When I start typing www. in the address bar I get a list of websites that I've been to in the past. However when I reset Safari, they are still there. Is there a file in which these are stored? How can I get rid of some or all of them?
iBook G3 800 mHz, iPod 20G, iMac 2.16 Ghz,
Mac OS X (10.4.10)
There are a number of files feeding the URL prompts including Bookmarks, Cache, History. You would have to do some significant housecleaning to pare down the list. Until Apple changes how these things work, the easiest way is to press the space bar once before typing the address.
I unchecked the boxes in the "autofill" section of the Safari preferences.
I do get a scrolldown of sites appearing when entering any letter beyond www. at the navigation bar—but only of those previously visited sites that are also bookmarked.
All of the auto-fil boxes are UNCHECKED. I always reset Safari after I'm done and before I close it.
These url's have to be in some sort of file that isn't the bookmark, cache or cookies files...
And in the dropdown, there are only some things that show, not all the sites that I have typed in.
I tried Spotlight to find the entry, but no luck. 😟 For example, when I type "www.abc" I get a "www.abcwebpage" in the dropdown. Neither abc.webpage nor abc get any hits with Spotlight.
Another file possibly feeding the prompts is the Metadata file in your User Library>Caches>Metadata>Safari folder. Move the Safari folder to the desktop and restart Safari. See if that reduces the list.
From Mac OS X: The Missing Manual. To delete one: click the book icon at the left end of the Bookmarks bar; in the resulting Bookmarks organizer wndow, click History. Expand the relevant date triangle, highlight the offending address, and then press your Delete key. Click the book icon again to return to normal browsing. He also says you could erase the entire History menu by choosing History>clear history.
He then suggests using Private Browsing in the future: Safari>Private Browsing. You would also then have to erase cookies: Safai>Preferences>Security.
Not a true answer to your question, but if you select Private Browsing in the pull down menu under Safari in your tool bar before your surf, no history of any kind will be recorded or remembered. It will automatically reset when you log out of Safari.
I know those sites are not hardwired into Safari. So they have to be in some sort of file!!! For security reasons, I need to get some of them out of there.
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How to make Safari NOT remember websites
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