diff --git a/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh b/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh
index 09d5682..03c8522 100755
--- a/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh
+++ b/tools/erase-toolkit-traces.sh
@@ -151,9 +151,27 @@ if [ "$CLEAN_HISTORY" = true ] && [ -f ~/.bash_history ]; then
     # Build single grep pattern for efficiency (single-pass filtering)
     GREP_PATTERN="git\.mull\.lol|linux-server-management-toolkit|server-toolkit|launcher\.sh|erase-toolkit-traces"
 
-    # Backup and clean in one efficient pass
+    # Backup and clean - handle HISTTIMEFORMAT timestamps
     cp ~/.bash_history ~/.bash_history.bak.$$
-    grep -Ev "$GREP_PATTERN" ~/.bash_history.bak.$$ > ~/.bash_history.cleaned.$$ 2>/dev/null || true
+
+    # Use awk to remove matching lines AND their preceding timestamp lines
+    awk -v pattern="$GREP_PATTERN" '
+        /^#[0-9]+$/ {
+            # This is a timestamp line, store it
+            timestamp = $0
+            next
+        }
+        {
+            # This is a command line
+            if ($0 !~ pattern) {
+                # Keep this command - print timestamp (if exists) and command
+                if (timestamp != "") print timestamp
+                print $0
+            }
+            # Reset timestamp for next iteration
+            timestamp = ""
+        }
+    ' ~/.bash_history.bak.$$ > ~/.bash_history.cleaned.$$ 2>/dev/null || true
 
     # Calculate lines removed
     lines_before=$(wc -l < ~/.bash_history.bak.$$ 2>/dev/null || echo 0)