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Why does Firefox not remove cookies upon exiting for open tabs?

  • 2 replies
  • 14 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Gonkers

Gonkers
Gonkers
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Firefox does not remove cookies for tabs that are left open when exiting the browser even with clear cookie options set. The cookies are only cleared for tabs that are closed before exiting the browser. I cannot understand how this could possibly be a design decision since it completely defeats the purpose of the privacy settings.

Under Options > Privacy I have the following options enabled/selected.

  • Accept cookies from sites (No "Exceptions...")
  • Keep until 'I close Firefox'
  • Clear history when Firefox closes
  • * Download History
  • * Cookies
  • * Active Logins
  • * Cache
  • * Offline Website Data
Firefox does not remove cookies for tabs that are left open when exiting the browser even with clear cookie options set. The cookies are only cleared for tabs that are closed before exiting the browser. I cannot understand how this could possibly be a design decision since it completely defeats the purpose of the privacy settings. Under '''Options''' > '''Privacy''' I have the following options enabled/selected. * Accept cookies from sites (No "Exceptions...") * Keep until 'I close Firefox' * Clear history when Firefox closes * * Download History * * Cookies * * Active Logins * * Cache * * Offline Website Data

Chosen solution

Those cookies are stored as part of the session data.

You can set the pref browser.sessionstore.privacy_level to 2 (never) or 1 (non-HTTPS, default in Firefox 3 versions) on the about:config page to disable saving cookies via session restore.

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All Replies (2)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

Those cookies are stored as part of the session data.

You can set the pref browser.sessionstore.privacy_level to 2 (never) or 1 (non-HTTPS, default in Firefox 3 versions) on the about:config page to disable saving cookies via session restore.

Gonkers
Gonkers Question owner
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Thank you for your help. I found more information here... http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.sessionstore.privacy_level ...which leaves me to believe it was a design decision to NOT CLEAR your cookies and privacy data if you happened to leave a tab open even with the options set to do so. "Value 0: Store extra session data for any site. (Default starting with Firefox 4.)"