history

Whenever Twitter's servers take a tumble--which, longtime users undoubtedly recall, used to be pretty frequently--the microblogging service brings up an image of a whale being lifted out of the water by a flock of birds. The creation of designer Yiying Lu, the "fail whale" has become pretty much iconic among Web geeks.

But the official blog of the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Mass., has informed us all that the word "twitter" was associated with whales long before Evan Williams and Biz Stone were dealing with customer complaints, sort of like how "muggles" was pothead slang … Read more

History Sweeper gives users a chance to cover their tracks and erase digital fingerprints. Whether you are interested in keeping information from others or simply cleaning up valuable space on your hard drive, this program offers a way to help.

This program could not be much simpler to operate. There is one screen with four tabs that gives users all the options for their sweep. Three of the tabs focus on different areas of the computer you can clean. Internet History allows you to scrub your browsing history, cookies, and even Google search bar entries. The Applications tab allows you … Read more

We're not sure what's so kid-friendly about this utility, which is supposed to remove Internet traces. Regardless of its confusing name, Kids NetLinks Internet Tracks Cleaners failed to clean any of our browsing tracks.

Kids NetLinks Internet Tracks Cleaners offers a basic, but straightforward, user interface. You'll find a list of cleaning options, including browser cache, cookies, history, temporary folders, and Internet files. Next to each option is a Clean button. We went through each cleaning option, one by one, but the program failed to clean any of our browsing traces. A Help link is available, but … Read more

Top Criminal Check allows you to look up a person's criminal history; however, we didn't get very far with the program because a trial limitation required payment to view any of its findings.

The user interface features search capabilities that require a person's first and last name, but to fine-tune your search, you can add the person's date of birth, gender, and state information. The program also lets you search by phone number, address, ZIP code, and even e-mail address. You can also select the categories you want to include in the search, such as government … Read more

GSA Cleandrive is a privacy tool that promises to rid your computer of harmful spyware and browsing traces. But thanks to its restrictive trial limitation, it failed to clean any of the problems it found on our PC.

The user interface is very straightforward and easy to navigate. You can view the overall status of your computer's privacy, and a one-click button lets you clean your system in one fell swoop. If you want a little more control over the scanning process, a custom cleanup button lets you decide which areas of your computer that you want to clean. … Read more

CopyPaste Pro is a utility that greatly enhances the clipboard functionality of the Mac OS. The program not only lets you maintain multiple clipboard items ("clips") for easy pasting across all applications, but it also keeps a history of copied clips and stores custom archives for static subsets of clips that you use frequently.

Like other good efficiency-enhancing apps, CopyPaste Pro provides a lot of different ways to access its deep functionality, with plug-ins for the menu bar and contextual menus, a comprehensive complement of hot keys and drop-down menus, and mouse-and-key combinations for pulling up your clip … Read more

No matter where you go, there you are. And that's always obvious from your surfing history. This password-protected app provides a private browser that hides your surfing history from other apps and hides your IP address while you're browsing.

ArmorSurf launches an attractive, easy-to-use interface with tabbed navigation. The left pane, called the Library, categorizes items you've saved and some preloaded links, like Software, Gaming, Shopping, and Dating. This free app performed well in our tests. We liked that we could change its desktop shortcut icon and name to disguise it from other users, adding another layer … Read more

As its tongue-in-cheek name implies, this free toolbar is for users who want or need to clear their browsing tracks. While we would have liked to have seen more customization options, Perv Bar's solid performance more than made up for it lack of extras.

Perv Bar fits a very slim toolbar into your IE window. It contains a search field, and a button to block pop-ups, which worked each and every time. The Privacy Utility button is where it's at, with options to clear not only your browsing history, recycle bin, and cookies, but also to clear your … Read more

This privacy program aims to clear your browsing history and free up space on your computer; however, several error messages prevented us from getting a clear picture of this program's abilities.

During the installation process for ID Privacy Shield, we received an error message. We were able to bypass it and move on to the user interface, which was quite eye-catching. From first glance, it appeared very easy to navigate, with prominent command buttons running down the left side of the window. The program includes a history cleaner, file shredder, and disk cleaner. But more often than not, when … Read more