Computer Safety

For your own safety – when you search for information or communicate about intimate partner violence - do not use any computer to which your abuser has access. Your Internet, e-mail and document use activities leave traces on your computer that can be found by your abuser. Use a computer to which he/she does not have access, such as at work, in a library, or a friend’s or family member’s computer.

Do not store passwords and change your password or passwords often.

Do not use obvious passwords, such as your birthday or your pet’s name. Use passwords that include both letters and numbers.

Delete e-mails and files/documents.

Delete e-mails from the “Send” or “Outbox” and then also delete e-mails from the “Deleted Items” box. In addition, empty the “Recycle” or “Trash Bin” of any documents before shutting down the computer. Make this a regular routine so it is not an unusual action that may trigger suspicion.

Clearing Out Your Browser: Cookies and Temporary Website Files*

The directions below describe how to clear temporary Website Files. Usually in the same location is a tab to clear Cookies, as well.

Internet Explorer 5.xx or 6.xx for Windows

• Click the 'Tools' menu on your browser
• Select 'Internet Options'
• In the 'General' tab, and under the 'Temporary Internet Files' section, click 'Delete Temporary Internet Files'
• Click OK to close the 'Internet Options' dialog.

After clearing your 'Temporary Internet Files', you may want to close all your browser windows, and then restart your browser.

Internet Explorer 5 for Mac OS X
• Click the 'Explorer' menu on your browser
• Select 'Preferences'
• Choose 'Advanced' from the 'Web browser' heading on the left side
• In the 'Cache' section, click the 'Empty Now' button
• Click ‘OK’
Netscape 4.xx and up for Windows, Mac and Linux
• Click the 'Edit' menu on your browser
• Select 'Preferences'
• Click on the '+' next to 'Advanced'
• Select 'Cache'
• Click 'Clear Memory Cache'
• Click 'Clear Disk Cache'
• Click ‘OK’
Mozilla and Netscape for Mac and Linux
• From the Menu, select "Edit" and choose "Preferences."
• OS X Customers: select "Mozilla" and choose "Preferences."
• In the window that opens, you will see a list of triangles and topics.
• Click the triangle next to "Advanced" and then select "Cache."
• From here, click the "Clear Disk Cache" and "Clear Memory Cache" buttons.
vSelect "OK"
Mozilla Firefox
• From the Menu, select “Tools” and choose “Options”.
• Click “Privacy”.
• Click “Clear” next to Cookies.
• Click “Clear” next to Cache.

Browser software usually keeps a chronological history of all web pages that you visit while online. For your safety, you may want to delete the record of web pages you have visited. It is a very simple process that will not in any way affect your computer other than to erase the fact that you have visited certain pages.

Windows 95 and higher
• Click the tab marked History in the toolbar of Internet Explorer.
• Your web pages visited history will appear on the left.
• Under today's pages, highlight the names of pages you wish to remove from the history and hit the delete key on your keyboard on each page name highlighted.
• Exit your Internet browser. This method will only delete the selected pages.
• To clear all of your history, follow steps 1 and 2 above then push button that says “Clear History.” The computer will ask if you are sure you want to do this, press “Yes.”
Windows 3.1 or older
• On your Internet browser click on Tools
• Click Internet Options
• In the section called Temporary Internet Files, click Delete Files then click OK
• In the section called History, click Delete History then click OK
NOTE: This method will delete all pages visited since history began.
Mozilla Firefox

To clear one item at a time:
• From the Menu select “Go”.
• Click “History”, a list will appear on the left on the screen.
• Highlight each item to be deleted and click “Delete”.

To clear all items at once:
• From the Menu select “Tools”.
• Click “Options”.
• Click “Privacy”.
• Click “Clear History”
NOTE: Cookies and Temporary Files are cleared here as well.