"Automatically clearing cache and site data" is not working
I tried following the instructions for "automatically clear the cache" here: http://mzl.la/18byRQJ Which basically say to go to Options - Privacy & Security Settings In the drop-down menu next to Firefox will, choose Use custom settings for history. Select the check box for Clear history when Firefox closes. Beside Clear history when Firefox closes, click the Settings… button. The Settings for Clearing History window will open. In the Settings for Clearing History window, put a check mark next to Cache.
I did this. I also have check marks next to Cookies, Active Logins, Site Preferences, and Offline Website Data. But I was still finding that when I looked at "Cookies and Site Data: Your stored cookies, site data, and cache are currently using __ of disk space" just after closing and reopening Firefox, the amount of disk space used would still be a significant amount, and so there were times when I needed to manually clear the data (we have been told by a cloud-based ERP we use, that clearing the data is recommended when their pages are not loading optimally). But I should not have to be doing this manual clearing; it is supposed to be happening automatically when Firefox is closed and reopened. I noticed that slightly below "Cookies and Site Data: Your stored cookies, site data, and cache are currently using __ of disk space" in the latest versions of Firefox there is now a check-box that says "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed." For me it was unchecked. I was confused as to why I should have to check this box since it should already be covered in the Settings for Clearing History window, but I checked the box just to cover all my bases. I also clicked on the "Manage Permissions" button beside "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed," and made sure that there were not any exceptions populating it. There were not. But there are times when after closing and reopening Firefox, I will still find a significant amount of disk space being taken up in "Cookies and Site Data: Your stored cookies, site data, and cache are currently using __ of disk space" and the only way I can figure out to get it to clear is to clear it manually. What is causing this? How can I get it to all clear automatically when closing Firefox?
All Replies (3)
Are closing all tabs before you close Firefox because otherwise session restore will store cookies for open tabs and restore these cookies automatically ?
Users are generally clicking on the X in the upper right corner of the Firefox browser window, and when they do so, it asks, "are you sure you want to close all tabs?" and they are saying yes. So we were under the impression that this was not substantially different from closing tabs individually. You are saying that this way of going about the closing is the issue that is causing us to still have stored data on reopening?
As long as it is possible to restore tabs and windows from the previous session (automatically or via the history menu) then you can expect to see cookie from website in these tabs. If you close the window then there is a higher chance to have these cookies saved, but if you close tabs before closing Firefox then this is still possible.
You can prevent storing cookies as part of session data by setting this pref to 2 on the about:config page.
- browser.sessionstore.privacy_level = 2
- https://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-release/source/browser/app/profile/firefox.js#842
You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.