Hi WBSteele, the way those special blue folders work is they gather data from your bookmarks database. There may well be a way to hide or suppress the folders from appearing, but the data -- your bookmarks, the date you visited that site, etc. -- will still be there in the database.

If you don't want Firefox storing data about your bookmarking activity, consider switching to a completely different bookmark system such as an online service or even your IE Favorites folder: PlainOldFavorites Add-on (I haven't tried it myself).

If you just want to hide the blue folders, what have you tried so far?

Hi WBSteele,

Firefox is easy to customise, and of course these are easily removed if you do not like them.

They are only a special type of folder or saved search, that are provided by default at present.

They may be deleted in the same way as any other bookmark or bookmark folder

• see the old archived article smart Bookmarks folders

You may also be interested in

• private Browsing - Browse the web without saving information about the sites you visit

and remember you may choose what is shown in the location bar drop down

• search your bookmarks, history and tabs with the Awesome Bar_how-can-i-control-what-results-the-location-bar-shows-me

I hope this answer helps you,
John

Thanks for the idea, but IE is worse than Firefox when it comes to storing data such as favorites/bookmarks. I appreciate the time. I just have a couple of applications I run and delete everything stored, and the folders have stopped coming back ... I am happy for now. Just got so frustrated with a computer crash that had me spending days trying to configure a new computer and dealing with the new Firefox version for the first time.

I read all those articles long before I posted, well, at least the ones that were applicable. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

IE also stores data in the registry about visited domains.
Firefox only stores data in the places.sqlite database file.
The last visit date and visit count of bookmarks and history items is part of that data.
If you do not want Firefox to store such data then you can switch to Private Browsing mode, as posted above.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Private+Browsing

Smart folders show a list of sites that is generated from the places.sqlite database file via a specific query, so that data is already stored and the smart folder only makes it visible.
You can delete the smart folder query if you do not want to see such a query result, but deleting individual bookmark or history items in such a list removes the from the places database.

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Places_query_URIs

CCleaner will clean out the places.sqlite file if the Recently Bookmarked or Recently Tagged links are removed from the bookmark menu. I am not sure if clearing the history will do it, or if those bookmarks are saved in a seperate list. I have the browser clear the history on shutdown, and added a "clear history option" to the history menu for convenience with:

History Addon

I don't mind firefox storing form data and passwords for the sites of interest that aren't a high security concern, and that I select. I keep cookies from such sites for long periods of time. I don't like things being kept without my permission and I am constantIy looking for the next new fabulous attempt (ie LSO's). I keep high security sites clean.

I've been around too long and watched the internet grow-up. It was great getting better computers cheaper, once less computer literate folks began to play games and socialize with computers. My first account was with Compuserve in the late 80's, and my first site was and mostly is plain old HTML (with a scripts I wrote ... hehe). After watching the browser and pc wars, there is no doubt that (now AOL, Time, Warner --- Google) there are groups that want control of the internet and access to EVERYONES information and habits. Is there a website that doesn't run a google script? IE was a savior but, Gates got run out by the folks that accused him of doing what they had attempted. Microsoft is now in their hands as is IE. If I just had the drivers I would be full Linux ... but I digress. There should be normal browsing without the help of a nanny browser, and private browsing is, " throwing the baby out with the bath water", if used at all times. Two of my favorites are:

No Script

and

Better Privacy Addon

Thanks for the help and letting me vent. This is solved.

ps:

Firefox can't find the file at jar:file:///D:/Program Files (x86)/Mozilla Firefox/omni.ja!/chrome/browser/content/browser/places/content-ui/controller.xhtml

Is there a website that doesn't run a google script?

Perhaps you and I are the only two that prefer not to be counted in Google Analytics. NoScript is great for that.

Firefox can't find the file at jar:file:///D:/Program Files (x86)/Mozilla Firefox/omni.ja!/chrome/browser/content/browser/places/content-ui/controller.xhtml

Not sure what that indicates. Does it seem to inhibit anything bookmark or history related from working?