While Firefox is well-known for catering to the savvier tech crowd, we’ve added this tutorial to help you out if you’re using Firefox but haven’t achieved that “tech savvy” status yet. Cleaning your temporary files in Firefox is super-simple, so no need to worry.
Truthfully, Firefox has a shortcut that enables you to clear the cache, web history and temporary internet files in one fell swoop:
Ctrl+Shift+Del
However, before you clean Firefox’s temporary files this way, it’s best if you set things up properly. So - we’ll outline how to configure your Firefox browser to clean your temporary files according to your needs.
Step 1: From the Firefox menu choose “Tools” then click on “Options” at the bottom of the popup window.
Step 2: A new window should pop up now, and you should click on the “Privacy” tab up top.
Step 3: Once you’ve clicked on the “Privacy” tab, your window should look similar to this:
Underneath the “Private Data” option, you will see a settings button - go ahead and click on that.
Step 4: Once the new screen pops up, you should choose which type of data you want removed when you clean Firefox:
Your window may have a few different options than ours because you have different add-ins installed, but overall yours will be the same as ours.
Now, it’s important to note a couple of things here. Unless you are using a public computer or you’re visiting “questionable” websites - you should probably avoid clearing your cookies and removing your saved passwords with every Firefox cleaning. Firefox’s password manager, while not secure, is very, very handy when you have to keep track of multiple usernames and passwords. However, as it’s not secure - we highly recommend using RoboForm. It’s probably the highest-rated secure password manager online.
And cookies - they are required by certain websites to access members-only areas and so forth. If you are logged into “members only” or “protected” areas on a frequent basis - leaving your cookies intact can be a real timesaver. Not to mention, some websites store your preferences and settings using cookies, and any custom functionality will be lost if you remove those cookies. Overall, keeping your browsers cookies is not generally a privacy concern and unless you’re on a public computer, it shouldn’t be a safety concern, either.
Step 5: Once you’ve chosen the data that you want removed when Firefox is cleaned, press “Ok” and that window will close. Next, just hit the “Clean Now” button”:
And that’s it - you’re done.
We mentioned it before, but to clean Firefox’s web history, cache, downloaded web pages and whatever else you selected for the cleaning process, you just need to hit the:
Ctrl+Shift+Del
Buttons simultaneously. If you didn’t notice it above, Firefox also has the option available where you can have your private data (cache, web history, temporary internet files) cleaned each and every time you close your web browser - maybe not necessary if you’re living alone and you’re the only one with access to your PC, but an option none-the-less.
Cleaning your Firefox cache and web history is simple and straight-forward. Hopefully this tutorial has cleared up any gray areas for you and will enable you to enjoy a safer, and faster, web browsing experience.
this trully does not clear the temp. internet files…
alway still there…
Where do that files are ? i have to do it manually, by my own way, so i have to find the internet files first.
Where are they ?
Thanks.
I’ve never had any problems using this method, but you could try typing:
about:cache
Into your firefox browser’s address, that may work. I don’t know for sure, though, as my cache is disabled.
Also, this addon:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2489
Gives you a user interface to manage Firefox’s cache.
From what I know, Firefox’s temporary internet files aren’t viewable like Internet Explorers’ are — I assume that your browsing history is stored within your Firefox profile folder, but I’m not too sure. Though, between manually deleting your cache and using the above advice, I’m not sure how you could have any issues deleting your temporary internet files.
Well, unless you have some activity monitoring software on your computer that prevents you from deleting your browsing history and/or temporary internet files? I think that some software has that capability, but I wouldn’t know a way around it, if this is the case.