# Is there a way to put a password on my history (Firefox)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112 "2010-04-06T03:56:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/1 "2010-04-06T03:56:25Z")
Is there an easy way to password protect my History so it can’t be deleted? I have a Mac and use Firefox as my browser. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/2 "2010-04-06T05:25:20Z")
Not that I’ve found. It’s very annoying. I would have expected someone by now to have come up with an extension that would keep a duplicate copy of the history, and then provide a password to protect that. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/3 "2010-04-06T05:36:08Z")
If you aren’t concerned with your history growing, you could try marking the files as read-only. I don’t know what affect this might have on Firefox’s ability to run. What’s your goal with this? Perhaps someone knows another way to accomplish it. ---
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/4 "2010-04-06T06:09:12Z")
My 14 year old Brother-in-law is coming to visit and I want to make sure that he isn’t doing anything he shouldn’t when he is here (at the request of his mother). I am pretty sure that he is savvy enough to know how to remove stuff from the history. I don’t want to have to create a whole new profile if he is just visiting. I was hoping there was an easy way to just password protect it. It seemed like something that parents would want to be able to do as a parental control, so I was assuming there was a way. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/5 "2010-04-06T06:52:38Z")
Creating a “whole new profile” takes about 30 seconds, and it can just as easily be deleted when he’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f1d935/32.png) [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GSV_Consolation_of_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/6 "2010-04-06T08:00:51Z")
You can’t do this in Firefox. It would stop the browser from working properly. You could try enabling logging on your router or firewall software and/or install a keylogger (the latter won’t catch him clicking links though.) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/7 "2010-04-06T09:33:35Z")
He’s a 14 year old boy. Let him look at his pr0n in peace. Just make sure you clean the keyboard and mouse area really carefully after he’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![Khendrask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@Khendrask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khendrask)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/8 "2010-04-06T11:56:30Z")
Can’t you just create a completely separate user account on the machine itself? I often have friends and family over to my place, especially in the summertime. Since they always seem to need to access something, I created accounts on my PC’s named “Friend”, stripped down the desktop, and limited their access, but they can still get on the net. Firefox is set to delete all everything on that account when it’s closed (History, cookies, etc) and won’t offer to save any passwords or form information. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/9 "2010-04-06T13:17:34Z")
I kind of see your point, but instead of creating a profile just for the kid, can’t you just create a guest account? That way any guest can use it ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/10 "2010-04-06T13:46:03Z")
1. Guest account 2. Time Machine, set it to backup every 5 minutes ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/11 "2010-04-06T13:58:19Z")
> [@heraldgwena](#): > > My 14 year old Brother-in-law is coming to visit and I want to make sure that he isn’t doing anything he shouldn’t when he is here (at the request of his mother). I have a 15 year old son. You cannot make sure he isn’t doing anything he shouldn’t. By definition. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/12 "2010-04-06T14:35:40Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > He’s a 14 year old boy. Let him look at his pr0n in peace. Just make sure you clean the keyboard and mouse area really carefully after he’s gone. I have to agree with this. He’s 14, he needs to whack off about every 5 minutes. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/13 "2010-04-06T14:56:12Z")
Set up a guest account and you can set the “parental controls” any way you like. ---
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/14 "2010-04-06T15:47:31Z")
> [@Astroboy14](#): > > I have to agree with this. He’s 14, he needs to whack off about every 5 minutes. 😉 I personally don’t care what he does 🙂 He is 14 and I certainly know that he will find a way (so to speak). For me, the real issue with a profile is remembering to log in and out of it. I mostly just leave my laptop lying around and people just pick it up and us it when they want. Logging in or out every time seems like a (admittedly small) bother and I don’t want to deal with that sort of thing. It may be stupid and lazy, but there it is. A password for the history seemed pretty unobtrusive and something that could just stick around and be used when necessary. If it was easy, I was going to do it, but since it can’t seem to be done, I won’t worry to much about it. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-put-a-password-on-my-history-firefox/535112/15 "2010-04-06T23:50:25Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > 1. Guest account > 2. Time Machine, set it to backup every 5 minutes This. I don’t know if Time Machine is the best option, but some kind of backup program set to make a backup copy on a regular basis will capture pages before the history file can be deleted. Just make sure that new backups don’t replace the old backup.