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

When I attempt to manually clear "Cookies and Site Data" at the end of a browsing session, I am left with 2.6MB of cached web content. How do I clear this?

  • 6 cavab
  • 5 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by jason

more options

Firefox is set to be in permanent private browsing mode: History is set to "Never Remember History" and all "Cookies and Site Data" is set to be cleared each time Firefox is closed. Nevertheless, my habit for years has been to manually clear these options at the end of each session and Firefox always reported that "Your stored cookies, site data, and cache are currently using 0 MB of disk space" afterward. Beginning a few months ago after a Firefox upgrade, 2.1MB of Cached Web Content remained after my attempts to manually clear the data. With the latest upgrade to 73.0.1, this has risen to 2.6MB of persistent data. Why? And, how can I clear it?

Firefox is set to be in permanent private browsing mode: History is set to "Never Remember History" and all "Cookies and Site Data" is set to be cleared each time Firefox is closed. Nevertheless, my habit for years has been to manually clear these options at the end of each session and Firefox always reported that "Your stored cookies, site data, and cache are currently using 0 MB of disk space" afterward. Beginning a few months ago after a Firefox upgrade, 2.1MB of Cached Web Content remained after my attempts to manually clear the data. With the latest upgrade to 73.0.1, this has risen to 2.6MB of persistent data. Why? And, how can I clear it?

Chosen solution

Location of the cache/cache2 folder; Windows: *C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\ Mac: ~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/ Linux: ~/.cache/mozilla/firefox/

Close Firefox. Open your file browser to the above, and remove the folder.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (6)

more options

Seçilmiş Həll

Location of the cache/cache2 folder; Windows: *C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\ Mac: ~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/ Linux: ~/.cache/mozilla/firefox/

Close Firefox. Open your file browser to the above, and remove the folder.

more options

Many thanks to FredMcD - deleting that folder seems to have cleared the problem.

more options

Glad to help. Safe Surfing.

more options

FredMcD said

Location of the cache/cache2 folder; Mac: ~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/ Close Firefox. Open your file browser to the above, and remove the folder.

I have the same problem. The Cookies and Site Data are stuck at 4.4 MB, and won't clear manually, or even when I close the browser and do a full reboot of my MacBook.

I tried your solution. There is no Firefox cache/cache2 folder, or any other Firefox folders at all, in Library/Caches.

"Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed" is always checked, and "Manage Data" and "Manage Permissions" lead to empty boxes. There are no exceptions for any websites.

Also, I have been looking for a way to enable "permanent private browsing mode," so "cookies and site data will always be cleared when Firefox is closed," but cannot find a way to do that despite searching Mozilla Support pages on this. So, my second question is how do I activate it? There's a note on the Privacy & Security settings page which says, "In permanent private browsing mode, cookies and site data will always be cleared when Firefox is closed," but I don't see anything to click on that will activate permanent private browsing mode.

There are a couple of questions here but they all seem to be related. Thanks, in advance. Any help would be appreciated.

I've used Firefox since its inception, and this is the first time this has happened.

Modified by jason

more options

Sorry, but I don't know Macs.

Please go to the top of any support.mozilla.org web page and use the Get Community Support link: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new

Select the product for what the problem is (Firefox or whatever). Now select the category for the problem. At the bottom is Other.

Describe the problem in brief (one line). Then press <enter>. The website will display any prior posts that might help you. If nothing on the list can help, at the bottom press the button; None Of These Solve My Problem.

Now enter all the relative information on the problem. At the bottom of this, you can Add Images.

Under this is Troubleshooting Information. Please press the Share Data button. This will let us look at your system details. No Personal Information Is Collected.

more options

Thank you, Fred McD!