I see you are using a Linux distro, but please note the current Firefox release is now Firefox 11. What exactly are you trying to clear for instance:

• History as shown in the History library
• Results shown on location bar, originating from History
• Cache entries
• something else

What is the article that you are reading ?

• have you seen clear recent history
  (I recall minor changes in wording of menus but not too sure on which versions.)

What version of Linux and what desktop are you using ?
( I am using Ubuntu 11.10 with a Unity desktop and Firefox 11. )

Thank you for your reply. I'd like to clear everything...browser & download history; form & search history; cookies; cache; active logins. The article currently posted regards version 4 of firefox. I do not have the same menus with version 5. Help/About says I have Firefox Version 4.0. System Monitor says I am using Ubuntu 11.04 System Monitor identifies Gnome 2.32.1 - I assume this is the desktop.

correction: Help\About says I have version 5.0 of Firefox.

Ubuntu 11.xx displays window menus in the control bar at the top of the screen with the switch to the Unity window manager.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Unity

Move your mouse to the left upper corner toward Firefox Web Browser.

If you want to clear absolutely everything one option is to delete your profile, but that is likely to also take out your add-ons, and is not a user friendly method so we will forget about that for now.

I am not sure whether you are having difficulty finding instructions, or whether the problem is that you follow the correct instructions and it does not work.

Have a look at these articles

• how to clear the cache
• clear recent history

If you have problems say what you tried and what did or did not happen.

You could consider upgrading Firefox, as the version you are using is out of date. I presume you can upgrade Firefox without upgrading Ubuntu. (Your version 11.04 is not a LTS version)