OS: Windows 10 Pro 10.0.19045,
Hardware: 64 bit x86 Intel/AMD CPU
Brave Version: 1.63.162, (U.S version)
Description of the issue:
The Clear Browsing Data on Exit Does not Work Properly (Or is extremely flawed)
How can this issue be reproduced?
Start with a clean Brave Installation x86_64 bit Windows 10. (No data in %LOCALDATA% folders)
You can install with admin privileges or without (the result is the same)
Use a Hex Editor, strings64, or Sqlite editor to view the file called History located in:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\History
I personally used the strings64.exe command line utility from Microsoft’s SysInternalSuite
Open a power shell command line terminal (SHIFT + RIGHT CLICK inside the File Explorer view of %LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\ )
Or just cd to that location:
cd ‘%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default\’
Then in the terminal type in
<FULL PATH to strings64.exe> .\History
Take note of what shows up in the terminal
Then open up a Brave Browser session normally from desktop
Go to Brave Settings → Privacy and security → Clear browsing data → On exit
and check off All except Site and Shield Settings.
Go to Brave Settings → Shields:
- Trackers & ads Blocking → Aggressive
- Upgrade connections to HTTPS → Strict
- Block fingerprinting → Strict, may break sites
- Block Cookies → Only cross-site
Brave Settings → System
Continue running background apps when Brave is closed → OFF
Use graphics acceleration when available → OFF
BraveVPN Use WireGaurd… → OFF
Then make a bunch of google searches and visit other websites for random things, doesn’t really matter.
Then close all Brave Tabs and make sure no Brave processes are running in task manager (or process explorer)
If On exit clear history is truly working the way it should (i.e. no storage of past site visits on the device) then the History file should be the same as we saw before.
Type in the same command we did before:
<FULL PATH to strings64.exe> .\History
Note that you see website data about your previous searches and web queries. You can even try clearing all history browser data and cookies manually and the data will continue to persist in the History file. If you delete the History file manually this seems to be the only way to truly clear history off the device.
Please see the screenshots attached for more specific information about how this happens.
Expected Result:
No history should be kept on device after manually clearing history or on-exit clear history.
Brave Version( check About Brave):
Brave Version: 1.63.162, Chromium to 122.0.6261.69
Additional Information:
Before With no history and clean install settings and pages open.
Showing result afterwards
