CCleaner will not "Compact databases" in Firefox as long as Firefox is open; the files are locked by Firefox until you close/exit Firefox.

• By the way, the files you specifically mentioned, passwords, site preferences, cookies, are actually physically deleted from your hard drive by CCleaner, not compacted.

If you have closed/exited Firefox and still get the same result from CCleaner, Firefox may be "hanging at exit":

1. Stop the Firefox process:
   • Mozillazine - Kill application
   • Windows 7 users click here
   • Mac users: http://techheavy.com/2011/02/the-mac-task-manager/
2. Why Firefox may hang:
   • Firefox hangs (see Hang at exit)
   • Firefox hangs (Mozillazine) (see Hang at exit and Closing Firefox properly)
   • Firefox is already running but is not responding
3. Use Firefox Safe Mode to find a problem with an Extension or Plugin:
   • Don't check anything when entering Safe Mode, just continue
   • If the problem does not occur in Safe Mode it is probably and Extension or Plugin causing the problem
   • See:
     • Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode and Safe Mode (Mozillazine)
     • Troubleshooting extensions and themes
     • Troubleshooting plugins
     • Basic Troubleshooting

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FF says "clear" history and other items, "delete" history and other items, not compact them. FF is NOT running as proved by my viewing of task manager over many sequences of loading and unloading. I use NO extentions or plugins. This is a SECURITY problem. When one believes History, Passwords, Site Preferences, and Cookies have been deleted and they haven't....It's a SECURITY problem. When I finish banking transactions, come off the site, hit shift+ctrl+delete and believe my password has been deleted from FF, and it hasn't, that is a serious SECURITY problem. I do, however, appreciate your time in responding to this problem.

RS

Firefox uses SQL databases for the items that you are mentioning. As with other database structures, items are marked as deleted and are overwritten the next time something is added to the database. I know for a fact that when you use Internet Options to remove cookies and history items for IE which are kept a plain, readable text files, the items are removed from the directory but the actual data still exists on your hard drive until something else needs space to write data, then it is over-written. In both cases, until the data is over-written, it may be recoverable until over-written. Computers are riddled with security issues because so much data is left behind that is not apparent to the user, but can be recovered with sophisticated software and/or methods.

The same is true when you delete a file on your hard drive, be it a text file, an image, or a video; the item is removed only from the directory, the actual information is still on your hard drive and can be retrieved, but it will be over-written the next time something is written to the hard drive.

That is where a program like CCleaner is needed. If used properly, it will delete the data and/or file(s) by over-writing it with random characters several times, making it difficult or impossible to retrieve even with with most sophisticated recovery software. CCleaner is finding the SQL database files, and over-writing them several time with randam characters to make the near if not completely unrecoverable.

In this regard, Firefox is more secure in that it does not keep cookies, passwords and other data in plain, readable text files as do many other browsers. Passwords in Firefox are encrypted and are virtually impossible for a human to decipher.

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