the window that appears, ensure that nothing but Browsing History is selected (see Figure 6-8). Figure 6-8: The Clear Private Data window allows you to instantly clear any or all of the info Firefox stores about your browsing habits. If the Browsing History check box is grayed out, long-term history is already empty, and you don't need to clear it again. 3. Click the Clear Private Data Now button. The Clear Private Data window offers quick access to clearing any types of information that Firefox remembers (see Chapter 14 for more information). Clearing long-term history directly from the Options window If you only ever use the Clear Private Data window to clear history, that method is the fastest way to do it. However, if you use it to clear a certain combination of information frequently - such as history, cookies, and saved form information - you might find it frustrating to have to continually change which check boxes are selected. In that case, Firefox allows you to bypass the Clear Private Data window altogether and clear browsing history directly: 1. 2. Select the Privacy icon at the top of the window. 3. Select the History option. 4. Click the Clear Browsing History Now button to clear the long-term history. If this button is grayed out, long-term history is already empty, and you don't need to clear it again. Warning Clearing long-term history is not a reversible action; the Undo command won't be available after you complete this step. Furthermore, Firefox clears your history as soon as you click this button - without confirmation and without waiting for you to click OK in the main Options window. 5. Click OK to close the Options window. Extending, shortening, or disabling long-term history By default, Firefox remembers all the Web sites you visited in the last nine days. You can extend or shorten this length of time or turn off long-term history altogether so that Firefox no longer remembers any Web sites you visit: 1. 2. Select the Privacy icon at the top of the window. 3. Select the History option. 4. In the text box, enter the number of days for which Firefox should remember your history. You can enter as many or as few days as you want. To disable long-term history entirely, enter 0. REMEMBER If you disable long-term history, Firefox won't remember the Web sites you visit in the future, but any long-term history it has already accumulated will remain. See the earlier section, "Cleaning up long-term history," for instructions on clearing existing history.   5. Click OK to save your changes and close the Options window.   Is history an ancient concept? The concept of history is one of the staples of the Internet. The very first browser ever released included Back and Forward buttons, and no browser since then has strayed too far from this iconic model. But many people are starting to do away with history altogether - how do they do this? People first began to entertain the extinction of history with the advent of Google in the last five years. Before Google revolutionized the search industry, high-quality Web sites were rare and precious finds. If you came across one, you