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Firefox (57.0, latest) browsing history does not keep browinsing history. Browsing history only keeps for a day and then gone.

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  • Last reply by Yafu

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When I go to Browsing History in Firefox all the sites i have visited beyond today/yesterday are gone. Only today/yesterday are retained/kept at a time and then those disappear. I have "Remember History" checked and no third party cleaner enabled or in use. What's the simple fix for this?

When I go to Browsing History in Firefox all the sites i have visited beyond today/yesterday are gone. Only today/yesterday are retained/kept at a time and then those disappear. I have "Remember History" checked and no third party cleaner enabled or in use. What's the simple fix for this?

All Replies (20)

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Here is a attached screen shot of the History settings which of these boxes do you have that is checked? The History by default in FF aren't checked so unless you checked those boxes that is only way to clear unless you choose the Menu and picked clear History that will also wipe any History out.

Modified by WestEnd

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In case you use "Clear history when Firefox closes" or otherwise clear history.

  • do not clear the Browsing History
  • clearing "Site Preferences" clears exceptions for cookies, images, pop-up windows, and software installation and exception for password and other website specific data
  • clearing "Cookies" will remove all selected cookies including cookies with an "Allow" exception you may want to keep
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WestEnd said

Here is a attached screen shot of the History settings which of these boxes do you have that is checked? The History by default in FF aren't checked so unless you checked those boxes that is only way to clear unless you choose the Menu and picked clear History that will also wipe any History out.

The screen shot you are showing in FF is not in my FF. This shot looks like nothing of resemblance in any FF Options Menu. I have Windows (FF 57.0), perhaps you have Mac for FF. None of these Options (or such a screen) in your screen shot here is in my version of FF -- not certain how / where you came across these Options as laid out in your screen shot. Again in my FF I have: Under Menu->Options->Privacy & Security-> then under History -> I have "Remember History" checked off and then on same page below, under 'Tracking Protection' I have "Never' checked off.

???

Thanks -- appreciate more specificity .

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cor-el said

In case you use "Clear history when Firefox closes" or otherwise clear history.
  • do not clear the Browsing History
  • clearing "Site Preferences" clears exceptions for cookies, images, pop-up windows, and software installation and exception for password and other website specific data
  • clearing "Cookies" will remove all selected cookies including cookies with an "Allow" exception you may want to keep

Please just tell me what boxes to I have to check or uncheck to keep my browsing history from disappearing on its. I am using FF 57.0 for Windows. I have "Remember History" selected under Privacy & Security.

Also under 'Tracking Protection' what box should I have checked or unchecked for this particular matter, if there is one?

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much for your help!

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This is the Options Menu Screen I have (some of bottom got chopped off but those features aren't applicable here to my issue of browsing history disappearing):

Modified by Boston33

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You need to expand the history setting to show them all, including "Clear history when Firefox closes".

To see all History and Cookie settings, choose:

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This is my latest screen shot under Options Menu and History Page that ONLY SHOWS TODAY'S browsing history (12/16/17)...and no days before today. Again, Is this now the correct setting so Firefox keeps my browsing history indefinitely? (I do not want to "Clear History when Firefox Closes as you mentioned above ???) ." If this screen shot is not not correct PLEASE tell me what should be checked/unchecked ....*AND* does "Tracking Protection" have anything to do with this subject matter of disappearing browsing history?

I appreciate your help....just indicate what should or shouldn't be checked off set so my browsing history remains and doesn't disappear on me. Thanks.!

Modified by Boston33

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The history settings in Firefox are correct and shouldn't cause the history to get lost.

This leaves an extension or external cleanup software as other possible causes.

If you use external cleanup software like CCleaner then check the settings for Firefox.

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Thanks so much. So far today's and yesterday's history is there. I'll see what happens when the clock hits midnight when things do their disappearing act. I don't have cc cleaner and I'll check others ilke MBytes and Spyhunter.

Thanks for your help!

Steven

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Hi Steven, when is the history removed? For example:

  • every time you exit completely out of Firefox
  • every time you shut down or restart Windows (not just when Windows "sleeps")
  • on a schedule whether you exit Firefox or shut down Windows or not

Could you double-check your extensions to make sure none of them touch your history? You can view, disable, and often remove extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a (Mac: Command+Shift+a)
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
  • type or paste about:addons in the address bar and press Enter/Return

In the left column of the Add-ons page, click Extensions. Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right side. Any extensions that Firefox installs on its own are hidden from this page, so everything listed here is your choice (and your responsibility) to manage. Anything that appears to be history/privacy-related? If in doubt, disable (or at least click its Options button and see what you can do to manage it).

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Hi,

It "seems" it when the clock hits midnight is when it will only keep two days , Today and Yesterday (see my screen shot of browsing history in post just above...sometimes it only keeps Today ) from a couple of days ago. I do not have a Mac (Win 7) . When I close out of FF Today's history is still there. But only Today's. Same if I shut off computer, just Today's history. No Yesterday (sometimes Yesterday keeps for the day sometimes it's gone. Something "seems " to change when the day flips over at Midnight , "yesterday can disappear. I will watch this at midnight myself too.

Under Add-ons/Extensions the only items there is :

Norton Security Google Analytics-opt out cookie Zoom Page In-Out WinZip OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems, Inc. Widevine Content Decryption Module provided by Google Inc. Shockwave Flash 27.0 That's it.

That's all that is listed. Seemingly doubt these things will create the problem. See screen shots I posted above here two days ago to showing Browser History and History settings under Options Menu (Privacy & Security). I checked Norton Security and "Firefox History Clean Up" was properly disabled "Off" as it should be.

Any further ideas/clues?

Thanks again! Steven

Modified by Boston33

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Could you look into the Windows Task Scheduler and see whether you can find anything set to run daily around midnight? These are the steps:

  1. Click the Start button.

  2. Click Control Panel.

  3. Click System and Maintenance. Note: You also can use the search box in the upper right corner to look for schedule as a shortcut to clicking through the categories.

  4. Click Administrative Tools.

  5. Double-click Task Scheduler.

Now the hard part... finding anything in here. You will see a laundry list of tasks Windows is scheduled to run at various times. I'm attaching a sample screenshot showing where the schedule information appears.

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Attached is the screen shot of my Task Scheduler. I took your hint thanks, and went through possible items that could be causing this. I disabled ( for now) a Norton Security Task Schedule (not sure what it is--non descriptive) that runs in middle of night. I doubt this is the cause. As I mentioned, I checked Norton Security software and listed is "Firefox History Clean Up" which had already been properly disabled "Off" as it should be.

I disabled as you'll see listed, several days ago Spybot Search & Destroy and Spyware Blaster, which didn't do anything.

Here is my screen shot of Task Scheduler

Thanks for continued suggestions...

Steven

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Hi Steven, are the ones starting with ASC associated with "Advanced SystemCare"? That's another program with a habit of cleaning up Firefox data and reverting Firefox settings.

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YES! it is. Very much so. I'll try disabling this for a few days and see what happens! Maybe this is the cause unless you have additional ideas as well.

Thanks so very much!

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in simple terms. how do i get all my history back...this is suppose to be easy and Firefox has done updates and has destroyed a good browser

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JTB223 said

in simple terms. how do i get all my history back...this is suppose to be easy and Firefox has done updates and has destroyed a good browser

Hi JTB223, if you do not have any history after an update, it may not be a simple problem to resolve. Could you start a new question with your browser and system details:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new/desktop/fix-problems

Keep scrolling down to continue with the form.

Also check for an Old Firefox Data folder on your desktop from a Refresh and if you find one, see how recently the files in there were updated.

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On Monday Dec 18, I deleted any and instances of cleaners off my machine with a great uninstaller this included "Adv Care Sys" v11.0, all spy programs, all tracking programs and add-ons in FF I , even went into Task Scheduler disabled Norton and anything else that look possible problem and disabled all services/process. Then Last night 12/19 at exactly at 11;59 There was Today and Yesterday listed in Browsing History ---when this always happens with a new day at midight I refreshed the Browsing History Page at 12:01 where it read activity of JUST TODAY 12/20. Yesterday's activity 12/19 were now gone. No cleaners running. Very Frustrated!! So I went into FFX to TroubleShooting and decided to click on Restore FireFox button. It created a desktop folder of old /previous FFX and a new FFX was created within my computer...including a new Places.squl. So I will see if this did anything tonight at 12:01 when my system time changes over and I'll see if it started to kept Monday, Yesterday and Today browsing history! Maybe Places.squl file was corrupt. Let's hope! All other suggestions here did not work. I still have"Remember All History " and no priavcy mode or tracking mode.

I am not running any Anti-tracking programs either. Thanks! Will let you know!  Steven
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When history disappears at a time that Firefox isn't running (active) then only external software can be responsible. Firefox only clear up history when you close Firefox, but when Firefox detects that places.sqlite is corrupt on the next start then a new places file might be created, but in that case Firefox will rename the old file and add a .corrupt file extension.

You can make a backup copy of the Firefox profile folder after you have closed Firefox and have confirmed that Firefox has finished closing completely (no Firefox or plugin-container processes in the Windows Task Manager processes tab). You can also check the file dates of files in the profile folder before starting Firefox the next day to see if there have been changes to files (sort by modified).

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Thanks, let me tell you, I still have the problem after doing the following:

-I DELETED/SHREDDED/UNISTALLED for 36 hours every possible security/spam/cleaner related program that could be remotely causing this (Malwarebytes, Advance Care System 11, spyware programs, Spy programs, registry cleaners, all Anti-tracking plugins/extensions, Norton Security 360 (disabled), etc. I have very few programs installed and running.

-I did a Firefox Refresh, I changed the Places.Squl and added ".OLD to the end of file where FF created a new Places.Squl file.

-I've gone through Task Manager disabled anything remotely external or internal and especially thats scheduled at or near at 12:00 AM when this happens.

-I wish you were correct that this is being caused by an external program but it isn't. Frankly, this shouldn't be so hard and such a big deal or big deal to fix. I have just about given up. My Firefox only maintains "Yesterday" and Today" in the browsing history library and as soon as a new day hits at 12:00 AM all there is "Yesterday" and "Today" (a new day), it doesn't store anything previous (i.e., the days before "Yesterday" like past several days). I'm pretty tech savvy/intuitive.

There is something going on about "time" in my machine or in FF that's causing this, as my last suspicion. That's my last guess. Still stumbled.

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