Most people don't realise how  their browsers betray them. It's not so bad at home, but in a work context it could cost you your job.

Yeah, yeah, you're not supposed to be surfing, you're supposed to be working. But who's going to know, right? Actually, practically anyone in the office. All they need to know is what to click. Try this: left-click the little arrow head beside the address bar and you'll get a comprehensive list all recently entered addresses...



Then there's my old favourite, the History bar. Hit <Alt + H> on most browsers and you'll get a comprehensive listing of every site visited in the last three weeks...



Both tools are occasionally useful if you've forgotten an important address, but if you're using a work PC they're also useful to your colleagues -- and the boss. You might think you're being discreet signing in to TradeMe or Facebook when no one's looking, but your browser's faithfully recording each and every visit.

(Of course if you're using a work PC, every address you visit's almost certainly being recorded by network software too. But that takes a little effort and expertise to obtain. Browser betrayals are available to anyone with access to your PC.)

Still, there are a couple of things you can do to be a little more discreet. Change the History settings for a start.You'll find them under Tools / Options / Privacy in Firefox and Tools / Internet Options in Internet Explorer.



I mean to say, do you really need to record details of three weeks of web activity, everything you've downloaded and the stuff you enter in forms and the search bar? I'm sure you boss'd be interested too!

Firefox has a brilliant privacy extra, the Always clear my private data when I close Firefox option in the same window as the History settings...



Hitting the Settings button gives you even finer control ...



When it comes to browser betrayals, you can't be too careful!

(Footnote: All screenshots are from Firefox 2.)