Hello friends, I am Anand Patel, here we are going to talk about cookies, what are cookies on a computer, how do they work, what are they used for, and how to delete cookies, and much more about cookies.
You may have heard about cookies on the internet, from people or may have seen on your mobile or computer, so what they are and do these are harmful, and should we delete them.
Cookies are small text files that are stored on the user’s browser by other websites that the user visit on the internet, cookies store the user’s browsing data, so next time whenever the user will visits that website so that website will provide him a more personalized view of the website, products, ads, and suggestions.
This was the brief intro of cookies, if you want to know all about cookies, what are cookies on a computer, what can cookies store, should we delete cookies, and how to delete cookies on different devices and different browsers, so read this post till the end, and you will get the solution of all your queries.
What Are Cookies On a Computer
Cookies are also called HTTP cookies, browser cookies, computer cookies, cache memory cookies, but all these are the same, and here we will discuss all of them.
Definition of Cookies – “Cookies are small files that are stored on the user’s browser, cookies are designed to store browsing data of the user, to help the website to provide more optimized and personalized products and information as per user interest”.
When a user visits a website for the first time, and if that website uses cookies so it will store a cookie in the user’s browser, and that cookie will store all browsing data of the user.
That data can be accessed by the user or the server of that website, website/server access this cookie to analyze the browsing of the user, to provide him a more personalized view of the website, products, ads, and more in his next visit
The user also gets the benefits of the cookies as when he visits that website again so he gets a more personalized view of the website, much better recommendations of products and ads,
The user also gets his login ID and password saved on that website even he didn’t save his login details on the browser, but as all details were saved on that cookie so he gets all details from that cookie.
If you are facing issue with your computer or laptop like slow speed, missing or corrupt file then that may be because of viruses and if you want to what is a computer virus and types of computer virus then click on the link to read our that post.
Cookies are stored or dropped on our browser form the websites that we visit on the internet, all websites don’t use cookies, but some websites like online shopping websites like amazon, social media websites like Facebook, advertainment’s website, and other websites that need our data to provide more personalized products and information use cookies.
A cookie can store all browsing data of the user like his ID & password, shopping cart items, visited pages, viewed products details, payment details, and all other actions that a user performs at the time of visiting a website.
The information of the cookie can be accessed only by the client(user) and the website’s server, other than no one can access that information,
Every website that uses cookies, all have their own cookies, and that cookie can only store the information on their website, cookies can not store the information of the browsing on other websites.
Cookies that are dropped, or stored in the user’s browser directly by the visiting website, are called first-party cookies, if a user is visiting amazon, and amazon stored its cookies in the user’s browser, then those cookies will be called first-party cookies.
Third-party cookies are also known as tracking cookies, cookies that are created or developed by other parties(advertisers,-analytics, tracking companies) other than visiting websites are called third-party cookies.
Like if a user is visiting Facebook and from Facebook, if advertisers also dropped their cookies in the user’s browser, then those cookies will be called third-party cookies.
If you don’t know anything about the web application, then you must know, what is a web application, and what is the difference between a website and a web application, click on the link to read that post.
If we talk about first-party cookies, then these cookies are not harmful, and even if third-party cookies are not from any illegal or spam website, then those cookies are also not harmful.
As cookies only store the browsing data of the user on their website, and cookies can be accessed only by the user, or the server, so this makes them safe and helpful as this information is used to provide more personalized information, products, and ads.
Cookies never store the information of your files, programs, personal information that you have stored on your computer, and this makes them harmless.
But if you are visiting any spam or illegal website and if that type of website directly or from any other website stored any cookie in your browser, then that cookie can store your all browsing data on that website
It can also store your ID & password and details if you entered on that website, and then it may be misused and become harmful for you.
Cookies are harmless even they help us to get things in a well-optimized and personalized way, cookies also help websites, advertisers, analytics to improve their view, products, and services as per users interest.
But you may have have many reasons to delete cookies as =>
- If you want to make your browsing fully private and don’t want to share your browsing information with anyone, then you can delete cookies from your computer.
- If you don’t trust any first-party or third-party website to share your browsing data, then you should delete cookies from your browser.
- If you use multiple accounts on any website like Facebook and you operate all of them from one device, then you should every time delete cookies from your mobile or laptop because if Facebook noticed that you are operating multiple fake accounts and spamming on Facebook, then Facebook will disable your all accounts and same with other websites.
- If you visit any spam, unsafe or illegal website, then you should never allow their cookies, or if you have allowed their cookies so never enter any confidential information on those websites, and whenever you visit those websites, so immediately delete their cookies from your browser.
- Memory issue and slow performance of the browser.
These were some reasons, why you should delete cookies from your browser, and if you have any of these or any other, then you can delete cookies from your computer.
Here we have learned what are cookies on a computer and all details about them, now we will learn how to delete cookies in chrome and other browsers and how to delete cookies on iPhone and other devices.
If you have become tired and frustrated from your system’s slow speed, then you must know how to speed up your windows and make your computer super fast click on the link to read that post.
How To Delete Cookies
We have learned what are cookies on a computer, here we will learn how to delete cookies and clear cache and cookies in chrome and other browser and devices.
In most browsers, there are two ways to handle cookies first is to delete cookies(clear cache and cookies), and the second is to manage the permissions of cookies
If you only delete or clear cookies from the browser so next time when you will visit those websites, then those websites will again store their cookies in your browser, and you will need to delete them every time
In the second way you can manage the permissions of the cookies as here you get three option to manage cookies
- Allow cookies – If you allow all cookies, then every website and all third parties that use cookies can store their cookie in your browser.
- Block third-party cookies – If you selected to block third-party cookies, then third parties won’t be able to drop or store their cookies in your browser, but the first-party website will still store their cookies.
- Block all cookies – If you selected to block all cookies, then any website( first-party, third-party, or any other) won’t be able to store their cookies in your browser.
So what is the best way to manage the cookies, in our suggestion, if cookies really matter to you, then the first thing is to delete your all cookies, and then in the settings select block third party cookies, you can also add custom URLs of the websites that you want to allow or block cookies.
So in this way, websites that you will visit, will be able to store cookies in your browser, and all other third-party websites won’t be able to store their cookies, and if sometimes you visit any unsafe or illegal website, then you can manually add it’s URL in the settings, to block cookies from that website, so only important and useful cookies will be stored in your browser and rest will be blocked.
If you are concerned about your safety and privacy on the internet and want a solution to that, then you must know about VPN what is a virtual private network and how do VPN works click on the link to read that post.
If you use google chrome browser and want to delete and manage cookies in chrome then follow these steps =>
- First of all click on the 3 dots(menu) shown on the right side of the top.
- Click on the settings.
- Click on privacy and security.
- Click on the first option to clear browsing data.
- Select time range, then checkmark on cookies and other site data (if you also want to clear browsing history then also checkmark it)
- Click on clear data
All cookies of the selected time range will be deleted, now if you want to manage the permissions on the cookies, then go back to privacy and security settings, and follow these steps =>
- Click on cookies and other site data.
- If allow all cookies is check-marked, then checkmark on block third party cookies.
- There is one other option, Clear cookies, and site data when you quit Chrome, if you enable this option, then whenever you will quit chrome, all cookies and site data will be deleted.
- Bellow in the settings, you can manually add URLs of the Sites that can always use cookies.
- You can also add URLs of the Sites that can never use cookies.
If you want to make your chrome browser more efficient and want to improve your work efficiency then you must know about browser extensions what are extensions and what are the best chrome extensions click on the link to read that post.
If you use Firefox browser and want to delete and manage cookies in Firefox then follow these steps =>
- First of all click on the 3 lines(menu) shown on the right side of the top.
- Click on the options.
- Click on privacy and security.
- Scroll down to the history section and click on clear history.
- Select time range, then checkmark on cookies and if you also want to clear browsing & download history and other things then also checkmark them
- Click on clear now
All cookies of the selected time range will be deleted, now if you want to manage the permissions on the cookies, then scroll up to cookies and site data and click on manage permissions, and then you can also make changes in the permissions of the cookies as told above in the chrome settings.
As most of the android phone users, use chrome browser on their phone, and If you also use Chrome on your phone and want to delete and manage cookies on it, then you can follow the above-told steps in the chrome browser section because there are similar settings in the chrome browser for desktop and mobile to delete cookies
After deleting cookies if you also want to manage permissions of the cookies on your phone, then go back to Settings, and follow these steps =>
- Click on-site settings,
- In the Site-settings, click on cookies,
- Click on block third party cookies.
- In the add site exception, you can add any website’s URL that you want to allow to always use cookies.
If you are unable to remove system apps from your phone or you want to access your phone at the root level, then you must know what is rooting in android and how to root your phone to know about rooting, click on the link to read our that post.
If you are an iPhone user and want to know how to clear cookies on iPhone or how to delete cookies on iPhone, so if you have installed chrome on your phone then the process to delete cookies is the same as told above, and if you have any other browser, then follow these steps =>
- Open settings and scroll down to safari
- Click on safari
- Scroll down to clear history and browsing data
- Click on clear history and browsing data
- It will clear your all browsing history, cache, and cookies
If you want to block cookies permission then go to setting, then go to privacy and security settings, there you can change the permissions of cookies.
If you want to delete any app data, then go to setting, then iPhone storage, here you can click on any app, and if you want to clear data of that app, then you have to delete and reinstall that app.
Conclusion
Here we have learned what are cookies on a computer, who stores cookies in our browser, what a cookie can store, how to delete cookies, and so on, but as we have told above, cookies are not harmful unless you allow any unsafe or illegal website to store their cookies in your browser.
So always do safe browsing, and if you really have any specific reason to delete cookies, then you can delete cookies, or you can do the cleaning of your browsing history and cookies on weekly or monthly bases to empty your cash memory and to get a refreshed browser.