How To Delete Cookies
Does it help to know how to delete cookies? In a recent article we covered what web cookies are and what they are used for. Cookies are generally harmless, but there are some instances when it’s a good idea to know how to delete cookies in order to protect your privacy. Before you learn how to delete cookies, there are a few steps that we recommend you follow. You can find these steps in our video: What Are Web Cookies.
It happens so often that in searching for things online you may find yourself landing on a questionable website. Excessive pop-ups, “You have won – enter your email and claim your prize!” These are just a few examples of things that make the integrity of some websites questionable. While cookies cannot infect a computer, they can be used by these questionable websites to track your surfing habits in the hopes of collecting information and building a profile that could be sold to marketers. Next thing you know, your inbox is overflowing with spam and your browser is swarmed by pop-ups. At this point, it would be beneficial to know how to clear cookies.
What Are Malicious Cookies
Deleting cookies does not necessarily reduce spam if your email address was already captured by “malicious” cookies. What are malicious cookies? Those are cookies that try to gather your personal information deviously without any concern for your privacy. It helps to read the privacy policy and the third party policy of a website before you enter your name or email address. This can help you reduce spam. Okay, so how do you delete cookies?
Each web browser has different steps for deleting cookies. In this article we will go over step by step how to delete cookies in 3 of the most used web browsers; Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. As always, we suggest that you do the steps below only if you feel comfortable. Otherwise get someone that can help you. Before you delete cookies, be sure you follow the steps suggested in the video; or else you might risk losing information you need. Below is how to delete cookies, feel free to skip to your respective browser as needed.
How To Delete Cookies in Google Chrome
To delete cookies in Google Chrome just follow these simple steps:
– Open Google Chrome; look for a tool looking like icon on the top right side of the browser.
– Left click on the tool and scroll all the way down to the options tab; left click on options.
– Under Options, navigate down to a tab labeled “Under The Hood.” 
On the very top you will see the Privacy section.
– There should be a button labeled “Clear browsing data” on the right. When you click on it you will see something like the image on the right.
– From there you can select your options and clear your browsing data.
How To Delete Cookies in Mozilla Firefox
Deleting cookies in Firefox 40.0 depends on how you have your tool bar set up.
– First, open Firefox. If you have an orange drop down box on the right, click on it and look for the history tab on the right.
– Hover over the history tab with your mouse and you should see the clear history tab.
– When you click on it, you will get a box with options. From there, you can click to select or deselect the files you want to delete or not.
– If your Firefox is set up differently, then you would want to look for the tools tab. That is where you will find the option to clear your history. The rest is the same.
How To Delete Cookies in Internet Explorer
It’s fairly easy to delete cookies in Internet Explorer (IE).
– With your Internet Explorer open, look for an icon on the top right that looks like a cog wheel. It should be right next to the Home and Favorites icons
– Click on it and navigate down to the internet options tab. Once you click the internet options tab, you will see the Browsing history section.
– Click on the delete button, here you will also get an option box that comes up. Go ahead and select the things that you want to delete and deselect what you don’t want to delete. Hit delete and you are done.
It certainly helps to know how to delete cookies so that you do not have malicious cookies tracking you online. In most cases, cookies are user friendly. However, if you suspect that your browser might have picked up some bad cookies; that will be a good time to do a little clean up. If after deleting the cookies you notice that you are still getting tons of pop-ups, the first thing you want to do is check your pop-up blocker settings in your respective Browser. If those settings are fine, then it’s most likely that there is something, (maybe an unusual tool bar) that is giving access to Ad-ware. You could try and remove the tool bar and clear up your cookies again, or you can have it checked out if you don’t know what to do.