We used to say that history is written by the victors, but times have changed. Now history is written by your browser. But it doesn’t have to. You can prevent Chrome from saving history on Windows and Mac.

While it can be useful to keep a record of previously visited sites, you may not want your browser to log every online move you make. Fortunately, you have the power to decide when to leave the history books (or diaries) blank.

Let’s see how to prevent Google Chrome from saving history in Windows 11 and macOS.

Use Chrome Incognito to prevent browser history from being saved

Here’s how to enable Chrome Incognito mode in Windows and Mac browsers:

1. Launch Google Chrome
2. Click it Menu button (three dots) and select New incognito window

That’s it. Preventing Chrome from saving your browsing history couldn’t be easier. Additionally, Incognito prevents the app from storing cookies, form information, and other website data.

Lock Chrome’s history file to prevent information from being saved

If Incognito isn’t your style and you prefer a more persistent solution, you can deny Chrome access to the history file. The relevant element resides in slightly different places in Windows and macOS.

How to Lock Chrome History File in Windows

Here’s how to lock the Chrome history file in Windows:

1. To throw File Explorer and enter C:Users%username%AppDataLocalGoogleChromeUser DataDefault in the search field. Replace [User Name] with current user account

2. Right click the Story file and select Properties

3. Check Read only and click Apply

Once you lock the item, Chrome won’t be able to write any more information to that file, which means it won’t save any history.

How to Lock Chrome History on Mac

Here’s how to lock Chrome’s history file in macOS:

1. To throw Searcher and click Go > Go to Folder

2. Walk in ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default and press To return to

3. Control-click the Story file and select Obtain informations

4. Check Locked

You can, of course, unlock the file at any time to continue writing history.

Use a Chrome extension to prevent browser history from being saved

If you’d rather have an extension do the heavy lifting, No History is the way to go. The add-on automatically prevents Chrome from saving browsing information outside of incognito mode, but you need to configure it first.

Here’s how to install the No History Chrome extension:

1. Go to the No History extension page and click Add to Chrome

2. Click on Continue and Install and Add extension when prompted

You can enable or disable No History at any time by clicking the Extension button (jigsaw) and selecting the appropriate item from the list.

From here you will see the options for stop recording and Clear your current history.

Bonus: Use Registry Editor to Stop Chrome from Saving History in Windows

Although we have discussed some of the simpler solutions, we understand that some people like to do things the hard way. Therefore, we will also cover the slightly more complex Registry Editor method.

Here’s how to use Registry Editor to stop Chrome history recording in Windows 11:

If you want Chrome to start saving history again, just change the value back to 0.

Chrome doesn’t need to save your browsing history

Although browsing history has been a standard feature since the early days of the internet, it’s not entirely necessary.

Sure, keeping track of previous activity is useful, especially when you need to locate forgotten information, but you don’t need to commit every page you visit in the history books.

If it’s important to know where we come from, maybe we should pay more attention to where we are and where we’re going next.

Do you have any thoughts on this? Let us know below in the comments or forward the discussion to our Twitter or facebook.

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