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How do I stop Firefox 4 from automatically entering Private Browsing mode?

cleverlymadeup
cleverlymadeup
more options

It appears to randomly enter Private Browsing mode. When I check the history when Firefox is open, it will appear but when I exit and restart The history is clear. I think it is possibly triggered by https sites but I'm not sure, so it appears to be random. I have never used nor turned on Private Browsing.

It appears to randomly enter Private Browsing mode. When I check the history when Firefox is open, it will appear but when I exit and restart The history is clear. I think it is possibly triggered by https sites but I'm not sure, so it appears to be random. I have never used nor turned on Private Browsing.

Modified by cleverlymadeup

Chosen solution

You have a corrupted user agent the identifies you as Firefox/3.0.10

  • Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10; .NET CLR 3.0; ffco7) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10

See also:

  • You enter Private Browsing mode if you select: Tools > Options > Privacy > History: Firefox will: "Never Remember History"
  • To see all History and Cookie settings, choose: Tools > Options > Privacy, choose the setting Firefox will: Use custom settings for history
  • Uncheck: [ ] "Automatically start Firefox in a private browsing session"

See also:

Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the add-ons is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).

  • Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.

See:

Read this answer in context 👍 3

All Replies (5)

the-edmeister
the-edmeister
  • Moderator
more options

Firefox 3.0.10 doesn't have a Private Browsing mode, that was added to Firefox in version 3.5.

cleverlymadeup
cleverlymadeup Question owner
more options

It's not version 3.0.10. Like the question states it's Firefox 4

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

You have a corrupted user agent the identifies you as Firefox/3.0.10

  • Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10; .NET CLR 3.0; ffco7) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10

See also:

  • You enter Private Browsing mode if you select: Tools > Options > Privacy > History: Firefox will: "Never Remember History"
  • To see all History and Cookie settings, choose: Tools > Options > Privacy, choose the setting Firefox will: Use custom settings for history
  • Uncheck: [ ] "Automatically start Firefox in a private browsing session"

See also:

Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the add-ons is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).

  • Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.

See:

cleverlymadeup
cleverlymadeup Question owner
more options

Actually it seems to be something with the FireGestures. I had uninstalled FF and deleted the preferences and such. So I had a fresh copy of the browser. It still did the same thing. Disabled FireGestures and it stopped doing it.

Now I need to find a good mouse gesture addon

cleverlymadeup
cleverlymadeup Question owner
more options

Actually this wasn't solved. It's not really Private Browsing as much as history just stops being added. It's not an add-on, it's something with FireFox 4. It seems that https triggers it.