What cookies are and why you might want to delete them
Cookies are small files that websites store on your computer to remember information about you — your login details, what you put in a shopping cart, your language preference, or which ads you have seen. They are not programs and they cannot harm your computer on their own, but they do track your browsing habits across sites.
You might want to delete cookies to free up a small amount of storage space, to clear out login information before you sell or give away your computer, or to stop websites from tracking which pages you visit. Deleting cookies will log you out of most websites, so you will need to sign back in the next time you visit them.
The steps to delete cookies differ depending on which browser you use — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge — and whether you want to delete all cookies at once or just the ones from a specific website.
Key Takeaways
- Cookies are files websites store on your computer to remember your login information and browsing history, and deleting them will log you out of most sites.
- The fastest way to delete all cookies is to clear your browsing data through your browser's settings menu, which takes about one minute.
- You can delete cookies from a single website without clearing all of them by opening your browser's developer tools or cookie manager.
- Deleting cookies does not remove your browsing history, saved passwords, or other data unless you specifically select those options during the deletion process.
- After you delete cookies, websites will start collecting new ones the next time you visit them unless you turn on private browsing mode.
How to delete all cookies in Google Chrome
Open Chrome and click the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the window. Select Settings from the menu that appears. On the left side, click Privacy and security, then click Clear browsing data.
A window will pop up with several checkboxes. Make sure Cookies and other site data is checked. At the top of the window, you will see a dropdown menu that says All time — this controls how far back the deletion goes. Leave it on All time to delete every cookie on your computer, or select a shorter time period if you only want to delete recent cookies. Click the blue Clear data button at the bottom right.
Chrome will delete the cookies in a few seconds and the window will close. You are now logged out of most websites. The next time you visit a site, it will start storing new cookies on your computer.
How to delete all cookies in Mozilla Firefox
Open Firefox and click the three horizontal lines in the top right corner. Select Settings from the menu. On the left side, click Privacy & Security. Under the section labeled Cookies and Site Data, click the button that says Clear Data.
A small window will appear. Make sure the checkbox next to Cookies and Site Data is checked. The checkbox next to Cached Web Content is optional — uncheck it if you want to keep your cached files. Click the red Clear button.
Firefox will delete the cookies when ready. If you want to delete cookies from only a specific time period rather than all of them, go back to Privacy & Security, scroll down to History, and click Clear Recent History instead. That option lets you choose whether to delete cookies from the last hour, the last two hours, the last four hours, today, or everything.
How to delete all cookies in Safari
Open Safari and click Safari in the menu bar at the very top of your screen. Click Settings (or Preferences on older versions of macOS). Click the Privacy tab at the top of the window.
Click the button labeled Manage Website Data. A list of websites will appear. To delete all cookies at once, click Remove All at the bottom right. To delete cookies from only one website, find the site in the list, click it once to select it, and then click Remove.
After you delete the cookies, close the settings window. Safari will not show you a confirmation message, but the cookies are gone. The next time you visit a website, it will start storing new cookies.
How to delete all cookies in Microsoft Edge
Open Edge and click the three dots in the top right corner. Select Settings from the menu. On the left side, click Privacy, search, and services. Under the section labeled Clear browsing data, click Choose what to clear.
A window will pop up. Make sure Cookies and other site data is checked. At the top, you will see a dropdown that says All time — leave it there to delete all cookies, or select a shorter time period. Click the blue Clear now button.
Edge will delete the cookies in a few seconds. You can also set Edge to delete cookies automatically every time you close the browser. To do this, go back to Privacy, search, and services and turn on the toggle next to Clear browsing data. Choose which data types you want deleted automatically from the checkboxes below.
How to delete cookies from a single website
If you only want to delete cookies from one website instead of clearing all of them, the process depends on your browser. In Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, you can right-click on the website's address bar while you are on that site and look for an option like Site settings or Manage cookies. The exact wording varies by browser version.
A faster method works in all browsers: open your browser's developer tools by pressing F12 on your keyboard (or Command + Option + I on Mac). Click the process tab (Chrome and Edge) or Storage tab (Firefox). On the left side, expand Cookies and click the website name. You will see a list of all cookies from that site. Right-click on any cookie and select Delete, or select all of them and delete them at once.
In Safari, the process is different. Go to Safari in the menu bar, click Settings, click Privacy, click Manage Website Data, find the website in the list, and click Remove.
What happens after you delete cookies
After you delete cookies, you will be logged out of most websites. The next time you visit a site where you have an account, you will need to enter your username and password again. If you had items in a shopping cart, they will be gone. Websites will not remember your language preference, text size settings, or other customizations you had saved.
Deleting cookies does not delete your browsing history, your saved passwords, or your autofill information unless you specifically checked those boxes during the deletion process. It also does not remove files you have downloaded or bookmarks you have saved. Only the small tracking files stored by websites are removed.
Within a few seconds of visiting a website after deleting cookies, that website will start storing new cookies on your computer. If you want to prevent websites from storing cookies altogether, you can turn on your browser's private or incognito mode, which does not save cookies after you close the window.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will deleting cookies speed up my computer?
Cookies take up very little storage space — usually just a few megabytes total — so deleting them will not noticeably speed up your computer. If your computer is running slowly, the problem is almost certainly something else, like too many programs running at startup or a full hard drive. Deleting cookies may help if you are trying to free up the last bit of storage space on a very full drive.
Can I delete cookies without logging out of websites?
Not completely. If you delete all cookies, you will be logged out of every site. However, you can delete cookies from specific websites only, which will log you out of just those sites while keeping you logged into others. Use the single-website deletion method described above to do this.
What is the difference between deleting cookies and clearing browsing history?
Browsing history is a list of websites you have visited, stored on your computer so your browser can show you a dropdown when you start typing a web address. Cookies are files websites store to remember information about you. Deleting one does not delete the other unless you check both boxes during the deletion process.
Do I need to delete cookies regularly?
No. Cookies do not harm your computer and they do not take up meaningful storage space. You only need to delete them if you want to log out of websites, if you are selling or giving away your computer, or if you want to stop websites from tracking your browsing. Most people do not need to delete cookies at all.
Will websites still work if I delete all their cookies?
Yes. Websites will work fine without cookies, but they will not remember who you are. You will need to log in again, and any settings you had saved will be reset to the default. Some websites may not function perfectly without cookies, but this is rare — most sites work normally, just without the personalization.