This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Firefox not clearing cookies!

  • 1 phendula
  • 36 inale ngxaki
  • 2 views
  • Impendulo yokugqibela ngu user633449

more options

Firefox 19.0.2 running on Windows Vista

Firefox 19.0.2 is NOT clearing cookies Tools->Clear Recent History is selected. I have been using Firefox for 9 years now and it keeps getting worse and worse. I know how to clear cookies as I have done it thousands of times. Imagine my surprise today when I went to Google and fount out I was still logged-in from earlier because my cookies were not cleared when I thought they were cleared as they used to be.

I do not like being tracked on the internet. I browse some websites, clear the cookies, disconnect and reconnect to the ISP to get a new IP address. I am not interested in any other non-solution solutions. What I want is for this BUG to get fixed. And it is clearly a BUG because other people are complaining about it.

Can you imagine the security implications of using Firefox when it does not properly clear cookies when people think it does???

Another thing that really bothers me about version 19 is how Firefox hides cookies from you when you are browsing in Private Browsing mode. When using Private Browsing, if you go to Tools->Options->Privacy->Show Cookies it shows only cookies from Google but not the websites you have viewed directly making it appear that no cookies are set when they are. You have to exit out of Private Browsing, Clear Recent History (if it works!) and then re-enter Private Browsing to continue. Think about a news website that limits you to 10 news stories by using cookies. I used to clear the cookies and continue reading the news. I can't do that anymore without exiting out of Private Browsing first. But now that I have discovered that cookies are not being deleted anymore using Clear Recent History, I guess that won't work either.

Who could possibly think hiding cookies in Private Browsing mode was a good decision? Why would you hide anything from the users of Firefox?

Also, I have noticed on some webpages with a lot of images that a black bar stretching the full width of the browser and approximately 50 - 75 pixels high will appear over the rendered page. It disappears when the page is scrolled.

Firefox 19.0.2 running on Windows Vista Firefox 19.0.2 is NOT clearing cookies Tools->Clear Recent History is selected. I have been using Firefox for 9 years now and it keeps getting worse and worse. I know how to clear cookies as I have done it thousands of times. Imagine my surprise today when I went to Google and fount out I was still logged-in from earlier because my cookies were not cleared when I thought they were cleared as they used to be. I do not like being tracked on the internet. I browse some websites, clear the cookies, disconnect and reconnect to the ISP to get a new IP address. I am not interested in any other non-solution solutions. What I want is for this BUG to get fixed. And it is clearly a BUG because other people are complaining about it. Can you imagine the security implications of using Firefox when it does not properly clear cookies when people think it does??? Another thing that really bothers me about version 19 is how Firefox hides cookies from you when you are browsing in Private Browsing mode. When using Private Browsing, if you go to Tools->Options->Privacy->Show Cookies it shows only cookies from Google but not the websites you have viewed directly making it appear that no cookies are set when they are. You have to exit out of Private Browsing, Clear Recent History (if it works!) and then re-enter Private Browsing to continue. Think about a news website that limits you to 10 news stories by using cookies. I used to clear the cookies and continue reading the news. I can't do that anymore without exiting out of Private Browsing first. But now that I have discovered that cookies are not being deleted anymore using Clear Recent History, I guess that won't work either. Who could possibly think hiding cookies in Private Browsing mode was a good decision? Why would you hide anything from the users of Firefox? Also, I have noticed on some webpages with a lot of images that a black bar stretching the full width of the browser and approximately 50 - 75 pixels high will appear over the rendered page. It disappears when the page is scrolled.

All Replies (1)

more options

The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information. Note: This will cause you to lose any Extensions, Open websites, and some Preferences.

To Reset Firefox do the following:

  1. Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
  2. Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
  3. Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
  4. Firefox will open with all factory defaults applied.


Further information can be found in the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!