Permanently Clear History in Firefox for Good

We spend hours on Firefox browsing just about anything. Browsing history, no matter how trivial or insignificant, should be deleted from the browser for multiple reasons. If you face unresponsive Firefox or site loading issues, you can try clearing your browsing data, such as cookies, cache, history, and more. Be it for privacy concerns or any browser-related issues, deleting history in Firefox can help you have a smooth browsing experience.

What is Browsing History in Firefox?

Browsing history in Firefox is a list of all the sites, and associated metadata, such as page title, URL, etc. that you've visited. Although the history helps you revisit previously accessed sites faster, the information gets stored on your system drive as a cache file. This cache file contains the entire browser's app data, including cookies, history, saved passwords, web form details, etc.  

Why do you need to clear Firefox browsing history?

When you don't delete the browsing history in Firefox regularly, it creates a log of the web pages you've visited so far and accumulates the information over time. This, in turn, slows down your browser. Additionally, as the history is stored on your system drive as a cache file, it consumes a good amount of space, which can ultimately lead to a slow-running PC.

Moreover, when you keep your browser history, anyone with access to your system, can easily take advantage of it and misuse it. Deleting history in Firefox will preserve your privacy from unauthorized users.

Ways to Clear History in Firefox

Here, we've shared both manual and automated ways to clear history in Firefox. You can try out these DIY (Do-it-yourself) methods by following the steps given against them carefully.

#1 Manually Delete history in Firefox:

• Open Firefox and go to the Application Menu > Settings > Privacy & Security.
• Then, scroll down and when you find History, click Clear History.

• Next, you'll see the Clear Recent History window. There, you can select all the check boxes given against options.
• Then, from the 'Time range to clear' drop-down menu, you can choose to delete history in Firefox as per your preference. In the below image, we've selected Everything.

• You will see a warning stating 'All deleted history will not be available once deleted.' You can also select Site settings and Offline website data to delete. Click OK to proceed.
• The deletion will take some time to delete if there is a large number of cookies, history, and cache. Wait for a while and once done, close the window.

Automatically Clear Browsing History in Firefox When Not in Use

You can also set Firefox to clear the history automatically every time it closes. Use the following steps.

• To do so, go to the Application menu > Settings > Privacy & Security > History.
• Now, select Clear history when Firefox closes > Settings.

• Next, select Browsing & download history > OK.

• You can also select Active logins, Form & search history, Site settings, and Offline website data under Data and click OK to remove them from your history.

And, that's it! Now, every time you close the browser, the history will delete automatically.  

Clear Browsing History in Firefox Mobile App

If you use the Mozilla Firefox app, you can easily follow the given steps to delete history in Firefox. It's quite similar to removing history in the browser's desktop version.

Follow the given steps:

• Open Firefox App on your mobile and go to the hamburger menu given in the lower-right corner.
• Open Settings and then scroll down to Privacy and Security.
• There, select Delete browsing data.

• Select Browsing history and site data. You can also select Open tabs and Site permissions. Now, click on Delete browsing data.

• Click Delete to confirm your action.

• Once done, close the app and your history will be deleted.

Schedule Deleting Browsing History Task in Firefox

Clearing history in Firefox is not a one-time task. You will have to keep repeating it now and then to keep your browser and system in a healthy state. But, if you want an escape from this routine, choosing specialized data erasure software, such as Stellar File Eraser is a must-have. This DIY file eraser tool doesn't only wipe the disk partitions, files, and folders, but also erases app traces, internet activity, browser data, and more.

Everything it erases becomes unrecoverable even when you try to recover it with a data recovery tool. It uses specialized erasure standards defined by the likes of the US Department of Defense. You can also securely wipe the other data you want to keep safe from unauthorized or malicious people. Follow the given steps to clean Firefox browsing history beyond the scope of recovery.

• Download, install, and run Stellar File Eraser on your system.
• Go to Settings and follow Erase Traces > Internet Activity > Mozilla Firefox. Next, choose your account/profile.
• Select DEFAULT under your account/profile category.
• Now, select History & Search History. You can also select Download History, Session Restore, and Saved Login & Password options to erase. Click OK to save the settings.
• Now, on the software dashboard, select Scheduler > Erase Traces.
• Next, set Frequency, Start Date and Time, and Frequency Settings from the Scheduler screen.
• Click OK to set the scheduler. A pop-up will appear, showing the 'Scheduler created successfully' message. Click OK and you're done with scheduling the clearing history task in Firefox.