How to Disable "Clear History" function

I share my computers with my family (we use multi-user function) but it is strange (read "suspicious") when my kids use the computer for extended lengths of time yet no history remains in the browswer or in the Recent Items menu.

Is there a way to disable the "Clear History" function in Safari or other OSX browser? I also want to disable the "Clear Menu" function in the "Recent Items" menu under the Apple Menu.

I use a variety of OS versions from 10.2 to 10.4

I don't know of anything to remove the Clear History option in Safari but to remove the Clear Menu function in Recent Items, take a look at FruitMenu. Its $10 so you may want to search through VersionTracker or MacUpdate to see if you can find freeware that can do what you need first.

Great! Thanks!

I downloaded FruitMenu and it seems like it will do the trick for the Recent Items problem - I just have to play around with it to make sure it does what it says it will.

i'd just put my foot down and say "you delete the history, you dont use the computer"

until you find the right program that is...because finding something in safari to disable the deletion of the history is going to be hard, the hardest part is going to be able to completely disable "private browsing" where it doesnt log anything at all!
good luck, if i stumble across something ill be sure to post it up...so far i have come up with nothing
-chris

<nerdspeak>
You could download and install the Apple Developer Tools to access Interface Builder, then manually remove "Clear History" from that menu.
</nerdspeak>

surfwax95 said:

<nerdspeak>
You could download and install the Apple Developer Tools to access Interface Builder, then manually remove "Clear History" from that menu.
</nerdspeak>

Click to expand...

I was thinking about that as well, but tried it out and Safari doesn't actually have the clear menu option in that file, they only have the page snapbacks and stuff.

coach_z said:

i'd just put my foot down and say "you delete the history, you dont use the computer"

Click to expand...

Good point, coach_z, but there's always the clever "delete history and then surf on 'safe-sites' for a while to create an innocent history." Kids aren't so dumb as to not realize they are being watched. (sigh)

Safari has a great function to allow certain sites, but it would be great if there was a disallow site function as well. I mean, you can allow yahoo.com, but what happens when they do a search for a perfectly harmless topic and want to link out to it?

surfwax95, dTwizy, your nerd-factor is much higher than mine (read as compliment) so I look forward to any further tips you can give me. I would of course consider modifications on another browswer and just cut access to Safari, but Firefox seems to have even tighter privacy settings. Or is Firefox more easily modified by a file editor than Safari?

You could check out the cookies in the Preferences, unless they thought of clearing that too...

That's a good point. I haven't checked that, but I think it will boil down to me catching them once and then them figuring it out. Then it will be, clear cookies, do safe browsing for a bit and then logout.

Besides, you can remove individual (****ing) cookies...

What you could do is take a screenshot of the cookies you have before you leave the Mac. Then when you get back home you look at the cookies that are left. Like compare with the before and after...

You could try Spector, it takes screenshots at a set interval, so no matter what they do, you can see. We have it set up at work, and it works great, but is somewhat expensive at $100.

Again, good idea, but I really just want to remove their ability to alter it at all.

Out of curiosity, what type of accounts did you give them? Admin or non-admin?

non-admin

I don't have any kids and have only set up a non-admin account for testing purposes but... Did you use the Parental Controls to block certain privileges to those non-admin accounts? I just had a look and you can choose certain things just am not sure what you can choose in Safari for instance...

BTW did you read this Apple page, Family - For a kid-safe computer?






Edited to add:

You might want to check these out: Kids GoGoGo 11.8 and Apple's Internet Utilities - Downloads page.

guy u are going all wrong.

they can and will get around any program if they are tech savvy and they want to, you need to sit down and have a talk with them.

I agree with the_New_guy. I'm 18 now, but when I was a kid I could get around any kind of safe guards my parents put up. Talking with them would seem like your best option.