So this is a random idea I came up with yesterday. You have a super private tab you don't want anyone to see in your browser history, but you accidentally opened it in a normal session instead of using private mode. You could close it, delete it from history and delete its cache and cookies manually, but what if you could just right-click the tab and select Destroy tab?
What would this mean?
- All instances of this specific URL would be closed (maybe a confirmation prompt first), and would not be opened again even if the user pressed Ctrl+Shift+T or Ctrl+L+Ctrl+Z.
- All instances of the URL would be permanently deleted from local and synced browsing history.
- All cached files/images/data, download history (but not the files), autofill form data, and cookies associated to that URL would be gone forever.
We could also add an option called Destroy tab and leave no trace:
- Display a confirmation prompt, possibly with some checkboxes to select what to delete and what to keep. There should also be a disclaimer stating: "while this option aims to cover your tracks, traces of this site can still remain outside Firefox (e.g. if you have an external app or browser extension that logs data, if you have accessed the site from another browser, if you have created an account, or downloaded a file from there)."
- All instances of the specific domain would be closed (not openable again using Ctrl+Shift+T) and wiped from local and synced history.
- All accounts associated with the site would be instantly logged out (but not deleted).
- All traces of this URL domain in the cached data, files and images, download history, cookies, bookmarks, autofill form data, passwords, home page settings (i.e. if the domain was set as the Firefox home page, this setting would be reset) and everything else would be deleted, or even securely overwritten on the hard disk if possible. This is to make sure nobody can guess you have visited that site before. Because if you have cookies or passwords saved for a site, have it bookmarked or set it as home page, you must have accessed it first.
- The command `ipconfig /flushdns` would be run afterwards (if on Windows).
So Firefox would do everything in its power to make it look like you never visited that website. But of course, if you have its URL saved in a text file in your Documents folder for example, Firefox would not go there to erase it for you.
Those right-click options could be tied to a keyboard shortcut (e.g. Alt+W, Ctrl+Alt+W or Ctrl+Shift+W), and should be available in private windows as well. Perhaps it could be fun to add a little animation as the tab is being destroyed, like a brush wiping it off, the tab turning red and vaporizing, or exploding with a sound effect.