Hello Everyone,

This article discusses a feature of Mobile Internet Explorer for Smart Phones.  Note, however, that the following may apply to other popular mobile web browsers as well. 

As you surf the web using your mobile device, the browser creates a cache of previously visited web sites.

Just like its desktop counterpart, as you enter a URL (uniform resource locator), the browser displays a list of previously visited sites most closely matching your current entry, allowing you to simply point to the item in the list in order to avoid having to re-enter the web address again.

Sighted people, no doubt, find this feature useful as a quick glance of this list can often shorten the URL entry process.  Likewise, visually impaired people using a screen reader may also find this feature useful provided that they are aware that the list is being displayed. 

Well then, if everyone, sighted and non-sighted alike, find this auto-complete feature of Mobile IE useful, for what purpose am I writing this article?

Keep in mind that the more sights you visit on your mobile phone, the longer the list of visited sites become.  After a while, you will notice that as you enter a new URL, the amount of time
Between when you tap a key on your phone and when the character actually appears in the URL edit box increases exponentially.  This is because the longer the history list, the longer it takes for the phone’s processor to search through the list for possible matches. 

To those using screen readers, such as Mobile Speak for Smart Phones, it may seem as though the screen reader, itself, is causing this ever increasing delay in key entry response time.

Therefore, in order to maintain your phone’s responsiveness, I suggest that you clear the list of visited sites from your browser’s cache memory, from time-to-time. 

To do this:

1.
On your mobile device, open Mobile Internet Explorer.

2.
Tap the Right Soft key.  This will open the browser’s menu.

3.
Select Tools.

4.
Choose Options.

5.
Select Memory.

6.
Highlight the item labeled History.  Note, pressing the enter key on this item will cause nothing to happen.

7.
Press the Right Soft key labeled “Clear”.  A confirmation window will appear.

8.
Tap the Left Soft key to confirm that you wish to clear the list.

9.
Tap the Left Soft key labeled “Done” to return to the previous screen.

10.
Tap the Left Soft key labeled “Done” to exit the menu system.

That’s all there is to it.

Enjoy and Happy Surfing,

Mark