History Files

The easiest way to see a history of the sites you've visited (or someone else using your machine has visited) is to look at the "History Files" in your browser.  

In Internet Explorer, simply click the "History" button along the menu at the top to pull up a listing of all the sites visited in the past few days, weeks, or months.  In Netscape Navigator, click "Communicator" then "Tools" then "History." 

This will give you a good feel for the types of sites that people who use your computer have visited.  You can also change how long these files stay in the History.  In Internet Explorer, go to "Tools," "Internet Options" then look for "History;" in Netscape Navigator go to "Edit" then "Preferences" then look for "History."

One thing that might indicate the history files have been recently erased (and that someone might be covering their trail) is if the history only goes back only a certain number of days when the actual settings show it should go back further.  This could also be totally innocent, but is one thing you can check.

Temporary Internet Files

Another trail that shows where you've been is found in the "Temporary Internet Files."  

These files are stored on your hard disk and contain images, web pages, sounds, videos, etc. that have been recently visited.  The main function of these files is to quickly redisplay pages that you visit for a second or third time, pulling up the pages or images from your hard disk rather than across the Internet.

You can see these files in Internet Explorer by going to "Tools" then "Internet Options."  Look for "Temporary Internet Files" then click "Settings."  From here you can click "View Files" and it will pull up hundreds of images, web pages, etc.  By looking at these filenames, you can get an idea what they might be.  If you double-click on any of them, you will be able to see the image or page that has been visited. 

(You can see them in Netscape Navigator by doing a search on your machine for a folder called "cache."  In Windows, go to "Start" "Find" and then type the word "cache."  You'll may see several "cache" files, but only one in the Netscape folder.  Double click that "cache" folder to see its contents.)

Here's another brief caution when looking at these files.  I had another friend who looked at these files and was surprised to discover his son was looking at pornography.  After talking with his son about the dangers of this, the father found himself intrigued by the images and started looking at site after site of images, and soon he himself became a regular visitor.  

Don't forget the saying, "Curiosity kills the cat."  An even better one comes from the Bible:

"A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth" (Proverbs 17:24).

Now let's take a look at an even lesser known way to trace Internet activity: "cookies."