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How do I clear Firefox browser history?

I just read your information on how to clear search history on a Safari (see how to clear your Safari browser history). It was easy to read and understand. Do you have information on how to clear it on Firefox I have a Macintosh OSX? I can't figure it out.


Dave's Answer:

The more you live within your Web browser, the more you realize that sometimes it tracking and storing everything you do and every site you visit isn't always such a good thing. In fact, sometimes it can be downright awkward or embarrassing, whether it's at work or on a home computer.

Fortunately, all the major browsers give you the ability to control whether they track what you do and the additional - probably more important - capability of removing some or all of your browsing history. Firefox is exemplary in this regard, once you can find its cache clearing options, because you can get rid of the last hours, day, week or all your cache in one fell swoop.

To start out, in Firefox on your Mac, go to Firefox --> Preferences.

You'll see a window like this:

firefox preferences main

Click on "Privacy" along the top, and now you'll see this:

firefox preferences privacy

Here's where you need to pay attention. For some reason the Firefox developers don't have a nice in-your-face button, but rather a small text link "clear your recent history". See it? Click on it and you'll get here:

firefox preferences privacy clear recent history

That looks good. You can just go from here and click on "Clear Now" to erase the last few hours of browser usage, but lets poke around a bit, shall we?

First off, click on the little triangle button adjacent to "Details":

firefox preferences privacy clear recent history details

As you can see, you can fine tune exactly what it does if you're so inclined. But let's also look at that range pop-up menu:

firefox preferences privacy clear recent history details range

Now you can see the complete set of options available to you as a Firefox user who wants to cover up some - or all - of your tracks. Hope that's helpful!


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Categorized: Mac OS X Help   (Article 9107, Written by )
Tagged: browser history, clear cache, firefox, safari
Previous: How can I share my iTunes music library?
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Reader Comments To Date: 2

kg said, on August 31, 2010 5:41 PM:

I must have spyware or something because i cannot clear my Firefox history. I know all the "standard" ways of clearing the history, but they don't work. I noticed that in the "clear recent history" box the "form & search history" option is grayed out, so I can't even check/uncheck that box. that seems fishy and i bet it's where the problem lies. but how do i "reactivate" it? thanks for your help!

Bill Herndon said, on October 1, 2010 12:06 AM:

How do I clear the Google search box of previously searched items? In example if I type in a 'c' then all the searches appear in the search box that begin with 'c'.

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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