I have always been bugged by the simple fact in Google Chrome that there is no option to prevent Chrome from recording History and Downloads. I don't like the two being recorded, but find the cookies still very useful - so I don't want to use incognito mode all the time. Its strange how such a simple mainstay in all other browsers is not available in Google Chrome.

I found a simple way to prevent this however:
Go to where Google Chrome stores user data:
On XP – C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data
On Vista - C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data

I did this on XP. Browse the "Default" folder. Delete all your history related files. Start Chrome so they are created again (don't go to any sites). Close Chrome. Make the "History" file read-only (might wanna make the rest of them that way too). Start using Chrome again.

This method should force the browser to never display history or downloads. However it makes Chrome crash in some instances when you download things and try to close the browser (not all that bad, since you were closing it anyway) but the method is a little glitchy. Does anyone know of a better way to prevent Chrome from recording History?

Try using CCleaner where you can individually choose what to keep and what to trash.

welcome to ChromePlugins and thanks for sharing

I am in XP and I tried to do this but when I opened the folder that is my username on this computer, there wasn't any "local settings" folder. Any suggestions for something else I can try?

Thanks!

has you enable "Show hidden files and folders" in your system ?

OP: Why not just run in incognito mode? If you are on dev channel, just add the "--incognito" switch to the end of your chrome shortcut. If not, switch to the dev channel and do what I said.

EDIT: Just read in your original post you dont want to use incognito mode. Sorry, i skim read it first time.