Disable History Function in IE6

[Gurn3r]

Hi
I am in the process of locking down XP SP2 machines and wish to remove the history function from IE. I have removed the button from the toolbar, and also prevented customisation of the toolbar in IE. Obviously the way round this is to press ctrl+H or go through the view menu. I'm not bothered by the screen coming up, just the contents of it - I'm sure I've managed to do this before by changing the cache size in the registry, but can't remember how i did this (and i'm uncertain whether it fixed it in any case), or where I found the information.
I was hoping to achieve this without resorting to IEAK.
Cheers

 

[bcastner]

Have you tried setting the days to keep pages value for history to 0?

 

[Gurn3r]

Yes, it still keeps history until logoff - and logoff has been disabled to prevent access to shutdown from the logoff screen. Shutdown from the start menu has been removed independantly, as have access to WinKey combinations.
I have also configured IE to remove temp files on exit, though this has no affect on history.

 

[eyec]

not sure but you may be able to do this thru editing the registry entires for history buffer size, i.e. change the value to 0(zero).

just remember to copy down the existing keys & values before trying this so you can undo it if needed.

 

[Gurn3r]

OK think I have the answer:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\Cache\History\CachePrefix
Change from Visited: to NoVisited:

Unfortunately I need to test this on a clean install, as I have made several changes to get to this solution - I'll post back to confirm that this is the only required change.

 

[bcastner]

Let us know the results.

A History setting of 0 days stored will clear all entries on logoff.

If you cannot do this, I am sceptical that the current logon session History can be prevented.

The cache, by the way, is essentially a registry and not disk cache.

There are third-party utilities that promise timed interval or other clean-up of these entries, but natively I think you are out of luck.

Best wishes,
Bill Castner

 

[Gurn3r]

OK - I've now tested on two independant machines.
The above regedit works, as long as you clear the history from within internet options after applying the change.

 

[bcastner]

And if you just clear manually under Internet Options, General, clear History something other than that would happen without the registry entry?

I am baffled by your comment and registry edit.

 

[eyec]

so, you have effectively stopped all history logging?

 

[Gurn3r]

bcastner:
Sorry for any confusion.

"The above regedit works, as long as you clear the history from within internet options after applying the change."
I accept that the statement is a little misleading. A more accurate statement would have been that;
"before applying the regedit, you need to ensure that the history has been cleared; and if you have browsed to any web pages inbetween clearing history and applying the regedit, you will need to clear the history again."
If you clear history under internet options and then browse the internet further, the new pages are kept in history until logoff (if history is set to 0 days), or until the next time the history is cleared (if logoff doesnt take place). Bearing in mind that my users do not have access to logoff, shutdown or internet options, this means that all pages since the history was last cleared by admin are visible to all users of that machine by clicking on either the history icon on the browser toolbar, or pressing [ctrl]+[h].
The regedit only prevents new pages being kept in history.

eyec:
Yes, I have stopped all history logging on IE6 - as far as I'm aware. This however, was not the only step required to do this. In addition to history, IE keeps track of typed URLs within the address bar. To prevent this from being tracked, I had to change permissions on the following registry keys to denied for the user:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedURLs

After the regedit has been applied the only history kept is in the back and forward buttons. Each time the browser is closed these are obviously cleared. Therefore this is an adequate solution for removing history without the requirement of sufficient user permissions to access either logoff or internet options.

 

[bcastner]

Thank you Gun3r, that clarifies things for me greatly. Nice job.

 

[eyec]

now that you have figured it out, may i ask why you wanted to erase/disable your users' history?

i just puzzles me why anyone in IS/IT Management would do this.

 

[Gurn3r]

eyec:
The reason I require the history to be removed is due to a project I am responsible for; which is basically the supply of machines configured for usage in an Internet Café environment One of the requirments, amongst many, was to prevent users being able to see sites that previous users had been to during the day.
Kind Regards

 

[eyec]

thank you

 

[sbicecream]

Can you please tell me how to block the internet options menu in explorer (6.0) using registry edit? You mentioned that your users don't have access to this menu. I have a similar application (internet access in a cafe and don't want users changing the settings). I am running xp pro, sp2 and can't seem to find the registry key. thanks.

 

[Gurn3r]

Hi sbicecream

I think the key you're looking for is:

HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions\NoBrowserOptions