How to Find the Internet History of a Computer

Level of difficulty: Intermediate

An entry is recorded in Browser History file every time you browse a page. The browser performs a check in history file whenever you visit a Web page. If an entry is not there, it places an entry for the same. History file makes it easier for you to track a record of your visit to the page. You can go to your history file with most browsers by keying the -h command. But if you are checking the history file for a significantly quite old record, you need to do some extra work.

Materials Needed:
- Windows Operating System in functioning mode
- MS Internet Explorer or some other vendor's Explorer
Step 1
To view your browsing history you may click on the View menu of your Internet Explore browser. A drop down menu will appear. Select the Explorer Bar from the drop down menu. Another drop down menu will appear wherein which you can select History. The History page will then appear. This is usually located on the left part of your active Internet Explorer page. It is commonly organized in folders by date. If this step does not apply to you, proceed to Step 2
Step 2
Depending on the Internet browser you are using, you may follow these steps to view your Internet browsing history. Click on History in toolbar for Mozila. Press Ctrl + Alt + H together for Opera. For Internet Exlorer users, you may press Ctrl + H to view your Internet browsing history. If neither of the steps here work for you, proceed to Step 3
Step 3
Open the location C:\ documents and settings\ ' Your Username ' \local settings\history. This is the location where windows store your history files. For viewing the folder, you need to enable view hidden and system files. For that, open My Computer and go to Tools in toolbar. Now, select Folder Options. A dialog Box will open. Select view from the Toolbar and then select the radio button ' Show hidden files and folders ' and uncheck the box ' Hide protected Operating System Files ' and click Ok. If even this step does not work out, move to next step.
Step 4
Click on Start followed by a click on Run. A dialog box opens up. Type regedit and click Ok. Double Click 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER' then 'Software' and then 'Microsoft' followed by 'Windows' then 'Current Version'. Now double click on 'Explorer' then 'user assist' and then '{5E6AB780-7743-11CF-A12B-00AA004AE837}' followed by 'count'. The entries placed at the right hand side are encrypted and hence difficult to understand. But you can decrypt it by replacing all the characters by its next 13th character in English Language in a cyclic order i.e. after z move to a again. After conversion, you can see that it becomes readable. From here, you can check the history of all the pages you visited.