I am absolutely stumped. How do I clear the recently viewed items/history. Theres no 'clear' button.

[Anonymous]

I am absolutely stumped. How do I clear the recently viewed items/history. Theres no 'clear' button. I am logged in, but still see all the items I recently viewed.

[skyline39]

I would also be very interested in learning how to delete the search history, Makes it hard to hide Xmas shopping from the wife.

Any Ebay reps available to answer this question? If search history cannot be deleted Amazon will get all my Xmas purchases from now on.

[barenudedude]

Me to. Why is this such a big deal??
Why can't we erase these recently viewed items??

[barenudedude]

OK,  I think I've figured something out.  Please note!  I am not  a computer pro!

I noticed that the items that appear in the "recently viewed" panel are specific to a computer.  What I mean there is, if I log into another computer, the recently viewed items are different.  Which means this must be computer specific.  And even more specifically, it must be tied to a data file or cookie on that computer.

I tried deleting the cookies on my computer but that did not work.  But!!   that's because of a setting I have in Internet Explore.

While in Internet Explore, under Internet Options, Delete Browsing history....  there is this option;

PRESERVE FAVORITES WEBSITE DATA.

So.... if you have EBAY as a favourite, under your "FAVORITES" tab, then the related EBAY cookie(s) will not get deleted.

Now, I did not "unchoose" or "unclick" the "PRESERVE FAV...." option, because I did not want to delete all the preserved data I have stored for other websites.

So what I did was, I found the "cookie" for ebay, and deleted it myself.  As I said before, I'm not a computer pro, I'm not sure if you can search for your cookies... and cookies are stored in different places depending on what your OS is (Winxp, WIN 7, 10.. etc)

and how it's setup. Single user... multiple users, etc...

But... you need to find a file that looks like this:   cookie: ********** @ebay.com   or   cookie: ********** @ebay.ca

Where the  "**********" is your computer name.

You should be able to find a folder on your computer with a whole bunch of files that look like this.

I found my cookies at:

C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files.

I do know that through Internet explore and under the Internet options tab,  and then "Browsing history"... I have a "settings" button.

If I press that button, the next window that pops up will show you where cookies are stored.

You can also choose the "VIEW" button, and go directly to cookies. I found EBAY there.

I deleted the file, and the recently viewed was gone!!

Now... the cookie I deleted was only viewed by Internet Explorer.

Chrome does not view this file.  So the recently viewed were still present in Chrome. (But different from what I searched going through Internet Explorer).   I do have Chrome, and rarely use it, therefore I don't care to save any favorite data in it.  So, in Chrome I went to SETTINGS, HISTORY, and the clicked the  "clear browsing data".

A little window pops up, and I chose to delete everything from "the beginning of time".

Now, if I go to ebay through Chrome.... my recently view has been cleared.

[pocomocomputing]

In my opinion, cookies from any site should be deleted after each browser session. Most will be recreated when you visit the site again.

I use Cleaner, a free tool to clean my computer Windows temp files, browser temp files and cache as well as other hidden files that are not needed. I run CCleaner automatically when starting my computer and manually after each browser session. It makes my computer run faster and no disk space lost. I have seen computers with 50 or 100 GB of junk that CCleaner deletes that have not deleted their files for years.

Does that mean the cookies are bad? Potentially harmful but just basically useless and can easily be recreated (automatically) the next time you visit that site. What is so important on a site that needs to create a cookie to store information across sessions? Normal browsing cookies are just used for a session but web sites moved to supercookies that were originally made by Adobe Flash. Flash is now considered the worst addon any internet user can have as it is a huge security risk for getting virus and malware.

Do a google search on keyword supercookies to find something like this.

Definition - What does Super Cookie mean?

A super cookie is a type of browser cookie that is designed to be permanently stored on a user’s computer. Super cookies are generally more difficult for users to detect and remove from their devices because they cannot be deleted in the same fashion as regular cookies.

Super cookies serve the same function as regular cookies in that they can contain just about any information including browsing history. authentication details or ad-targeting data.

There is some debate as to the precise definition of a super cookie. Originally, super cookies were synonymous with flash cookies as this was the first type of tracking mechanism beyond a basic cookie that could be used on the majority of browsers. As technology has progressed, it is possible to track users via other techniques such as HTML5 session storage. Given that browser technology will continue to change it is advantageous to think of supers cookies in terms of their characteristics (permanent storage and difficulty in removal) as opposed to the mechanics of how they are stored on a computer.

Due to privacy concerns, many users and advocacy groups frown on the use of super cookies. However, the potential wealth of data and its use in online advertising have prompted more than a few ad organizations and websites to experiment with these more robust cookies.

Cookies and supercookies are not for a users benefit. It is for the website's benefit. Don't fool yourself thinking that cookies are for storing anything good for you.

Just as you found with eBay's cookies.

CCleaner gives you the option to exclude sites from being deleted.

[pocomocomputing]

Here is a copy of a post I made a while ago. I just edited to be current.  My opinions and experience.

For a very good free tool to clean up your computer, download CCleaner from Piriform. Run it before and after each browser session. CCleaner by defaults will remove some useful cookies that are used to store some internet site preferences you might have. You might get prompted again when you go to an internet site. No problems with eBay.

One change you should make to the default settings in CCleaner is to delete information in the past 24 hours. By default CCleaner does not delete this. If you are having issues, you need to clean all of the cookies and cache and especially the current ones since they might have the problem.

You can download the free version of CCleaner here

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

Choose the free version on the left, not the trial version on the right.

I have run CCleaner for 10+ years now and have had very few issues with browsing eBay and the Internet. Computer has been responsive and fast.

Another free tool you might want to have is AdBlockPlus. It is a browser addon that blocks most annoying ads on eBay and other sites. This will speed up your browsing since eBay is full of third party moving ads today.

https://adblockplus.org/

Just download and install it. It updates automatically so you never do anything to maintain it.

You should have an antivirus program installed on your computer. It should be an Internet Security suite. There are free ones Avast, AVG and so on. Most Internet Service Providers supply a free package for their users (Shaw Cable has McAfee).

You might want to download and install a free malware program to check you computer for stuff that might have been installed on your computer. This program is one of the best for finding malware which is a bit different that a regular virus.

https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/

Download the free version on the right. Run this program once and then every month or two as needed.

Last, I would recommend having more than one Internet browser installed on your computer. I use FireFox browser as my default browser and it has worked well over the years. I also have Internet Explorer installed and up to date but Internet Explorer usually has more issues with eBay and other sites so I rarely use it. I have Google Chrome browser installed as a backup browser but it has had more issues with eBay and PayPal over the years compared to FireFox. These browsers are all officially supported by eBay. I also have Opera browser installed which I find is a good Internet browser but not officially supported by eBay.

Using all of the above regularly should make your computer run faster and better than before

[jiaka_ca2015]

Pssssst !!!.. Ebay provides you to 'hide' them...lest you should ever need their reference back. I personally feel it is a good system.