A web cookie, which is also known as a browser cookie or HTML cookie, is a little piece of data that your web browser takes from a website while you’re browsing. Whenever you go back to the same sites, the browser sends the cookie back to the site to show your previous activity. The sort of information that’s stored is useful stuff like items in a shopping cart, which buttons you’ve clicked, and they can also store passwords. We’ll tell you how to delete cookies from your devices because they can also contain harmful stuff.

Tracking

Cookies can’t contain viruses and they can’t install malware onto your PC but they can be used to track your activity which has prompted European governments to tighten up on privacy laws. You may wish to remove cookies for greater privacy or you might want to free up a little extra space.

Internet Explorer

Most PC users will be using IE so we’ll start with that.

• Click Settings in Internet Explorer, this is the cog logo in the top right
• On the General Tab of the box that appears click Delete under Browsing History
• In the Delete Browsing History dialog box, click Delete Cookies

Firefox

Firefox is another popular browser. If you’re using that to search the web, follow these instructions to clear cookies.

• Click Menu and then choose History
• Select Clear Recent History
• From the drop down menu headed Time range to clear select Everything
• Click the arrow next to Details which will expand your options
• Select Cookies and make sure that no other items are selected
• Click Clear Now to remove

Chrome

Chrome from Google is the other browser that’s popular among internet users. To delete cookies for Chrome follow these instructions.

• Click Menu on the toolbar
• Select Settings
• Click Show Advanced Settings
• In Privacy click Content Settings
• In Cookies, click Remove All to delete all cookies