Most internet browsers are set to automatically accept cookies. Cookies are small text files that store Internet data on your computer. They help speed up web browsing by storing information about websites you have visited so the sites load more quickly when you revisit them.

However, cookies can also track your online activity and be used to collect personal information. For these reasons, you may want to delete cookies on a regular basis. You can do this in just a few clicks on most internet browsers.

Here’s how:

Internet Explorer

  1. Select Tools > Safety > Delete browsing history…
  2. Uncheck Preserve Favorites website data, and check both Temporary Internet Files and Cookies then click Delete. You will see a confirmation at the bottom of the window when the process is complete.
  3. Close all open windows of Internet Explorer then restart the browser for changes to take effect.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. Go to Tools > Options > Privacy in the menu at the top of the Firefox window.
  2. Under History, select Use custom settings for history from the drop-down menu next to Firefox will:
  3. Check mark Accept cookies from sites and then uncheck mark Accept third-party cookies under the History section
  4. Click OK at the bottom of the window to save changes
  5. Close all open windows of Firefox then restart the browser for changes to take effect 6To remove all cookies, go to Tools > Clear Recent History or press Ctrl + Shift + Del on your keyboard simultaneously

Safari 5

  1. Click Safari in the upper left hand corner of your screen then select Preferences from the drop-down menu
  2. In Preferences, click Security tab at the top of the window
  3. Under Web content:, uncheck Block pop-up windows and Enable JavaScript
  4. Under Cookies:, click Always block
  5. Close all open windows of Safari then restart the browser for changes to take effect

Google Chrome

  1. Click the wrench icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen then select Settings from the drop-down menu
  2. Select Show advanced settings… at the bottom of the page 3 Under Privacy, click Content settings… 4 Under Cookies, select Block sites from setting any data 5 Close all open windows of Google Chrome then restart the browser for changes to take effect

Opera

  1. Go to Tools > Preferences in the menu at the top of the Opera window
  2. Select Advanced > Cookies
  3. Next to Accept cookies: select Never
  4. Close all open windows of Opera
  5. Restart the browser for changes to take effect