Every time you surf a new website, you are probably asked whether you want to accept cookies or not? Don’t be perplexed; they are not offering you a sweet snack.
Cookies on the internet are something that helps to customize your web surfing experience. More specifically, they track your activities while you are browsing the website. They track things like tabs you click or stuff you are going through.
Cookies also store your login details, letting you enter a website without inputting your credentials every single time.
Since cookies keep track of your personalized preferences, they are an extremely valuable tool for advertisers. They can send you more personalized and targeted ads using cookies.
Should You Delete Cookies?
Cookies help you surf the website as per your preferences. But still, there are some reasons why you should consider deleting it.
The website that stores cookies on your browser can easily access your browsing history and online surfing behavior. Some of them sustain themselves by selling your data to advertisers. Therefore, you need to delete the cookies to avoid tracking your online behavior and prevent unnecessary advertisements from popping up.
Cookies make your browser slower over time. They can improve the speed at which the website loads, but when cookies go on accumulating, it will make your browser slower.
There is a potential threat to your data if cookies get hijacked by the attackers. Personal information like your name and address can be misused for performing online frauds. So, if you value your privacy, you need to delete the cookies.
How to Delete Cookies for One Site?
Deleting cookies is a straightforward task and does not take much of your time. You can either delete all your cookies at once or delete cookies for one specific site. Deleting your cookies all at once will not be a problem once you learn to delete them for a specific site. Let’s see how you can delete cookies for one site from different browsers.
On Google Chrome
Follow these steps to clear cookies on your Chrome browser:
- Open Google Chrome.
- Click the menu button ( ⋮ ) in the top right corner and then open Settings.
- Navigate to the Privacy and Security tab.
- Under Privacy and security, click on Cookies and other site data.
- Scroll the page and click on See all cookies and site data.
- In the search box, please type the name of the website whose cookies you want to clear and click on the trash can icon next to the cookies name to remove it.
- If you want to delete all cookies at once, click the Remove All button just below the search cookies box.
Alternatively, you can also easily remove the cookies for a specific site without loading the Chrome settings.
- Click on the lock icon of the address bar shown before a web page address.
- Click on Cookies.
- Select the cookies you want to remove and click on the Remove button.
On Firefox
Follow these steps to clear cookies on your Firefox browser:
- Open Firefox.
- Open the application menu by clicking on the ( ≡ ) button in the top right corner and the Settings option.
- See the Privacy & Security tab in the left pane and click it.
- Scroll down the page, and you will see Cookies and site data. Click on Manage Data.
- It will show a list of websites and their corresponding cookies. Select which cookies you want to remove and click the Remove Selected button. Click Remove All if you want to remove cookies for every website you visit.
- Click Save changes.
- In the next pop-up, click the Remove button, and you are done.
On Opera
- Click on the logo of the Opera browser in the upper left corner and open Settings.
- On the Settings page, scroll down to Privacy and Security. Locate Cookies and other site data under Privacy and Security and click it.
- Scroll down to click See all cookies and site data.
- Search the website name whose cookies you want to clear in the Search cookies box.
- Click the trash icon to remove the desired cookie.
- Click Remove All if you want to delete cookies for every website you visit.
On Microsoft Edge
- Open Microsoft Edge, press
Alt+Fand then open Settings. - Click Cookies and site permissions from the left pane.
- Click on Manage and delete cookies and site data > See all cookies and site data.
- You can use the Search cookies box or locate the website from the list whose cookies you want to clear.
- Click the drop-down arrow to see all the cookies from the website and delete them by clicking the trash icon.
- Click on the Remove All button if you wish to delete cookies for every site.
You can also similarly use the padlock icon method to clear cookies as we did in other browsers.
Related Questions
Should I Accept Cookies?
It solely depends upon you. If you want more personalized content and a better experience on the website, you can accept it without any doubt.
At first, you can check if you can surf the website without accepting the cookies. If you can, then it is not required to accept the cookies. But some websites compel their visitors to accept cookies. If you feel suspicious, delete the cookies immediately after you finish surfing.
Do Cookies Contain Viruses?
Cookies are plain text files that reside on your device. Any file needs to be executed before they can make any changes in the system. They are not executable pieces of code, so they can not contain viruses or spread them.
How Often Should I Delete Cookies?
You can delete cookies as soon as you feel your browser is slower. Make the habit of clearing the cookies regularly. As mentioned earlier, if you feel a website is suspicious or if you are using a public computer, consider deleting it immediately after finishing your task.
Does Deleting Cookies Improve My Browser Speed?
Yes. Deleting cookies improves the speed of your web browser. Cookies obviously occupy some space on your disk. Over time, they are cluttered, making your browser slower. Moreover, any recent modifications in the website will not be seen if it uses the same old cached cookies. So you need to delete it regularly for an improved browsing experience.
Will Clearing Cookies Delete My Passwords?
Yes. Clearing cookies will again require you to enter your login credentials. However, if you have saved passwords, you can still see them from the password manager.
Can We Use a Shortcut to Delete Cookies on Google Chrome?
Yes, Google Chrome provides a shortcut to delete overall cookies in your browser. Follow these steps:
- Press CTRL + H to load the History page.
- Then Click on Clear browsing data.
- Check the Cookies and other site data options and click on the Clear data button.
