Why is the "Clear Recent History" under my "History" menu inactive (grayed out, not black)?
When I click on the "History" icon, I get a new window with "History" at the top. Under it are three sub-options: "view History Sidebar", "Clear Recent History" (which is the one that I want to access), and "Restore Previous Session". Only the first one is black/active/"hot"; the other two are gray and do nothing when either clicked or the designated keyboard alternative is used. what must I do to be able to clear my history.
All Replies (3)
Do you keep history? To see all History and Cookie settings, choose:
- Tools > Options > Privacy > Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history"
Make sure that you do not run Firefox in permanent Private Browsing mode (Never remember history).
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
- Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
Thanks, cor-el, but I'm still having problems. First, I was already in the "Use custom settings for History" mode, so that's not the cause of my problem. Second, when I viewed the Mozilla Support video about Private Browsing (about which I was ignorant) and went to open a new Private Browsing window, I discovered that THAT feature doesn't work either: the little purple "mask" icon did NOT appear at the top of my new window. Third, when I started Firefox in "Safe Mode", the "Appearance" window showed a message saying that the default settings were disabled--and did not allow me to un-disable them.
So now I have THREE problems using Firefox; I need even more help than I initially did!
Did you make sure that Firefox isn't already running in private browsing mode?
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
- Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
You can also check the target line in the Firefox desktop shortcut.
You can use an extension to get Private Browsing mode support per tab to see if that shows that you are in a Private Browsing mode tab.
- Private Tab: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/private-tab/
- Private Browsing mode tabs get a dashed underline
- You can toggle Private Browsing mode on/off on each tab via the right-click context menu of the tab
Do a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder before (re)installing a fresh copy of the current Firefox release.
- Download the full Firefox installer and save the file to the desktop
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/
If possible uninstall your current Firefox version to cleanup the Windows registry and settings in security software.
- Do NOT remove "personal data" when you uninstall your current Firefox version, because this will remove all profile folders and you lose personal data like bookmarks and passwords including data in profiles created by other Firefox versions.
Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.
- (32 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\"
- (64 bit Windows) "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\"
- It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_Firefox
Your bookmarks and other personal data are stored in the Firefox profile folder and won't be affected by an uninstall and (re)install, but make sure NOT to remove personal data when you uninstall Firefox as that will remove all Firefox profile folders and you lose your personal data.
If you keep having problems then also create a new profile.