Firefox has stopped remembering?

[bbbl67]

I think my FF was just updated today to 60.0.1, and I hadn't noticed it. I'm not sure if these two things are related, but FF no longer remembers my previous history when I'm typing at the address bar. It will remember the names of the websites, but it won't remember the entire previous URL. Like for example, it might remember this:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/

But not the more complex:

http://forums/mozillazine.org/posting.php?mode...

Anybody got an idea what's going on here? Being able to recall entire address lines is how navigate around in FF.

[dfoulkes]

Since I don't use the latest version of Firefox (ESR here) ... I do though have the portable version of the latest Firefox...

So, in that version I visited a number of sites and then typed into the address bar a site that I had visited some time before and as normal Firefox displayed a dropdown window of previous sites that contained part of what I typed up there... chose the one I wanted and it went there... in fact, one of the sites listed in that dropdown list was your post. Are you not getting that dropdown listing? ... also, click on Show all History just to make sure that the update didn't kill off all of your browsing history.

Also, review your Options ... maybe in Options/Privacy and Security... and check out the area that handles Address bar. That area could be a long shot though.

Also, does it work in safe-mode?
Try running Firefox in safe-mode... NOTE: This is a testing procedure only ... NOT for normal browsing.
-- On the menu bar, click the Help menu and select Restart with Add-ons Disabled....
Firefox will start up with the Firefox Safe Mode dialog. Click continue in Safe Mode and don't check any items.

Note: You can also start Firefox in Safe Mode by holding down the shift key while Single/Double clicking on the icon.
* (option key while starting Firefox on Mac).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>What safe-mode does ..... Safe Mode temporarily affects the following:
* All extensions are disabled. --- * The userChrome.css and userContent.css files are ignored.
* The default theme is used, without a persona. --- * The default toolbar layout is used.
* The Just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compiler is disabled. --- * Hardware acceleration is disabled.

-- Safe Mode has no effect on the following --
* The status of plugins is not affected.
* Custom preferences are not affected.

This is the link to the main KB article for Safe-Mode ... but, use the above info 1st...
Safe Mode - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

[Tomatoshadow2]

@bbi67 What is your last statement asking or are you just pointing something out?

[bbbl67]

Since I don't use the latest version of Firefox (ESR here) ... I do though have the portable version of the latest Firefox...

So, in that version I visited a number of sites and then typed into the address bar a site that I had visited some time before and as normal Firefox displayed a dropdown window of previous sites that contained part of what I typed up there... chose the one I wanted and it went there... in fact, one of the sites listed in that dropdown list was your post. Are you not getting that dropdown listing? ... also, click on Show all History just to make sure that the update didn't kill off all of your browsing history.

Also, review your Options ... maybe in Options/Privacy and Security... and check out the area that handles Address bar. That area could be a long shot though.

Also, does it work in safe-mode?

Yes, the dropdown list doesn't show up anymore. I checked the privacy & security options and they seem to indicate nothing has changed. I haven't checked in safe mode, but I'm about to do that now.

Update: So it's getting even weirder now! It seems like if I disable all add-ons through the Safe Mode method, then history search works again. However, if I manually disable all add-ons in normal mode, history search is still not working! Why should there be a difference?

[LIMPET235]

Hi,
Please ref; this KB article...
> http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locked_or_dam ... ces.sqlite

[bbbl67]

Hi,
Please ref; this KB article...
> http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locked_or_dam ... ces.sqlite

I remember trying this for a previous problem I had years ago, I had even installed the utility in there to clean up my "places.sqlite" file under the old Firefox. But it looks like that old tool no longer works with the current Firefox Quantum. I tried the next best thing, I have older backups of this file as I do daily backups, and so I tried putting an older "places.sqlite" file, but that didn't help at all.

[bbbl67]

Since I don't use the latest version of Firefox (ESR here) ... I do though have the portable version of the latest Firefox...

BTW, are you saying that you're using an officially-supported previous generation Firefox, pre-Quantum? How do you get that? I've been having nothing but problems since Quantum came out, and there isn't even close to enough replacements for the old add-ons I used to have.

[Brummelchen]

he is using the lates v52 esr - not the latest (final) firefox which is v60. any other (not esr) before quantum is no go concerning security, stability. you better drop this idea.

[therube]

utility in there to clean up my "places.sqlite"

I believe about:support has a button in there to "test" places.

[LIMPET235]

Hi,
It's called "Verify Integrity."
& it's way down the list in Places Database.

[bbbl67]

Hi,
It's called "Verify Integrity."
& it's way down the list in Places Database.

Okay, ran that, it doesn't seem to have helped yet. I'll restart FF first though.

Edit: Okay restarted FF, nothing happened. I don't think the Places database is at fault here, as I mentioned previously, when its running in Safe Mode, the history works, so that means the Places database must also be working. What else could cause this?

[Tomatoshadow2]

Did you test with a new profile?

[dfoulkes]

he is using the lates v52 esr - not the latest (final) firefox which is v60. any other (not esr) before quantum is no go concerning security, stability. you better drop this idea.

As of now Mozilla is keeping ESR up to par with respect to security and this is the most stable version of Firefox I've ever used...and all of my fav. extensions work fine. I also have the latest portable Quantum in here in order to test extensions that hopefully meet my requirements and I'll continue to use ESR until I can use Quantum as I require... no sense in using a browser that causes a user pain when using it...if that were the case then I'd use Chrome or IE... know what I mean? I have a friend who just let Firefox auto-update and before Quantum came into play he was very happy in the way that I had set up his profile... now he hates Firefox! ... It's bad when a product creates an environment where long time users now jump ship because of (Mozilla in this case) a company trashes its product with an update that kills off long time users. I don't know if the huge reduction in users posting here in Mozilla-zine is due to Quantum or if they moved over to the 'official' Mozilla forum..but that reductions seems to have happened shortly after Quantum came into play. Search this forum on how to install multi-versions of Firefox in the same system.

bbbl67
You can get ESR from Mozilla from here....
Directory Listing: /pub/firefox/releases/52.8.0esr/

...Or the portable version from here.
PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB, portable, and cloud drives

[therube]

I don't know if the huge reduction in users posting here in Mozilla-zine is due to Quantum

My thought.
(Mozilla "forums" are horrible, IMO.)

[dfoulkes]

Been there a few times but never posted anything. Not sure of the 'why's' but we used to get like... 50-100 daily posts in here...not all for Support but a huge number of what we get now....and those old posts weren't so much problem posts... just ones where people wanted to know how to do things.

(Mozilla "forums" are horrible, IMO.)

Yep... this forum is extremely well maintained, structured with common sense and I can't give enough praise to the Mods and the regulars like yourself. I would 'help' more these days if I was way-up on the latest but that will come in the future.