My Mac Is Not Clearing My Firefox Cache
A browser cache can speed up the process of loading content from the Internet. Firefox, a robust Web browser, normally does an excellent job of maintaining and clearing its cache without user interaction. Under normal circumstances, you shouldn't need to clear your cache, but occasionally you may need to clear your cache manually.
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Firefox
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Firefox is the Web browser project of the Mozilla Foundation, founded in 1998, when the source code for Netscape was opened. The first version was subsequently released in 2002. One of the oldest continuously developed browsers, Firefox is notable for the number and variety of operating systems on which it is supported, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and other flavors of Unix systems.
Browser Caches
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A Web browser is designed to make robust usage of client-side caches. A cache stores data locally that has already been transferred, instead of downloading it again. Given the intermittent nature of the Internet and often slow data transfers, this allows for faster presentation of websites to an end-point computer. Caching was absolutely necessary in the early days of the Web, when many users connected to the Internet via slow dial-up modems. Even with the more robust Internet connectivity now available to many homes, effective use of the browser cache will allow images and text to load.
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Firefox Cache
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Firefox stores its cache files locally on your Mac within a subdirectory of the Library folder in your home directory. To clear the Firefox cache and all cookies and browsing history, select the "Clear Recent History" item from the Tools menu. To clear only the cache, open Firefox preferences, navigate to the Advanced panel and click "Clear Now" under the Network tab. Never modify or delete cache files directly through the Finder because you can render Firefox completely unusable.
Troubleshoot Firefox on Mac
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If you think the Firefox cache isn't clearing, test the website with another browser, such as Safari. If Safari operates as expected, the simplest solution may be to browse with Safari. If you trash your Firefox profile, you can delete all of the browser cache files but you'll also delete all the bookmarks and additional user-specific information stored in that profile. Back up your system if you plan to go that route. If you must load a site in Firefox, preserve your Firefox data temporarily by creating a new Mac user and log in as that user. When you launch Firefox as a different user, the profile and cache will be created anew.
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