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Staying safe on the internet

Tackling domestic abuse

 

STAYING SAFE ON THE INTERNET- READ THIS FIRST

You may not want your abuser to see what you are viewing on the internet. So that you stay safe when viewing these pages, click on the EXIT BUTTON at the top of the page if you are disturbed. This will instantly take you to the BBC website.

Remember, it’s not just about covering your tracks now, as the perpetrator may try to trace what you have been doing on the web later. See below for more information on how you can make it harder for them to find out what you have been doing and to keep yourself safe.

Covering your tracks

Email

It is important that you change your passwords on a regular basis to prevent your abuser gaining access to your account.

On the Internet

Once you have finished looking at any pages on the internet, it is important to cover your tracks so that your abuser cannot see what you have been looking at. Taking the following steps will ensure that any pages that you have been looking at on the internet will be deleted from your history.

Here are some common browsers. If your computer uses another type of browser not listed here, look at the browser's 'Help' facility to find out what to do.

Internet Explorer 5 and Internet Explorer 6

Go to the 'Tools' menu, and pick 'Internet Options'. Go to the 'General' tab; under 'Temporary Internet Files', pick 'Delete Files' and press 'OK'. Also on the 'General' page, under 'History' pick 'Clear History'.

Internet Explorer 7

Go to the 'Tools' menu and pick 'Delete browsing history'. Then pick 'Delete all'.

Netscape

On newer versions of Netscape, go to the 'Edit' menu, and pick 'Preferences'. Pick 'Navigator' and choose 'Clear History'. Pick 'Advanced' then select 'Cache'. Pick 'Clear Disk Cache'.
On older versions of Netscape; go to the 'Options' menu. Pick Network Options, Select Cache. Pick 'Clear Disk Cache'.

AOL

Go to the 'Members' menu. Pick 'Preferences'. Click on WWW icon. Then select 'Advanced. Purge Cache'.

Searches and forms

Many computers are set up to remember form entries - including things you have searched for on a search engine. For example, if you search for 'domestic abuse', the computer may 'remember' this. The next time somebody searches for a word beginning with the letter 'd', the phrase 'domestic abuse' will pop up automatically as a suggested entry - showing that person that you have searched for that subject.

To clear these remembered searches and forms:

Internet Explorer 5 and Internet Explorer 6

Go to the 'Tools' menu and pick 'Internet Options'. Go to the 'Content' tab; under 'Personal Information', pick 'Auto Complete' and then pick 'Clear forms'.

Internet Explorer 7

Go to the 'Tools' menu and pick 'Delete browsing history'. Then pick 'Delete all'. This clears the history of the pages you have looked at (see above) and removes the remembered forms and searches at the same time.

If you only want to remove the remembered forms and searches (and keep the pages history); go to the 'Tools' menu and pick 'Delete browsing history'. Then pick 'Delete forms'.

Other internet browser?

If your computer uses another type of browser not listed here, look at the browser's 'Help' facility to find out what to do.

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