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How To Completely Clear Out Cached Web Content

Mr. Dana Weintraub
Mr. Dana Weintraub

Hello you wonderful people: My OS is Linux Mint 19.2 Cinnamon 64-bit. When I click the "Edit" tab, I select "Preferences" from the drop-down. I then click "Privacy & Security", and under "Cookies and Site Data", I click, "Clear Data". When I click, "Clear Now" for "Cached Web Content" (I have that check marked), it doesn't zero out, but displays "751 KB". It used to clear it completely. My question is, what do I need to do so that all data, KB or MB, is cleared? This is a mystery, and can only figure when I downloaded the current version, it somehow carried over previously existing data. I look forward to your response, and sincerely thank you, in advance. Side note: I am a long time volunteer at Free Geek in Portland, Oregon. I love Linux!

Hello you wonderful people: My OS is Linux Mint 19.2 Cinnamon 64-bit. When I click the "Edit" tab, I select "Preferences" from the drop-down. I then click "Privacy & Security", and under "Cookies and Site Data", I click, "Clear Data". When I click, "Clear Now" for "Cached Web Content" (I have that check marked), it doesn't zero out, but displays "751 KB". It used to clear it completely. My question is, what do I need to do so that all data, KB or MB, is cleared? This is a mystery, and can only figure when I downloaded the current version, it somehow carried over previously existing data. I look forward to your response, and sincerely thank you, in advance. Side note: I am a long time volunteer at Free Geek in Portland, Oregon. I love Linux!

Chosen solution

Often it's not that the cache isn't deleted, it's that Firefox recreates some new cache right away. Certain things that Firefox does in the background (like update checking, loading dynamic content on a new tab, checking for add-on updates, etc) will also appear in the cache.

After you clear your cache, if you go to the about:cache page in Firefox, you should be able to see exactly what's being cached still.

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All Replies (2)

Wesley Branton
Wesley Branton

Chosen Solution

Often it's not that the cache isn't deleted, it's that Firefox recreates some new cache right away. Certain things that Firefox does in the background (like update checking, loading dynamic content on a new tab, checking for add-on updates, etc) will also appear in the cache.

After you clear your cache, if you go to the about:cache page in Firefox, you should be able to see exactly what's being cached still.

Mr. Dana Weintraub
Mr. Dana Weintraub Question owner

Hi Wesley: I read under the "See also" right side column, "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?", and followed the steps from a response to another person's inquiry. I closed Firefox, then opened my file browser, typed in "~/.cache/mozilla/firefox/" in the search bar, and deleted the folder. I restarted the computer, and when I ran threw the sequences, it did zero out. It appears that solved the issue, but I'll keep an eye on it. Kind Regards, Dana