I have a problem who should I contact?

• Please email us by clicking the Contact Us link at the bottom of this page.

Do you have a quick start guide?

• No, but you might find this information helpful. You can mouse over each option in HistorySweep to get a brief "hint" description of the item.
  
  It really depends on which browser you are interested in clearing data from. First off you can click on the gear icon in the system tray (lower right of your screen) to bring up the HistorySweep menu. From there click HistorySweep Control Panel.
  
  On the HistorySweep Control Panel you will see various tabs at the bottom such as "Internet Explorer" and "AOL Browser". Click on the tab for your corresponding browser. On this page you'll want to check "Sweep them all!" to sweep all the history for that browser. If it is the AOL Browser, Netscape, or FireFox you will also need to select which User Profile you would like to sweep history for.
  
  If no history is detected for that browser (says "Not Found") you can go to the Settings tab and try to find the location path of the history files yourself (click the folder next to the corresponding Path box).
  
  After you have done the above you can click Analyze Risk on the browser tab to see how many history files and how much history data is detected. You can then click Sweep to clear out that history data.
  
  HistorySweep is set up by default to detect which browser you are using and automatically check the boxes for it. The other default settings it has (on the Control Panel tab) will sweep your history data when all browsers are closed and when Windows starts up.
  
  That is pretty much all there is to it. You can sweep your history quickly if need be from the menu that comes up when you click the gear icon in the system tray.
  

I am running AOL 9.0 and HistorySweep does not find my history files, what should I do?

• You'll need to go into the HistorySweep Control Panel on the Settings tab and Customize the AOL path. You should be able to click the folder next to the edit box to bring up a directory finder window. You will need to find the location where AOL 9.0 keeps it's files. We were able to locate it in the following directory but it may be different on your machine: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AOL\C_America Online 9.0\organize\. Additionally you can click the "Locate" button and HistorySweep will attempt to located all version of AOL that are installed. You can select which version you want HistorySweep to sweep history for. Once you set the AOL9 organize directory you can go into the AOL Browser tab and check "Sweep them all!". Also choose which AOL profile you want to clear and then you can click Analyze Risk to see if it detects the drop down list (it should say something other than 0 bytes). Or click Sweep to clear it.

Why doesn't it clear the websites in my AOL URL drop down box?

• AOL doesn't save this information to disk until you close AOL. Close AOL, sweep your history with HistorySweep, and then re-launch.

How do I uninstall HistorySweep?

• Close HistorySweep (right click the gear icon in the lower right of your screen and click Shutdown HistorySweep and then Yes). Make sure Internet Explorer is closed.
  
  Uninstall ->
  Click Start|Programs|HistorySweep|Uninstall

I would like a feature included in HistorySweep, what should I do?

• You can request a feature by emailing us via the Contact Us link at the bottom of this page.

Do you have an affiliate program?

• Yes. We currently pay 50% of each sale on our affiliate program. You can access it via the Affiliates link at the bottom of this page.

Why are there files left over when I sweep all Internet Explorer Files?

• Internet Explorer is tightly intergrated with Windows. Windows locks some of the Internet Explorer files so they can not be deleted in Windows. Internet Explorer uses three main Index.dat files (Cache, Cookies, and History). These files are locked by Windows and can not be deleted normally. There is a "Delete Index.dat Files on reboot" option located on the Internet Explorer tab (requires reboot). Windows also uses some files which contain no history information to control the look of some file folders. These files are not deleted.

What is the HistorySweepService under 2000/XP?

• The HistorySweepService allows HistorySweep to access Internet Explorer AutoComplete Forms data on Windows 2000 and XP. The data is locked by Windows and only accessable via the SYSTEM user account. The HistorySweepService removes the locked AutoComplete Forms data.

What does AutoSweep when all Browsers are closed do?

• HistorySweep detects which browsers you have open. When you close all browsers of that browser type (IE, AOL, Netscape, or Opera) HistorySweep clears the selected history information for that browser type automatically.

What does AutoSweep in Stealth Mode mean?

• When HistorySweep performs an automatic operation such as killing a Popup or sweeping history it shows a small tooltip window in the lower right hand corner. When AutoSweep in Stealth Mode is enabled the tooltip window is not displayed for automatic operations.

What does the Boss Key do?

• When the Boss Key is pressed (CTRL-ALT-SPACE) all browser windows that you have open will be hidden. When you press the Boss Key again the browsers will be visible once more. This allows you to prevent others from seeing where you are currently surfing.

What does the Stealth Key do?

• The Stealth Key (CTRL-ALT-Z) will hide and unhide the HistorySweep icon from the Windows SystemTray (lower right hand corner).

What does Check for Update do?

• Check for Update will check our website and see if there is a new version available for download.

How does the Popup Killer work?

• HistorySweep uses a Browser Helper Object to detect when Internet Explorer tries to open a new window. HistorySweep will automatically stop all new Internet Explorer windows from opening. If Stealth Mode is not enabled, HistorySweep will popup a tooltip window letting you know when a Popup has been killed. If you would like to open a new window you can hold down the CTRL key and click the link to open it in a new window. If you will like to suspend the Popup Killer you can toggle the Scroll Lock key. When the Scroll Lock key is enabled the Popup Killer will not keep new windows from opening.

What should I have OverWrite & Rename Files set to?

• The suggested number of times to overwrite files by the US Department of Defense is 3. The HistorySweep default value is 1. If you are really paranoid you can set it to 99 times. However, 99 times is the slowest setting.

What does HistorySweep Alpha Blend Transparency do?

• Under Windows 2000/XP you can set the transparency of the HistorySweep window with this setting. When the window is partially transparent you can see through the window to the windows and desktop behind the window.

Does HistorySweep securely delete registry settings?

• HistorySweep sets most registry settings to blank before deleting the setting so that the data is completely removed from the registry even if windows does not immediately remove the key itself.

Does HistorySweep scramble filenames before deleting them?

• Yes, HistorySweep renames each file to a random number after each overwrite of the file.

I registered HistorySweep prior to 10/14/2004 and my serial number doesn't work in HistorySweep v1.20, what should I do?