Most advice about shared computers stops at clear your history. That handles the most obvious trace and misses the rest. The ones people forget are the ones that matter most. A saved password is a much bigger problem than a history entry.
The six places
| Where | What it holds | How much it matters |
|---|---|---|
| History | Every page you opened | Visible, but rarely the worst |
| Cookies | Your signed-in sessions | High. Someone can carry on where you left off |
| Saved passwords | Whatever you let the browser keep | Highest, and easily missed |
| Autofill | Name, address, phone, card details | High. It fills in on its own |
| Cache | Copies of pages you looked at | Medium |
| Downloads folder | The files themselves | High. Clearing history does not touch it |
Before you start
Open a private window and do everything inside it. Closing it handles the first five on its own. One action instead of a checklist.
That is far safer than cleaning up afterwards. Cleaning up needs you to be calm and unhurried when you finish. The times this goes wrong are the times someone had to leave in a rush.
Not leaving a trace is easier than removing one.
If you did not, or the computer would not let you
- Sign out of every website properly, using the site's own sign-out button. Closing the tab leaves you signed in.
- Say no when the browser offers to save your password. If you already said yes, go into saved passwords and delete that one. Clearing history does not remove it.
- Clear browsing data for your whole session. Include cookies and cached files, not just history.
- Check autofill if you typed an address or a card number. It is stored separately.
- Empty the downloads folder, then empty the recycle bin. A deleted file sits there in full until you do.
- Check the recent files list in any app you used, and look on the desktop for anything you saved and forgot.
The part the browser cannot fix
If you opened or printed a document, the app you used keeps its own recent files list. Printing can leave a copy on the machine too. No amount of browser cleaning reaches that.
On a computer you do not control, the safest choice is not to open private files on it at all. Use your phone, or wait.
Afterwards, from a computer you trust
If you signed in to anything important, change that password when you get home. Then sign out all other devices if the website offers it. Most do, under security settings. This is the step that undoes anything you missed.
It is also a good moment to stop using the same password everywhere. A password you typed on someone else's computer should protect one account only.