Every time you visit a webpage, its elements (e.g., graphics, text, video, etc.) are stored in a special area of your hard disk called cache. When you revisit a website that has been stored in cache, Firefox compares the cached copy to the current version. If nothing has changed, Firefox will display the cached copy. This is done very quickly and avoids having to download the website (and all of its elements) once again. 

By default, Firefox will use up to 50 MB of your hard disk space for cache storage. With the massive size of hard drives these days, 50 MB is not a lot of space. Firefox let’s you adjust this number.

You can also clear your cache completely.

To watch a video on adjusting the amount of space to be used for cache, as well as clearing it completely, click on the “Play Video” button below. Or, scroll down for step-by-step instructions with screenshots:

Step-by-Step Instructions with Screenshots

At the top of your browser, click on Tools > Options:

Make sure you’re in the “Advanced” section and “Network” tab:

In the “Cache” section you can both adjust the amount of space to be used for cache, as well as clear it out completely:

It can be kind of frustrating, especially if you close a website that took you an hour to find on Google.

Well, there’s no need to get upset because Firefox has you covered.

To watch a video on recently closed tabs, click on the “Play Video” button below. Or, scroll down for step-by-step instructions with screensshots:

Step-by-Step Instructions with Screenshots

Let’s say you have 3 tabs open and you accidentally close one of them:

To recover your lost tab, go to the top of your browser and click History > Recently Closed Tabs:

Click on the site that you accidentally closed and you’re back in business!

Step-by-Step Instructions with Screenshots

There are several ways to delete your browsing history. You can individually delete the websites that you want, or you can delete the entire history all at once.

We’ll begin with deleting them individually.

At the top of your browser, click on History > Show in Sidebar:

Your history will appear in the left sidebar.

Find the website that you wish to delete, and right-click on it.

A menu will appear. Choose “Delete”:

That specific website has now been deleted from your history.

Now let’s delete the entire history.

At the top of your browser, click on Tools > Options:

The “Options” window will appear. Do the following:

1.) Make sure that you are in the “Privacy” section.

2.) Make sure there is a check in the box labeled “Ask me before clearing private data.”

3.) Click on the “Clear Now” button.

The “Clear Private Data” window will appear. Make sure there is a check in the box labeled “Browsing History”:

**Important** Only do the following if your really want to clear the items checked off in the window:

Click on the “Clear Private Data Now” button.

Your browsing history (along with anything else that you had checked off) has now been deleted.

The history is stored locally on your computer. In other words, it is not being logged for someone else to see. You also have the option to delete parts or all of your history at anytime.

The purpose of having the history is for your own recourse. Let’s say you visited a great site last week, but can’t remember the name of it. You can easily search through your history to find out.

There are a bunch of options to help you pinpoint the site you are looking for, so let’s delve into it.

To watch a video on viewing your browsing history in the sidebar, click on the “Play Video” button below. Or, scroll down for step-by-step instructions with screenshots:

Step-by-Step Instructions with Screenshots

At the very top of your browser, click on History:

A list of the last 10 sites that you visited will appear. But we’re looking to access your entire history, so click on “Show in Sidebar.” Or, if you prefer to use the keyboard, type Ctrl+H:

A sidebar, containing your history, will open in your browser window.

Click on the “View” button:

There are 5 different ways to view your browsing history:

Let’s take them one at a time, starting with “By Date & Site”:

In this view, your history is organized by Date first (e.g., Today, 3 days ago, 4 days ago…) and then by each Site you visit (e.g., google.com, tech.cybernetnews.com…)

The next view is “By Site”:

In this view, all websites from all days are listed in alphabetical order.

The next view is “By Date”:

In this view, your history is listed by Date only.

The last two views are:

By Most Visited: This list is arranged by the sites you visit most. If you visit CyberNet News more than any other site, it will be at the top of the list. Every other website will follow accordingly.

By Last Visited: This list is arranged in real-time so-to-speak. As you browse the Internet, the site that you are currently viewing will be at the top of the list. Visit another site, and it will be at the top of the list, and so on.

Finally, you can search for a site using the search box. The results will appear as you type:

If you’d like to close the sidebar, just click on the Red [x] in the top-right corner of the sidebar window. You can also type Ctrl+H on your keyboard.