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Cookies and site data not being deleted when I close Firefox

  • 14 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 27 views
  • Last reply by Bjarne

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I am very keen to avoid cookies being stored on my computer and have checked the box that says "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed". I have no "Exceptions". I also have "Strict" tracking protection - again, with no Exceptions. Yet when I open a particular bookmarked website (www.bikemap.net), Firefox displays the page showing the bike route from my street to my friend's house that I looked at weeks ago. This even happens when I open the site in a New Private Window. I am baffled as to why this is happening and what I need to do to stop it. Can you help, please? Thanks.

I am very keen to avoid cookies being stored on my computer and have checked the box that says "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed". I have no "Exceptions". I also have "Strict" tracking protection - again, with no Exceptions. Yet when I open a particular bookmarked website (www.bikemap.net), Firefox displays the page showing the bike route from my street to my friend's house that I looked at weeks ago. This even happens when I open the site in a New Private Window. I am baffled as to why this is happening and what I need to do to stop it. Can you help, please? Thanks.
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

CB_UK said

I do have the Cycling Route Planner page of bikemap.net bookmarked and when I use it, it loads my street and my friend's home street. However, if I type in bikemap.net, it takes me to the home screen and then if I navigate to the Cycling Route Planner, it doesn't load my/my friend's street.

The bookmarked URL may have a query string (starts with ?) or hash (starts with #) on the end, like the difference between these:

You can rename your old bookmark something like Visit Friend and create a new one that links to the form before it is filled in.

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All Replies (14)

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Check knoweledge base

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Hi CB_UK, private windows do not share cookies or cache with regular windows, so it's odd that you see any "remembered" data on a site in a private window. Is there any possibility that Firefox is automatically logging you into the site, so what you see is associated with an account on the site?

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Hi Jscher2000, thank you for your reply and interest in my issue. I have never registered with (and therefore never logged into) the bookmarked website www.bikemap.net, so I don't think Firefox could automatically log me in - either in normal mode or private. It is a mystery as to why Firefox is not deleting my cookies despite having the option "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed" checked....

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Is the site on your Firefox Home / new tab page in the Top Sites section?

You can check at startup, before visiting the site, whether cookies are listed on the Options page. Either:

  • Windows: "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options
  • Mac: "3-bar" menu button (or Firefox menu) > Preferences
  • Linux: "3-bar" menu button (or Edit menu) > Preferences
  • Any system: type or paste about:preferences into the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it

In the left column, click Privacy & Security

On the right, in the "Cookies and Site Data" section, click the Manage Data button to check the cookies list.

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Do you use a bookmark or are you starting with the main (home) page of this website?

If you use a bookmark to access a specific page then instead navigate to this page starting with the main page or with the sign in page in case there is a problem with this bookmark.

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@Jscher2000 Hi again, thank you for your message. I have checked under Manage Cookies and Site Data and the only cookies showing are for Mozilla, Yahoo and Google (the only three sites I've accessed this session). There are no cookies for bikemap.net - please see screen capture attached. Thank you

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@cor-el Hi, and thanks for your interest. Yes, I do have the Cycling Route Planner page of bikemap.net bookmarked and when I use it, it loads my street and my friend's home street. However, if I type in bikemap.net, it takes me to the home screen and then if I navigate to the Cycling Route Planner, it doesn't load my/my friend's street. I tried re-saving the bookmark for the Cycling Route Planner, and then closing Firefox (which in theory should delete all cookies), and it does indeed re-load my/my friend's street. However, if I bookmark the main page of the website and then navigate to the Cycling Route Planner, it does NOT load my/my friend's streets. So, it seems your hunch about there being a problem with a bookmark could be the problem.... not sure what can be done about it? Thanks

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Chosen Solution

CB_UK said

I do have the Cycling Route Planner page of bikemap.net bookmarked and when I use it, it loads my street and my friend's home street. However, if I type in bikemap.net, it takes me to the home screen and then if I navigate to the Cycling Route Planner, it doesn't load my/my friend's street.

The bookmarked URL may have a query string (starts with ?) or hash (starts with #) on the end, like the difference between these:

You can rename your old bookmark something like Visit Friend and create a new one that links to the form before it is filled in.

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Hi again @jscher2000 and thanks again very much for your continued interest and patience! You are spot on, that the stored bookmark does indeed have a "?" followed by a whole load of other stuff. So, I've done what you suggested and bookmarked the blank search form. And I guess, going forward, I should only bookmark empty search forms if I don't want personal information saved...? Thanks very much again!

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It's really about what's useful for you. If you repeatedly run that same search/route, you probably would want to bookmark that, too, so you don't have to type it every time.

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Thank you very much, I have learned something new today! Your help is much appreciated.

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Hi. I have the same issue with Cookies and site data not being deleted when I close Firefox. I also run Strict tracking protection. I don't have any exceptions nor any bookmark returning after reopening of Firefox, but what I see is a great number of residue stored cookies, site data, and cache from my last session. Using the Clear Data button all stored cookies, site data, and cache from my last session disappears, but why doesn't Firefox perform this action automatically when I already have fagged the Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed? So, after any Firefox session I manually clear data plus I run CCleaner on top of that. The later finds additionally residue from Firefox all over the place. A fresh start of Firefox do not solve anything. I use Firefox on 4 different computers, and the all show the same lack of clearing the cookies, site data, and cache from my last session upon closing of Firefox. It's been like this always, and I have been using Firefox since it was first launched. Enclosed pic is grabbed just after a new opening of Firefox. Hope someone has a an answer. Cheers Bjarne

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Hi Bjarne, if you open "Manage Data" at startup, do you have any non-zero values in the cookies column?

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Hi jscher2000 No, it's all empty. The first to pop-up is bitwarden.com, my password app, after initiating it, and then follows support.mozilla.org when entering this support forum. Since I started using Firefox I have always wondered why this function never worked as described, but found a way around it as described earlier. Cheers Bjarne

Modified by Bjarne