(Last Updated On: March 31, 2023)

Search engines like Bing are a foundational aspect of what constitutes the modern online experience. After all, they play a key role in the overwhelming majority of our online activities nowadays. It’s not difficult to understand why, either. Bing, and other search engines like it, help us to navigate the digital space, making its vast quantities of data more accessible to the average user. In this way, they help to make the online experience a more intuitive and satisfying one.

At the same time, while search engines like Bing are often of benefit to us, they can equally be a hindrance in their own way. The fact is that some features intended to make browsing more convenient, such as autofill, for instance, need to leverage our personal data in order to function as intended. Consequently, they can actually degrade the online experience and even put our personal privacy at risk.

Naturally, this is a concerning prospect, but you are not without recourse. As a modern user, you have the option to delete Bing history and browse the Internet in privacy. In this article, we’ll discuss why you should do just that.

What is a Bing search history?

Your Bing search history is a comprehensive record of the online activities you have performed through Bing. This includes websites that you have visited and the queries that you have made using the search engine. Any time that you perform a search using Bing’s search engine, it makes a record of your search terms, and this record can be accessed in your Bing history via your Microsoft account.

Bing history is a useful feature in instances when you wish to quickly access frequently searched terms, look back on prior searches, or find a previously visited website whose URL you cannot remember. In this way, it provides you with a convenient way to keep track of your online activity. In addition, it can also enable Bing to provide you with a more personalized experience, by tailoring search engine results to you based on your established interests and habits.

In many ways, Bing history is a useful feature, but its potential effects on your privacy downsides should not be overlooked.

How does Bing history affect your online privacy?

Your Bing search history can have a considerable impact on your online privacy due to the inherent nature of its functions. When you perform searches on Bing, the search engine makes a record of multiple data points, including date, time, and your IP address. All of this information is accessible to Microsoft, Bing’s provider, and it may be shared with third parties for advertising purposes. This means that your Bing history can cause you to encounter targeted ads when you go online, which can be intrusive and frustrating.

Moreover, your Bing history could put your security at risk. Should a malicious entity gain access to your Bing history, they could potentially get their hands on data pertaining to your preferences and habits as well as other sensitive personal information. This could result in an invasion of privacy developing into a more serious security breach, and potentially cause you to fall victim to cybercrimes such as identity theft.

Needless to say, this is something that you will want to avoid at all costs. As such, you should take the appropriate measures to protect yourself online.

How to protect your online privacy and security

The first step is to delete your Bing history. Fortunately, this is quite a straightforward task. You can do this by following these steps:

1. Open the Bing homepage and log in to your Microsoft account.
2. Open the dropdown menu next to where your username appears.
3. Click on “Search History”.
4. Under “Manage or clear your search history”, click “Clear all”.
5. Confirm your choice in the pop-up box.

The next step to take is to get a virtual private network, or VPN. This is a software application that enables you to divert your traffic through a proxy server via a secure tunnel, gaining the benefit of encryption technology in the process. This means that when you browse using a VPN, your IP address, search terms, and visited sites are kept private. The anonymity that a VPN provides will prevent Bing from tracking your online activities, thereby safeguarding your privacy and security.

Conclusion

All told, Bing history is a feature that has its uses, but the potential downsides that come with using it may not be worth the risks associated. In the modern digital landscape, privacy and cybersecurity are a priority for every user, so it’s likely that you will want to avoid having your online activities tracked by search engines like Bing. By clearing your Bing search history and incorporating a virtual private network into your online activities, you can browse anonymously, keeping your personal data private and secure.