We explain how you can clean Internet Explorer using CCleaner's Custom Clean. If you want to find out more about Internet Explorer's specific cleaning rules in CCleaner, skip to Files and data you can clean in Internet Explorer below.
What is Custom Clean?
Custom Clean is a function within CCleaner that allows you to customize how the app cleans different parts of your PC, such as your operating system and applications (like web browsers).
What are 'cleaning rules'?
These are the specific files and data that you allow CCleaner to delete from your system. You can see some in the screenshot below as checkboxes you can select beneath the Windows tab.
Files and data you can clean in Internet Explorer:
- Temporary Internet Files - These are HTML files, images, JavaScript files, and other files that Internet Explorer saves as you browse so that if you go back to the page, it can quickly pull the files from the disk instead of having to request them again from the server. See more information about where they are stored on your version of Windows.
- History - Internet Explorer stores the pages you've visited and the time and date you visited them.
- Cookies - Web cookies stored by Internet Explorer. Note that the Cookies to Keep list in the Options section of CCleaner controls cookies for all browsers you have installed, not just Internet Explorer. Sites not on the Cookies to Keep list will have their login cookies removed (and other saved cookies). For information about cookies, please see choosing which cookies to keep.
- Recently Typed URLs - Internet Explorer saves your recently-typed URLs so it can suggest them as you type new URLs with the same starting letters. This rule removes them.
- Index.dat files - These files function as an index for the browser and store temporary information about URLs, search queries, and recently stored files to speed up browser operation.
- Last Download Location - Internet Explorer remembers where on your computer you downloaded the last file.
- Autocomplete Form History - Once you've used Internet Explorer for a while, you'll notice that as you start typing letters into a text box on a form, it will present you with suggestions. Using this cleaning rule will also delete your saved passwords.
- Saved Passwords - Internet Explorer stores passwords for pages you've visited - this is separate from the cookies that store the fact that you’ve logged into a website; this would, instead, clear the database of passwords that Internet Explorer has stored for you.
