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Typed in a wrong URL once, Firefox search bar auto-populate that every single time now.

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I once typed in the wrong Google Maps URL in the Firefox address bar. maps.ggogle.com

Ever since then, every time I start typing maps, the wrong URL keeps auto-populating. Is there a way to erase this entry? Tried clearing search history, cache and browsing history. Nothing seems to help.

Thank you in advance!!

I once typed in the wrong Google Maps URL in the Firefox address bar. maps.ggogle.com Ever since then, every time I start typing maps, the wrong URL keeps auto-populating. Is there a way to erase this entry? Tried clearing search history, cache and browsing history. Nothing seems to help. Thank you in advance!!

Chosen solution

I gave up, so I just turned off the address bar suggestion.

Under about:preferences#privacy

Address Bar section

I unpicked the browsing history.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (7)

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There is a separate table that is hard to clear. If you visit that site once, you can then clear it as follows:

  • Open the Library window using either:
    • "Show All History"
    • Ctrl+Shift+h
  • In the search bar at the upper right, enter ggogle and pause while Firefox filters the list -- the goal of this step is to make it impossible to nuke the wrong site's data
  • right-click a history entry for the site and choose Forget About This Site -- this dangerous command will remove history, cookies, bookmarks, permissions, and the host name history entry for that site

There is a brief delay before all data is removed, but within a few minutes, maps should no longer bring that one up.

Success?

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I cleared browsing history already. So, when I opened the library like you suggested, the "ggogle" site does not come up. Thanks for trying though.

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Chosen Solution

I gave up, so I just turned off the address bar suggestion.

Under about:preferences#privacy

Address Bar section

I unpicked the browsing history.

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dengkaiwen82 said

I cleared browsing history already. So, when I opened the library like you suggested, the "ggogle" site does not come up.

Yes, that is why I said you need to visit the site once and THEN use that method.

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jscher2000 said

dengkaiwen82 said
I cleared browsing history already. So, when I opened the library like you suggested, the "ggogle" site does not come up.

Yes, that is why I said you need to visit the site once and THEN use that method.

ggogle is not a valid URL, thus after visiting, the action doesn't get recorded as one visit in the browsing history.

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Okay, now I'm stumped.

I tried

http://maps.garfieldloveslasagna.com/

which doesn't exist.

I still gets Google suggested when I type maps.g in the address bar. So I can't explain your autocomplete match unless it's a remnant of some other behavior such as an ISP's fake search results page displayed when there's no real server.

If you decide you really need it cleared, you could discard and rebuild the places.sqlite database file. This will flush your history again.

Make a Bookmark Backup

Firefox has two formats and I recommend creating both:

Remove the Places database

This is the file that stores history and bookmarks. Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > Exit
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename places.sqlite to something like placesOLD.sqlite. If you see files named places.sqlite-shm and/or places.sqlite-wal, you can delete those.

When you start Firefox back up again, it should attempt to rebuild your bookmarks from the latest automatic backup. If that doesn't work, you can restore/import from one of the backups you made in the first step (only one needs to work):

Any improvement?

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Thank you so much for the thorough explanation. I really appreciate your effort trying to resolve my issue. I did, however, turn off the suggesting altogether. I will just type the whole URL in the future. Once again, thank you!