Mac OSX Firefox

Temporary files

By default, Firefox 2.0 saves temporary files to the desktop, what's worse is that it doesn't clean up after itself. It seems as if there would be a simple configuration setting for this directory. Unfortunately, there isn't.

The temporary directory, and the cleanup, can be configured, but it's far from obvious. I found the solution on Adam Kalsey's blog:

  • Change the temporary file directory in Safari, that's right Safari! Thunderbird and Firefox use this same directory.
  • In Firefox,
    • Go to the URL about:config
    • Right/Control-click anywhere in the page, and select “New” - “Boolean” from the context menu.
    • In the dialog that pops up, enter browser.helperApps.deleteTempFileOnExit for the pref name, and then choose true for the value in the next dialog.
  • In Thunderbird, the setting is in Thunderbird -> Preferences… -> Advanced -> General -> Config Editor
    • Follow the same procedure as above