I've run into a bit of a problem lately. I've started using one browser for basic purposes, then another for everything Flash-based (such as games). Flash just feels faster in one browser, without heavy add-ons or extensions, compared to another. And then how many IM clients do we all use? I personally still use ICQ! I've got friends there who refuse to budge. Skype is also a necessity.

How many programs must we run, simultaneously, that ultimately do the same job? It happens. Market share is a competitive thing. Having centralized data is very important to me though, and I feel it's a major inconvenience (and stress to your system) to constantly have multiple processes open, especially for something as intensive as a browser. Luckily, I've discovered a way to bring together the Internet history of all major browser, email, and IM clients.

MiTeC Internet History Browser

internet history

MiTeC Internet History Browser brings together your history from every major browser out there:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • Google Chrome
  • Opera
  • Apple Safari
  • Mozilla Firefox

You can choose to scan for your history automatically or load your data by a file. I'd recommend you click the top option at the main interface.

internet history

Shown above is how your history is viewed using the application. Everything can be viewed in chronological order. Near the top of the interface, there is a search field.

internet explorer history

As you can see, multiple browsers work their way into the mix. They aren't separated by tabs or anything like that. Everything is listed 100% chronologically. Clicking on one of the entries in your history will show when it was visited, what the exact URL is, and how many times you visited that page. You can then open that page in your default browser if you'd like to.

If you're all over the place with browsers, it can be a headache to consider which browser you used to view what. MiTeC's Internet History Browser turns it into an experience as if you were looking at your history all in a single browser.

MiTeC's Email History Browser

internet explorer history

MiTeC's Email History Browser opens up with the same interface as the the last application. It supports the following email clients:

  • Microsoft Outlook Express
  • Microsoft Windows Mail
  • Microsoft Windows Live Mail
  • Mozilla Thunderbird
internet explorer history

Unlike MiTeC's Internet History Browser, Email History Browser comes with a tabbed view. You can see the names of each supported application at the bottom-left of the interface. The highlighted application is your current view. All accounts within that view are able to be seen above that area. All folders are also shown.

MiTeC's Email History Browser is a very interesting way to search through all of your email accounts. The only problem is that you cannot actually load the body text of your emails in this application, only the headers.

You'll notice the above screenshot is a little empty. I don't use Windows Live Mail often, and when I do, it's for my Windows Live Mail account (@live.com). I believe there is a compatibility issue, with Windows 8, when it comes to loading your @live.com/@hotmail.com address using MiTeC's Email History Browser. It works fine in every other version of Windows.

MiTeC Internet Messaging History Browser

view internet history

MiTeC's IM History Browser may be the most interesting of the bunch, just because of how useful IM history really is. It supports the following clients:

  • Skype
  • ICQ 7
  • Windows Live Messenger
  • Yahoo Messenger
internet history

With the messengers supported, some may question the usefulness of MiTeC's IM History Browser. ICQ and Yahoo! are practically dead, MSN is being phased out soon, and AIM isn't supported. Nonetheless, it gets the job done for these messengers. Each messenger supports every account that you've ever logged in from and shows your message history in a chronological, tabbed view.

This application could be greatly improved by supporting Pidgin IM logs, but it's surely useful if you use multiple messengers individually.

The coolest thing about all of these applications are that they are completely portable and they support a network connection! You can access the internet history of other PCs on your local network, and that is a huge feature all on its own.

All three of these tools are worth throwing on a flash drive. What do you think of them? Let me know in the comments!