Checking Up on Internet Infidelity: Web Browsers

With the advent of the internet, infidelity in the virtual realm has become a major problem in relationships for both partners. The increased ease of infidelity has tempted men and women alike into the darker realms of internet chat rooms and pornography sites in a way that was never possible in the pre-internet age.

Along with this ease of infidelity comes a whole new level of technological prowess necessary to know the truth. The old standards of lipstick on the collar and the smell of perfume simply do not apply in an internet chat room, though the infidelity is just as real.

Learning a few basic skills will help you to check up on your spouse's online habits, as well as their level of fidelity, but before you look, be sure you want to know the answer.

First, let's look at web browsers. There are two main areas to investigate in a web browser when looking for a clue to your partner's online habits. These are the history and the cookie folder. The history of a web browser lists the websites the browser has visited, and cookies are small text files that record information about where your browser has been. Sometimes, cookies are malicious and can cause trouble. Other times, they are innocent and save web settings or help to automatically sign you into a site. Cookies have to be manually deleted, however, and are often forgotten when the browser is cleaned.

Each of the main web browsers used today has an easy way of accessing the information stored in these places. Here are a few instructions for Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer - two of the most popular browsers available.

To check the browser history, follow these steps:

1) Ctrl-H will open the History Sidebar in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. This will display a list of visited websites on the left-hand side of the browser frame.

2) Arrange the websites with the drop-down menu and use the scroll bar on the right to look at each website. If one of them seems suspicious, click on it and the browser window will navigate to the site. Be prepared for x-rated content, however. Also, to search for certain keywords, type the word in the blank field and hit "Enter." Words to search for might include sexual terms.

To check a browser's cookie folder, follow these steps:

For Internet Explorer:

1) Click Tools -> Internet Options -> General Tab.
2) Under "Temporary Internet Files" click Settings.
3) Click the button that says "View Files."

For Mozilla Firefox:

1) Click Tools -> Options -> Privacy. The Privacy option has a "lock" graphic.
2) Select the Cookies tab
3) Click "View Cookies."

In each of these cases, these processes will give you a list of cookies. This list is searchable by keyword in Firefox, and is opened in a containing folder through Explorer. Some of these cookies will be innocent, such as Hotmail or Google cookies, but if you see anything with XXX in the name, the browser has navigated to a site containing pornography. Whether this was intentional or otherwise will be a matter for your judgment.