Clear Google Search History and Safeguard Your Privacy

“Google Privacy” – that sounds like an oxymoron, isn’t it? Whenever I think about it, I get scared to no end. My primary (and secondary and tertiary) search engine is Google, I use Google mail, my primary IM is Google Talk, I use Google apps for work, Google docs has kicked out MS Office on my PC, Google Chrome is my default browser and worst of all, my DNS provide is Google again. Add Google Reader, maps, News, Picasa and Youtube to the list, hardly 10% of my online life is sans Google.

Does Google store every search I do?
Every time I start up my Chrome browser, I find that all the previous searches I have done are stored, whether from the Google search box or when I’m actually on the Google home page.

No, it’s not Google who is storing the info, rather it is your browser.

How to Delete your Google Search History?

The search box on the Google homepage displays query suggestions both from your own previous searches and other relevant queries. The second set of queries is powered by Google Auto Suggest. However, your previous searches, i.e your search history are stored by your browser, not by Google.
The below instruction is for deleting search history from the Google home page search box. This is if you manually type in Google.com address in your browser to perform the search.
Internet Explorer 8
1. Go to Tools menu
2. Select Internet Options
3. On General tab, click on the “Delete…” button from the Browsing History area.
4. Select the “Form Data” checkbox and click on “Delete” button to clear forms.
Firefox
1. Click the Tools menu.
2. Select Clear Private Data.
3. Select Saved Form and Search History.
4. Click the Clear Private Data Now button.
Google Chrome
1. Click on Tools (spanner icon)
2. Click on Options
3. Select Under the Hood tab.
4. Click on Clear browsing data
5. Select Clear saved form data
6. Click on Clear browsing data.

How to Clear your Google Toolbar history?

To clear your search history in the drop-down search box on the Google Toolbar, follow these steps:
1. Click the arrow on the right-hand side of the Toolbar search box.
2. Click the Clear History link.
Better option is to stop saving search history on Google toolbar. To do this click on Tools icon and deselect “Store search history on my computer” and save it.

How to Clear your Address bar History?

The browser’s address bar also acts as a search bar. And if you’ve set your default search engine to be Google, it acts like the Google toolbar also, even though it’s not.
Internet explorer
1. Click on Tools menu.
2. Click on Internet Options
3. Select the General tab
4. Click on the Clear History button
5. Confirm that you want your history deleted.
This will clear all of your history, including the list of places you’ve visited in the History window.
Firefox
1.Click the Tools menu.
2.Select Clear Private Data.
3.Select the ‘Browsing History’ option.
4.Click the Clear Private Data Now button.
Safari
1.Click the History menu.
2.Select Clear History.

Make use of Private Browsing option

Most of the browsers these days provide “private browsing” mode (or Incognito mode). That’s the best thing to opt for all the privacy freaks out here. Makes worrying about histories, caches, and similar all moot. Remember to turn on private browsing whenever you want to explore the net without leaving any sort of trail behind you.