How to Delete Cookies in Every Major Browser

How to Clear Cookies

The steps involved in deleting cookies are different depending on the web browser. Below are some browser-specific cookie clearing tutorials.

How to Clear Browsing Data in Chrome

To delete cookies in Google Chrome:

1. Select the 3 vertical dots in the upper-right corner of the Chrome screen.

2. Select More Tools > Clear browsing data.

   

3. Select the Cookies and other site data checkbox.

   To delete the saved passwords in Chrome, select Passwords and other sign-in data.

4. Select the Time range drop-down arrow and choose a time period. For example, to delete all the cookies or passwords in Chrome, no matter how long ago they were saved, select All time.

5. Select Clear data.

   

To clear the cookies from the Chrome mobile browser, tap the menu button (the icon with three stacked dots), and choose Settings. Go to Privacy and security > Clear browsing data, and then open the Advanced tab. Tap each area you want to erase, for example, Cookies and site data, or Saved passwords. Delete the selection with the Clear data button.

How to Clear Browsing Data in Firefox

To delete cookies in the Mozilla Firefox browser:

1. Select the menu (the 3 horizontal bars in the upper-right corner of Firefox).

   

2. Select Settings.

   

3. Select Privacy & Security.

   

4. In the Cookies and Site Data section, select Clear Data.

   

5. Select the Cookies and Site Data checkbox, then select Clear.

   

To delete cookies on the mobile Firefox browser, tap the menu button and go to Settings > Delete browsing data. Choose Cookies (and anything else you want to delete, such as the browsing history or cache), then tap Delete browsing data.

How to Clear Browsing Data in Microsoft Edge

Here's how to delete cookies and browsing history in Microsoft Edge.

1. Select the three horizontal dots located in the upper-right corner. Or, press Alt+F.

   

2. Select Settings.

   

3. Select Privacy, search, and services from the left pane. If you don't see the left pane, select the three-lined menu button at the top left.

   

4. Select Choose what to clear from the Clear browsing data section.

   

5. Make sure Cookies and other site data is checked. You can also delete passwords, download history, browsing history, cached images and files, and more.

   

   Change the Time range value to pick how far back the cookies and other data should be erased. There's even an All time option to delete everything ever stored.

6. Select Clear now.

To delete cookies in the mobile Edge app, tap the menu button at the bottom, go to Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data, and choose the items to remove. Then, tap Clear data.

How to Remove Cookie and Website Data in Safari

To delete cookies in the Apple Safari web browser:

1. On a Mac, select Safari > Preferences. In Windows, select Action > Preferences.

   

2. Select Privacy.

3. On a Mac, select Manage Website Data. On Windows, select Remove All Website Data.

   

4. Choose which cookies to delete, then select Remove. Or, select Remove All to clear all cookies.

   

5. Select Remove Now to confirm that you want to delete the cookies.

   

6. Select Done.

   

To delete cookies on the mobile Safari browser, open the Settings app for your device (not the browser). Scroll down and tap the Safari link, then scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data. Confirm with Clear.

How to Clear Browsing Data in Opera

To delete cookies in Opera:

1. Select the menu button at the top right.

   

2. In the Privacy & Security section, select Clear.

   

3. Select Cookies and other site data, and then choose Clear data.

   To remove all cookies from every website, select the Time range drop-down arrow and choose All time.

   

4. Close the Settings window and continue browsing the web.

To delete cookies from the mobile Opera browser, tap the profile button at the bottom, and then choose the settings/gear icon. Scroll to the bottom and tap Clear data, and then choose Cookies and site data, as well as whatever else you want to delete. Select CLEAR DATA.

Why Should I Delete Cookies?

Internet cookies are small files stored on a computer hard drive by a web browser that contains information about your visit to a particular website. This information may include your login status, personalization, and advertising preferences. If you don't want this information stored on your computer, delete the cookies.

Most of the time, cookies make browsing more enjoyable by keeping you logged in to a site you visit frequently or remembering the questions you answered at your favorite polling site.

Sometimes, however, a cookie may remember something you'd rather it didn't, or become corrupt, resulting in a browsing experience that's less than enjoyable. This is when deleting cookies may be a good idea.

You might also want to delete cookies if you're experiencing issues such as 500 Internal Server or 502 Bad Gateway errors (among others), which are sometimes indications that one or more cookies for a particular site are corrupted and should be removed.

More About Deleting Cookies in Web Browsers

Most browsers also find and delete cookies from individual websites. Since few issues require that you delete all the cookies stored by the browser, locating and removing specific cookies allows you to retain customizations and stay logged in to your favorite, non-offending websites.