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Super User has oodles of questions about how to avoid tracking and/or forget your browsing history. I'm looking to do the opposite. Hear me out.

Problem description

I use Windows 10 64-bit. Infrequently I need to use Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. I have IE 11.966.15063.0 and Edge 40.15063.674.0 installed. When I use these browsers, I would like to benefit from my browsing history in those browsers, such as visited site URLs, cookies, and cache. But I noticed recently that IE and Edge are rarely remembering my history. So I checked Internet Options and found this:

enter image description here

Delete browsing history on exit is checked. I never checked it.

If I uncheck it and click Apply or OK, all seems well for a little while. But at some point, my history disappears, and I find that Delete browsing history on exit is automatically checked again. Sometimes it's after a logout/login or reboot, but sometimes I'll be logged in for hours and then find that the box is checked again.

On the same computer, Chrome's browser history works fine.

Questions

  1. Why would Delete browsing history on exit automatically get re-checked?
  2. What can I do to stop this from happening?

What I have tried

  • Uncheck the box and OK or Apply (as described above)
  • Internet Options > Advanced > Reset
  • Run gpupdate /force in a command prompt and then reboot (my computer is joined to a Windows domain; our IT staff says this isn't being caused by domain policy)
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  • 2
    We are always glad to help, but please allow me to pass along one important piece of advice: when your machine is on an Active Directory domain, it is absolutely crucial to include that information within your original post. It really does make a huge difference regarding the pertinent recommendations.
    – Run5k
    Commented Apr 6, 2018 at 19:18

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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The most likely answer? Your computer is joined to a Windows domain.

Delete ... on exit is a setting that can be applied from the domain, and if it continually re-enables itself on your computer, then that is the most likely explanation.

Speak with the IT staff who manage the domain to confirm this.

You may wonder why, if this is set at the domain level, why you can disable it. This is likely because the Delete... setting is applied, but "Prevent people from changing this setting" is not applied.

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  • Thanks. I should have mentioned that the IT staff suggested the gpupdate and don't know why this is happening. So I doubt it's in the domain policy.
    – Gary Sheppard
    Commented Apr 6, 2018 at 18:56
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    Please add that information to your post. That said, your IT staff bear primary responsibility for diagnosing and resolving this issue. It may be another system they are using (SCCM, Antivirus software) which applies this setting.
    – music2myear
    Commented Apr 6, 2018 at 18:57
  • I would tend to agree with this answer. I realize that your IT staff says that it is not a domain GPO, but based upon my 20-plus years managing Windows networks I think there is a high degree of probability that some type domain configuration is causing this. In other words, is this the default behavior within Internet Explorer on a Windows 10 x64 machine that isn't on a domain? No, so it's a rather safe assumption that something within that domain (GPO, SCCM, Windows Updates, scripts, etc.) is causing it.
    – Run5k
    Commented Apr 6, 2018 at 19:15
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    It sounds pretty unanimous to me. I will once again nag the IT staff and I'll update you here with news (and hopefully votes). Thanks all.
    – Gary Sheppard
    Commented Apr 7, 2018 at 12:37
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    @GaryS. it has been a while. Have you made any progress?
    – Run5k
    Commented Apr 25, 2018 at 12:46

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