A New Private Window only means that no new data of this private session is stored in the Firefox profile folder. All your current data is not affected and you would have to remove it manually yourself.

Firefox uses two independent cookie jars, one for normal mode and a second one for Private Browsing mode that is shared amongst all PB mode tabs and windows. Cookies used in a PB mode window tabs are kept in memory in a separate cookie jar just like other session data is kept in memory in PB mode. Cookies saved in normal mode can't be accessed as they are stored in a different cookie jar. The PB mode cookie jar is cleared when all PB mode windows and tabs are closed.

Yes, of course, but private it is not, since any website wanting to read your previous information can. I still think a 'private' windows should clear all history and cache, which should not affect the parent instance already open.

It's not that big of a deal , since we do have the "history" option in Menu that can be added to the button bar.

For those wondering, if you want a true privat3e window ('true') you can open it, and then use the menu bar button to access the "history" option. There you can delete all previous history (cookies, forms, cookies, etc.) which is like opening a fresh browser after clearing all personal data.

I also just noticed that you CANNOT clear the history after opening a private window using the built in Clear History option in FF--now that is a security issue! It seems the new private window blocks the delete history button from seeing all of your history. So,the clear history option is greyed out.

Not good!

Clear Recent History clears data stored on the hard drive in the profile folder. When you are in Private Browsing mode then all data is kept in memory and you need to close all PB mode windows to purge data from the PB mode session. None of the built-in pages and tools give access to PB mode information apart from using the command line in the Web Console ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Web Developer) and use document.cookie to see PB mode cookies of the current web page.

Cor,

Thanks for that. It's important. So to be clear, when you open a private window, all of your previous information is moved to memory? If so, that's interesting, and better.

I still think that private should mean just that. So, perhaps maybe a warning that personal information is still available and a message "Would you like to clear it for your private session?" is warranted.