Firefox uses two different cookies jars. One for all normal mode tabs and a second for Private Browsing mode tabs. The cookie jar for PB mode tab us shared among all PB mode windows and is only purged when you have closed all PB mode windows and tabs. If you would visit a link that can only be accessed when you are logged in then you can't access the link in the other mode because Firefox won't send the cookies that the website expects.

cor-el: thank you for your help. i understand what you're saying and i think i left out the most critical piece and for that i apologize. the sites won't let me log in without being in PB even if it's days later. as i begin to learn how to use PB, it becomes easier to remember which sites to log into with PB. thank you again.

If you can only log in in PB mode then you may have corrupted cookies.

Did you try to clear the cookies from the site in normal mode?

Clear the cache and remove cookies only from websites that cause problems.

"Clear the Cache":

• Firefox/Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Cached Web Content: "Clear Now"

"Remove Cookies" from sites causing problems:

• Firefox/Tools > Options > Privacy > "Use custom settings for history" > Cookies: "Show Cookies"

If clearing cookies didn't help then it is possible that the cookies.sqlite file that stores the cookies got corrupted.

• Rename (or delete) cookies.sqlite (cookies.sqlite.old) and if present delete cookies.sqlite-shm and cookies.sqlite-wal in the Firefox profile folder in case cookies.sqlite got corrupted.

You can use this button to go to the current Firefox profile folder:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox