Thousands of Profile files being created
My Firefox 118.0.1 on Win 10 (all current updates) is creating literally thousands of profile files daily. For example, at this moment there are 3957 profile files with names like
6D89348819C8881868053197CA0754F36784B4BFSF
in the directory C:\Users\(user)\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ywlawdlc.default-release-2\cache2\entries
There are also thousands of other profile files in folders from previous dates.
What is the purpose of this many profile files, and how do I stop their creation in such quantities?
Thanks Dave
الحل المُختار
Sure, if you are confident that you do not need this old data and do not intend to use these profiles. Note that Firefox has profiles primary in "AppData\Roaming" and secondary in "AppData\Local", so easiest is to use the Profile Manager as that can remove the profile and the files in both locations. You can possibly remove only the profiles from the PM to cleanup the registry and remove the profiles in "AppData\Local" and keep some files in "AppData\Roaming" like the bookmarks (places.sqlite and a recent backup in the bookmarkbackups folder) and the logins (logins.json and key4.db).
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The cache2 folder is used for disk cache (browsing cache) and is quite normal that is stores a lot of files, see for instance the about:cache page via the location/address bar for details about the files it stores.
Firefox uses two locations in the hidden "AppData" location for the Firefox profile folder. One location in "AppData\Roaming" for personal data like bookmarks and logins and another location in "AppData\Local" for temporary files like the disk cache.
Thanks cor-el for the information! At least I can understand that it's normal behavior. If I could impose on you for one more related question:
Can I safely delete old Profile folders? I have several that are years old.
Thanks very much Dave
الحل المُختار
Sure, if you are confident that you do not need this old data and do not intend to use these profiles. Note that Firefox has profiles primary in "AppData\Roaming" and secondary in "AppData\Local", so easiest is to use the Profile Manager as that can remove the profile and the files in both locations. You can possibly remove only the profiles from the PM to cleanup the registry and remove the profiles in "AppData\Local" and keep some files in "AppData\Roaming" like the bookmarks (places.sqlite and a recent backup in the bookmarkbackups folder) and the logins (logins.json and key4.db).
Thanks once again! Going to approach this slowly. I appreciate the quick responses!
Dave