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I have set the option to clear my browsing history when I exit Firefox, but it does not clear completely. When I re-open Firefox, my History panel is clear but the address bar auto-completes websites which I visited in the past (and are not in my bookmarks). Old URLs must still be saved somewhere.

Additional information:

  • I have disabled all my firefox extentions and still have this problem.
  • I have experienced this problem with both firefox 20 and 21

Update: similar problem report: link

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3 Answers 3

up vote 1 down vote accepted

This might provide you with an answer: Locked or damaged places.sqlite

Firefox stores history and bookmarks in a database called places.sqlite. If this is damaged, deleting history or even adding something to bookmarks might have no effect.

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Thanks. It solved the problem. –  espand May 16 '13 at 9:24
  • In the Preference or Options dialog choose "Never remember history".

  • You can switch to always browse in private mode, this will effectively do the same but you will be surer about it and won't need to change any settings.

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This might be your article since it basically describes URL bar behavior that seems to describe your experience as an ongoing "feature".

I had to close and restart my FF to enable the change.

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I read your link and options which mentioned there are easily accessible in firefox options menu and I am already aware of it. This is my problem: While I have cleared my history and History panel is empty, Why past visited URLs are still available in URL bar and where that comes from while history is empty?! –  espand May 16 '13 at 5:09
Well, this is drifting off into you didn't read, he didn't read. –  Karen3819x4 May 17 '13 at 1:23

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