History and cookies can be removed or not recorded several ways;

• 1) Running Firefox in Private Mode (nothing is recorded)
• 2) Privacy settings; (Type about:preferences#privacy<enter> in the address bar.)
• 3) Many disk cleaners and anti-virus type programs can remove data from browsers. Open their settings and have them leave the browsers alone.
• 4) Mal-ware.

Make sure that you aren't removing the history when you close Firefox.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/remove-recent-browsing-search-and-download-history

If this doesn't apply you can check for problems with the places.sqlite database (bookmarks and history) in the Firefox profile folder.

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/places-maintenance/

You can also do this via the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" page.

• scroll down to the "Places Database" section

See also:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file

FredMcD said

History and cookies can be removed or not recorded several ways;

• 1) Running Firefox in Private Mode (nothing is recorded)
• 2) Privacy settings; (Type about:preferences#privacy<enter> in the address bar.)
• 3) Many disk cleaners and anti-virus type programs can remove data from browsers. Open their settings and have them leave the browsers alone.
• 4) Mal-ware.

Thanks for your reply, but I have already checked all these ones before this even started. And since I am afraid of loosing more history, I had to change and use chrome instead.

The only anti-virus program I use is Ad-aware and I didn't find anything there about interfering with my browser. It's strange it's starting now after almost a year. I don't think it's anti-virus or the disk cleaners because this is starting now. As I also mentioned in the question description above, the process continues. The more I use firefox, the more old history gets deleted. :(

Lonelywolf21 said

It's strange it's starting now after almost a year

Believe it or not, some malware will just sit in the hard drive until it is triggered. Some by date, some via a signal . . . . .

cor-el said

Make sure that you aren't removing the history when you close Firefox.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/remove-recent-browsing-search-and-download-history

If this doesn't apply you can check for problems with the places.sqlite database (bookmarks and history) in the Firefox profile folder.

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/places-maintenance/

You can also do this via the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" page.

• scroll down to the "Places Database" section

See also:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file

Hi, thanks for your reply. I know you are trying to help, but I have already tried all these suggestion you mentioned. I can also say that only old download history + old history webpages gets deleted. I don't why, but as I already said before the more I download and the more pages I visit, the more old history and download history gets deleted.

This is very unfortunate and I don't know if this is only happens to me. But I am fully aware that this problem start occurring for about a week or two so.

cor-el could it be his history file is too large, and old entries are being removed to make room for new entries?

Firefox determines automatically how many pages can be kept without affecting the performance. You can see the current value of this maximum as the value of the read-only pref places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages on the about:config page. You can create a new integer pref named places.history.expiration.max_pages if you want to adjust the automatically calculates number of pages to keep. Be cautious though with modifying the value of this pref. Note that you can do a copy and paste of history items to a bookmarks folder.

See Marco Bonardo's blog about this subject:

• http://bonardo.net/mozilla/2012/02/13/places-got-async-expiration.html

Lonelywolf21 said

FredMcD said

History and cookies can be removed or not recorded several ways;

• 1) Running Firefox in Private Mode (nothing is recorded)
• 2) Privacy settings; (Type about:preferences#privacy<enter> in the address bar.)
• 3) Many disk cleaners and anti-virus type programs can remove data from browsers. Open their settings and have them leave the browsers alone.
• 4) Mal-ware.

Thanks for your reply, but I have already checked all these ones before this even started. And since I am afraid of loosing more history, I had to change and use chrome instead.

The only anti-virus program I use is Ad-aware and I didn't find anything there about interfering with my browser. It's strange it's starting now after almost a year. I don't think it's anti-virus or the disk cleaners because this is starting now. As I also mentioned in the question description above, the process continues. The more I use firefox, the more old history gets deleted. :(

I see. I will run a deep scan with Ad-aware and see if it finds something. But I also notice something else that I find very strange. The size of the places.sqlite file. The size of it is 92 160 KB. The size have been the same for many days now. I have looked at it before and it usually change. I believe the solution lies with that file. Is there a way to increase the file size or is this the limit or is 92 160 KB the limit?

FredMcD said

cor-el could it be his history file is too large, and old entries are being removed to make room for new entries?

I thought the same, but how do you stop this. I recently found out that the places.sqlite file is 92 160 KB and it has been the same size every since this problem started. Now I wonder is that the limit for how much history Firefox can store. Can't the file exceed that beyond that?

cor-el said

Firefox determines automatically how many pages can be kept without affecting the performance. You can see the current value of this maximum as the value of the read-only pref places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages on the about:config page. You can create a new integer pref named places.history.expiration.max_pages if you want to adjust the automatically calculates number of pages to keep. Be cautious though with modifying the value of this pref. Note that you can do a copy and paste of history items to a bookmarks folder. See Marco Bonardo's blog about this subject:

• http://bonardo.net/mozilla/2012/02/13/places-got-async-expiration.html

I finally find the place were I could see how many pages I can store, but the problem is that I can't change the value either by modifying it or make a new integer as you said yourself. Is there another option to do that? :)

You can read in the article that places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages is a read-only pref and you can't modify this maximum via that pref. Did you verify that you are exceeding this maximum?

You would have to create a new integer pref with the name places.history.expiration.max_pages and set the value of the pref to the desired number of history items like you can see in my post above. Preferences can be created on the about:config page via the right-click context menu: New -> Integer

cor-el said

You can read in the article that places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages is a read-only pref and you can't modify this maximum via that pref. Did you verify that you are exceeding this maximum? You would have to create a new integer pref with the name places.history.expiration.max_pages and set the value of the pref to the desired number of history items like you can see in my post above. Preferences can be created on the about:config page via the right-click context menu: New -> Integer

Hi again! First of all, happy new year! :) Unfourtnately, I have been pretty busy with real life so I hadn't so much time to use more time on this problem.

I made a new interger and wrote: places.history.expiration.max_pages. After importing a lot new history from chrome+app on phone it seems like the deletion have fourtnately stopped which is very good. Thanks you 1000 times really. I am really grateful for all your replies and help I got here. Now I am really satisfied. ^_^

If you don't mind, can I ask one last question. With making a new integer, do you know how long this new integer-file will last before deleting history. I think I have set the value on the maximum, but do you know if this could occur in the future again. I really want to avoid this. I mean is there a way to see when I almost reach the page limit? And if so, how do I solve it if it were going to happen again? Do I simply do the same procedure with making a new integer-file?

What is the current value of places.history.expiration.max_pages?

How long this lasts would only depend upon how many pages you visit. Keep in mind that too many pages can slow down Firefox or even cause hangs or crashes. I would suggest to at least make a backup of your history (e.g. places.sqlite) and possibly bookmark backups in the bookmarkbackups folder as well.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/browsing_history_view.html

cor-el said

What is the current value of places.history.expiration.max_pages? How long this lasts would only depend upon how many pages you visit. Keep in mind that too many pages can slow down Firefox or even cause hangs or crashes. I would suggest to at least make a backup of your history (e.g. places.sqlite) and possibly bookmark backups in the bookmarkbackups folder as well.

---

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/browsing_history_view.html

Yeah, I did it right now. :) Thank for the tip. I think I have learned my lession. I actually don't mind if too much history makes the web browser a bit more slow.

I know most people doesn't care about these things, but I guess we all are different. In my case, I am a history freak. I love to see statistic of my history for as far I can go back. That's why I don't want it to be deleted.

Now that I have made all my points the only thing left is to thank you again and change the problems status to solved. :D