How to Restrict Users from Deleting Cookies, Temporary Files and Other Browsing History Data in Internet Explorer?

When we browse on Internet and visit a website, several temporary files such as cache, cookies, form data, passwords, etc are stored by the web browser on our computer system. This browsing history data helps the web browser in opening the visited webpages faster and remembering our email IDs, passwords and other data to fill them automatically for us.

For users convenience, all web browsers also provide built-in options to clear this browsing data. Users can clear browser cache, delete cookies, history files, etc using these built-in options.

Sometimes you may want to disable such feature in your web browser. For example, if your computer system is also used by other people such as your friends, family members, etc, you may want to restrict them from deleting your browsing data as it'll remove all your visited websites links from history, your browser cookies, cache, etc and you'll need to save them again in the web browser.

Now the question comes, how can you prevent others from deleting your browsing history data in your web browser? Don't worry, here is the answer!

If you are using Internet Explorer web browser and want to restrict other users from deleting browsing history data, this tutorial will help you.

Since Internet Explorer is a part of Windows operating system, we can use Registry Editor tweaks torestrict users from clearing browsing history data in the web browser.

If you also want to disable options to delete browsing history data such as cache, cookies, etc in Internet Explorer web browser, check out following simple steps:

A. Disable Main "Delete Browsing History" Option in Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer provides a separate option to delete browsing history data which can be accessed using following ways:

• Menu bar (press ALT key to show it) -> Tools -> Delete browsing history
• Tools icon (Alt+X) -> Safety -> Delete browsing history
• Using "Internet Options" window
• Using Ctrl+Shift+Del keyboard shortcut

Once you open "Delete Browsing History" window, it provides several options to delete selected browsing history data such as temporary Internet files, cookies, form data, history, etc as shown in following screenshot:

You can disable this whole option so that no other person can delete your browsing history data in Internet Explorer.

To disable "Delete browsing history" option, do as following:

1. Type regedit in RUN or start search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\

3. Create a new key Internet Explorer under Microsoft and then create another new key Control Panel under Internet Explorer key.

So the final key structure would be:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel

4. Now in right-side pane, create a new DWORD DisableDeleteBrowsingHistory and set its value to 1

That's it. Close Registry Editor and open Internet Explorer. Now users will not be able to access "Delete browsing history" option in the web browser. The option would be grayed out everywhere and the "Ctrl+Shift+Del" hotkey will also stop working.

"Delete browsing history" option grayed out in Menu bar:

Delete browsing history option disabled in Internet Options window:

PS: If you want to enable the option again in future, either delete the DWORD created in step 4 or change its value to 0.

B. Disable Selected Options in Delete Browsing History Window

If you don't want to disable the whole "Delete browsing history" window in Internet Explorer but want to restrict a few selected options such as restricting users from clearing cookies only or restricting users from deleting browser cache only, then following steps will help you:

You can disable one or more desired options in "Delete browsing history" window according to your requirements. Following is a list of all options present in "Delete browsing history" window of Internet Explorer:

• Preserve Favorites website data
• Temporary Internet files and website files
• Cookies and website data
• History
• Download History
• Form data
• Passwords
• Tracking Protection, ActiveX Filtering and Do Not Track

Following are the steps to disable all or selected options in "Delete browsing history" window:

1. Type regedit in RUN or start search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\

3. Create a new key Internet Explorer under Microsoft and then create another new key Privacyunder Internet Explorer key.

So the final key structure would be:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Privacy

4. Now in right-side pane:

To disable "Temporary Internet files and website files" option:

Create a new DWORD CleanTIF and set its value to 0

To disable "Cookies and website data" option:

Create a new DWORD CleanCookies and set its value to 0

To disable "History" option:

Create a new DWORD CleanHistory and set its value to 0

To disable "Download History" option:

Create a new DWORD CleanDownloadHistory and set its value to 0

To disable "Tracking Protection, ActiveX Filtering and Do Not Track" option:

Create a new DWORD CleanTrackingProtection and set its value to 0

To disable "Preserve Favorites website data" option:

Create a new DWORD UseAllowList and set its value to 1 to keep the option checked but grayed out or set its value to 0 to keep the option unchecked but grayed out.

5. Now create a new key Control Panel under Internet Explorer key.

So the final key structure would be:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel

6. Now in right-side pane:

To disable "Form data" option:

Create a new DWORD DisableDeleteForms and set its value to 1

To disable "Passwords" option:

Create a new DWORD DisableDeletePasswords and set its value to 1

That's it. Once you disable or restrict your desired options, close Registry Editor and open Internet Explorer. Now try to open "Delete browsing history" window and all your desired options will be grayed out/disabled in the window as shown in following screenshot:

PS: In future, if you want to enable those options again, simply delete the DWORDs created in above steps.

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