I have a very nosey flatmate who goes through the history details on my PC (I use Explorer 4.0) and then tells my friends what websites I have visited. This can be embarrassing if he talks about chat rooms or really silly places I’m been haphazardly surfing to. Can the history function be temporarily disabled, or can you delete selected items from the history list?

Both of the remedies you have suggested will work. To disable the history, go into ‘Internet Options’ which is in one of the menu’s in Internet Explorer (but I am unable to tell you which one because I run IE 5 rather than 4. For readers who use IE 5, it is located in the ‘Tools’ menu). When the ‘Internet Options’ appear, you should see a section down the bottom named ‘History’. In that section there should also be something like ‘Days to keep pages in History’ followed by a number. If you set this number to ‘0″, this should delete the history after one day. Should you wish to delete the history after each internet session, click the ‘Clear History’ button. If you cannot find any of the functions that I have just described, I suggest you upgrade to Internet Explorer 5 which can be done by (i) downloading it off the internet (ii) purchasing a copy of Windows 98 SE Upgrade (if you are running Windows 98) or(iii) you should be able to find a copy of it on the cover CD’s of most PC/Internet magazines. There are programs which can also automatically delete your history. Some programs which will do this are System Mechanic: www.iolo.com/ and Window Washer www.webroot.com.