Hi,
You may have a corrupted history folder.

Try deleting the History folder for the affected user account. A new one
will be create on restart.

The procedure [Windows XP]
Login as another user with administrator privileges, or from the machine's
default administrator account (startup in safe mode.) Make sure that you can
see hidden and system files (Folder Options> View) then delete the affected
History folder from Windows Explorer. It will be at [C:\Documents and
Settings\yourusername\Local Settings\History] Restart the computer.

315222 - A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=315222

Hope this helps,
Don
[MS MVP- IE]

McMike:

This is the same problem that I am experiencing.  I was using IE7
before without the problem until I also loaded down the latest
updates, now I am trying to solve the exact same issue.  Any luck?

Jwilly

I am also experiencing the exact same problem. I have used an alternate Admin
account and deleted the history folder. Deleting the history folder sometimes
results in the "delete history" feature working properly for a brief period,
but the problem quickly returns. When the "delete history" function hangs up;
I can select "Cancel", and it responds by switching the status to
"Cancelling"; however, it remains in the "Cancelling" state indefinitely and
I need to end-task using ctrl-alt-del.

I believe that I first began experiencing this problem around mid April. It
appears that other people have had this problem since February 2007.

I'm having the same problem. Delet History box runs forever as does
canceling. Had no problem until a mother board problem required a complelte
hard drive rebuild. This thread petered out in May - any update, fixes?

I'm getting this too in Windows XP. It affects the following for me in any
mode:

Control Panel > Internet Options > Delete Browsing History > Delete History
OR Delete All

IE7 > Tools > Internet Options > Delete Browsing History > Delete History OR
Delete All

Same when I use:

Internet Properties > Reset Internet Explorer settings

AND when I use Start > Properties > Customize > Advanced > Recent documents
Clear List function also hangs.

rundll32.exe is the process that hangs these apps. I kill the process to get
out but this is a permanent problem.

This can't be a 3rd party issue since this problem also coincided with my
Windows Update downloads.

Is there anybody at MS who knows anything about their software?

Hey I was having the same problem. What I discovered was some sort of problem
with Nero. I killed two processes in task manager related to Nero. The names
of the processes had "index" and "indexing" in them. After killing them, the
delete started working again. I uninstalled all the Nero applications,
rebooted and tested again. It is working great now. Good luck. This was tough
to track down for me. None of the other solutions worked. (i.e. second admin
account or problem with ntune.) I hope this helps someone else besides me.