Is it that you can't Clear recent history, or some other problem where you were told to Clear recent history?

What items do you want to clear via "Clear Recent History"?

Firefox 28 is not supported anyhow so please update to Firefox 29.

If you still have a problem when using the current Firefox Release (Fx29.0.1) please explain exactly what steps you try to clear the recent history and what part or step is a problem.

Please also try in Firefox's safe mode.

• Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode

edit Not updating Firefox is usually considered bad practice.

• Please see the article Install an older version of Firefox
  That includes the links you need for old versions.
• And glance at https://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox.html

Once a new Released out and security fixes are made and publicised bad guys take advantage of the exploits and that puts your System and Personal Data at an increased risk.
Those with strong reasons for using an insecure version and understanding the risks may take appropriate steps to mitigate the risk. Possibly using a Virtual Machine, maybe having a well rehearsed bare metal restore procedure.

Perhaps if you say why you do not wish to upgrade we may be able to suggest a suitable way forward with an upgrade and some sort of workaround. Or are you talking as an administrator of a network of Computers, in which case a special Release of Firefox may be more appropriate. If the problem relates to Firefox 29 these articles may help

• Learn more about the design of the new Firefox version 29
• What happened to the Add-on Bar?
• How to make the new Firefox look like the old Firefox

It may also be worth noting that Fx29 now respects the setting to not upgrade until you agree. Firefox 28 upgraded regardless of the setting if you used the about dialogue to check the version.

Fred: It's that the link "clear your recent history" does nothing, except a new small window appears in which it states "Time range to clear" and I select "everything", and click the link "clear now". But nothing happens. I can wait half an hour with these windows open, and nothing happens.

cor-el: I want to clear all history. Cookies, browsing history, whatever it can do, when it's working properly.

John99: I took one look at FF29 when it came out. When I regained consciousness, I said to myself, what a mess. And, I have no time or interest in configuring it. FF28 is OK for me. Except for this current problem, which began well before FF29's release.

Usually if you use Clear Recent History from the History menu (not the Options dialog) and select at least one of the larger categories of data such as Cache or Browsing History, you should sense Firefox working on your request immediately. Which categories are you choosing to clear?

Forgot to mention: if you don't have the list of categories showing, click the Details button.

Hey Hiker!!!! If I'm understanding this right, you are having issues clearing your history of websites you have already been to right? I have what might be the solution to your problem.

1.) Click the menu button New Fx Menu , choose History, and then Clear Recent History

2.) Select how much history you want to clear.

A drop down menu will give you options as to what you want cleared.
     

Click the arrow next to Details to select exactly what information will get cleared.

3.) Finally, click the Clear Now button. The window will close and the items you've selected will be cleared.

You can also set Firefox to automatically clear its history:

Go to Options > Privacy > History

When you get to "'History'" make sure that the option "Clear history when Firefox closes is checked. This way can be sure that when you close Firefox, your history, cookies, and etc. will be erased. Here is the link for this information:

(https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/remove-recent-browsing-search-and-download-history?esab=a&s=In+FF28+the+%22+Clear+your+recent+history+%22+does+not+work.&r=0&as=s#w_how-do-i-clear-my-history )

Try this out and let me know if this works for you.

Dave I used your link above but it cleared all my saved tabs. You can see in my OP that I have set: General - Show my windows and tabs from last time. Now those tabs are gone. How do I get them back? This is very important to me!

Hi Hiker1, do not exit Firefox. Go to your profile folder (see below) and look for sessionstore files, copy all the ones you find (if any) to a safe location such as Documents.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• Help menu > Troubleshooting Information

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button

You didn't say where it was. Cannot find it. I closed FF already. Instead of getting help here, my situation is worse than before.

Hi hiker1, I gave the suggested method of finding those files in my post.

Another way to access the folder is:

Start menu > Run > type or paste the following and press Enter:

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

You will find one or more folders with partially random names. Check the most recently updated folder for any files whose names start with sessionstore and copy those to a safe location.

If you have opened and closed Firefox a number of times, there's probably nothing left to salvage there.

I am not sure which of the many suggestions caused the problem. Did you set Firefox to clear all history at shutdown? Or did this happen from using History > Clear Recent History?

"3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information

   Help menu > Troubleshooting Information" didn't get me to the profile folder.

"I am not sure which of the many suggestions caused the problem. Did you set Firefox to clear all history at shutdown? Or did this happen from using History > Clear Recent History?" Neither of those. It was the link in davecmozilla's post. That post should be deleted. I don't get how it could override my setting of "General - Show my windows and tabs from last time." and the others in my OP above.

Just as a possible answer to my original question, does the setting "Show my windows and tabs from last time" override the "clear your recent history" link?

There is one folder in Profiles. That folder includes a folder: Sessions, which has two files: backup.session and backup-2.session. There are also some sessionstore files in the main folder: .bak[has a utorrent icon], .bak-[long string of numbers], .js, as well as other files like places.sqlite...

I copied the second and third sessionstore files.

I installed the Session manager addon last night too, after the problem caused by the infamous link above. Not sure where it stores it's files.

If you want to show your tabs and windows from last time, why would you clear your history?

See also:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

-- If you use "Clear history when Firefox closes":

• do not clear the Cache (Firefox will disable the disk cache in this case, see about:cache)
• do not clear the Browsing History (clearing history will prevent reopening tabs automatically via session restore)

• Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history": [X] "Clear history when Firefox closes" > Settings
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/remove-browsing-search-and-download-history

Note that clearing "Site Preferences" clears all exceptions for cookies, images, pop-up windows, software installation, passwords, and other website specific data.

Clearing cookies will remove all specified (selected) cookies including cookies with an allow exception that you would like to keep.

"If you want to show your tabs and windows from last time, why would you clear your history?" My OP lists my options. How come no one bothered to read it?

Have I answered my own original question?

How about clearing everything except windows and tabs?

My concern now is what to do with the sessionstore files I have copied elsewhere. How do I use these to see if I have a way to restore my tabs?

The utorrent icon will be because the Windows OS has registered the file as normally being opened by utorrent based simply on the characters after the dot and the fact that utorrent uses files of that type.

To try to use a .bak sessionstore file rename it as sessionstore.js (After renaming and backing up the original -- if the original is itself potentially useful.) and place it in the current profile whilst Firefox is closed.

Note your general History, as shown in the History manager is in the database places.sqlite but do not delete that. The details of Open tabs and Windows are stored in the session store files.

I must admit I am not really sure I correctly understand what your current or initial aims were.

Maybe some of these articles help

• Private Browsing - Use Firefox without saving history
• Delete browsing, search and download history on Firefox
• Settings for privacy, browsing history and do-not-track
• Remove websites from the address bar suggestions
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Sessionstore.js
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Session_Restore
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Places.sqlite

RE:"Firefox 28 is not supported anyhow so please update to Firefox 29."

You see, what this means is FF 28 somehow had a problem, and if so why was it released? And why is it not supported anymore? What was the point of releasing a malformed version? And why is FF releasing so many versions one after another? Maybe because it gives the staff at Mozilla something to do?

"If you still have a problem when using the current Firefox Release (Fx29.0.1) please explain exactly what steps you try to clear the recent history and what part or step is a problem.

Please also try in Firefox's safe mode.

   Troubleshoot Firefox issues using Safe Mode 

edit Not updating Firefox is usually considered bad practice.

   Please see the article Install an older version of Firefox
   That includes the links you need for old versions.
   And glance at https://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox.html "

"Once a new Released out and security fixes are made and publicised bad guys take advantage of the exploits and that puts your System and Personal Data at an increased risk."

In that case: Firefox staff should continue supporting it.

"Those with strong reasons for using an insecure version and understanding the risks may take appropriate steps to mitigate the risk. Possibly using a Virtual Machine, maybe having a well rehearsed bare metal restore procedure.

Perhaps if you say why you do not wish to upgrade we may be able to suggest a suitable way forward with an upgrade and some sort of workaround. Or are you talking as an administrator of a network of Computers, in which case a special Release of Firefox may be more appropriate. If the problem relates to Firefox 29 these articles may help

   "Learn more about the design of the new Firefox
   What happened to the Add-on Bar?
   How to make the new Firefox look like the old Firefox "

I don't have time for or interest in doing this.

"It may also be worth noting that Fx29 now respects the setting to not upgrade until you agree. Firefox 28 upgraded regardless of the setting if you used the about dialogue to check the version."

This was always possible using Options - Advanced - Update - Never check for updates.

Firefox is updated about every 6 weeks.

In the old days, a list was drawn up of everything that had to be completed to do a release. This led to huge delays when some things weren't done and as a result other things were held up. In the new system, when something is finished, it can be released within a few months (there usually is a 12-week testing cycle before new features are released).

No system is perfect, but that's the one we've had for quite a while now.