How to Delete Cookies from Your Favorite Web Browser

This article tells you how to delete cookies from your favorite web browser. The article describes step-by-step instructions on how to delete all the cookies from:

• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Safari

In addition to deleting the cookies from your web browser, this article also teaches you how to disable the cookies on the browser so they cannot be generated at the first place. You will also learn in which situations the cookies must be kept enabled and when disabling them would be a wise approach.

What are Cookies?

A short answer would be, cookies are the small files stored inside your computer to improve your browsing experience. Cookies contain information about the websites that you visit, and the operating system refers them every time you attempt to revisit a web site, opens the web page comparatively faster.

General misconception about cookies is that they are harmful to the computer but the truth is otherwise. Many cookies that the authentic and reputed sites save on your local hard disk drive are harmless also preserve your authentication information which eliminates the need of re-entering the sign-in credentials while signing-in to the website – sometimes within a particular timeframe (session).

However there are a few cookies that collect your personal information, transfer them to the third-party service providers or sellers, and then those organizations/groups keep sending you promotional mails from time to time with or without your explicit/implicit consent. Such cookies are stored on your computer by the unwanted ads or popup windows that come up when you visit other sites.

Detailed process as how the cookies are saved on your computer and how they work is given below:

• You open a web page on your web browser.
• The opened website transfers the requested information to your PC along with the cookies.

systemdrive%UsersDefaultAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsCookies’ folder.

Note: This happens even when the unwanted advertising windows popup on your computer screen while surfing the web.

• Even after you close the web browser, the cookies remain stored in the local hard disk drive.
• When you attempt to open the web site again (even after some time), the operating system refers to the saved cookies, looks for the necessary information, and opens the web page directly without delay.

Types of Cookies

There are two types of cookies:

First-Party Cookies – These cookies are transmitted to your computer by the authentic and reputed websites and help improve your browsing experience by opening the already visited websites comparatively faster, and by temporarily saving your login credentials locally in order to save your time.

Third-Party Cookies – These cookies are automatically saved on your computer without your consent (as it is the case with the first-party cookies) but instead of being helpful to you, such cookies collect your personal information such as your contact details like email address, contact number, etc. and forward them to the third-party sellers who keep sending your promotional and advertising contents with or without your consent.

Deleting Cookies

Not all cookies are harmful and therefore deleting only the third-party cookies should suffice when it comes to keeping your personal information from being exposed to the unknown persons or groups. However, sometimes you may want to delete all the cookies from your computer if you are experiencing performance issues while browsing. This may be due to the stale information stored in the cookies that may be preventing you from accessing some sites at the expected speed, or keeping you from accessing the sites at all.

How to Delete Cookies from a Browser

1 Deleting Cookies from Google Chrome

1. Open Google Chrome.

2. Click the Menu button (button with three horizontal lines) from the top-right corner of the interface.

3. From the displayed list, click Settings.

4. From the Settings page, scroll down and click the Show advanced settings link from the bottom.

5. From the displayed advanced options, under the Privacy section, click the Clear browsing data button.

6. From the Clear browsing data box that appears, ensure that the Cookies and other site and plug-in data checkbox is checked.

7. Optionally check the other checkboxes as needed.

8. Finally click the Clear browsing data button from the bottom to delete the cookies.

2 Deleting Cookies from Mozilla Firefox

1. Open Mozilla Firefox.

2. Click the Menu button (button with three horizontal lines) from the top-right corner of the interface.

3. From the displayed menu, click Options.

4. On the Options box, click to select the Privacy option from the top.

5. From the displayed interface, from under the History section, click the remove individual cookies link.

6. From the Cookies box that opens up, click the Remove All Cookies button from the bottom.

7. Close all the opened boxes and windows when done.

3 Deleting Cookies from Internet Explorer

1. Open Internet Explorer.

2. Click the Tools option from the top-right corner of the opened interface.

3. Form the displayed menu, click Internet Options.

4. On the opened Internet Options box, ensure that you are on the General tab.

5. From under the Browsing history section, click the Delete button.

6. On the Delete Browsing History box, make sure that the Cookies checkbox is checked.

7. Optionally check or uncheck the other checkboxes as needed.

8. Finally click the Delete button to remove the cookies from Internet Explorer.

4 Deleting Cookies from Safari

1. Open Safari web browser.

2. Once opened, click the Safari menu from the top.

3. From the displayed list, click Preferences.

4. Go to the Privacy option.

5. Click the Remove All Website Data button.

6. On the displayed confirmation box, click Remove Now to delete the cookies from the browser.

How to Disable or Enable Cookies in Browser Settings

1 Disabling/Enabling Cookies in Google Chrome

1. Follow the steps from 1 to 4 given in the Deleting Cookies from Google Chrome section above.

2. From the displayed advanced options on the Google Chrome’s settings page, under the Privacy section, click the Content settings button.

3. On the Content Settings box, under the Cookies section, click to select the Block sites from setting any data radio button, and check the Block third-party cookies and site data checkbox to disable all the cookies from chrome.

4. Click Finished when done.

5. To re-enable the cookies, follow the above steps and click to select the All local data to be set (recommended) radio button, and uncheck the Block third-party cookies and site data checkbox.

6. Click Finished when done.

2 Disabling/Enabling Cookies in Mozilla Firefox

1. Follow the steps from 1 to 4 from the Deleting Cookies from Mozilla Firefox section explained above.

2. Once you are on the Privacy interface, under the History section, click to expand the Firefox will drop-down list.

3. From the available options, click Use custom settings for history.

4. From the displayed custom options, uncheck the Accept cookies from sites checkbox to disable all the cookies in Mozilla Firefox.

5. Click OK to save the changes.

6. To re-enable the cookies, follow the above steps and choose the Remember history option from the Firefox will drop-down list under the History section when on step 3.

7. Click OK to save the changes.

3 Disabling/Enabling Cookies in Internet Explorer

1. Follow the steps from 1 to 3 from the Deleting Cookies from Internet Explorer section given above.

2. Once you are on the Internet Options box, go to the Privacy tab.

3. Under the Settings section, move the vertical slider to the top until the Block All Cookies information is displayed, and click OK.

4. To re-enable the cookies, move the slider back to Medium (or at any other marker as needed) and click OK.

4 Disabling/Enabling Cookies in Safari

1. Follow the steps from 1 to 4 from the Deleting Cookies from Safari section explained above.

2. Once the Privacy interface is displayed, click to select the Never radio button representing the Block cookies and other website data section to disable the cookies in Safari.

3. To re-enable the cookies, follow the above instructions and click to select the From third parties and advertisers radio button when on step 2.

Note: You can also click to select the Always radio button but doing so may expose your personal contact details and other data to unauthorized people or groups.

Cookies play major role in giving you flawless browsing experience. It is recommended that you remove or enable or disable them wisely.

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