Making Your Privacy a One-Button Affair

Firefox compiles a variety of records about your travels on the Internet. Firefox doesn't transmit these records anywhere; they exist only for your convenience. For example, Firefox maintains a list of the Web sites you visit so you can return to them later. Chapter 14 describes the records Firefox keeps and shows you how to handle them if you're concerned about privacy.

However, if you turn off these records, you'll probably miss them later on. Instead of turning them off, you can permit Firefox to keep records, but use its Clear Private Data feature to clear them regularly. Ordinarily, Firefox asks you which records to clear each time you use the feature. However, if you clear private data frequently, you might want to tell Firefox to stop asking that question:

2. Click the Privacy icon at the top of the Options window.

3. Click the Settings button at the bottom of the window to open the Clear Private Data settings window.

4. Select the types of records you want to clear regularly and ensure that all other records are deselected.

   If a type of record isn't selectable, Firefox currently has no records of the type.

5. Deselect the Ask Me Before Clearing Private Data check box.

   To turn the window back on later, just return to the Clear Private Data settings window and select this check box.

6. Click OK to close the Clear Private Data settings window.

7. Click OK to save your changes and close the Options window.

Now Firefox stops prompting you each time you use the Clear Private Data feature, which you access by choosing Tools Clear Private Data. On Windows, this feature also has a keyboard shortcut, so clearing your records is as simple as pressing Ctrl+Shift+Del whenever you're using Firefox.