Every computer has the ability to remember every activity you’ve ever performed on it. From emailing to surfing the net and entering personal information, your computer tracks all activities. As a result, it is incredibly important to erase all this information for your security and privacy. You wouldn’t want others to access this information, would you? But even if the computer in question is yours and you do not share it with anyone else, you may also benefit from erasing the history simply because it frees up your computer’s hard drive space, making an additional hard drive unnecessary.

Standard options of deleting a computer’s history allow you to recover information, if you require it. As a result, if you would like to permanently erase anything, special software is required. Computer history erasing software, also know as shredding programs, are an effective way to safely and securely eliminate all history without any possibility for recovery, as information is overwritten. This is imperative if you have particularly sensitive information you need to erase (e.g. bank information, personal data, etc.). There are a variety of shredders out there, and some are even free (although we can’t vouch for the quality of these). These free shredders are easily accessible and require downloading to your computer.

To erase your browsing history that is collected online, simply check under History in the toolbar (if using Safari), and select Clear History. For other browsers, it’s this easy as well.

Here’s a tip from Yuri Mintskovsky:

Free software is out there, but it can be very difficult to find. You may have to visit dozens of sites in the hope that there’s a freebie available for you to download, without finding anything. Here is what you can do to help narrow your search for freebies, and find them more easily.

Start your search by figuring out the exact software you need. This can be easily done by reading up on the software at review sites, forums, techie blogs and even the manufacturer’s site as well. There’s bound to be plenty of information available, so this could take a while to complete.

Usually, you’ll start with one specific software in mind, but don’t restrict your search to that alone. You may be able to find alternative programs that are just as functional, so explore your options (while you check out the sites for information about your desired program, you may stumble upon alternatives as well).

Once you find the exact program you want, use the power of search engines to find the software for you. Good terms to type in are:

free NAME OF SOFTWARE (e.g. free microsoft word)
free TYPE OF SOFTWARE (e.g. free word processing software)
NAME OF SOFTWARE for free (e.g. microsoft word free)

And don’t forget to check out the manufacturer’s site thoroughly as well. Many companies offer a free trial that allows you to use your desired software at no cost for a limited time (such as a couple of weeks or a month). That way, you can rest assured knowing that you most likely won’t get a virus when you’ve downloaded the program, too!