggestion and it does not seem to work-

I went to tools/internet options /content/autocompete and then pressed clear forms- all the address's still there


Posted by:

TJ Bruce
03 Jan 2008

I tried to clear address bar URL's with your suggestion and it does not seem to work-

I went to tools/internet options /content/autocompete and then pressed clear forms- all the address's still there


Posted by:

T Mitchell
05 Feb 2008

Well, I tried ALL of the solutions mentioned, in addition to REGEDIT HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\internet explorer\typedURLs. The registry only indicated AB Default with no value set and didn't list any URLs at all. Apparently there is a setting in Security or elsewhere that is preventing the URL address bar from being cleared maybe? Any other suggestions or knowledge in the matter? I'm using IE 7.0

EDITOR'S NOTE: I discovered by accident the other day that you can clear individual entries in the address bar just by moving the cursor to it, and pressing Delete. Works in Firefox, but not IE. Sorry...


Posted by:

D.Green
07 Feb 2008

I'm not even sure how I came across this page, but I just had to thank you... this has got to be the most helpful page I have come across. I was looking for help on one issue and found that there were several questions I have had for lets just say a long time! that I found the answers to. THANK YOU


Posted by:

Khan
19 Apr 2008

So is there a way to manually clear the auto-complete address bar search history in IE7 (not just disable it as the previous entries will still remain)?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes. Tools -> Internet Options -> General tab -> Browsing History -> Delete


Posted by:

Khan
24 Apr 2008

**FAVORITES** & Autocomplete (IE7 Search and/or Windows Explorer Search)

-------------------------------------------------

EDITOR'S NOTE: I noticed after following these steps that the address bar still contains entries that appear in your Favorites. My guess is that you'd have to clear out old entries in Favorites to get rid of them in the Address bar.

-------------------------------------------------


Posted by:

J Smith
04 Sep 2008

I would like to keep the most recent entries in the Explorer Bar. They are there but always show up half way down the drop down box. How can I fix this?


Posted by:

Monica
08 Sep 2008

Please help me I do not have the standard "File / Edit / View / History / Bookmarks / Tools / Help" toolbar on my IE window. I also do not have an address bar. What to do, what to do? Thank You

EDITOR'S NOTE: Press Alt-V then select Toolbars. You can re-enable them.


Posted by:

Nizzy
08 Jan 2009

I have tried all the suggestions and there are still websites on my address bar..they r not showing in my history, but when i search for them they are there...what do i do??


Posted by:

jamie
26 Jan 2009

thanks a lot. it worked.


Posted by:

Al Zampieri
06 Mar 2009

I have a Firefox browser and can't clear history.Followed all info including right click and delete and still can't clear?


Posted by:

JL
08 Apr 2009

I had the same problem. My cooling fan started to go out and as a result, the computer would shut off right in the middle of a search. I found that Internet explorer creates a .Dat file which logs all your address searches for quick links in the future. This log is what gets cleaqred when you clear history. However, because my computer shut down in mid search the log would not erase. It can be removed. You must goto Start Button, right click, explore. Goto C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\local settings\temporary internet files. you may see a file named INDEX it is a .dat file. delete this. If it will not delete, you must reboot and sign in as a different user. When finished, you must reboot, sign in as administrater and goto: C:\Documents and Settings\"USER NAME"\local settings\temporary internet files. "User name" would be the different users you have on your system. I had only one user on mine so I had to reboot in safe mode to be able to log in as administrator. Once you delete the index files your history should be gone.


Posted by:

Bobby Gene
05 Sep 2010

Windows7 (64-bit), Internet Explorer 8, blahblahblah...In "regedit", "edit", "find", type one of the URL's you can't delete (searching for "typedpaths" doesn't work), this will take you to typedpaths. Delete all but the "default". Close the regedit. Right click the task bar, cursor to "toolbars", click to uncheck the "address bar". This will take the "Address" from your task bar. If you do the same to put the check back in the "address bar", the Address will re-appear, without the address'.

When I find solutions, I post them on my website "1-4-all.org".


Posted by:

James
04 Apr 2011

Thanks pal, been battling to get rid of a slightly embarrasing adrress that popped up in the address bar despite clearing history etc, the "clear forms" in the autocomplete did the trick, but then you have to also go clear the history under internet options/tools


Posted by:

7brothers moving
23 Apr 2013

I am having the same problem and have tried everything and nothing works, any ideas would be helpful.


Posted by:

Amoro
16 May 2013

Hurrah! At last I got a webpage from where I be able to actually obtain valuable facts regarding my study and knowledge.


Posted by:

Via
30 Jul 2013

Great site, useful and informative. Thank you for the help with clearing my address bar.


There's more reader feedback... See all 27 comments for this article.

Post your Comments, Questions or Suggestions

*     *     (* = Required field)

    (Your email address will not be published)
(you may use HTML tags for style)

YES... spelling, punctuation, grammar and proper use of UPPER/lower case are important! Comments of a political nature are discouraged. Please limit your remarks to 3-4 paragraphs. If you want to see your comment posted, pay attention to these items.

All comments are reviewed, and may be edited or removed at the discretion of the moderator.

NOTE: Please, post comments on this article ONLY.
If you want to ask a question click here.


Free Tech Support -- Ask Bob Rankin
Subscribe to AskBobRankin Updates: Free Newsletter

Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
About Us     Privacy Policy     RSS/XML


Article information: AskBobRankin -- Clear the Address Bar (Posted: 29 Aug 2005)
Source: https://askbobrankin.com/clear_the_address_bar.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved