Clearing Google Search History Entries 2.0 Beta 1

L.A.R. Grizzly · Post by **L.A.R. Grizzly** » May 10th, 2006, 11:33 am

OK, now I'm getting a little annoyed. Why fill the search box with a bunch of default entries which I'm never going to use? That would be OK if I could clear them! Now I have to scroll through the default ones to locate one I recently used. How do I clear the Search History of all this added garbage?

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8.1a2) Gecko/20060510 BonEcho/2.0a2

old zeniko · Post by **old zeniko** » May 10th, 2006, 12:22 pm

These aren't default entries: that's Google Suggest doing its job. Unfortunately there's currently no way to disable this feature. If you're annoyed, please file a bug (haven't found one, so far).

L.A.R. Grizzly · Post by **L.A.R. Grizzly** » May 10th, 2006, 12:29 pm

zeniko,

Sorry, I didn't realize it was from Google! I should have known it was spam, it recommends Britney Spears, Travelocity, Paris Hilton etc. It's the same for Yahoo! I get defaults for it too! They have to ruin everything. I wish someone would come up with a popup blocker for the TV! I hate those annoying lower-screen banners during a program! AARRGGHH!! :furious:

old zeniko · Post by **old zeniko** » May 10th, 2006, 12:37 pm

It's not spam - it's a feature.

Now, please relax and tell me whether you're going to file a bug (otherwise I am)...

L.A.R. Grizzly · Post by **L.A.R. Grizzly** » May 10th, 2006, 1:03 pm

zeniko,

Go ahead, file. I'm new at this Nightly stuff. Just getting my feet wet. I would call unwanted search entries spam, they're just little advertisements as far as I'm concerned. #-o

old zeniko · Post by **old zeniko** » May 10th, 2006, 2:01 pm

I've filed bug 337491 for this issue.

jofta · Post by **jofta** » May 10th, 2006, 2:49 pm

zeniko wrote:I've filed bug 337491 for this issue.

Thanks.. The world has enough suggestions and doesn't need more from a browser search bar

Old i of the storm · Post by **Old i of the storm** » May 10th, 2006, 6:03 pm

I second that. At least an about:config entry at this point would be nice.

iTIE · Post by **iTIE** » May 10th, 2006, 6:06 pm

I had to vote for the bug. There was no way I couldnt... I started to search for "pandemic" and I got as far as typing "pa" before the search bar informed me that it thought I might've been searching for "Paris Hilton." D: <shudder>

OldNerdGuy · Post by **OldNerdGuy** » May 11th, 2006, 6:15 am

This is beyond annoying, it is abusive, it is pandering to Google by Mozilla, it is selling the users (that would be us). This is something vile and evil and not what I would have expected from Mozilla. It is one thing to sell the premier search spot to Google, but to put in a feature like this is just WRONG!!!

Make it available, if you must, but turn it off by default.

I voted for the bug, and I would encourage everyone to do so. This is a royal sell-out and screw job by Firefox.

gssq · Post by **gssq** » May 11th, 2006, 4:30 pm

I replaced the xml in the searchplugins folder with an older version - no more Google Suggest!

L.A.R. Grizzly · Post by **L.A.R. Grizzly** » May 11th, 2006, 5:09 pm

gssq wrote:I replaced the xml in the searchplugins folder with an older version - no more Google Suggest!

Thanks for the tip! I replaced both the Google and Yahoo! .xml files from a backup I had. My search suggestions are now gone! Kudos!

Old i of the storm · Post by **Old i of the storm** » May 11th, 2006, 5:26 pm

Nice, but there still needs to be an option to do it, because 99% of people who upgrade to Firefox 2.0 do not read this forum and will be wondering when/why they searched for Paris Hilton, etc.

the-edmeister · Post by **the-edmeister** » May 11th, 2006, 9:50 pm

OldNerdGuy is right! Call it pandering or a sell out, but IMHO this garbage is another step towards Firefox becoming a Google branded browser. As much of a Firefox fan as I am and as much as I recognize how much Ben has done for Mozilla, I wonder if this is an example of the lead developer being on Google's payroll?

Phoenix > Firebird > Firefox > ? Google

Using an older google.xml file didn't get rid of that suggestion garbage for me. What file date works? The contents of five different google.xml files that I have is identical.

Why doesn't Minefield offer these suggestions?

I am doubting that the google.xml file has anything to do with the suggestions.

Ed

L.A.R. Grizzly · Post by **L.A.R. Grizzly** » May 11th, 2006, 9:59 pm

the-edmeister wrote:What file date works? The contents of five different google.xml files that I have is identical.

I am doubting that the google.xml file has anything to do with the suggestions.

The date on the files I used was May 9 and it is 2178KB for Google and 667KB for Yahoo!. The suggestions are now gone on my system. All I did was replace the files as recommended!

Links to download the files I used:

Right click and "Save Link As..."

Google

Yahoo!

They will be available for about 5 weeks.