Remove cookies from Chrome, Edge and Firefox

An excess of cookies can negatively impact the performance of your browser. Give them a taste of their own medicine by removing them from your browser. Here’s how to do it in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.

Cookies are not shown to you, but are always present when you surf with a browser. A cookie is a piece of code that the web administrator can install on your browser when you visit their website. The website can use the data collected by the cookie to create a profile of you. This data can then be used to personalize your next visit. Read as: Data is shared with advertisers so they can show you advertisements tailored to your web history.

The cookie system has logically been the subject of criticism for several years. Since GDPR legislation, websites have been required to require their visitors to consent to the placement of cookies. In practice, however, this is only an apparent choice, as some websites will not function properly without cookies. So often people click “accept cookies” without thinking to get rid of them. Tech giants like Google are diligently looking for a better system to replace cookies, but as that hasn’t hit the ground running yet we’ll be sticking with it for a while.

Aside from being annoying to be tracked all the time, cookies can also affect your browsing in the long term. Eventually the cookies are stored in the cache memory and in the long run this cache is so heavy that your browser slows down. So it can’t hurt to get rid of outdated cookies after a long surfing session. We’ll show you how to do it for some popular browsers

Google Chrome

We’ll start with the most popular browser, Google Chrome, which is also the browser that loves to gobble up cookies. Click on the three dots at the top right and place your cursor over them More settings. This will expand a menu where you Clear browser data chooses. The search chrome://settings/clearBrowserData Copying and pasting into the address bar takes you to the same menu.

Now select the ticks you want to remove. View progressive for more options. The option Cookies and Website Data Active cookies are removed. It certainly can’t hurt to clear the cached images from time to time, for example to free up disk space. Confirm your selection by pressing delete data click.

Note that deleting cookies often means logging out of your online accounts. On your next visit you will have to log in again and pass on the cookie settings. Finally, don’t forget Cookies and Website Data Block third-party cookies. This already severely limits the number of cookies websites are allowed to fire at you.
Microsoft Edge

Let’s continue with Edge. Click on the three dots at the top right to go to the settings. under Privacy, Search and Services You will find the option Choose what to delete Here you delete cookies and other data as with Chrome. Tired of having to do this after every surf session? Then click Clear browsing data on exit and select cookies. Placed cookies are then immediately deleted each time Edge is closed, unless you allow an exception for specific websites.

Edge also has some settings that allow you to restrict the freedom of movement of cookies. So we’re staying in the privacy menu for a while. From bee tracking prevention the option strict If you select it, you will already disable many trackers. Also activate the Do Not Track Requests and you will be virtually untraceable for cookies.
fire fox

Firefox has been blocking third-party cookies since 2019, but that doesn’t mean the privacy-friendly browser is completely free of cookies and trackers. Even as a Firefox user, it’s best to check your cookie settings from time to time. You can find it in the hamburger menu institutions and then privacy and security. bee Cookies and Website Data Clear the active cookies. Just like in Edge, you can ask Firefox to do this after each browsing session.

Prevention is always better than cure, so we’re also looking at what we can tick to minimize tracker installs. As a privacy-conscious internet user, you want tight protection. Sending Do Not Track signals should normally be enabled automatically in Firefox. You can allow exceptions to the rule here at any time for specific websites.

Source: IT Daily

Mary

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