Caches and web cookies play an essential role in optimizing your internet experience. Without these things, you cannot imagine the web as you experience it today. However, over time, cookies and browser cache can slow down your browsing experience. It means you have to clear your browser cache and cookies once in a while.
Here is a quick guide on how to clear browser cache and cookies on different browsers and devices.
Clearing Browser Cache and Cookies
Clearing browser cache and cookies frequently can make your internet experience faster and help you with privacy issues as well. You can clear your browser cache and cookies by going to Settings > Privacy > Clear Browser Data.
What Is a Cache?
Cache is a type of storage that is used to improve the speed of data retrieval. On a web browser, a cache will be used to save copies of web pages that you frequently visit. This way, when you open the website the next time, the browser can load the page faster. Images and other multimedia content from webpages would be saved to the web browser cache.
What Is a Cookie?
A cookie is a smaller piece of data that a website may store on your computer. These temporary files can be used to optimize the web experience by saving your preferences. For instance, cookies make it easy so that you don’t have to log in every single time. Similarly, advertisement networks may use tracking cookies to get personalized ads delivered to you.
Difference Between Cache and Cookies
While there are commonalities between cache and cookies, they are different.
- A cache is used to store frequently stored content from websites you visit so that the browser can load the content quickly the next time. Cookies, on the other hand, are more like identifiers that are stored on your computer for specific purposes, such as preloading your preferences and logins.
- Depending on the websites you visit, the size of the browser cache could be several MBs or GBs. On the other hand, web cookies take up only a few KBs of storage space. These may contain some session tokens or shopping cart data.
- Both cache and cookies have an expiry date. However, web cookies have a shorter expiration period, and you can also find persistent cookies that need to be removed manually. Caches, however, might stay on your computer for weeks or months.
- The cache does not cause privacy concerns because the content is loaded based on the pages you visit. However, since cookies are used to trace user behavior and patterns, some web cookies might be a cause for concern.
Now that you have a clearer idea about web cookies and caches, we shall explore the steps to remove them.
Why Clear Cache and Cookies
Here are a couple of reasons to clear cache and cookies once in a while.
- As I said, cache and cookies can slow down your internet experience over time. If your browser does not remove the caches automatically, you might come across some issues.
- Cached content may also prevent your web browser from loading the latest version of a web page. It is not great while browsing social media platforms.
- As I talked about earlier, web cookies may cause privacy concerns as well, especially in the form of targeted advertisements. Tracking cookies may pose other privacy issues, too.
Fortunately, web browsers make it easy to clear browser cache and cookies from your computer.
Clear Cache and Cookies in Browsers
You can follow these steps to clear cache and cookies in browsers. Please note that this process will remove all caches and cookies from the web browser.
Clear Cache and Cookies on Chrome
- Open Google Chrome
- Click the three-dot menu
- Choose Delete Browsing Data
- Choose Cookies and Cache from the options
- Select the time-range
- Click Delete Data
That’s it. You have cleared cookies and cache from your Chrome browser.
Clear Cookies and Cache on Edge
- Open Microsoft Edge
- Click on the three-dot button
- Choose Settings
- Navigate to Privacy > Delete Browsing Data > Choose What to Clear
- Select the items you want to delete
- Press Clear Now
Voila. You have gotten rid of the browser cache and cookies from Microsoft Edge. Edge would show the number of cookies on your system when you decide to clean it.
By the way, you can follow the same steps to clear cookies and cache from most Chrome-based browsers.
Clear Cookies and Cache on Safari
Safari does not offer you an option to remove browser cache and cookies separately. Instead, it lets you get rid of all website data, individually or in bulk. Here are the steps:
- Open Safari
- Go to Privacy > Manage Website Data
- Select the websites or choose Clear All.
In a second, the Safari browser will clear all data stored by the selected websites. Then, you are good to go.
Clear Site-specific Cookies and Cache
Sometimes, you don’t have to clear cookies and cache at the browser level. Instead, you can get rid of site-specific cookies and cache. This is helpful if you want to refresh a single webpage or prevent a website from tracking you using cookies. Here are the steps:
On Safari
You can go to Settings > Privacy > Manage Website Data.
Instead of clearing everything, you can select the website whose cookies and cache you want to clear. You can get it done in a minute.
On Edge
Open Edge, go to Settings > Cookies and site data > See all cookies and site data.
You can now see a list of websites that have stored a web cookie on your browser. You can search for a site and remove the info as you wish.
Also, you can use the same settings on Chrome and other browsers as well. You may also be able to access these settings right from the URL button.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some of the cache stored on your browser may expire automatically. However, you should clear your web browser cache once a month to prevent cache content from slowing down your browsing experience.
No, clearing the cache is not the same as clearing browsing history. Clearing the cache removes temporary files that are stored in your computer to enhance data retrieval. History clearing, on the other hand, removes the trace of web browsing sessions.
You do not lose any vital information when you clear your cache. Instead, the web browser will freshly retrieve content from a webpage. However, some websites may store your data locally through a cache, and clearing the cache might delete this content as well.
Conclusion
I believe I have answered your queries about the browser cache and cookies. The steps I have detailed above will help you clear the cache on multiple browsers and devices.
By the way, if you use multiple web browsers, you may also consider system-wide cleaners. These tools will clear all types of data stored on your web browsers.
2 Comments
Great guide! Does clearing cookies regularly affect saved login credentials across websites, or is there a way to clear them without losing my saved passwords?
Clearing cookies does not delete saved passwords from your browser. But, it will prevent websites from remembering your login status. As a result, you’ll need to re-enter your username and password the next time you visit those sites.
You can safely clear cookies without losing saved passwords by making sure the option for “saved passwords” remains unchecked when clearing browser data. Most browsers provide an option to clear cookies and retain your passwords.