How To Clear Your Private Browsing Data in Firefox

Email services which are Web-based, take great precautions to ensure that only you can see your messages. They do this by many means; you may have to enter your password every time you check your mail or you may be forced to log off automatically after a period of time.  But, you can also have a say in how your own security is managed.

It is sensible to empty your browser’s cache of visited web pages and your passwords as well as clearing the browsing history or cookies, if you use a web-based email service from a public computer. If you don’t clear your private data, another person that is using the same computer you did, may be able to see some of your private data.

Removing your Private Data, Emptying your Cache and Removing your Cookies will help keep your data safe.

Clear your Firefox Data Manually

To delete your personal cookies, browsing history, cached web pages or passwords and other personal data after using a web-based email service using Mozilla‘s Firefox’s browser:

1. Select Tools/Clear Private Data from the menu.
2. Make sure Browsing History, Saved Form and Search History, Cache, Cookies, Saved Passwords and Authenticated Sessions tick boxes are checked.
3. Click Clear Private Data Now.
4. Close Mozilla Firefox.

Clear your Firefox Data Automatically

Clear your private data automatically when you exit Firefox by completing the following steps:

1. Select Tools/Options from the menu.
2. Go to the Privacy tab.
3. Make sure the ‘Always clear my private data when I close Firefox’ check box is ticked.
4. Click Settings
5. Choose the data that you want erasing and click OK.
6. Close the configuration dialog.

Clear your Firefox Data with Newer Versions of Firefox

Newer versions of the Firefox browser, such as the Quantum version, have a slightly different set of menu clicks. Here are specific instructions for later versions of Firefox. 

1. Select Options from top menu
2. Choose Privacy & Security
3. Go to the Cookies and Site Data section
4. Click on the Clear Data button, and then select both options (Cookies and Site Data, Cached Web Content) to completely clear your browsing history.

Now, the next time you browse the Internet with Firefox your private data will be automatically erased.

Sources: How to Clear Private Data in Mozilla Firefox, Firefox – Tips for Staying Private and Secure