Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Are there secondary locations for browser history and/or download history BESIDES places.sqlite?

  • 2 پاسخ
  • 2 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • آخرین پاسخ توسّط the-edmeister

more options

Using CCleaner, I inadvertently ticked the wrong box and deleted my download history. (Please, no lectures about using CCleaner...this is the first time in 5 years I have ever deleted anything by mistake with it. I use it primarily just to automatically clear cookies while keeping the ones I want across all browsers, much as a Firefox Cookie management add-on would for Firefox only.)

Anyway, I know that download history, browsing history, bookmarks and more are stored in the places.sqlite file in my Firefox profile. And it so happens I had set a Windows 7 System Restore point 24 hours before the deletion, so I was able to use Win 7's wonderful "Previous Versions" function to get a copy of the 24-hour-old places.sqlite and use it to replace the current one.

Thus I quickly got all my download history back (except for the last 24 hours), but also lost all my browsing history for the last 24 hours. No big deal, but this got me to wondering: If CCleaner can delete Firefox download history *without* deleting the browsing history (and vice versa), does that suggest that there are alternate, additional locations (i.e., besides places.sqlite) for the browsing history and download history? Perhaps similar to how the profile keeps separate bookmark backup files in addition to bookmarks being stored in places.sqlite? It would be nice to know in case there is a future inadvertent deletion when I don't have a recent prior version of places.sqlite to use.

Thanks.

Using CCleaner, I inadvertently ticked the wrong box and deleted my download history. (Please, no lectures about using CCleaner...this is the first time in 5 years I have ever deleted anything by mistake with it. I use it primarily just to automatically clear cookies while keeping the ones I want across all browsers, much as a Firefox Cookie management add-on would for Firefox only.) Anyway, I know that download history, browsing history, bookmarks and more are stored in the places.sqlite file in my Firefox profile. And it so happens I had set a Windows 7 System Restore point 24 hours before the deletion, so I was able to use Win 7's wonderful "Previous Versions" function to get a copy of the 24-hour-old places.sqlite and use it to replace the current one. Thus I quickly got all my download history back (except for the last 24 hours), but also lost all my browsing history for the last 24 hours. No big deal, but this got me to wondering: If CCleaner can delete Firefox download history *without* deleting the browsing history (and vice versa), does that suggest that there are alternate, additional locations (i.e., besides places.sqlite) for the browsing history and download history? Perhaps similar to how the profile keeps separate bookmark backup files in addition to bookmarks being stored in places.sqlite? It would be nice to know in case there is a future inadvertent deletion when I don't have a recent prior version of places.sqlite to use. Thanks.

Modified by Rick216

Chosen solution

No, there is no "secondary location" for browser history or download history.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (2)

more options

No replies? Could it be that CCleaner actually makes changes to the places.sqlite file, i.e., deletes information within it selectively based on the kind of info it is trying to remove (e.g., Download history)?

Again, my main question, for possible future use, is whether there secondary locations for browser history and/or download history besides places.sqlite. Thanks.

more options

Chosen Solution

No, there is no "secondary location" for browser history or download history.