Safari questions

[pettycash]

a. How can I clear the history of the sites browsed?

b. Do I need to free up space by cleaning up the temporary files lie I/E Explorer please?

 

[Slydude]

Launch Safari and go to the Safari menu. One of the options there is "Clear History". That should do it.

 

[IWT]

And may I just add a further small point?

If you want to clear your history but preserve your website data, then hold down & keep holding the Option Key, then click History in the top Menu Bar and at the bottom of the list is "Clear History and Keep Website Data".

If you just clear the history, it also removes the website data and that means that you will have to re-login to most sites with your username and password. To avoid that, do as I suggested above - use the Option key (a tremendously useful key in numerous situations for changing the options in a dropdown window by the way).

Ian

 

[IWT]

With regard to your second question, you can go to the top Menu Bar, click on Develop and from the drop down, choose "Empty Caches"; but be warned that this tends to remove the website data I mentioned above and most sites will require a re-login.

I don't know if it really frees up much space, but it can be useful if you are having problems with Safari such as pages not loading properly or the like.

Ian

 

[pettycash]

Thank you so much for all your advices! For the first question, I know I can Clear History, but what I actually want to achieve is to find a way not to keep the trail of the sites visited in the first place (so that I don't have to clear them afterwards), is it doable please?

 

[IWT]

I actually want to achieve is to find a way not to keep the trail of the sites visited in the first place

The only thing that comes to mind is using the "Private Window" (File > New Private Window); but that's a major hassle having to select a new Private Window for each site. Moreover, if it is truly "private", then you will probably have to login to each & every site that requires such.

Maybe someone else can suggest something, but I can't recall any setting that does this for you on a permanent basis.

Ian

 

[pettycash]

But with FireFox, my history were not saved upon exit and I did not do anything, don't know why...

 

[IWT]

You are correct. In Firefox (FF), this only happens if you choose Preferences > Privacy > Check Box: Clear history when Firefox closes.

This is not the default, so you must have selected it at some time.

However, as far as I can see, there does not appear to be a similar setting in Safari.

Maybe my forum colleagues can come up with something I've missed.

Ian

 

[pine man]

The only thing that can be done in Safari is contained within Safari Preferences/General/Remove History Items/ select 'After One Day'. This is the minimum period that can be selected and may help - a little bit?

 

[pettycash]

Do we need to do anything to clear temp files, etc., in order to improve performance like Windows?

 

[pm-r]

Thank you so much for all your advices! For the first question, I know I can Clear History, but what I actually want to achieve is to find a way not to keep the trail of the sites visited in the first place (so that I don't have to clear them afterwards), is it doable please?

A bit late to the party here, but according to Mac OS X and Safari Help:

Use Private Browsing

With Private Browsing, Safari doesn’t remember the pages you visit or autofill your information. The webpages you have open aren’t stored in iCloud, so they aren’t available in iCloud Tabs on your other devices. Safari also asks websites and their third-party content providers (including advertisers) not to track you, although it is up to the websites to honor this request. Websites can’t modify information stored on your device, so services normally available at such sites may work differently until you turn off Private Browsing.

Private Browsing is off by default whenever you open Safari, so you must turn it on every time you open Safari.

Or am I missing something…???






- Patrick
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[IWT]

Mentioned all this in post #6, Patrick

Ian

 

[pm-r]

Mentioned all this in post #6, Patrick

Ian

Sorry for the ditto Ian.

BTW: I don't have any problems with Private Viewing set for various sites, it just stays on "Private" for each site:

but that's a major hassle having to select a new Private Window for each site.

- Patrick
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