Delete Residual Privacy Data
The autocomplete history of the Firefox address bar cannot be cleared through any in application options such as clearing ALL history or turning autocomplete off. The only way to remove this information is by deleting the places.sqlite file. I don't trust internet explorer because of it's hidden data and tyrannical protected files; I don't want this to be true of firefox too. I have used ccleaner, bleachbit, and wise disk cleaner but none of them touch this file despite claims to the contrary. This has got me wondering how many other hiding spots firefox has in binary files and registry keys potentially harboring years worth browsing history. So if it is possible, could I have list of all other records stored by firefox on my computer so that I might delete them preventing a privacy breach waiting to happen. I would appreciate any help someone can give regarding this matter.
Chosen solution
Hi MemoryHole, all the interesting data is in the profile folder(s). See:
Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data
You can set Windows to show hidden files and folders to facilitate exploration: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files
AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles folders have the important stuff and AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles folders have corresponding cache files.
The autocomplete history of the Firefox address bar cannot be cleared through any in application options such as clearing ALL history or turning autocomplete off. The only way to remove this information is by deleting the places.sqlite file.
The list of previously visited hosts used for "in-URL-bar" autofill is a weird case. Historically, the only way I know of to remove a host from that table is to right-click a history entry for that site and choose Forget About This Site, which is an all-destroying command that remove history entries, cache items, cookies, bookmarks, and permissions. Of course, to use that, you need at least one visit in history. That's why deleting places.sqlite is the best approach to bulk deleting the hosts table.
I haven't kept up on the current behavior.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (2)
Did you look at your privacy settings you can check mark so that when you exit FF it clears all settings. So look there.
Chosen Solution
Hi MemoryHole, all the interesting data is in the profile folder(s). See:
Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data
You can set Windows to show hidden files and folders to facilitate exploration: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files
AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles folders have the important stuff and AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles folders have corresponding cache files.
The autocomplete history of the Firefox address bar cannot be cleared through any in application options such as clearing ALL history or turning autocomplete off. The only way to remove this information is by deleting the places.sqlite file.
The list of previously visited hosts used for "in-URL-bar" autofill is a weird case. Historically, the only way I know of to remove a host from that table is to right-click a history entry for that site and choose Forget About This Site, which is an all-destroying command that remove history entries, cache items, cookies, bookmarks, and permissions. Of course, to use that, you need at least one visit in history. That's why deleting places.sqlite is the best approach to bulk deleting the hosts table.
I haven't kept up on the current behavior.