Blank search bar automatically fills in old searches
I have my search bar set to use Google. I like the search suggestions option so I want to leave that on. But if I leave the search bar blank, after a few minutes it will automatically fill in a randomly picked old search from the previous few weeks. Erase the search suggestion, and a few minutes later, another, different, randomly picked old search. It's like a roulette wheel seeking to choose which old search might be the most embarrassing. This seems to be a recent development, I think within the last month or so.
Is it too much to ask for a blank search bar to remain blank?
I am aware that turning off search suggestions entirely will turn off this behavior. As I said before, I like search suggestions except for this one thing, and want to be able to leave search suggestions on.
All Replies (3)
It sounds that you have some malware on your Mac.
You can check for recently installed suspicious or unknown extensions.
See also:
By the way, you've probably noticed there are two kinds of suggestions for the Search bar (the short bar, not the Address bar):
- Search engine suggestions -- these are pulled from Google dynamically based on what you type into the box
- Search history suggestions -- these are pulled from a search history file and appear with a little clock icon
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These are separate settings for these two features.
Do you want to experiment with disabling search and form history? Unfortunately that is a combined feature, so disabling search history would also disable form history (drop-downs on forms you use frequently).
Type about:preferences#privacy<enter> in the address bar. The button next to History, select Use Custom Settings.
Turn on Remember My Browsing And Download History At the bottom of the page, turn on Clear History When Firefox Closes. At the far right, press the Settings button. Turn on ONLY Cache and Form And Search History leaving the others off.