Disable Firefox 3 from storing bookmarks in location bar

[Cubby]

Hi,

I just noticed that with the latest version of Firefox 3, that my location bar was full of URL addresses and unticking Keep My History for At least 0 Days didn't work. Clear Private Data didn't work. Left cliking on the arrow on the right end of the location bar, highlighting the URL, CNTL+DEL would remove it, but it would show up again as soon as I restarted the browser. Okay, what's going on?

It's a new feature, and what's even worse, they're calling it a Smart Bar now. Anything labeled smart is usually a dumb idea. Like I can't just as easily click on Bookmarks in the Toolbar. Both take one click. One more reason why I don't like Firefox.

I'm using Mint Felicia for 64 bits.

I'm lazy, but here's a link. Seems this "feature" has been out for a while.

http://www.labnol.org/software/browsers ... -bar/3636/

[DrHu]

It's a new feature, and what's even worse, they're calling it a Smart Bar now. Anything labeled smart is usually a dumb idea. Like I can't just as easily click on Bookmarks in the Toolbar. Both take one click. One more reason why I don't like Firefox.

How do you feel about IE (internet explorer) and its similar features..
http://forum.pcstats.com/archive/index.php/t-27171.html

was wondering how you get rid of those annoying drop down items in your IE which show you what sites you have already visited (the drop down menu in your address bar which pops up when you start typing an address) I'v already turned of the Auto-Complete function in the registry, but it still remembers my old adresses. Plz help :confused:

This is the idea of ease of use for regular/normal users, under the rubric of a one button access idea..
--probably the influence of the windows or MAC multitude

Yup, I use those methods
In case I end up in a google search page, I also..

• --add customizegoogle and remove all click-tracking
• noscript
• use http://www.scroggle.org as the home page

[optimize me]

I didn't like it at first either, but I've come to make use of it. If I'm on a particlular page, allI have to do is hit alt+d to go into the address bar, start typing a url or keyword, and arrow-key down to what I'm after. I never even have to touch the mousepad. I suppose it's a more handy feature for laptop users than desktops; mousepads are cumbersome and clumsy to use, and I wish they would come up with some new technology to replace them.

[altair4]

Try Old Location Bar: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7637

[merlwiz79]

You're talking about the smart location bar?
Step 1. Type about:config in the location bar.
Step 2. Type urlbar next to filter.
Step 3. Change two of the values.
Change browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped to true and browser.urlbar.maxRichResults to 1 or 0. If you want the location bar to act like Firefox 2 did, set it to 1. Otherwise set to 0.

If you like the Smart Location Bar but would rather see it have less results, keep matchOnlyTyped to false and set maxRichResults to 5 instead of 12.

[Cubby]

Hi all,

Sorry I didn't reply sooner to your comments.

When my husband bought our first home PC years ago, the first thing he did was to buy Netscape Navigator, and delete IE, so I've never used IE. I use Konqueror or Opera.
My gripe was that is isn't easy to clear this Smart Location Bar. If one ctl+del each they disappear, but reappear upon restart of browser. There needs to be an option in Clear Private Data to include clearing the Smart Location bar or at least, a separate preference for disabling this under Preferences>Privacy. But the About:Config fiddling did the trick. I'm not a fan of plug-ins.
I changed the value to 0 so it wouldn't keep any bookmark in the Smart Location Bar.
Update: I see that a new version of Firefox allows one to turn off this feature, version 3.5.2, so Firefox has answered concerns over this by creating a preference for it via their user interface/gui. Thanks Mozilla/Firefox folks!