On Windows XP, Firefox creates a pair of folders in these paths:

• Bookmarks, settings, add-ons, etc:
  C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\semi-random-folder-name

• Cache and other temporary stuff:
  C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\semi-random-folder-name

Under that second path, look for the cache2 folder. I think if you delete that (while Firefox is fully shut down), then Firefox will create a fresh one at the next startup.

If your hard drive is very fragmented or just slow, Firefox can definitely struggle with disk access. In those cases, especially if you have a fast connection, reducing the size of the disk cache might help. That is set on the Options page: Advanced panel - Accessibility, browsing, network, updates, and other advanced settings in Firefox.

Hello j6227, yes it is not related, i'm off topic, but i think maybe the next link from the support forum it is useful, for the future, for you and your win xp.

questions/1108395

thank you

You can also type about:cache (with a Colon, not a period) in the Location (address) bar. You can see this about: url and others at about:about

jscher2000 said

On Windows XP, Firefox creates a pair of folders in these paths:

• Bookmarks, settings, add-ons, etc:
  C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\semi-random-folder-name

• Cache and other temporary stuff:
  C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\semi-random-folder-name

Under that second path, look for the cache2 folder. I think if you delete that (while Firefox is fully shut down), then Firefox will create a fresh one at the next startup. If your hard drive is very fragmented or just slow, Firefox can definitely struggle with disk access. In those cases, especially if you have a fast connection, reducing the size of the disk cache might help. That is set on the Options page: Advanced panel - Accessibility, browsing, network, updates, and other advanced settings in Firefox.

That was it!

The cache2 directory had over 101 subdirectories with 742,099 files taking up over 15 gigs.

What an awful day I had. Windows explorer took 2 hours to give me the above information (let alone trying to use explorer to delete the directories. I still miss the Windows 3 File Manager.

I ended up using two command line windows: one to "dir" the current available disk space, and the other to delete directories.

The .../cache2/entries directory had the vast majority of files and it using the remove directory command: rd entries /s/q it took my computer over 8 hours to delete it all.

Not only do I now have 20 gig of free space, but Firefox is running **much** faster.

I have set Firefox to limit the cache to 250 megs.

Thanks for your help!!!!

ideato said

Hello j6227, yes it is not related, i'm off topic, but i think maybe the next link from the support forum it is useful, for the future, for you and your win xp. questions/1108395 thank you

Yeah it is about time to upgrade from this 14 year old laptop with Win XP (serv pack 2) to a newer machine. I recently upgraded my wife to a 3 year old machine with Win 7. (Staying away from Win 10 for now). I used to write databases for a living, and I now HATE computers/software/upgrades/etc.

After 32 years using Microsoft DOS and Windows I am thinking seriously of switching to Apple. I will have to research it, but Microsoft keeps making things worse (in my opinion) rather than better.

James said

You can also type about:cache (with a Colon, not a period) in the Location (address) bar. You can see this about: url and others at about:about

Wow! Thanks!

I had checked Firefox help and had "googled" all sorts of variations of "Firefox cache find" etc, but had no luck before y'all helped me.

Thanks everyone!