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How do I stop Firefox remembering and inserting a discarded username?

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I have removed a username on a certain website using Ctrl +i #Security. On Saved Logins on that tab "Autofill logins and passwords" is NOT selected yet, when I load the login page of that website, Firefox enters the old, discarded user name. I have used the "Manage Data" button on the about:preferences#privacy tab several times to remove "cookies and site data" for that website to no avail.

I have removed a username on a certain website using Ctrl +i #Security. On Saved Logins on that tab "Autofill logins and passwords" is NOT selected yet, when I load the login page of that website, Firefox enters the old, discarded user name. I have used the "Manage Data" button on the about:preferences#privacy tab several times to remove "cookies and site data" for that website to no avail.

Chosen solution

ender21 said

jscher2000 said
On Linux, can you clear cached form data on reload using Ctrl+Shift+R? Just wondering whether somehow the particular URL of the post-logout page has that data in cache. Doesn't seem very plausible, but the site pre-populating it in the form also doesn't seem logical.

I logged in and out, then moved back to the login page. The "****NNNN" reappeared. Ctrl+Shift+r reloaded the page and the entry was still there. If I de-select "Remember Client ID", the entry goes away.

I believe that's the answer. If I log in without selecting "Remember Client ID", log out and move back to the login page, the entry does NOT appear.

Thanks for all replies.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (8)

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Hi ender21, could the username be part of the Form & Search History for that site? Usually in that case the username would appear in a drop-down below the field, and you could press the down arrow to select it and either the Delete key or Shift+Delete to remove it from form history.

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Thanks for replying. The username doesn't appear in a dropdown list, it is entered in the username box. Actually, that happens after I have logged out of the site and moved back to the login page. There is no dropdown for the username box but there is one for the password box. I haven't described the problem accurately; what is entered as the username is an abbreviation which I had saved as part of a login and subsequently removed. The true username is the same. What is entered is ****NNNN. The true username consists entirely of numbers; the first four numbers are replaced by asterisks.

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On Linux, can you clear cached form data on reload using Ctrl+Shift+R? Just wondering whether somehow the particular URL of the post-logout page has that data in cache.

Doesn't seem very plausible, but the site pre-populating it in the form also doesn't seem logical.

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Could it be that the website remembers this data and sends it in the HTML file?

Did you check the page source?

You can also try the Inspector.


Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
  • do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window
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jscher2000 said

On Linux, can you clear cached form data on reload using Ctrl+Shift+R? Just wondering whether somehow the particular URL of the post-logout page has that data in cache. Doesn't seem very plausible, but the site pre-populating it in the form also doesn't seem logical.

I logged in and out, then moved back to the login page. The "****NNNN" reappeared. Ctrl+Shift+r reloaded the page and the entry was still there. If I de-select "Remember Client ID", the entry goes away.

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Seçilmiş Həll

ender21 said

jscher2000 said
On Linux, can you clear cached form data on reload using Ctrl+Shift+R? Just wondering whether somehow the particular URL of the post-logout page has that data in cache. Doesn't seem very plausible, but the site pre-populating it in the form also doesn't seem logical.

I logged in and out, then moved back to the login page. The "****NNNN" reappeared. Ctrl+Shift+r reloaded the page and the entry was still there. If I de-select "Remember Client ID", the entry goes away.

I believe that's the answer. If I log in without selecting "Remember Client ID", log out and move back to the login page, the entry does NOT appear.

Thanks for all replies.

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On Windows 10, Ctrl+Shift+r (or Ctrl+F5) causes one of several usernames for a website to be inserted, EVEN WHEN LASTPASS IS LOGGED OUT and the Firefox option "Remember search and form history" is UNCHECKED and all addons DISABLED (safe mode). There seems to be no way to clear this information or to have LastPass insert the correct information. This website (PayPal) has no "remember me" checkbox! Firefox seems to think a website has only one login name! Where is this stored and can I delete it?

Modified by David Spector

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I found a solution! Yay!

1. Click Menu > History > Show all history

2. In the Search History bar at the top right, type in the domain name with extension (like "example.com").

3. In the search results in the middle of the screen, right-click on any one of the results and select Forget About This Site in the context menu.

4. Repeat step 3 until there are no more search results.

That's it. That seems to solve the problem, and be the ONLY way to solve the problem. Now, after refreshing a troublesome website, no username is inserted and password managers should work okay.

Modified by David Spector